Publications

April 2019
Case

Barber Cardiosystems

By: Ranjay Gulati and Paul S. Myers

Barber Cardiosystems, based in Melbourne, Australia, designs and manufactures therapeutic devices used for treatment of coronary conditions. Over four decades, it has grown to be among the top 200 medical device companies in the world. It competes against much larger... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Strategic Alignment; Cost Management; Performance Productivity; Organizational Culture; Motivation and Incentives; Organizational Design; Strategy; Leadership; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Australia

2006
Chapter

A Decision Perspective on Organizations: Social Cognition, Behavioral Decision Theory and the Psychological Links to Micro and Macro Organizational Behaviour

By: M. A. Neale, A. E. Tenbrunsel, T. Galvin and M. H. Bazerman

Keywords: Decision Making; Perspective; Behavior; Cognition and Thinking; Organizations; Mathematical Methods

August 2016 (Revised May 2018)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 1: Managing Organizational Tensions

By: Robert Simons

This module reading lays the foundation for executing strategy using performance measurement and control systems. Properly applied, these systems can overcome the organizational blocks that impede the potential of all people who work in modern organizations. This... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Strategy Execution; Performance Measurement; Profit Planning; Organization Design; Profitable Growth; Management Attention; Organizational Conflict; Human Behavior; Strategy; Ethics; Goals and Objectives; Organizational Design; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Performance; Measurement and Metrics

26 Sep 2024
News

When I Became President of KFC, Franchisees and Corporate Hated Each Other. But I Believed This Behavioral Theory Could Bring Them Back Together.

February 2020
Article

Using Charity Performance Metrics as an Excuse Not to Give

By: Christine L. Exley

There is an increasing pressure to give more wisely and effectively. There is, relatedly, an increasing focus on charity performance metrics. Via a series of experiments, this paper provides a caution to such a focus. While information on charity performance metrics... View Details

Keywords: Charitable Giving; Prosocial Behavior; Altruism; Excuses; Self-serving Biases; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Performance; Measurement and Metrics; Behavior

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January 2019
Article

Wage Elasticities in Working and Volunteering: The Role of Reference Points in a Laboratory Study

By: Christine L. Exley and Stephen J. Terry

We experimentally test how effort responds to wages—randomly assigned to accrue to individuals or to a charity—in the presence of expectations-based reference points or targets. When individuals earn money for themselves, higher wages lead to higher effort with... View Details

Keywords: Reference Points; Wage Elasticities; Labor Supply; Effor; Volunteering; Prosocial Behavior; Wages; Motivation and Incentives; Nonprofit Organizations; Behavior

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May 2013
Case

Kaiser Permanente: Innovating to Transform Healthcare

By: Lynda Applegate

This case enables discussion of organizational and industry transformation. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Management; Strategy; Organ; Entrepreneurship; Management; Competitive Strategy; Behavior; Leadership; Health Industry; United States

2014
Article

Morality Rebooted: Exploring Simple Fixes to Our Moral Bugs

By: Ting Zhang, Francesca Gino and Max Bazerman

Ethics research developed partly in response to calls from organizations to understand and solve unethical behavior. Departing from prior work that focused mainly on examining the antecedents and consequences of dishonesty, we examine two approaches to mitigating... View Details

Keywords: Corruption; Dishonesty; Unethical Behavior; Interventions; Structure; Values; Behavior; Ethics; Moral Sensibility

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Research Summary

Overview

I am an ethnographer and field researcher studying how people experience and interpret their work and cultural contexts, as well as how this shapes inequality and organizational outcomes like normative control. I specialize in utilizing in-depth, inductive field... View Details

Keywords: Qualitative Research; Ethnography; Corporate Culture; Organizational Behavior; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Theory; Working Conditions; Consulting Industry

Teaching Interest

Overview

Luciana has taught in front of MBA, Master of International Business and Economics, and Executive Education students. At HBS, she was a teaching fellow in "Managing Innovation" (taught in the MBA program by Professor Karim Lakhani) and co-developed most teaching... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Evolution; Organizational Behavior; Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design

Research Summary

Overview

My research uses a combination of lab experiments and empirical methods to understand how organizations can design their operations in order to inspire trust. View Details

Keywords: Behavioral Operations; Human-in-the-loop; Algorithm Transparency; Corporate Social Responsibility; Operations Management

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

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June 2013 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Kvadrat: Leading for Innovation

By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott

In 2013, Anders Byriel, CEO of the family-owned Danish textiles company, Kvadrat, considered the firm's strategic plan. In 2000, Byriel and Mette Bendix, Kvadrat's Product Director, had taken over management of the company from their fathers, who had founded Kvadrat... View Details

Keywords: General Management; Organizational Behavior; Strategy; Performance Management; Leadership; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Practices and Processes; Human Resources; Denmark; Europe; Asia

Research Summary

Overview

By: Ryan W. Buell

From creating flight itineraries online, to interacting with tellers to complete complex banking transactions, to engaging with the government to address civic problems, customers are playing an increasingly vital role in the performance of operations in a broadening... View Details

Research Summary

Overview

Erin's research focuses on how organizations can and should respond to employee failures. She is interested in understanding the effects that organizational responses have on subsequent employee behavior, and how organizational policies can be designed to more... View Details

Keywords: Repair; Recovery; Reintegration; Prosocial Behavior; Field Experiment; Psychology; Networks; Punishment; Giving and Philanthropy; Social Psychology; Motivation and Incentives; Social and Collaborative Networks; Ethics

Research Summary

Overview

By: Ting Zhang

Professor Zhang examines how organizations can better develop individuals through advising and mentoring. In particular, she investigates how expanding individuals' direction of learning across social hierarchies and reversing traditional models of learning (e.g.,... View Details

Keywords: Advice; Mentoring; Expertise; Ethics; Interventions; Organizational Behavior; Decision Making; Power And Influence

Research Summary

The Unexpected Effects of Workplace Connectivity

By: Ethan S. Bernstein

While investigating how workplace transparency and privacy shape organizational behavior and performance, I wondered about the related effects of workplace connectivity. As new digital tools and organizational forms make it far easier for employees to communicate... View Details

Keywords: Human Behavior; Performance; Virtual Work; Hybrid Work; Office Space; Workplace Design; Organizations; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Groups and Teams; Networks; Behavior; Social and Collaborative Networks; Communication

January 2018 (Revised March 2018)
Case

Lagunitas Brewing Company

By: Joshua Margolis, Allison Ciechanover and Jeff Huizinga

The CEO of a California-based craft brewery manages new partnership with—and potential acquisition by—industry giant Heineken. View Details

Keywords: Culture; Non-profit; International; Organizational Behavior; Food; Leadership; Mergers and Acquisitions; Organizational Culture; Management; Partners and Partnerships; Technology Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States