Authority - Publications - Faculty & Research

05 Aug 2009
Working Paper Summaries

The New Science of Retailing

Authors Marshall Fisher and Ananth Raman, argue that the time is ripe for “rocket science retailing.” Just as Wall Street was... View Details

May 2009
Article

This paper studies a manager's trade-off between using persuasion and using interpersonal authority to get an employee to 'do the right thing' from the manager's perspective (when the manager and employee disagree on the right course of action). It... View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Managerial Roles; Projects; Motivation and Incentives; Power and Influence

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2009
Working Paper

Authority versus Persuasion

By: Eric J. Van den Steen

This paper studies a principal's trade-off between using persuasion versus using interpersonal authority to get the agent to "do the right thing"; from the principal's perspective (when the principal and agent openly disagree on the right course of action). It shows... View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Managerial Roles; Projects; Motivation and Incentives; Power and Influence

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Professor Gautam Mukunda's Indispensable presentation as part of the Authors at Google series. October 26, 2012. View Details

01 Jun 2004
News

Alumni Author

After two semesters at HBS, Daisy Wademan (MBA ’02) found herself looking forward to the last day of class when faculty members traditionally share personal stories and dole out life advice. So inspiring did she find these gems that she decided to take on the task of... View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

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February 2003
Case

Dubai Ports Authority (A)

The Dubai Ports Authority (DPA) wishes to digitize many of the documents it shares with its external partners, including shipping lines and agents, merchants, and the country's customs authority. DPA also wishes to automate the many document transmissions related to... View Details

Keywords: Communication Technology; Information Technology; Cooperation; Globalized Markets and Industries; Shipping Industry; Dubai

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March 1999
Article

Informal Authority in Organizations

By: George P. Baker, Robert Gibbons and Kevin J. Murphy

Keywords: Organizations

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24 Mar 2015
News

Best-Selling Author Touts Walter Friedman Work

2007
Article

Managers, Workers, and Authority

By: Nien-he Hsieh

Keywords: Management; Employees

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30 Apr 2011
News

Formal Authority Is Overrated

08 Mar 2021
News

Building Influence Without Authority

Research Summary

Delegation of Authority in Oligopoly

This paper studies the consequences of product-market competition on firms' decisions to delegate more or fewer decision-making responsibilities to managers. By simultaneously addressing the choice of both competitive actions and organizational design, the paper... View Details

April 2024
Article

Decision Authority and the Returns to Algorithms

By: Hyunjin Kim, Edward L. Glaeser, Andrew Hillis, Scott Duke Kominers and Michael Luca

We evaluate a pilot in an Inspections Department to explore the returns to a pair of algorithms that varied in their sophistication. We find that both algorithms provided substantial prediction gains, suggesting that even simple data may be helpful. However, these... View Details