Workers - Publications - Faculty & Research

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General Management - Faculty & Research

Layoffs Surging in a Strong Economy? Advice for Navigating Uncertain Times by Rachel Layne 24 Oct 2024 With Millions of Workers Juggling Caregiving, Employers Need to Rethink Support Re: Joseph B. Fuller More Working Knowledge Articles... View Details

09 Apr 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, April 9, 2019

proposals, and quality evaluations for more than 12,000 evaluator-proposal pairs. The analysis shows that solicitations offering a personal reward for top submissions boost participation rates without affecting submission quality. We show that this is due to View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

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Skydeck - Alumni

business Making Sabbaticals Mainstream Entrepreneur DJ DiDonna (MBA 2010) says sabbaticals in Japan and Mauritius brought critical perspective to his personal and professional life. Now he’s working with researchers to show how extended time away from the daily grind... View Details

18 Aug 2022
Op-Ed

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

business leaders need to step up their game to attract and retain the top talent they need to remain competitive, productive, and cohesive to get through this tumultuous period. "Leaders must realize that their workers are their greatest... View Details

Keywords: by Hise Gibson and MaShon Wilson

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Organize Care Around Medical Conditions - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

focuses on the care of all of these children with cardiac surgeons, cardiologists, anesthesiologists, intensivists all of whom are supported by specialized nurses, perfusionists, respiratory therapists, social workers and others who have... View Details

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Research - Global

broadly depends on the quantity and quality of workers and capital. But how well these factors are managed within and between firms may be a key determinant of a country’s productivity and its GDP. Although social scientists have long...... View Details

07 Jul 2019
HBS Case

Walmart's Workforce of the Future

private employer in the United States, with 1.5 million workers (2.2 million worldwide). But that size and dominance doesn’t make Walmart immune to pressures faced by any other retail operation. In the second-year Harvard Business School... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail

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2023 Reunion Presentations - Alumni

Less Info It is generally held that America suffers from a shortage of workers with the requisite skills to fill the many good-paying jobs that are available. HBS's ongoing research into the future of work has revealed that there is, in... View Details

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United Fruit Company Photograph Collection - Photography Collections - Historical Collections

mahogany. Also recorded is evidence of hardships and damage suffered from floods, windstorms, and fire. These corporate documents capture a way of life in company towns and villages—from construction and running of railroads and wharves to daily scenes in company-built... View Details

01 Dec 2023
News

Thinking Ahead

As we wind down 2023, there’s talk everywhere of generative AI and how it will fundamentally alter the world as we know it; but how does that translate for your corner of the business world? Is TikTok something you need to take seriously? (Is it time to dance?) We... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Illustrations by Chris Gash; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information

20 Jan 2014
Research & Ideas

Language Wars Divide Global Companies

Rod, this prior work is advanced to examine how language differences in subgroups can create an "us versus them" dynamic among workers, and how those schisms are linked to who holds power in firms. The study follows 96 workers... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard

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The General Shoe Company, 1921 | Baker Library | Bloomberg Center | Harvard Business School

the division of research, and a professor of investment banking at HBS. The case presents a labor problem in a hypothetical shoe manufacturing plant of the same name: workers were routinely leaving the plant 45 minutes early, adversely... View Details

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Japan - Global

end of the assembly line inoperable and had to be towed away for repairs. Toyota hired mostly former GM workers, including well-known plant militants and activists. It taught workers TPS, but more importantly it installed a culture that... View Details

14 May 2018
Research & Ideas

Amazon vs. Whole Foods: When Cultures Collide

centers. This sometimes resulted in reports of workers stressed out and exhausted by the demanding environment. “It’s one of those cultures that works for some people, but not others,” says Campbell, “there is a lot more performance... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Food & Beverage

28 Jun 2021
Research & Ideas

Keep or Cut Workers? How Companies Reacted to the COVID-19 Crisis

conduct an analysis to determine how companies were responding to the crisis. Were they retaining their staff and providing essential workers with extra pay, or were they cutting expenses through layoffs and furloughs? "It gave us a rare... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

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Building the On-Demand Workforce - Managing the Future of Work

benefit from this trend? What are the implications for workers and what choices are policymakers weighing? Digital platforms for highly skilled freelancers are set to broker more strategic engagements for businesses needing extra capacity... View Details

23 Aug 2016
First Look

August 23, 2016

central planner who directs individuals to execute tasks in a prescribed order. In many settings, however, workers have discretion to deviate from the assigned order. This paper considers the operational implications of “discretionary... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

31 Aug 2015
Research & Ideas

How Ben Franklin’s ‘Way to Wealth’ Introduced American Capitalism to the World

Many readers picked up on this and used the text for their own purposes. While we know from individual workers’ autobiographies that Franklin inspired many to lead more economic lives, statesmen could embrace the text because more industrious View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

16 Oct 2023
HBS Case

Advancing Black Talent: From the Flight Ramp to 'Family-Sustaining' Careers at Delta

workers into management would help everyone in the organization better understand “what it’s like to work on a ramp, in the cold, with a frustrated customer on a flight,” says Hill. “The frontline perspective can give management important... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Air Transportation

30 Mar 2021
Research & Ideas

Commuting Hurts Productivity and Your Best Talent Suffers Most

as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes and remote employees—perhaps grudgingly—contemplate returning to offices. Wu’s conclusions were clear: A long commute hurts workers and their employers by hindering creativity and productivity, which stifles... View Details