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- April 2025
- Case
Giving Up on a Passion: Elizabeth Rowe at the Boston Symphony Orchestra
By: Jon M. Jachimowicz, Maisie Wiltshire-Gordon and Alexis Lefort
For 20 years, Elizabeth Rowe was a world-renowned principal flutist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. But in 2024, Rowe decided to leave her position to pursue a new full-time career as a leadership coach. At 50, Rowe was well under the typical retirement age, and,... View Details
Keywords: Arts; Small Business; Social Media; Cost vs Benefits; Decision Choices and Conditions; Decisions; Learning; Music Entertainment; Values and Beliefs; Creativity; Happiness; Identity; Interests; Satisfaction; Motivation and Incentives; Prejudice and Bias; Reputation; Culture; Resignation and Termination; Personal Development and Career; Consulting Industry; Fine Arts Industry; Music Industry; United States
- January 2025
- Case
Reimagining the Employee Experience at the LEGO Group
By: Amy Edmondson, Mark Mortensen and Elisabeth Powell
In 2024, the LEGO Group faced a decision about the future of LEGO’s Benefits Experience Strategy and the “Best of Both” remote/hybrid work policy. With over 28,500 employees spanning global hubs, retail stores, and manufacturing plants, LEGO leaders had to consider... View Details
- December 2024
- Article
Managerial Pluralism: Thirty Years of Teaching Business Ethics
The author reflects on 30 years of teaching business ethics at Harvard Business School. The paper presents tactical lessons for teaching courses in professional ethics and introduces “managerial pluralism.” This concept is akin to Isaiah Berlin’s value pluralism and... View Details
- March 2024 (Revised July 2024)
- Case
AMC: The Zero Revenue Case
By: C. Fritz Foley and Donal O'Cofaigh
The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic put theatre company AMC’s already perilous financial situation under even further strain. The company’s high levels of debt resulted in a monthly cash-burn which left it facing an imminent Chapter-11 filing in the absence of... View Details
- 2024
- Working Paper
The Fading Light of Democratic Capitalism: How Pervasive Cronyism and Restricted Suffrage Are Destroying Democratic Capitalism as a National Ideal…and What to Do about It
What are we to do about declining public trust and confidence in democratic capitalism, which many citizens consider a cornerstone of our national ideology and identity? While the answer is not entirely clear, I argue in this essay that any effort aimed at restoring... View Details
- March–April 2024
- Article
How Companies Should Weigh in on a Controversy: A Better Approach to Stakeholder Management
By: David M. Bersoff, Sandra J. Sucher and Peter Tufano
Executives need guidance about managing their organizations’ engagement with societal issues—including hot-button topics such as gender, climate, and racial discrimination. Success in this realm does not mean avoiding public controversy or achieving unanimous support... View Details
- January 2024 (Revised February 2024)
- Course Overview Note
Managing Customers for Growth: Course Overview for Students
By: Eva Ascarza
Managing Customers for Growth (MCG) is a 14-session elective course for second-year MBA students at Harvard Business School. It is designed for business professionals engaged in roles centered on customer-driven growth activities. The course explores the dynamics of... View Details
- 2023
- Book
Your True Moral Compass: Defining Reality, Responsibility, and Practicality in Your Leadership Moments
This book presents a new, powerful, and practical way of making final decisions on the hard, complex, uncertain problems of life and work. What if you have looked at the data, talked with trusted colleagues, and applied all the relevant managerial and ethical... View Details
- September 2023 (Revised September 2024)
- Technical Note
Measuring and Managing Social Impact
By: Brian Trelstad, Gerald Chertavian and Susan Pinckney
A brief overview of how to measure social impact at nonprofits, social organizations, and impact investments. View Details
Keywords: Analysis; Change; Transformation; Decision Making; Cost vs Benefits; Decision Choices and Conditions; Decisions; Forecasting and Prediction; Public Sector; Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Fairness; Entrepreneurial Finance; Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Policy; Innovation and Management; Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Practices and Processes; Resource Allocation; Measurement and Metrics; Standards; Strength and Weakness; Mission and Purpose; Success; Performance; Performance Evaluation; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Strategic Planning; Programs; Risk and Uncertainty; Social Enterprise; Non-Governmental Organizations; Social Issues; United States
- August 2023 (Revised January 2025)
- Case
The Gift Card Swap
By: David G. Fubini, William Fubini, Patrick Sanguineti and Amy Chambers
In this short vignette on ethics in consulting, Brenda Thompson, a new Associate at a prestigious consulting firm, learns that a fellow Associate is using the firm's meal expense benefits to pocket the difference between the maximum daily allowance and his actual... View Details
- April 2023 (Revised July 2023)
- Case
Fermenting Accounting Problems at Vermont Kombucha Corp.
