Employee Engagement - Publications - Faculty & Research

16 Mar 2021
News

The Management Case for Inclusionary Corporate Purpose

24 Feb 2014
News

Stop Chasing Star Employees. Cultivate Your Own

Article

Relational Reconciliation: Socializing Others Across Demographic Differences

In demographically diverse organizations, employees charged with socializing others— socialization agents—must navigate a deep tension between the organization’s needs to integrate individuals into a collective and individuals’ needs for recognition of their unique... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Organizational Culture; Identity; Employees

March 2024
Case

From “BIG” Ideas to Sustainable Impact at ICL Group (A)

By: Linda A. Hill and Lydia Begag

In the summer of 2023, Eduard (“Eddie”) Croitoru, Vice President (VP) of ICL Group (“ICL”) Corporate Initiatives, was reflecting on ICL’s internal ideation program, the Business Innovation for Growth (BIG) Accelerator. When Raviv Zoller became the CEO of ICL in 2018,... View Details

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Lastly, Prof. Whillans is examining the role of informal conversations in predicting employees’ ability to learn, bond, and to enjoy their work. Hybrid workplaces involve more digital communication. Some research suggests that email and meetings have increased by... View Details

Boris Groysberg

Boris Groysberg is a professor of business administration in the Organizational Behavior unit at the Harvard Business School. Currently, he teaches courses on talent management and leadership in the school's MBA and Executive Education programs. He has won numerous... View Details

Keywords: asset management; banking; brokerage; information technology industry; investment banking industry; professional services

2025
Working Paper

Training Within Firms

By: Brayan Diaz, Andrea Neyra-Nazarrett, Julian Ramirez, Raffaella Sadun and Jorge Tamayo

Training investments are essential for improving worker and firm productivity, yet their implementation is often hindered by low participation rates and insufficient worker engagement. This study uses data from three firms–a car manufacturer, a quick-service... View Details

Keywords: Productivity; Absenteeism; Middle Managers; Training; Management Practices and Processes; Performance Productivity; Employees

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05 Oct 2009
Research & Ideas

The Vanguard Corporation

develops. But how do companies embed these principles throughout the organization such that decisions are based upon them? A: It's not the words; it's the conversations. Leaders must engage employees broadly... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

November 2005 (Revised May 2007)
Case

Leading Change at Simmons (A)

By: Tiziana E. Casciaro, Amy C. Edmondson, Stacy McManus and Kate Roloff

Explores the challenge of managing large-scale organizational change at Simmons, an old and established company that manufactures and distributes mattresses. The new CEO, Charlie Eitel, hired to turn the organization's performance around, considers whether to implement... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Motivation and Incentives; Leading Change; Employee Relationship Management; Manufacturing Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States

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April 2010 (Revised April 2010)
Case

Mercadona

This case presents the predicament of a company trying to do right by its customers and its employees as the economic crisis of 2008 hits home. Fifteen years earlier, this Spanish supermarket chain had adopted its own version of total quality management, called the... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Compensation and Benefits; Employee Relationship Management; Service Operations; Business Processes; Retail Industry; Spain

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02 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

10 Trends to Watch in 2024

The lightning-fast ascent of generative AI isn’t the only sea change on the horizon for businesses in the new year. The global economy is in flux as war, climate change, trade issues, and infrastructure problems demand attention. Many companies continue to struggle to... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

13 Nov 2014
News

Turning Missions into Movements

27 Mar 2017
News

How Companies Can Benefit More From Their Corporate Giving

24 Mar 2022
Research & Ideas

Rituals at Work: Teams That Play Together Stay Together

bonding activity—regular rituals like doing the Walmart Cheer or firing a Nerf toy gun to conclude a project—led to a 16 percent increase in how meaningful employees judged their work to be, according to research by Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

July 2010 (Revised November 2011)
Supplement

Zensar: The Future of Vision Communities (B)

By: David A. Garvin and Rachna Tahilyani

Zensar is a rapidly growing, mid-sized Indian IT services company with a collaborative management philosophy and innovative HR policies. One of its practices, Vision Communities, is an inclusive forum for innovation and strategy formulation. As the company grows,... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Leadership Style; Employee Relationship Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Information Technology; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Business or Company Management; Expansion; Information Technology Industry; India

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Spring 2023
Article

Incentive Contract Design and Employee-Initiated Innovation: Evidence from the Field

By: Wei Cai, Susanna Gallani and Jee-Eun Shin

This study examines how the design of incentive contracts for tasks defined as workers’ official responsibilities (i.e., standard tasks) influences workers’ propensity to engage in employee-initiated innovation (EII). EII corresponds to innovation activities that are... View Details

Keywords: Employee-initiated Innovation; Contract Design; Rank-and-file; Extra-role Behaviors; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Innovation and Management

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Article

Making Exit Interviews Count

By: Everett Spain and Boris Groysberg

In the knowledge economy, skilled employees are the assets that drive organizational success. Thus companies must learn from them—why they stay, why they leave, and how the organization needs to change. A thoughtful exit interview—whether it be a face-to-face... View Details

Keywords: Information; Management Practices and Processes; Retention; Resignation and Termination

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December 2022 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Akooda: Charging Toward Operational Intelligence

By: Christopher Stanton and Mel Martin

The Akooda case describes the challenges confronting founder and CEO Yuval Gonczarowski (MBA ‘17) in 2022 as he attempts to boost sales. Launched in November 2020, Akooda was an AI company that mined 20 different sources of digital data, from tools like Slack, Google... View Details

Keywords: Data Mining; Productivity; Monitoring; Data Analysis; AI and Machine Learning; Knowledge Management; Operations; Problems and Challenges; Employee Relationship Management; Information Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Information Industry; Boston; Israel

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12 Feb 2025
Video

The wealth gap: Rethinking equity ownership in modern business

March 2006
Background Note

Influencing Customer Behavior in Service Operations

By: Frances X. Frei and Amy C. Edmondson

Explores ways in which service firms can influence the behavior of their customers. Drawing from research on employee motivation and applying it to customer motivation, the note describes two levels of managerial control: instrumental control, which shapes behavior... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Governance Controls; Consumer Behavior; Service Operations; Emotions; Motivation and Incentives; Power and Influence; Service Industry

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