Publications

1987
Chapter

Planning, Control, and Uncertainty: A Process View

By: R. Simons

Keywords: Planning; Governance; Risk and Uncertainty; Risk Management

November 1992 (Revised January 2002)
Case

Process Control at Polaroid (A)

By: H. Kent Bowen and Steven C. Wheelwright

Describes the initial efforts at a film production plant to shift from a traditional QC inspection mentality to a worker-based process control mentality. Students can prepare SPC charts, propose actions needed, and combine steps into an overall action plan. View Details

Keywords: Management Systems; Operations; Quality; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Business Processes; Change Management; Consumer Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry

17 Jun 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Management as a Technology?

Keywords: by Nicholas Bloom, Raffaella Sadun, and John Van Reenen

spring 1994
Article

Unilateral Commitments and the Importance of Process in Alliances

By: Ranjay Gulati, Tarun Khanna and Nitin Nohria

How the partners in an alliance view their joint venture can have much to do with its success or failure. Each partner fears that the other will get the larger payoff by acting opportunistically while it cooperates in good faith. The result is that both partners choose... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Partners and Partnerships; Joint Ventures; Management Practices and Processes; Alliances; Trust; Game Theory

14 Nov 2011
Working Paper Summaries

The Impact of Corporate Sustainability on Organizational Process and Performance

Keywords: by Robert G. Eccles, Ioannis Ioannou & George Serafeim; Accounting

September 1974 (Revised July 1979)
Background Note

A Note on Process Analysis

By: Paul W. Marshall

Provides an introductory note to production processes and the use of flow diagram. View Details

Keywords: Production; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques

Article

Equitable and Efficient Coordination in Traffic Flow Management

By: Cynthia Barnhart, Dimitris Bertsimas, Constantine Caramanis and Douglas S. Fearing

When air traffic demand is projected to exceed capacity, the FAA implements Traffic Flow Management programs. Independently, these programs maintain a first-scheduled, first-served invariant, which is the accepted standard of fairness within the industry. Coordinating... View Details

Keywords: Traffic Flow Management; Ground Holding Programs; Equitable Flight Delay; Equity; Saving; Management; Management Practices and Processes; Demand and Consumers; Performance Capacity; Performance Efficiency; Conflict and Resolution; System; Aerospace Industry

August 1976 (Revised December 1986)
Background Note

Note on Process Observation

By: John J. Gabarro

Explains some of the dynamics of what actually happens in an effective or ineffective group. Also mentioned are a number of interventions which can be taken on by any group member to help change an ineffective group to one which operates more effectively. View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes

Research Summary

Personal Selling and Sales Management

By: Das Narayandas

Das is currently investigating benchmark practices in personal selling and sales management across a variety of industries. He is also conducting field studies to understand how firms are leveraging interactive technologies to support their field sales efforts. View Details

Teaching Interest

Technology and Operations Management

By: Christina R. Wing

This course enables students to develop the skills and concepts needed to ensure the ongoing contribution of a firm's operations to its competitive position. It helps them to understand the complex processes underlying the development and manufacture of products as... View Details

2007
Case

Continuous Process Improvement at Deere & Company

By: Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble

After decades of tense relationships with the United Auto Workers, Deere & Company broke through with a landmark agreement that built an expectation of continuous improvement into the compensation plan. The company then built a set of management forums and processes to... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Machinery and Machining; Agreements and Arrangements; Management Practices and Processes; Labor Unions; Compensation and Benefits; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

Read Now

Forthcoming
Article

Human Capital and the Managerial Revolution in the United States: Evidence from General Electric

By: Tom Nicholas

This paper estimates the returns to human capital accumulation during the first era of mega-firms in the United States by linking employees at General Electric—a canonical enterprise associated with the “visible hand” of managerial hierarchies—to the 1940 census. I... View Details

Keywords: Returns To Education; Management Practices; Hierarchies; Management Practices and Processes; Rank and Position; Human Capital; Talent and Talent Management; Business History; United States

March 2009
Article

Risk Management and Calculative Cultures

By: Anette Mikes

Enterprise risk management (ERM) has recently emerged as a widespread practice in financial institutions. It has been increasingly codified and encrypted into regulatory, corporate governance and organisational management blueprints. A burgeoning literature of... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Practice; Banks and Banking; Corporate Governance; Value; Business and Shareholder Relations; Managerial Roles; Culture; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business or Company Management; Financial Services Industry

April 1993 (Revised June 1993)
Background Note

Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change

Provides a conceptual framework for understanding business process redesign and change management. View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Information Technology; Business Processes

November 2012
Article

Does Management Really Work?

By: Nicholas Bloom, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen

HBR's 90th anniversary is a sensible time to revisit a basic question: Are organizations more likely to succeed if they adopt good management practices? The answer may seem obvious to most HBR readers, but these three economists cast their net much wider than that. In... View Details

Keywords: Best Practices; Consulting Firms; Corporations; Cost Control; Employee Training; Executive Ability (Management); Executives—training Of; Hospitals—administration; Industrial Management—research; Productivity Incentives; School Management Teams; Work Environment; Management; Research

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25 Aug 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Managerial Practices That Promote Voice and Taking Charge among Frontline Workers

Keywords: by Julia Rose Adler-Milstein, Sara J. Singer & Michael W. Toffel; Health

2014
Working Paper

The New Empirical Economics of Management

By: Nicholas Bloom, Renata Lemos, Raffaella Sadun, Daniela Scur and John Van Reenen

Over the last decade the World Management Survey (WMS) has collected firm-level management practices data across multiple sectors and countries. We developed the survey to try to explain the large and persistent TFP differences across firms and countries. This review... View Details

Keywords: Management; Organization; Productivity; Management Practices and Processes; Performance Productivity; Microeconomics