by Michael Beer - Publications - Faculty & Research

14 Apr 2021
Research & Ideas

The High Cost of the Slow COVID Vaccine Rollout

Government officials should have poured much more money into producing and distributing COVID-19 vaccines to save more lives and rescue the economy faster, according to new research co-authored by 16 researchers including Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health

28 Mar 2016
Research & Ideas

What's a Boss Worth?

We all have our boss horror stories. The underminer. The bad communicator. The credit hog. The snake. Then again, if we’re lucky, we’ve all had those amazing bosses as well—the supervisor who encourages all employees to take their work up to the next level; the manager... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Service

29 Nov 2022
Research & Ideas

How Much More Would Holiday Shoppers Pay to Wear Something Rare?

Do you have that one friend who seems to snag the coolest, most fashionable shoes, jewelry, or clothes? Now new research shows that when luxury goods companies cater to these trendy consumers by controlling how rare certain items... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail

13 Feb 2020
Book

Open Your Organization to Honest Conversations

New Video: Books@Baker Virtual Session with Michael Beer After prospering for more than 100 years, General Electric found itself in trouble in the early 2000s, facing the double wallop of a depressed energy... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

04 Mar 2024
Research & Ideas

Want to Make Diversity Stick? Break the Cycle of Sameness

that he was replacing a woman as opposed to a man affect his decision?” Most likely, yes. In studying the appointments of more than 2,000 federal judges and more than 5,000 corporate board members, Chang found that leaders have a strong tendency to replace “like people... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

25 Jul 2016
Research & Ideas

Who is to Blame for 'The Great Training Robbery'?

About $162 billion was spent in 2012 in the United States on corporate training—in what Harvard Business School Professor Michael Beer calls the “the great training robbery.” Beer, the Cahners-Rabb Professor... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Education

16 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Restaurant Revolution: How the Industry Is Fighting to Stay Alive

It’s never been easy to make money in the restaurant industry. A highly fragmented sector dominated by 70 percent independent owners and operators, the average restaurant’s annual revenue hovers around $1 million and generates an... View Details

Keywords: by Michael S. Kaufman, Lena G. Goldberg, and Jill Avery; Food & Beverage

12 Feb 2018
Research & Ideas

Customers at the Back of the Line Are Anxious—Can You Keep Them from Leaving?

the UPS Foundation Associate Professor of Service Management in the Technology and Operations Management Unit. “When we are feeling bad, one way we cope is by comparing ourselves to people who are worse off than we are.” Perhaps nowhere... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail; Service

13 May 2022
Research & Ideas

Company Reviews on Glassdoor: Petty Complaints or Signs of Potential Misconduct?

behavior bubbles below the radar An employee may not come forward right away to expose wrongdoing at a corporation for many reasons. In the absence of directly observing egregious behavior by a particular individual, an employee may not... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Technology

17 Dec 2018
Research & Ideas

Women Receive Harsher Punishment at Work Than Men

of the University of Texas-Austin and Amit Seru of Stanford Graduate School of Business. A spate of alleged fraud by Wells Fargo has highlighted a dirty little secret in the financial industry: Misconduct by... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

1998
Book

Competing by Design: The Power of Organizational Architectures

By: D. Nadler and Michael Tushman

Keywords: Organizational Design

Citation

Find at Harvard

19 Jan 2015
Research & Ideas

Is Wikipedia More Biased Than Encyclopædia Britannica?

institution announced it would no longer publish a print version of its multivolume compendium of knowledge. Though the Britannica would still be available online, the writing on the virtual wall was clear: It had been supplanted by the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Publishing

13 Aug 2014
Lessons from the Classroom

Managing the Family Business: Entrepreneurs Needed for Long-Run Success

generations of the family are supposed to take care of and grow the founder's creation; they are not expected to be entrepreneurs themselves. Even attempting to reinvent the family company can be seen as disloyal by the family. This... View Details

Keywords: by Michael J. Roberts

09 Nov 2015
Research & Ideas

These Employers Pay Higher Salaries than Necessary

bazaar—measure the exact difference between the price paid by a first-timer and the price paid by an experienced haggler. Stanton and Thomas obtained the complete database on all administrative support jobs... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Employment; Technology; Computer

15 Sep 2022
Research & Ideas

Looking For a Job? Some LinkedIn Connections Matter More Than Others

LinkedIn’s People You May Know (PYMK) feature, which uses an algorithm to suggest new connections to members. LinkedIn constantly improves the algorithm by introducing new versions and testing them using randomized experiments for... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

18 Jul 2024
Research & Ideas

New Hires Lose Psychological Safety After Year One. How to Fix It.

welcome. In fact, new hires often enter fresh roles feeling optimistic and confident their organizations are eager to hear from them, but over time, employees increasingly feel less “psychologically safe” to contribute ideas, new research View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

A Perfect Fit: Aligning Organization & Strategy

professor Michael Beer says companies should do on a regular basis. "Business success is a function of fit between a host of key variables within an organization," he says. "Strategy, values,... View Details

Keywords: by Judith A. Ross

15 Oct 2024
Research & Ideas

We Have Better Ways to Break Habits Than Willpower. Why Don't We Use Them?

The deadline on an important work project is looming, but you keep getting distracted by news stories and silly cat videos online. Even though installing an Internet-blocking app might help you stay focused, you resist the idea, telling... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

25 Sep 2019
Research & Ideas

The Economic Cost of Physician Burnout

stress experienced by doctors themselves. Sinsky is one of the authors of the latest paper. “It was a great opportunity to explore this issue with thought leaders on the subject,” Goh says. “I could provide my technical skills on... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health

Article

Handshaking Promotes Deal-Making by Signaling Cooperative Intent

By: Juliana Schroeder, Jane L. Risen, Francesca Gino and Michael I. Norton

We examine how a simple handshake—a gesture that often occurs at the outset of social interactions—can influence deal-making. Because handshakes are social rituals, they are imbued with meaning beyond their physical features. We propose that during mixed-motive... View Details