Publications

Educators

2013
Working Paper

Work Design Drivers of Organizational Learning about Operational Failures: A Laboratory Experiment on Medication Administration

By: Anita L. Tucker

Operational failures persist in hospitals, in part because employees work around them rather than attempt to prevent recurrence. Drawing on a process improvement tool—the Andon cord—we examine three work design components that may foster improvement-oriented behaviors:... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Process Improvement; Organizational Learning; Behavioral Operations; Prosocial Behavior; Experiments; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Behavior; Performance Improvement; Health Care and Treatment; Business Processes; Health Industry

2024
Working Paper

Corporate Culture Homogeneity and Top Executive Incentive Design: Evidence from CEO Compensation Contracts

By: Dennis Campbell, Ruidi Shang and Zhifang Zhang

We examine how corporate cultures characterized by high degrees of homogeneity in the underlying values and beliefs of organizational members are related to the design of CEO incentive compensation contracts. We argue that culture homogeneity within firms lowers... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Culture; Compensation Design; Accounting; Management Control; Incentive Systems; Organizational Culture; Job Design and Levels; Governance; Executive Compensation; Motivation and Incentives

Research Summary

Overview

By: Roberto Verganti

Roberto’s research focuses on how to create innovations that are meaningful for people, for society, and for their creators. He explores how leaders and organizations generate radically new visions, and make those visions come real. His studies lie at the intersection... View Details

Keywords: Integrated Design; Strategy; Design Thinking; Innovation; Artificial Intelligence; Design; Technology; Leadership; Innovation Strategy

29 Oct 2018
Research & Ideas

Hunting for a Hot Job in High Tech? Try 'Digitization Economist'

returns. Digital advertising provides marketers with renewed opportunity to measure advertising effectiveness. Economists draw on both existing theories of advertising and the tools of econometrics to test View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Technology; Education

June 2017
Teaching Note

The Kursk Submarine Rescue Mission (Supplement)

By: Robert Simons and Jennifer Packard

Supplement to the Kursk Teaching Note 114-097. View Details

Keywords: Job Design; Levers Of Control; Organization; Span Of Support; Span Of Accountability

31 Jan 2023
Research & Ideas

It’s Not All About Pay: College Grads Want Jobs That ‘Change the World’

Businesses seeking highly educated talent would do well to appeal to college graduates’ desire to “change the world.” And in doing so, they might change the world a little, too—by offering jobs that come... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

June–July 2019
Article

A Methodology for Operationalizing Enterprise IT Architecture and Evaluating Its Modifiability

By: Robert Lagerström, Alan MacCormack, David Dreyfus and Carliss Y. Baldwin

Recent contributions to information systems theory suggest that the primary role of a firm’s information technology (IT) architecture is to facilitate, and therefore ensure the continued alignment of a firm’s IT investments with a constantly changing business... View Details

Keywords: Enterprise Architecture; Modularity; Information Systems; Modifiability; Design Structure Matrix

24 Mar 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Securing Jobs or the New Protectionism? Taxing the Overseas Activities of Multinational Firms

Keywords: by Mihir A. Desai

June 2012
Case

Buro Happold (Abridged)

By: Robert G. Eccles and Ryan Johnson

In 1996, Ted Happold, the founder of the engineering services firm Buro Happold, passed away, and Padraic Kelly became the firm's new managing director (MD). One of his first initiatives was "Aim for Growth," which was intended to help the firm grow beyond its current... View Details

Keywords: Learning And Development; Managing Growth; Organizational Design; Diversification; Client Management; Leadership Skills; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Leadership Development; Management Skills; Training; Programs; Customer Relationship Management

Educators

2022
Working Paper

Electoral Turnovers

By: Benjamin Marx, Vincent Pons and Vincent Rollet

In most national elections, voters face a key choice between continuity and change. Electoral turnovers occur when the incumbent candidate or party fails to win reelection. To understand how turnovers affect national outcomes, we study the universe of presidential and... View Details

Keywords: Election Outcomes; Regression Discontinuity Design; Political Elections; Change; Global Range; Outcome or Result; Economy; Governance; Performance Improvement

January 2015
Article

Collaboration in Multi-Partner R&D Projects: The Impact of Partnering Scale and Scope

By: Anant Mishra, Aravind Chandrasekaran and Alan MacCormack

How can firms design collaboration structures for effective performance in R&D projects that involve multiple partners? To address this question, we examine the theoretical underpinnings of collaboration structures in multi-partner R&D projects—i.e., the scale and the... View Details

Keywords: Multi-Partner R＆D Projects; Empirical Research; New Development; Collaboration Structures; Partnering Scale And Scope; Partners and Partnerships; Infrastructure; Performance Capacity; Research and Development; Collaborative Innovation and Invention

Find at Harvard

17 Feb 2022
News

A Big Bet

Tracy Palandjian (MBA 1997) and Gerald Chertavian (MBA 1992) (Photos by Susan Young) When Google announced a $100 million fund to expand skills training and job placement... View Details

Keywords: jobs training; social enterprise; upskilling; Technical and Trade Schools; Technical and Trade Schools

08 Oct 2020
Research & Ideas

Keep Your Weary Workers Engaged and Motivated

rotations, or peer mentorship opportunities. The fact that sales was on the third floor and R&D on the second isn’t quite as relevant as it once was. Comprehend/Challenge On the organizational level, this drive is usually satisfied... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams

20 Apr 2023
Blog Post

Tackle the First 90 Days of Your Next Role: A 5 Step Process for Success on the Job

have everything you need to succeed by following HBS Career Coach Matt Spielman’s five steps to success on the job in the first 90 days. Why the First 90 Days Matters In his work educating companies about successful onboarding, Spielman... View Details

August 2013 (Revised November 2013)
Supplement

Ford vs. GM: The Evolution of Mass Production (B)

By: Willy Shih

This case explores the very different paths taken by the Ford Motor Company and the General Motors Corporation in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Henry Ford's Model T was a car for the masses. After considerable experimentation, Ford Motor... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Exploration; Dominant Design; Business Growth and Maturation; Business History; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Positioning; Product Design; Product Development; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Vertical Integration; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Michigan

01 Sep 2004
News

Career Makeover

with maybe a few widely available added touches she’ll bring in from outside. And often, by her own choice, she’ll do the job all in one day. “If I was rich, I would do it for free,” declared Davis, who... View Details

Keywords: interior design; Arts, Entertainment; Broadcasting (except Internet); Information

03 Dec 2020
Research & Ideas

Cut Payroll Costs with Transparency, Fairness, and Compassion

Conduct, your jobs are secure. This decision was made with 100 percent support of the Firm’s Operating Committee. At the end of this year, we will know what we are dealing with, and hopefully, the economy... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Sarah Abbott

10 Sep 2020
Research & Ideas

The COVID Two-Step for Leaders: Protect and Pivot

top executive. Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, we are all taking in vast amounts of new information every day and adjusting to an entirely new set of behavioral habits. In addition, most of us are dealing with unprecedented tasks View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly Baden

2022
Working Paper

Can a Website Bring Unemployment Down? Experimental Evidence from France

By: Aïcha Ben Dhia, Bruno Crépon, Esther Mbih, Louise Paul-Delvaux, Bertille Picard and Vincent Pons

We evaluate the impact of an online platform giving job seekers tips to improve their search and recommendations of new occupations and locations to target, based on their personal data and labor market data. Our experiment used an encouragement design and was... View Details

Keywords: Online Platform; Digital Platform; Unemployment; Encouragement Design; Job Search; Jobs and Positions; Internet and the Web; Well-being; Outcome or Result; Digital Platforms; France

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