Social Assistance - Publications - Faculty & Research

08 Apr 2013
Research & Ideas

How to Demotivate Your Best Employees

motivated to work harder over the long term. But new research suggests that some awards may actually have the opposite effect, according to a recent paper called The Dirty Laundry of Employee Award Programs: Evidence from the Field, written by Harvard Business School... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Service

21 Sep 2022
Research & Ideas

You Don’t Have to Quit Your Job to Find More Meaning in Life

It’s a philosophical debate as old as time: What is the secret to leading a meaningful life? For many, the question gained new urgency after years of social distancing and upheaval during the COVID-19 pandemic. After surviving a public... View Details

Keywords: by Shalene Gupta

07 Feb 2017
Research & Ideas

The Right Way to Cry in Front of Your Boss

Negotiation, Organizations & Markets unit. But instead of apologizing for being emotional, apologize for being passionate, she advises. “Saying you’re emotional is about you, whereas saying you’re passionate is about what the situation is,” Wolf says, adding that... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland

20 Aug 2020
Book

From the Plow to the Pill: How Technology Shapes Our Lives

“Technological change doesn’t just stay in board rooms and companies,” she says. “It drives our most intimate personal relationships as well.” Spar, the MBA Class of 1952 Professor of Business Administration at HBS, argues that crucial periods of innovation spurred... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

10 Jul 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, July 10, 2018

improves financial performance on measures such as profitable investments at the individual portfolio-company level and overall fund returns. And even though associating with similar people can have social benefits for those people, it... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

19 Dec 2022
Research & Ideas

What Motivates People to Give Generously—and Why We Sometimes Don't

Both Associate Professor Christine Exley and Assistant Professor Julian Zlatev apply the tools of their research to examine a simple question: What makes people give? Exley became interested in the topic as a child, when she tried to... View Details

Keywords: by Jen McFarland Flint, HBS Alumni Bulletin

12 Apr 2017
Research & Ideas

Why Productivity Suffers When Employees Are Allowed to Schedule Their Own Tasks

working paper Discretionary Task Ordering: Queue Management in Radiological Services by María R. Ibáñez, a doctoral candidate at Harvard Business School; Jonathan R. Clark , an assistant professor at the University of Texas at San... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health

03 Mar 2023
Research & Ideas

When Showing Know-How Backfires for Women Managers

Most of us would like to impress the people we work with. But new research from Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Alexandra Feldberg finds that, for women managers, this aspiration can undermine performance. Feldberg discovered... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin; Retail; Consumer Products

16 Feb 2024
Research & Ideas

As AI Upends Recruiting, Job Seekers Need a Waze App for Careers

Fuller partnered on the work with scholars at the Project on Workforce including Kerry McKittrick, co-director; Ali Epstein, research project coordinator; and research assistants Sherry Seibel, Cole Wilson, and Vasundhara Dash. The team... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Information Technology; Technology

23 Apr 2024
In Practice

Getting to Net Zero: The Climate Standards and Ecosystem the World Needs Now

With each month clocking record-breaking temperatures across the planet, this Earth Day reflected the renewed urgency of regulators and businesses to find climate-change solutions. The US Securities and Exchange Commission recently adopted new rules that will mandate... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

23 Sep 2015
Research & Ideas

Men Want Powerful Jobs More Than Women Do

New research from Harvard Business School reveals a stark gap in the professional ambitions of men and women. Having surveyed a diverse sample of more than 4,000 men and women, a team of social scientists reports a list of potentially... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

22 Nov 2022
Research & Ideas

When Agreeing to Disagree Is a Good Beginning

in recent years, Minson added. “Arguments have become more accusatory and more emotional,” she said. She blames social media. “It’s become so much easier to surround yourself with people who agree with you. Now you can go online and... View Details

Keywords: by Clea Simon, Harvard Gazette

07 Apr 2021
Research & Ideas

How Teams Work: Lessons from the Pandemic

discussions to intrude on meetings scheduled for other purposes. “Grabbing a marker and sketching ideas together on a whiteboard—that's much more difficult in the virtual environment,” says Ashley Whillans, assistant professor at HBS and... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

25 Jun 2012
Research & Ideas

Collaborating Across Cultures

today's business environment, says Roy Y.J. Chua, an assistant professor in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School who has focused his research on exploring how such collaboration can effectively take place. A... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

20 Apr 2011
Research & Ideas

Blind Spots: We’re Not as Ethical as We Think

constrained the "want" self. Ann's teaching assistant used a similar precommitment strategy to constrain her "want" self during finals week. Knowing she should study but would be tempted to procrastinate by spending... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

14 Mar 2018
Research & Ideas

Feeling Stressed? Try Sniffing Your Romantic Partner's Shirt

published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. “Many people wear their partner’s shirt, or they sleep on their partner’s side of the bed when they’re away; I was interested in whether there was any benefit to those... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

11 Jan 2022
Research & Ideas

Feeling Seen: What to Say When Your Employees Are Not OK

crucial, especially for managers trying to lead widely dispersed teams during difficult times, says Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Julian Zlatev. Many managers believe in maintaining emotional boundaries with employees, but... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

Article

Effects of Description of Options on Parental Perinatal Decision-Making

By: Marlyse F. Haward, Leslie K. John, John M. Lorenz and Baruch Fischhoff

Objective: To examine whether parents' delivery room management decisions for extremely preterm infants are influenced by (a) the degree of detail with which options-comfort care (CC) or intensive care (IC)-are presented or (b) their order of presentation. Methods: 309... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Values and Beliefs; Personal Characteristics; Attitudes; Motivation and Incentives; Family and Family Relationships; Health Care and Treatment

Citation

Find at Harvard

05 Dec 2018
Research & Ideas

Why Managers Should Reveal Their Failures

success. “If you’re highly successful, your achievements are obvious. It’s more novel and inspiring for others to learn about your mistakes,” says Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Alison Wood Brooks. “What’s exciting about this... View Details