Publications

31 Jan 2007
HBS Case

When Good Teams Go Bad

What could better symbolize high-level business performance than an eight-oared crew team rowing in perfect unison, their boat powered by a selfless collaboration of strength, skill, and shared purpose? It's no wonder that advertisers... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

June 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Eric Hawkins Leading Agile Teams @ Digitally-Born AppFolio (A)

By: Tsedal Neeley, Paul Leonardi and Michael Norris

Eric Hawkins, director of engineering at AppFolio—a digital technology firm that offered cloud-based business software to small and medium sized companies—was shocked by an unusual request from his senior leadership team. Could Hawkins and one of his agile teams build... View Details

Keywords: Values; Agile; Vision; Corporate Culture; Leadership; Values and Beliefs; Organizational Culture; Decision Choices and Conditions; Digital Transformation; Technology Industry; United States; California

Research Summary

Managing sustainability in supply chains

By: Michael W. Toffel

I am examining codes of conduct, management process standards, and government voluntary programs that address environmental and labor issues, seeking to understand what enables some of these programs to actually deliver on their promise of distinguishing organizations... View Details

Keywords: Environment; Environmental Performance; Environmental Regulation; Environmental Strategy; Regulation; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; Service Industry; Construction Industry; United States; California

August 2015 (Revised May 2016)
Technical Note

Leading Global Teams: Managing SPLIT to Bridge Social Distance

By: Tsedal Neeley

Keywords: Global Leadership; Global Collaboration; Social Distance; Global Teams; Leadership; Groups and Teams; Organizations; Diversity; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues

27 May 2015
Research & Ideas

Build 'Scaffolds' to Improve Performance of Temporary Teams

"Four minutes," a triumphant Amy C. Edmondson exclaims as she arrives at her Harvard Business School office, clutching a bike helmet and explaining that her commute is 10 minutes faster by bicycle than by car. Edmondson, the Novartis Professor of Leadership... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Health

January 2003 (Revised October 2003)
Case

Satera Team at Imatron Systems, Inc. (A), The

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Elizabeth Schatzel

Escalating conflict has erupted within the Satera product development team, resulting from the conflicting cognitive styles of the two senior mechanical engineers. The conflict has taken a toll on both project progress and team morale, endangering one of the most... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Entrepreneurship; Human Resources; Management; Business or Company Management; Groups and Teams; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

04 May 2017
Cold Call Podcast

Leading a Team to the Top of Mount Everest

Keywords: Re: Amy C. Edmondson

2016
Working Paper

Innovation Adoption and Organizational Identity: Identity Dynamism as a Strategic Resource for Top Management Team Decision Making

By: Ryan Raffaelli, Mary Ann Glynn and Michael Tushman

Organizations continuously face decisions about whether to adopt radical innovations. We examine the relationship between innovation adoption and identity, linking identity with firm strategy to explain innovation adoption over time. We conceptualize identity as... View Details

Keywords: Dynamic Managerial Capabilities; Organizational Identity; Innovation Adoption; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Culture; Innovation and Invention; Adoption

August 2011
Case

Ockham Technologies (A): Building the Team

By: Noam Wasserman

Describes the issues facing a founder-ceo regarding building a board, assembling an executive team, managing tension between co-founders, and outsourcing development work. View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Recruitment; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Teams; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Information Technology

April 2020
Case

Ment.io: Knowledge Analytics for Team Decision Making

By: Yael Grushka-Cockayne, Jeffrey T. Polzer, Susie L. Ma and Shlomi Pasternak

Ment.io was a software platform that used proprietary data analytics technology to help organizations make informed and transparent decisions based on team input. Ment was born out of founder Joab Rosenberg’s frustration that, while organizations collected ever... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Information Technology; Knowledge; Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Management; Operations; Information Management; Product; Product Development; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Communications Industry; Information Industry; Information Technology Industry; Web Services Industry; Middle East; Israel

18 Aug 2003
Research & Ideas

How New Managers Become Great Managers

made a series of upward and lateral moves that entailed a number of tough assignments across many functional areas. Beginning as the director of regional operations in New England, this manager had profit and loss responsibility for fifty... View Details

Keywords: by Linda Hill

May 2003
Module Note

Managing Development Networks

By: Stefan H. Thomke

Describes the concepts and pedagogy for a module on understanding and managing product development networks between firms and within firms and among products themselves. Introduces students to the increasingly important role of networks in the development of new... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Resource Allocation; Research and Development; Networks; Design; Groups and Teams

February 2020 (Revised March 2020)
Case

Managing Blackout at Aluminum Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba) (A)

By: Joseph B. Fuller, Gamze Yücaoğlu and Youssef Abdel Aal

The case opens in 2017 as Tim Murray, CEO of Aluminum Bahrain (Alba), the largest single-site aluminum smelter in the world outside China and a major contributor to the Bahraini economy, was contemplating the recovery options as the company was facing the most severe... View Details

Keywords: Aluminum; General Management; Cultural Change; Change Management; Crisis Management; Decision Making; Organizational Culture; Safety; Leadership; Emerging Markets; Bahrain; Middle East

11 Feb 2019
Working Paper Summaries

Gender Stereotypes in Deliberation and Team Decisions

Keywords: by Katherine B. Coffman, Clio Bryant Flikkema, and Olga Shurchkov

January 2002 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Chapter Enrichment Program Teams at the American Red Cross (A)

By: Jeffrey T. Polzer and Anita Williams Woolley

The American Red Cross has a system for structuring, staffing, and leading teams to review its local chapters. Mirroring professional services firms that use teams to serve clients, this system provides detailed guidelines to increase individual team member's... View Details

Keywords: Planning; Groups and Teams; Management Teams; Leadership; Organizational Structure

February 2020
Supplement

Managing Blackout at Aluminum Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba) (B)

By: Joseph B. Fuller, Gamze Yücaoğlu and Youssef Abdel Aal

The case opens in 2017 as Tim Murray, CEO of Aluminum Bahrain (Alba), the largest single-site aluminum smelter in the world outside China and a major contributor to the Bahraini economy, was contemplating the recovery options as the company was facing the most severe... View Details

Keywords: Aluminum Industry; General Management; Cultural Change; Change Management; Crisis Management; Decision Making; Organizational Culture; Safety; Leadership; Emerging Markets; Bahrain; Middle East