Publications

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July 2023
Article

The Old Boys' Club: Schmoozing and the Gender Gap

By: Zoë B. Cullen and Ricardo Perez-Truglia

Offices are social places. Employees and managers take breaks together and talk about family and hobbies. In this study, we show that employees’ social interactions with their managers can be advantageous for their careers, and that this phenomenon contributes to the... View Details

Keywords: Career; Promotions; Social Interactions; Networking; Interpersonal Communication; Familiarity; Equality and Inequality; Gender

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Article

Do Supervisors Thrive in Participative Work Systems?

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Richard E. Walton

This article presents the findings regarding the nature of the difficulties surrounding the supervisory role in participative work systems, a conceptualization of the supervisor/work group interface, and some action implications for the management of organizations.... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Organizational Design; Management Practices and Processes; Innovation and Invention

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September 1990 (Revised November 1991)
Case

Merck & Co., Inc. (A)

Merck & Co., Inc., a major pharmaceutical company, is in the process of reviewing and evaluating its personnel policies and practices. Employee interviews revealed that rewards for excellent performance were not adequate: outstanding performers received salary... View Details

Keywords: Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits; Pharmaceutical Industry

January 2019 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Chiacchierone's Owners Chat About Tipping

By: Lena G. Goldberg and Michael S. Kaufman

The founders of a successful upscale restaurant operating with a "no-tipping" policy are faced with employee defections to tipped establishments as well as difficulty in recruiting. They must decide whether to retain or jettison their policy and determine how to deal... View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Employees; Policy; Food and Beverage Industry

27 Oct 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Does Venture Capital Attract Human Capital? Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment

Keywords: by Shai Bernstein, Kunal Mehta, and Richard Townsend

16 Nov 2020
News

Disagreement Doesn’t Have to Be Divisive

March 2012
Background Note

Managing the Layoff Process: India

By: Sandra J. Sucher

This note is an overview of the context for managing layoffs in India. It describes the legal responsibilities of managers in conducting layoffs, recent unemployment trends, and the financial, health, training, job placement, and other benefits that laid-off employees... View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Resignation and Termination; Compensation and Benefits; Ethics; Management; Employees; Governance Compliance; India

July 2012
Case

Show Me the Money (A)

By: Clayton Rose

A business unit leader faces a major decision when an employee critical to a high profile transaction asks for a unique compensation arrangement that has implications for the culture of the business. View Details

Keywords: Culture; Compensation; Leadership; Cost vs Benefits; Decision Choices and Conditions; Organizational Culture; Compensation and Benefits

Research Summary

The Transition to Retirement

By: Teresa M. Amabile

My current major research program is the Retirement Transitions Study: a broad study of retiring professionals' everyday experiences, including identification with work; identity stability, change, and development; meaningfulness of work; changes in life structure,... View Details

Keywords: Careers; Psychology; Creativity; Identity; Retirement; Meaning

April 2025
Technical Note

Skills-First Talent Management: Engagement and Retention

By: Boris Groysberg, Nicole Zelazko, Robin Abrahams and Katherine Connolly Baden

The third in a series, this note describes the significance of employee engagement and retention, explores the relationship between these two pillars and skills-first talent management, and covers the major drivers of engagement and retention. The other two notes are:... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Employee Relationship Management; Retention; United States

26 Aug 2011
News

Stop Ignoring the Stalwart Worker

May 1998 (Revised February 1999)
Case

Diamond in the Rough (A)

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Catherine M. Conneely

Diamond Technology Partners, a consulting firm based in Chicago, was founded in 1994 by Mel Bergstein and Chris Moffitt, with investment from founding partners and Safeguard Scientifics. In April 1996, just after fiscal year-end, the two largest clients withdrew from... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Entrepreneurship; Going Public; Crisis Management; Finance; Consulting Industry; Chicago

November 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Starbucks: Reaffirming Commitment to the Third Place Ideal

By: Francesca Gino, Katherine B. Coffman and Jeff Huizinga

On April 12, 2018, two African American entrepreneurs had scheduled a business meeting at a Starbucks in Philadelphia’s Rittenhouse Square neighborhood. They sat without ordering, waiting for a local businessman to show up for the meeting. The store manager called 911... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Values and Beliefs; Prejudice and Bias; Crisis Management; Employees; Training

25 Mar 2014
News

Privacy and Productivity

2023
Working Paper

The Impact of Unionization on Consumer Perceptions of Service Quality: Evidence from Starbucks

By: Isamar Troncoso, Minkyung Kim, Ishita Chakraborty and SooHyun Kim

The US has seen a rise in union movements, but their effects on service industry marketing outcomes like customer satisfaction and perceptions of service quality remain understudied. In this paper, we empirically study the impact on customer satisfaction and... View Details

Keywords: Labor Unions; Customer Satisfaction; Perception; Public Opinion; Employees; Food and Beverage Industry

SSRN

January 2018 (Revised October 2019)
Case

ZBJ: Building a Global Outsourcing Platform for Knowledge Workers (A)

By: Feng Zhu, Weiru Chen and Shirley Sun

ZBJ.com (ZBJ), an online platform that connects knowledge workers to small- and medium-sized enterprises, is China’s largest outsourcing platform. Founded by Mingyue Zhu in 2006, ZBJ had grown into a unicorn with 4,000 employees and a daily transaction volume of RMB15... View Details

Keywords: Outsourcing; Disintermediation; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Problems and Challenges; Global Strategy; Information Technology Industry; China

15 Apr 2022
News

Harvard Study: Just One to Two Days in Office per Week Is Most Effective

March 1999 (Revised August 1999)
Case

SCORE! Educational Centers (D)

Describes Rob Waldron's actions upon assuming leadership of SCORE! Educational Centers, an after-school tutoring enterprise. Examines the issue of acquiring and growing a small, self-owned company into a professional organization. Focuses on the steps Waldron takes to... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Business Growth and Maturation; Employee Relationship Management; Teaching; Recruitment; Education Industry; United States