Labor Management - Publications - Faculty & Research

November–December 2020
Article

Rethinking the On-Demand Workforce

By: Joseph B. Fuller, Manjari Raman, Allison Bailey and Nithya Vaduganathan

As companies struggle with chronic skills shortages and changing labor demographics, a new generation of talent platforms, offering on-demand access to highly trained workers, has begun to help. These platforms include marketplaces for premium expertise (such as Toptal... View Details

Keywords: Talent Acquisition; Platforms; Skilled Labor Recruitment; Gig Economy; Talent and Talent Management; Selection and Staffing; Internet and the Web; Strategy; Digital Platforms

Citation

Find at Harvard

May–June 2013
Article

Can Global Brands Create Just Supply Chains? Response: Promoting Political Mobilization

By: Jodi L. Short and Michael W. Toffel

Codes of conduct indicate that working conditions are improving overall at the factories being monitored by multinational corporations, and that these codes of conduct also create possibilities for political mobilization that can improve labor conditions more broadly. View Details

Citation

Read Now

03 Jun 2020
News

How to Thrive as a Remote Manager and Employee

Keywords: Rebecca Carnahan; Remote work

September 1980 (Revised April 1984)
Background Note

Note on Japanese Management and Employment Systems

By: Michael Beer

Keywords: Management; Employment

Citation

Find at Harvard

March 2018 (Revised August 2018)
Case

Matching Markets for Googlers

By: Bo Cowgill and Rembrand Koning

This case describes how Google designed and launched an internal matching market to assign individual workers with projects and managers. The case evaluates how marketplace design considerations—and several alternative staffing models—could affect the company’s goals... View Details

Keywords: People Analytics; Google; Labor Market; Staffing; Market Design; Marketplace Matching; Selection and Staffing; Goals and Objectives; Technology Industry; United States

Citation

Educators

Purchase

2016
Working Paper

Signaling without Certification: The Critical Role of Civil Society Scrutiny

By: Susan A. Kayser, John W. Maxwell and Michael W. Toffel

In response to stakeholders' growing concerns, companies are joining voluntary environmental programs to signal their superior environmental management capabilities. In contrast to the literature's focus on certification programs that require a third-party audit, we... View Details

Keywords: United Nations; Labor Standards; Supplier Relationship; Procurement; Sustainability; Sustainability Management; Quality And Safety; Risk; Globalization; Globalized Markets and Industries; Governance; Working Conditions; Supply Chain Management; Supply Chain; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Quality; Risk and Uncertainty; Safety; Reputation

Citation

SSRN

Read Now

Web

Partners - Managing the Future of Work

Partners Partners The Managing the Future of Work project thanks our partners, who play a key role in supporting our research helping business leaders, policy makers, and education and workforce institutions better navigate the unique... View Details

12 Mar 2012
Research & Ideas

Crowded at the Top: The Rise of the Functional Manager

managers have risen in power, general managers may be losing some of theirs. A new working paper, Who Lives in the C-Suite? Organizational Structure and the Division of Labor... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

14 Oct 2021
In Practice

Reunited and It Feels (Not) So Good: Tips for Managing a Rocky Return

masks. We recently asked Harvard Business School professors whose research and expertise traverse topics related to remote work what advice they would offer managers and executives actively seeking to navigate these points of friction.... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

Web

Accounting & Management Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

Accounting & Management Overview Faculty Curriculum Seminars & Conferences Awards & Honors Doctoral Students 2024 Jonas Heese : Winner of the Best Paper Award at the 2024 Review of Accounting Studies Conference for “Variable Leases Under... View Details

April 2019
Case

American Ballet Theatre

By: Anita Elberse, Tsubasa Nakajima and Melissa Rodman

Kara Medoff Barnett, executive director of American Ballet Theatre (ABT), widely regarded as one of the world’s premier ballet companies, faces several challenges. It is June 2018. Despite its prestige, the company’s $45 million annual budget and $22 million endowment... View Details

Keywords: Performing Arts; Superstars; Talent; Talent Development; Non-profit; Contracts; Labor Economics; General Management; Arts; Entertainment; Media; Talent and Talent Management; Nonprofit Organizations; Marketing; Strategy

Citation

Educators

Purchase

24 Jan 2023
Research & Ideas

Passion at Work Is a Good Thing—But Only If Bosses Know How to Manage It

work actually means, which could lead to unhappy workers and frustrated managers. “As an organization, it’s not enough to just hire people for passion. Leaders also need to learn how to manage for passion.” An analysis of 200 million job... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

25 Jan 2016
News

Helping Young African Managers Find Their Way Home

You wouldn’t know it from most American media, but many sub-Saharan African nations have booming economies. And although the press may have missed the boat on this African success story, many business schools and business leaders know that one result of the boom is a... View Details

Keywords: Constantine von Hoffman

1988
Chapter

Using Life Stage Theory to Manage Work Relationships

By: J. A. Davis and R. Taguiri

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Labor and Management Relations

Citation

24 Jul 2018
Op-Ed

4 Ways Managers Can Exercise Their 'Agency' to Change the World

they feel a lack of “agency,” a sense that only the highest rank of management can effect positive social change from within a business. Ironically, an increasing number of C-suite executives, including former Starbucks CEO Howard... View Details

Keywords: by George Serafeim

Web

Entrepreneurial Management Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

Machinery (ACM) Conference on Economics and Computation for “Equilibrium Effects of Pay Transparency in a Simple Labor Market” with Bobak Pakzad-Hurson. Ranjay Gulati : Finalist for the 2019 Strategic View Details

2013
Working Paper

Managing Firms in an Emerging Economy: Evidence from the Time Use of Indian CEOs

By: Raffaella Sadun

The success or failure of a company is often ascribed to the behavior of its CEO. Yet little is known about what top managers actually do, whether this matters for firm performance, and why it differs across firms. We provide some answers by developing a new survey... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Performance; Outcome or Result; Management Teams; Manufacturing Industry; India

Citation

Read Now

2002
Chapter

Helping Managers Assess the Value of Human Capital

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Keywords: Human Capital; Valuation

Citation

March 2024
Article

Do Safety Management System Standards Indicate Safer Operations? Evidence from the OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety Standard

By: Kala Viswanathan, Matthew S. Johnson and Michael W. Toffel

Problem definition: Given the enormous disruptions and costs of occupational injuries, companies and buyers are increasingly looking to voluntary occupational health and safety standards to improve worker safety. Yet because these standards only require... View Details