Publications

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12 Apr 2017
Research & Ideas

Why Productivity Suffers When Employees Are Allowed to Schedule Their Own Tasks

tasks be completed in a particular order. But in many instances, workers have more freedom over their workday: They can follow the prescribed schedule or else choose to deviate, completing tasks in a... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health

1995
Article

The Positive Impact of Creative Activity: Effects of Creative Task Engagement and Motivational Focus on College Student's Learning

By: R. Conti, T. M. Amabile and S. Pollack

This study assessed the effectiveness of engaging students in a creative activity on a topic as a means of encouraging an active cognitive set toward learning that topic area. This technique was examined in three motivational contexts. Before reading a short... View Details

Keywords: Creativity; Cognition and Thinking; Behavior; Performance; Motivation and Incentives; Training

09 Apr 2024
Book

Why Work Rituals Bring Teams Together and Create More Meaning

rituals, like carving out time for coffee with colleagues once a week or kicking off team meetings by sharing weekend plans before jumping into work talk, report finding more meaning in their work, he says. After all, Norton says, rituals... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

April 2022
Article

Consumers Value Effort over Ease When Caring for Close Others

By: Ximena Garcia-Rada, Mary Steffel, Elanor F. Williams and Michael I. Norton

Many products and services are designed to make caregiving easier, from premade meals for feeding families to robo-cribs that automatically rock babies to sleep. Yet, using these products may come with a cost: consumers may feel they have not exerted enough effort.... View Details

Keywords: Effor; Caregiving; Close Relationships; Symbolic Meaning; Signaling; Relationships; Consumer Behavior; Perception

2003
Book

When You Say Yes But Mean No: How Silencing Conflict Wrecks Relationships and Companies

By: Leslie Perlow

“Saying yes when you really mean no” is a problem that haunts organizations from start-ups to multi-nationals. It exists across industries, levels, and functions. And it’s exacerbated by a down economy, when the fear of losing one’s job is on everybody’s mind and the... View Details

Keywords: Conflict and Resolution; Relationships; Business Ventures

November 15, 2019
Editorial

Getting Your Team to Do More Than Meet Deadlines

By: Laura M. Giurge, Charlotte Blank, Laurel Newman and A.V. Whillans

When it comes to our to-do lists, many of us prioritize checking off tasks that are easiest to complete or are due first, regardless of importance—a phenomenon that scholars describe as the “mere urgency” effect. This tendency becomes stronger the busier we are. But... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Time Management; Performance Improvement

24 Mar 2022
Research & Ideas

Rituals at Work: Teams That Play Together Stay Together

participating—and a lot of them do—group rituals can still be effective, says Norton, the Harold M. Brierley Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. “Despite the fact that they think the thing is ridiculous, it can over time start to View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

2012
Book

Uncommon Service: How to Win by Putting Customers at the Core of Your Business

By: Frances Frei and Anne Morriss

Most companies treat service as a low-priority business operation, keeping it out of the spotlight until a customer complains. Then service gets to make a brief appearance—for as long as it takes to calm the customer down and fix whatever foul-up jeopardized the... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Business Ventures

April 2018
Article

Effective Sales Training: What Are the Foundational Elements?

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Across industries, turnover in sales positions averages about 25–30% annually. This means that, at many firms, the equivalent of the entire sales force must be replaced and trained every four years or so. No other function has an ongoing talent management task of that... View Details

Keywords: Salesforce Management; Training

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24 Jan 2023
Research & Ideas

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

between 2007 and 2019. But, behind that increase are important differences in how managers and employees view what the word actually means in practice, the researchers write. Employees want more meaning in... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

August 2019 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Essential Explorations at MUJI

By: Tomomichi Amano, Das Narayandas, Naoko Jinjo and Akiko Kanno

Launched as a private brand in 1980 to counter the increasingly brand-conscious consumer in Japan, MUJI offered beautifully designed, fairly priced, no-frills quality goods. The once modest private label brand with 40 products had expanded significantly by 2019 to more... View Details

Keywords: Product Portfolio Management; Brands and Branding; Product; Management; Change Management; Mission and Purpose; Retail Industry; Japan

Educators

February 2020
Teaching Note

Essential Explorations at MUJI

By: Tomomichi Amano and Das Narayandas

Launched as a private brand in 1980 to counter the increasingly brand-conscious consumer in Japan, MUJI offered beautifully designed, fairly priced, no-frills quality goods. The once modest private label brand with 40 products had expanded significantly by 2019 to more... View Details

Keywords: Product Portfolio Management; Brands and Branding; Product; Management; Change Management; Mission and Purpose; Retail Industry; Japan

01 Apr 2011
Working Paper Summaries

When Power Makes Others Speechless: The Negative Impact of Leader Power on Team Performance

Keywords: by Leigh Plunkett Tost, Francesca Gino & Richard P. Larrick

March 2020
Article

Is This My Group or Not? The Role of Ensemble Coding of Emotional Expressions in Group Categorization

By: Amit Goldenberg, Timothy D. Sweeny, Emmanuel Shpigel and James J. Gross

When exposed to others’ emotional responses, people often make rapid decisions as to whether these others are members of their group or not. These group categorization decisions have been shown to be extremely important to understanding group behavior. Yet, despite... View Details

Keywords: Categorization; Ensemble Coding; Summary Statistical Perception; Social Cognition; Emotions; Perception; Groups and Teams

Read Now

July–August 2013
Article

Leadership Lessons from the Chilean Mine Rescue

By: Faaiza Rashid, Amy C. Edmondson and Herman B. Leonard

Three years ago, when a cave-in at the San José mine in Chile trapped 33 men under 700,000 metric tons of rock, experts estimated the probability of getting them out alive at less than 1%. Yet, after spending a record 69 days underground, all 33 were hoisted up to... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Crisis Management; Learning; Mining; Mining Industry; Chile

01 Jun 2010
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Social Reporting

reporting of financial and nonfinancial performance in order to improve sustainable strategy. HBS senior lecturer Robert G. Eccles and coauthor Michael P. Krzus explain the benefits and value of the One Report method. Plus: book excerpt. Key concepts include:... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

01 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

Encouraging Dissent in Decision-Making

other places." During the decision-making process, George explains, this means asking probing questions and insisting that managers present each situation in objective terms, rather than with a positive spin. "You must... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

November 1978 (Revised January 1995)
Case

McGregor's Ltd. Department Store

President has decided to restructure the discount scheme. Every staff member would be affected, good or bad. Information would have to be tailored to each group--worst off would be managers. Task is to write to managers/supervisors. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Communication Intention and Meaning; Compensation and Benefits; Retail Industry

Educators