Workforce Development - Publications - Faculty & Research

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

16 Jan 2013
Research & Ideas

The Messy Link Between Slave Owners and Modern Management

Caitlin C. Rosenthal didn't intend to write a book about slavery. She set out to tackle something much more mundane: the history of business practices. But when she started researching account books from the mid-1800s, a period of major economic View Details

Keywords: by Katie Johnston

22 Apr 2019
Research & Ideas

Why Salespeople Struggle at Leading

shouldn’t make salespeople sales managers, but I don’t think that’s good advice,” Cespedes says. “Sales managers determine how much money salespeople make and how well they eat. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to develop the relevant... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

23 Oct 2000
Research & Ideas

The Strategy-Focused Organization

returned to their organizations to lead inspiring projects that developed wonderful, strategic Balanced Scorecards. But not all of these companies were able to sustain the energy to deliver the results we reported in Chapter 1. What helps... View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan & David P. Norton

01 Oct 2001
Research & Ideas

How To Make Restructuring Work for Your Company

break up the airline and lay off thousands of employees if a consensual agreement could not be reached. Management made the threat real by developing an actual restructuring plan, containing detailed financial projections and valuations.... View Details

Keywords: by Stuart C. Gilson

13 Feb 2012
Research & Ideas

The Case Against Racial Colorblindness

organizations might ease racial tensions among a diverse workforce by stressing multiculturalism over racial colorblindness. "Shutting our eyes to the complexities of race does not make them disappear, but it does make it harder to see... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

28 Feb 2023
Research & Ideas

Can Apprenticeships Work in the US? Employers Seeking New Talent Pipelines Take Note

Many American companies have made a four-year degree a default qualification for entry-level jobs, elevating an expensive university education—with a smattering of internship experience—above paths that might prepare young talent for today’s View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

13 Mar 2023
Research & Ideas

The Power of Personal Connections: How Shared Experiences Boost Performance

consultancies and accounting firms already do this by putting “cohorts” of new employees on similar professional development tracks, with shared workshops, activities, and milestones designed to strengthen their connection. “People are... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Health

16 Mar 2023
Research & Ideas

Why Business Travel Still Matters in a Zoom World

person or virtually, but on the same schedule—especially as work-from-home policies increase and the global workforce scatters. “If you’re living in San Francisco, and your colleague is living in Vancouver, and you both speak excellent... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin; Air Transportation

29 Jul 2022
Research & Ideas

Will Demand for Women Executives Finally Shrink the Gender Pay Gap?

gained higher levels of education and workforce integration, leading analysts to blame ingrained bias and “occupational sorting” for the difference. Occupational sorting occurs when people select jobs based on their demographics. For... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

25 Jun 2018
Research & Ideas

In America, Immigrants Really Do Get the Job Done

helps drive innovation and growth—and could even become more vital to global competitiveness in the future. “The debate is red-hot right now, but in the background, the workforces are rapidly aging in most advanced countries, and public... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Agriculture & Agribusiness; Technology; Service

20 Jan 2022
Op-Ed

3 Steps to Help Companies Rebuild Trust During the Pandemic

input from employees on what they need. This may seem obvious, but in the 2021 Future Forum survey, 66 percent of executives reported they developed their post-pandemic workforce policies with little to no... View Details

Keywords: by Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta

05 May 2009
First Look

First Look: May 5, 2009

the response of U.S. multinational firms to the formation of the ASEAN free trade agreement. Observed patterns guide the development of a model in which heterogeneous firms from a source country decide how to serve two foreign markets.... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

02 Aug 2022
Research & Ideas

6 Strategies for Building Socially Responsible—and Profitable—Companies

A dozen years ago, Harvard Business School Professor George Serafeim wondered why some companies operated with an eye toward the greater good, while most did not. Back then, he always got the same response: Corporate leaders thought social and environmental practices... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

11 Jul 2016
HBS Case

Neurodiversity: The Benefits of Recruiting Employees with Cognitive Disabilities

maciek905 Started in 2011, the Autism at Work program grew from what was a side project by the head of SAP Labs in India into a companywide effort to have 1 percent of its workforce comprised of individuals with ASD. V. R. Ferose, then... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Technology

19 May 2021
Op-Ed

Why America Needs a Better Bridge Between School and Career

change among training organizations, our research team at Harvard’s interdisciplinary Project on Workforce analyzed 316 applications to the Postsecondary Innovation for Equity initiative. The grant competition, launched by venture... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph B. Fuller and Rachel Lipson

18 Dec 2017
Op-Ed

Why Employers Must Stop Requiring College Degrees For Middle-Skill Jobs

Credit: Pixsooz American companies have a problem. Over the past decade, they have begun to demand a bachelor’s degree in hiring workers for jobs that traditionally haven’t required one. This uptick in credentialing, or “degree inflation,” rested on the belief that... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph Fuller

18 Nov 2022
HBS Case

What Does It Take to Safeguard a Legacy in Asset Management?

emerged: how to preserve the firm’s growth strategy and shift firm ownership while also rewarding its diverse workforce for its investment in the team’s culture, write Harvard Business School Senior Associate Dean Luis M. Viceira, Senior... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

03 Dec 2020
Research & Ideas

Cut Payroll Costs with Transparency, Fairness, and Compassion

temporary salary cut and that Aon’s country leaders had worked together “to determine the most equitable way to apply a temporary salary reduction to our broader colleague base and developed a tailored approach based on a set of criteria,... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Sarah Abbott

20 Oct 2010
Op-Ed

Export Competitiveness: Reversing the Logic

Editor's Note: Christian Ketels wrote this paper for the World Bank's Development Debate, "What Do We Mean by Export Competitiveness and How Do Countries Achieve it in an Uncertain World?" held March 29, 2010. Ketels is... View Details

Keywords: by Christian Ketels

Publications