Workplace Culture - Publications - Faculty & Research

31 Oct 2018
What Do You Think?

What is the Function of Fear in Leadership?

to fear. One of a leader’s primary tasks is creating that safety. To paraphrase the author, a fearless workplace is one where employees feel that their opinions count. A 2017 Gallup poll found that only three in 10 employees strongly... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

22 Aug 2016
Research & Ideas

Master the One-on-One Meeting

author's blog post, Mastering the 1:1. Related Reading: Cultural Disharmony Undermines Workplace Creativity What's a Boss Worth? Introverts: The Best Leaders for Proactive Employees View Details

Keywords: by Julia B. Austin

July 2022
Article

The Passionate Pygmalion Effect: Passionate Employees Attain Better Outcomes in Part Because of More Preferential Treatment by Others

By: Ke Wang, Erica R. Bailey and Jon M. Jachimowicz

Employees are increasingly exhorted to “pursue their passion” at work. Inherent in this call is the belief that passion will produce higher performance because it promotes intrapersonal processes that propel employees forward. Here, we suggest that the pervasiveness of... View Details

Keywords: Passion; Self-fufilling Prophecy; Lay Beliefs; Interpersonal Processes; Employees; Performance; Attitudes; Organizational Culture; Social Psychology

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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

10 Dec 2021
Research & Ideas

Truth Be Told: Unpacking the Risks of Whistleblowing

do more to encourage employees to report misdeeds internally? Heese: Companies have to understand that their employees can be a big source of information for them, too. Whistleblower is a loaded term, but essentially what we’re talking about is how a company can create... View Details

Keywords: by April White

23 May 2017
First Look

First Look at New Ideas and Research: May 23, 2017

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52650 Reinventing the American Wine Industry: Marketing Strategies and the Construction of Wine Culture By: Hisano, Ai Abstract—This working paper examines the remarkable growth of wine... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

17 Jan 2018
Research & Ideas

If the CEO’s High Salary Isn't Justified to Employees, Firm Performance May Suffer

corporate culture is a first-order driver of company performance,” Rouen says. “It’s something that can differentiate one company from another in a competitive industry.” Companies can boost workplace View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

14 Jun 2016
First Look

June 14, 2016

roles are uncertain, goals are shifting, expertise and organizational cultures are varied, and participants have clashing or even antagonistic perspectives. I have studied more than a dozen cross-industry innovation projects, among them... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

11 Apr 2022
Research & Ideas

A World of Difference: What Keeps Companies from Becoming More Inclusive

short, intensive course for MBA students called Anatomy of a Badass, which was a primer on being unapologetically authentic at work. Here, they talk with the HBS Alumni Bulletin about understanding differences in the workplace and the... View Details

Keywords: by Jen McFarland Flint

18 Aug 2022
Op-Ed

Your Best Employees Are Burning Out: A Framework for Retaining Talent

Burnout, retention, and renewed labor organization are critical challenges for leaders, especially amid COVID-19 and a looming recession. Leaders must ask themselves: What is it about my organization’s culture that is contributing to such... View Details

Keywords: by Hise Gibson and MaShon Wilson

14 Apr 2022
Op-Ed

Let’s Move Forward from COVID—Without Forgetting What We’ve Learned

with the new ones. Organizations are trying so hard to maintain their hybrid work environments and fill offices. They’re trying so hard to get back to the pre-pandemic workplace, but was it so great? No. There was and continues to be a View Details

Keywords: by Hise O. Gibson and MaShon Wilson

17 Apr 2022
Book

How to Avoid the 'Ethical Slide' That Leads Companies Astray

ethical practice is the best compass, she advises. “The world is changing around businesses,” Nelson says. “There is more pressure to make profits, and at the same time to respond to environmental, social, and governance issues.” And, she says, good View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

12 Dec 2006
First Look

First Look: December 12, 2006

Diversity in the Workplace Harvard Business School Case 407-029 Purchase this case: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=407029 Information Technology and Innovation at Shinsei Bank Harvard Business School Case... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Oct 2001
Research & Ideas

How To Make Restructuring Work for Your Company

implement the layoffs quickly—in less than a year—to minimize workplace disruptions and gain credibility with the capital market. For some companies, however, strategic and business factors could warrant a more gradual approach to... View Details

Keywords: by Stuart C. Gilson

14 Aug 2006
HBS Case

On Managing with Bobby Knight and “Coach K”

because of it." The story also illustrates the importance of matching management style with the task (or employee) at hand. "There are skills in the workplace that you only get through repetition, drill, habit, and discipline. A... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Sports

01 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

Encouraging Dissent in Decision-Making

calculation this way: "The potential costs to me for speaking out seem reasonably certain and somewhat immediate; the potential benefit to me for speaking out seems rather uncertain and definitely long-range." In the corporate world, Detroit's V-8 car View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

08 Feb 2023
Op-Ed

Building an Inclusive Workplace? Prepare to Shield It from Economic Fears

Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, business leaders vowed to change organizational culture to increase diversity and inclusion. Some companies established more robust employee affinity groups, others diversified the voices on... View Details

Keywords: by Hise O. Gibson and Nicole Gilmore

31 Aug 2021
Book

Feeling Powerless at Work? Time to Agitate, Innovate, and Orchestrate

power. How we choose to use this knowledge, in our families, at our workplaces and in society, is up to us, as individuals and collectively. What It Takes To Build Power Before you can build your own power, you need to understand who... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

17 Jan 2011
Research & Ideas

Being the Boss

that person is credible. Often you're dealing with the fact that the person is not only far away but might be of a different culture as well. And you've got to figure out how to interpret him or her. So what we have to explain is that... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

22 Mar 2013
Research & Ideas

Pulling Campbell’s Out of the Soup

to imagine that we could inspire high performance with no employee engagement." Conant decided to grow the soup business, and he championed the idea of "winning" on two fronts--in the workplace and in the marketplace. To... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Food & Beverage

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