Employee Relations - Publications - Faculty & Research

February 2016 (Revised June 2016)
Case

Janalakshmi Financial Services' HR Dilemma

By: Doug J. Chung and Radhika Kak

Janalakshmi Financial Services (JFS), an Indian microfinance institution, had grown rapidly by providing financial products to its main customer base, the urban poor. However, the company was facing several challenges. JFS’s productivity was declining, and it was... View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Salesforce Management; Compensation and Benefits; Sales; Strategy; Financial Services Industry

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14 Sep 2020
Research & Ideas

You're Right! You Are Working Longer and Attending More Meetings

Work-from-home employees whose days seem longer, with more meetings and emails than ever before, may find a new Harvard Business School study validating. An analysis of the emails and meetings of 3.1 million people in 16 global cities... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

01 Apr 2013
Research & Ideas

First Minutes are Critical in New-Employee Orientation

the opportunity for self-expression is indeed directly related to employee retention. Lessons For Businesses For employers, the implications of the findings are pretty clear: "Given that the standard,... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Web Services; Service; Telecommunications

08 Mar 2021
In Practice

COVID Killed the Traditional Workplace. What Should Companies Do Now?

A year ago, COVID-19 forced many companies to send employees home—often with a laptop and a prayer. Now, with COVID cases subsiding and vaccinations rising, the prospect of returning to old office routines appears more possible. But will employees want to flock back to... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

06 Sep 2022
Research & Ideas

Does Hybrid Work Actually Work? Insights from 30,000 Emails

Early COVID-19 lockdowns sparked a contentious debate that rages on in the workplace: Can businesses thrive if employees continue to work remotely? Skeptical CEOs, such as the leaders of Goldman Sachs and Starbucks, say they need workers... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

10 May 2021
Research & Ideas

Who Has Potential? For Many White Men, It’s Often Other White Men

Many well-meaning companies want to diversify their workforces but face an all-too-common problem: They take great pains to hire more women and people of color, only to find that these employees don’t stick around long. At one midsize... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

08 Oct 2020
Research & Ideas

Keep Your Weary Workers Engaged and Motivated

their employees during these difficult times? About the authors Boris Groysberg is the Richard P. Chapman Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Robin Abrahams is a research associate at HBS. [Image: RyanJLane]... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams

September 2005
Article

Affect and Creativity at Work

By: Teresa M. Amabile, Sigal G. Barsade, Jennifer S. Mueller and Barry M. Staw

This study explored how affect relates to creativity at work. Using both quantitative and qualitative longitudinal data from the daily diaries of 222 employees in seven companies, we examined the nature, form, and temporal dynamics of the affect-creativity... View Details

Keywords: Creativity; Attitudes; Employees; Theory

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01 Oct 2021
Research & Ideas

Dying to Lead: How Reaching the Top Can Kill You Sooner

demands. "What we’re beginning to understand is that life at the top isn’t that easy." The historical study by Harvard Business School Professor Tom Nicholas, who tracked the status and mortality rates of more than 1,000 managers and other View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

Article

Audit Personnel Salaries and Audit Quality

By: Jeffrey L. Hoopes, Kenneth J. Merkley, Joseph Pacelli and Joseph H. Schroeder

This study examines the relation between audit personnel salaries and office-level audit quality. We measure audit personnel salaries at the associate, senior, and manager ranks for Big 4 audit offices from 2004 to 2013, using unique individual-auditor-level data... View Details

Keywords: Audit Personnel Salary; Audit Quality; Salary Determinants; Audit Fees; Accounting Audits; Quality; Wages

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13 Aug 2021
Research & Ideas

Managers, Here’s How to Bond with New Hires Remotely

remote—compared with 5 percent before the pandemic—many companies are already setting up frequent informal chats online to keep the communication lines with remote employees open. “I’ve already had conversations with several companies... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

06 Jan 2020
Research & Ideas

Motivate Your High Performers to Share Their Knowledge

Sometimes a little push like that is all employees need to get out of a rut. About the Author Michael Blanding is a writer based in Boston. [Image: Mark Kostich] Related Reading Ignore This Advice at Your... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

14 Aug 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Firm Competitiveness and Detection of Bribery

Keywords: by George Serafeim

2011
Case

Wrapitup

By: W. Earl Sasser

A restaurant chain based in California offers made-to-order sandwich wraps using fresh, healthy ingredients. The founders of the company take a very active role in day-to-day business and tightly control every aspect of the restaurant operation from hiring store... View Details

Keywords: Service Operations; Governance Controls; Revenue; Employee Relationship Management; Planning; Customer Satisfaction; Problems and Challenges; Profit; Change Management; Compensation and Benefits; Leadership Style; Service Industry; California

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21 Mar 2018
Research & Ideas

Why Artificial Intelligence Isn't a Sure Thing to Increase Productivity

Evidence on Complementarities Between Human Capital and Machine Learning. The paper, written with Evan Starr and Rajshree Agarwal of the University of Maryland, suggests that firms must think carefully about the skills they’ll need to hire for or train for in View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Technology; Information

26 Mar 2018
Research & Ideas

To Motivate Employees, Give an Unexpected Bonus (or Penalty)

Related Reading: How to Demotivate Your Best Employees The Power of Ordinary Practices Sharpening Your Skills: Motivation What do you think of this research? What best motivates View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Manufacturing

27 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

How Remote Work Changes What We Think About Onboarding

and processes. For example, companies must onboard employees remotely in a way that addresses competing tensions. Because the onboarding process must take place remotely, it will typically take longer than the in-person experience; yet... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg

November 2011
Case

WrapItUp: Developing a New Compensation Plan

By: W. Earl Sasser Jr. and Rachel Shelton

A restaurant chain based in California offers made-to-order sandwich wraps using fresh, healthy ingredients. The founders of the company take a very active role in day-to-day business and tightly control every aspect of the restaurant operation from hiring store... View Details

Keywords: Empowerment; Middle Management; Human Resource Management; Compensation; Incentives; Motivation; Motivation and Incentives; Change Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Service Delivery; Entrepreneurship; Employees; Compensation and Benefits; Service Industry; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; California

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2008
Chapter

Overcoming Barriers to Collaboration: Psychological Safety and Learning in Diverse Teams

By: A. Edmondson and Kate Roloff

We review research on psychological safety and team learning to identify core ideas and findings in these closely related literatures and to propose a model in which a negative relationship between team member diversity and team collaboration is moderated by... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Groups and Teams; Social and Collaborative Networks; Performance Improvement; Learning; Diversity

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February 2024
Technical Note

A Manager's Introduction to Passion for Work

By: Jon M. Jachimowicz

Today, both organizations and employees are increasingly focused on passion. An analysis of 200 million U.S. job postings found that the use of the word “passion” increased nearly tenfold from 2007 to 2019, while a recent survey of thousands of college-educated workers... View Details

Keywords: Recruitment; Job Search; Goals and Objectives; Interests; Personal Development and Career

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