Employee Morale - Publications - Faculty & Research

04 Dec 2012
First Look

First Look: December 4

employees in a large information technology firm. These findings have implications for research on homophily, gender relations in organizations, and formal and informal organizational structure. Exclusivity, Contingent Control Rights, and... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

10 Jan 2012
First Look

First Look: January 10

own childhood leads people to experience feelings of moral purity and to behave prosocially. In Experiment 1, participants instructed to recall memories from their childhood were more likely to help the experimenter with a supplementary... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

14 Feb 2012
First Look

First Look: February 14

undeniable ethical failure, people experience ethical dissonance between their moral values and their behavioral misconduct. Our findings indicate that to reduce ethical dissonance, individuals use a double-distancing mechanism. Using an... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

11 Aug 2009
First Look

First Look: August 11, 2009

http://www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521518550 In Favor of Clear Thinking: Incorporating Moral Rules into a Wise Cost-benefit Analysis Authors:Max Bazerman and Joshua D. Greene Publication:Perspectives on... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

18 Sep 2012
First Look

First Look: September 18

as consumers and employees (what we buy, how we manage others) to the choices that we make more broadly as human beings (who we date, how we deal with friendships). From my research, we see when a mismatch is most likely to occur between... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

12 Dec 2005
Research & Ideas

Using the Law to Strategic Advantage

Moreover, moral and ethical considerations may decisively influence how the law is applied. As a result, purely technical legal advice is often inadequate. CEOs should be looking for lawyers with wisdom and the courage to push back if... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Legal Services

10 Apr 2014
Research & Ideas

John Kotter’s Plan to Accelerate Your Business

employees who volunteer for the effort. The initiative is launched by top management or an executive committee. The principles of Kotter's dual operating system are: Important changes are driven by many people from everywhere in the... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard

23 Apr 2013
First Look

First Look: April 23

responsibility, HBS has long tried to promote better business standards. Anteby's rich account reveals the surprising role of silence in HBS's process of codifying morals and values. As he describes, specifics are often left unspoken; for... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

13 Feb 2006
Research & Ideas

When Gender Changes the Negotiation

The last few months have been trying for Maureen Park, the managing director of a small portfolio management firm. The firm's parent company, a large financial services concern, was performing below forecasts, and morale among Park's... View Details

Keywords: by Dina W. Pradel, Hannah Riley Bowles & Kathleen L. McGinn

22 Mar 2013
Research & Ideas

Pulling Campbell’s Out of the Soup

the time Conant was recruited, the company's share price had dropped from a high of $60 in 1998 to $30. Conant took a good long look at staff morale and didn't like what he saw. "We had a toxic culture. People were understandably... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Food & Beverage

09 Dec 2013
Research & Ideas

Cultural Disharmony Undermines Workplace Creativity

harassment or racial discrimination—in which coworkers' morale or performance suffers even when they are not the direct targets of abuse. He coined a term for the phenomenon, "ambient cultural disharmony," which he discusses in depth in... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

12 Nov 2012
Research & Ideas

Pay Workers More So They Steal Less

Bigger paychecks for retail employees could generate significant payoffs for employers by reducing worker theft and raising the level of moral behavior in the workforce, a new study shows. Tatiana Sandino,... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Retail

30 Nov 2016
What Do You Think?

How Do Leaders Manage the Tension Between Pride and Arrogance?

recommended) being attentive to the changes in the external environment communicating with middle managers and leading by example, motivating employees to speak, listening to customers.” Several asked whether the phenomenon in question is... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

14 Apr 2022
Op-Ed

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

burned out. The virtual meeting that runs back-to-back has shed light on the need for mini-breaks and recovery time. The result of the remote work environment, in some industries, is that leaders believe that employees are accessible... View Details

Keywords: by Hise O. Gibson and MaShon Wilson

09 Sep 2015
Research & Ideas

Leadership Lessons of the Great Recession: Options for Economic Downturns

people to leave. Furloughs can also be difficult for morale in the short term. Cote admitted he received angry emails from several employees as the furloughs at Honeywell dragged on from days to weeks. “By... View Details

Keywords: by Sandra Sucher & Susan Winterberg; Aerospace; Electronics

14 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Restarting Under Uncertainty: Managerial Experiences from Around the World

inform, educate, and improve morale among employees. The CEO prepared multiple videos to explain what the company knew and what it did not, and what to expect for the future. The company reassured employees... View Details

Keywords: by Raffaella Sadun, Andrea Bertoni, Alexia Delfino, Giovanni Fassio, and Mariapaola Testa

05 May 2011
What Do You Think?

How Ethical Can We Be?

borrows. Why should this matter to us? Employees tell us in one way or another that the single most important characteristic of their job is "a boss who's fair," who hires, promotes, and recognizes the right people. Nearly all... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

09 Feb 2015
Research & Ideas

Professional Networking Makes People Feel Dirty

School of Management at Northwestern University.) "From an academic perspective, we thought we could advance the theory of networks by looking at the psychological consequences of networking." Previous psychology research has shown that people think about View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

01 May 2019
What Do You Think?

What Should the Leadership of YouTube Do?

littleny Can YouTube’s Users Help the Company Deal With Its “Moral” Problem?* This month’s mini-case described the dilemma faced by Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube: how far to promote “sustainability,” viewership, and (to some) free speech at the risk of losing what is... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Entertainment & Recreation; Media & Broadcasting

January 2021 (Revised April 2022)
Case

Best Buy's Corie Barry: Confronting the COVID-19 Pandemic

By: William W. George and Amram Migdal

This case examines the leadership of Corie Barry, the new CEO of Best Buy, with a focus on actions the company took in 2020 to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic. The case includes a history of Best Buy’s strategy and leadership, including the transitions between the... View Details