By: Tatiana Sandino and Marshal Herrmann
Founded in 2005, Vermont Kombucha Corp. (V-Ko) was an early mover in the fledgling U.S. market for kombucha, a drink brewed for its health benefits. Early on, the company captured more than 90% of market share. Under the leadership of its founder and CEO, Joe Williams,... View Details
- December 2022 (Revised February 2023)
- Case
Daniel Defense: Responding to the Shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher
At 11:33am on May 24, 2022, an 18-year-old man from Uvalde, Texas walked into the Robb Elementary School carrying a semi-automatic "AR-15-style” rifle manufactured by Daniel Defense and killed 19 children and two adults. Three days later, Representative Carolyn Maloney... View Details
Keywords: Gun Violence; Gun Policy; Second Amendment; Legal Liability; Government Legislation; Marketing Strategy; Business or Company Management; Product Marketing; Ethics; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Moral Sensibility; Crime and Corruption; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Manufacturing Industry; Advertising Industry; United States
- April–June 2022
- Other Article
Commentary on 'Causal Decision Making and Causal Effect Estimation Are Not the Same... and Why It Matters'
There has been a substantial discussion in various methodological and applied literatures around causal inference; especially in the use of machine learning and statistical models to understand heterogeneity in treatment effects and to make optimal decision... View Details
- March 2022 (Revised March 2024)
- Case
DaVita Responds to COVID
By: Susanna Gallani and David Lane
Early in August 2021, DaVita CEO Javier Rodriguez was assessing the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on his firm, which provided life-sustaining kidney dialysis to roughly 240,000 people. Effective infection control practices and information sharing had ensured... View Details
Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Change Management; Communication; Talent and Talent Management; Fairness; Values and Beliefs; Corporate Accountability; Health Care and Treatment; Health Pandemics; Human Resources; Employee Relationship Management; Retention; Wages; Working Conditions; Leadership Style; Crisis Management; Organizational Culture; Health Industry; United States
- February 2022
- Technical Note
Ethical Analysis: Fairness
By: Nien-hê Hsieh
Concerns about fairness can arise across a wide range of contexts. They include the treatment of others, how much things cost, how much workers are paid, the outcome of a decision, and how we assign benefits and burdens across individuals. What counts as fair in a... View Details
- January 2022
- Technical Note
Ethical Analysis: Well-Being and Rights
By: Nien-hê Hsieh and Christopher Diak
This note introduces students to two central concepts for ethical analysis: well-being and rights. It illustrates ways in which they figure in managerial decisions and challenges that arise, including how to frame trade-offs across individual well-being and... View Details
- 2022
- Chapter
A Compass for Decision Making
By: Lynn S. Paine
Book Abstract: The second edition of Responsible Leadership offers orienting knowledge on how to lead in a world of contested values—a world where leadership work extends beyond leaders and direct reports to a whole range of stakeholders inside and outside an... View Details
- July 2021 (Revised October 2021)
- Case
Trouble at Basecamp: Managing Politics, Polarization, and Conflict in the Workplace (A)
By: Nour Kteily, Deepak Malhotra and David Lane
As founders of the software company Basecamp, Jason Fried and David H. Hansson were used to being the subjects of social media attention. Both maintained active and dedicated Twitter followings for their unique perspectives on management and life. But on April 26,... View Details
Keywords: Change; Communication; Policy; Diversity; Fairness; Values and Beliefs; Governance; Employees; Working Conditions; Leading Change; Leadership Style; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Culture; Work-Life Balance; Labor and Management Relations; Conflict and Resolution; Identity; Social Issues; Equality and Inequality; Digital Platforms; Conflict Management; Information Technology Industry; United States
- March 16, 2021
- Article
From Driverless Dilemmas to More Practical Commonsense Tests for Automated Vehicles
By: Julian De Freitas, Andrea Censi, Bryant Walker Smith, Luigi Di Lillo, Sam E. Anthony and Emilio Frazzoli
For the first time in history, automated vehicles (AVs) are being deployed in populated environments. This unprecedented transformation of our everyday lives demands a significant undertaking: endowing
complex autonomous systems with ethically acceptable behavior. We... View Details
- February 2021
- Tutorial
What are Agile Teams?
By: Tsedal Neeley
This video explores the elements that constitute agile teams. From its history in the "Agile Manifesto," this philosophy for organizational behavior prioritizes working software over comprehensive documentation, customer collaboration over contract negotiation, and... View Details