Publications

1992
Chapter

Understanding and Influencing Group Process

By: John J. Gabarro and Anne Harlan

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Power and Influence

Today’s global enterprises increasingly involve collaborative work by teams of experts operating across different professions, organizations, and industries. Extreme Teaming provides new insights into the world of complex, cross industry... View Details

September 2009
Module Note

Leading Teams Note

By: Jeffrey T. Polzer

This note, which describes the architecture and processes that characterize effective teams, begins by detailing the steps involved in designing a team, from diagnosing the complexity, interdependence, and objectives of the task to harnessing the key resources teams... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Experience and Expertise; Decision Choices and Conditions; Knowledge Sharing; Leadership; Business Processes; Groups and Teams

December 2019
Teaching Note

Hony Capital and Jushi Group

By: Josh Lerner, Shai Bernstein and Ann Leamon

Teaching Note for HBS No. 820-040. View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Investing; Manufacturing; Private Equity; Asset Management; Investment; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Finance; China; United States

February 2014 (Revised December 2015)
Case

Mara Group

By: Eugene Soltes and Sara Hess

Mara Group is a rapidly growing Pan-African conglomerate run by its entrepreneurial CEO Ashish Thakkar. The case explores Thakkar's decision on which African markets to expand operations into. View Details

Keywords: Telecommunications Manufacturing; Business Ventures; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Pulp and Paper Industry; Pulp and Paper Industry; Pulp and Paper Industry; Pulp and Paper Industry; Africa

February 2000 (Revised April 2001)
Case

Boston Medical Group

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer and Bruce L. Hall

Describes the structure of a variable compensation plan for physicians implemented by a Massachusetts medical group practice. Examines issues such as balancing group and individual risk and selection of performance metrics (productivity and patient satisfaction). View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Health Care and Treatment; Executive Compensation; Management Practices and Processes; Risk Management; Standards; Risk and Uncertainty; Health Industry

Article

Diversity and Team Performance in a Kenyan Organization

By: Benjamin Marx, Vincent Pons and Tavneet Suri

We present the results from a field experiment on team diversity. Individuals working as door-to-door canvassers for a non-profit organization were randomly assigned a teammate, a supervisor, and a list of individuals to canvass. This created random variation within... View Details

Keywords: Ethnic Diversity; Organizational Behavior; Labor Management; Groups and Teams; Diversity; Performance

Read Now

April 2020
Case

Cockpit Dynamics in Air France 447 and United 232

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Joshua Raymond

This case compares leadership and team dynamics between the cockpit crews in two renowned passenger airline crashes, twenty years apart: Air France 447 in 2009 and United 232 in 1989. The key dimensions of difference across the cases include organization and task... View Details

Keywords: Teams; Team Launch; Crisis Management; Groups and Teams; Leadership; Communication; Air Transportation Industry

November 2017
Teaching Note

The Carlyle Group and Axalta

By: Josh Lerner and Alexey Tuzikov

Teaching Note for HBS No. 818-040. View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Carlyle; Axalta; LBO; Leveraged Buyout

September 2017 (Revised October 2017)
Case

The Carlyle Group and Axalta

By: Josh Lerner and Alexey Tuzikov

Keywords: Carlyle; Axalta; Private Equity; Carve-out; DuPont; Industrials

September 2014 (Revised November 2017)
Case

Sustainability at IKEA Group

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Michael W. Toffel, Vincent Dessain and Jerome Lenhardt

By 2014, IKEA Group was the largest home furnishing company, with EUR28.5 billion of sales, and planned to reach EUR50 billion by 2020, mainly from emerging markets. At the same time, IKEA Group had adopted in 2012 a new sustainability strategy that focused the... View Details

Keywords: Furnishing; Sustainability; Supply Chain; Wood; Customer Value and Value Chain; Supply Chain Management; Environmental Sustainability; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Products Industry

February 1990 (Revised October 1993)
Case

Carter Automotive Group

By: Walter J. Salmon

The Carter Automotive Group is a Southern California automobile dealer group. The head of the group is assessing whether his current and unique marketing strategy should be modified in light of changing competitive conditions. View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Change; Competition; Auto Industry; Retail Industry; California

2013
Book

Teaming to Innovate

By: Amy C. Edmondson

Innovation requires teaming. (Put another way, teaming is to innovation what assembly lines are to car production.) This book brings together key insights on teaming, as they pertain to innovation. How do you build a culture of innovation? What does that culture look... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Leadership; Groups and Teams; Organizational Culture

June 2018
Case

Verona Group

By: Robert L. Simons and Sarah Abbott

Are a salesperson's struggles her own fault or the result of a problematic job design? Anna George works as a salesperson at Verona Group, a company that designs and wholesales high-end women's apparel. She had spent nearly 20 years in sales with another fashion label... View Details

Keywords: Jobs and Positions; Design; Analysis; Performance; Measurement and Metrics; Salesforce Management; Organizational Design

December 2019
Case

CME Group in 2019

By: José B. Alvarez, Forest Reinhardt and Natalie Kindred

Chicago-based CME Group is the world’s largest futures and options marketplace, with annual trading volume of over 4.8 billion contracts in 2018. This case is set in late 2019, as heightened perceptions of risk stemming from the U.S.-China trade war are driving record... View Details

Keywords: Financial Markets; Risk Management; Futures and Commodity Futures; Trade; Price; Competition; Risk and Uncertainty; Competitive Strategy; United States; China; Brazil

September 2005 (Revised March 2009)
Background Note

Developing an Effective Living Group

By: Michael Beer, John J. Gabarro and Michael L. Tushman

Discusses the importance of living room groups (eight participants who share a living room) in Harvard Business School's Advanced Management Program developing into effective learning groups. The diversity of the groups is a strength, but only a conscious and concerted... View Details

Keywords: Executive Education; Groups and Teams; Competency and Skills; Learning; Diversity; Growth and Development

2015
Chapter

Diversity in Groups

By: Catarina Fernandes and Jeff Polzer

Diversity has the potential to either disrupt group functioning or, conversely, be the source of collective creativity and insight. These two divergent perspectives pose a paradox that has held the attention of scholars for many years. In response, researchers have... View Details