Management →
- 30 Jan 2012
- Research & Ideas
Measuring the Efficacy of the World’s Managers
Over the past seven years, Harvard Business School's Raffaella Sadun and a team of researchers have interviewed managers at some 10,000 organizations in 20 countries. The goal: to determine how and why management practices differ vastly in style and quality not only across nations, but also across various organizations and industries. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 21 Nov 2011
- Lessons from the Classroom
The New Challenge of Leading Financial Firms
Running a financial organization, never easy to begin with, has quickly become one of the most difficult leadership challenges that an executive can undertake, requiring mastery of talent management, change management, and ethics. An interview with Professor Boris Groysberg, who teaches a new HBS Executive Education program on the subject with Professor Paul M. Healy. Key concepts include: Leading a financial firm is very different from leading any other kind of institution, requiring deep skills in a multitude of areas. Financial firms make expensive bets on top talent, but often make hiring decisions without enough deliberation. Risk management, strategy for growth, and competing in emerging markets are especially critical for financial firms to get right. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 03 Nov 2011
- What Do You Think?
The Ultimate Question in Management
Summing Up: Many of Jim Heskett's readers this month offered suggestions for the ultimate question in management. What's yours? Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 31 Oct 2011
- Research & Ideas
The Most Powerful Workplace Motivator
When evaluating compensation issues, economists often assume that both an employer and an employee make rational, albeit self-interested choices while working toward a goal. The problem, says Assistant Professor Ian Larkin, is that the most powerful workplace motivator is our natural tendency to measure our own performance against the performance of others. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 27 Oct 2011
- Research & Ideas
Horrible Boss Workarounds
Bad bosses are generally more inept than evil, and often aren't purposefully bad, says Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter. She discusses common bad-boss behaviors, and how good colleagues can mobilize to overcome the roadblocks. Key concepts include: Common traits of bad bosses include a failure to communicate goals effectively, if at all; a failure to realize that employees have more to offer than their job descriptions dictate, and a tendency to get caught up in the details to the detriment of the big picture. Employees can work around bad-boss roadblocks by proactively mobilizing their peers toward a common goal. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 25 Oct 2011
- Research & Ideas
Chasing Stars: Why the Mighty Red Sox Struck Out
When the Red Sox announced they had signed away veteran pitcher John Lackey from the Anaheim Angels, it was the start of one of the most expensive talent hunts in baseball history. So why were the Red Sox an epic failure in 2011? Lackey's lackluster performance is a case study in the perils of chasing superstars, says Professor Boris Groysberg. Key concepts include: Firms and sports teams alike often make the mistake of believing that star quality is portable from one organization to the next. In addition to an employee's innate talent, star performance is often also dependent on factors such as organizational culture, networking opportunities, and the general team dynamic. After luring a star performer away from a competitor, it behooves an organization to invest some resources in integrating that person into the new environment. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 22 Sep 2011
- Working Paper Summaries
Measuring Teamwork in Health Care Settings: A Review of Survey Instruments
It is critical to accurately assess teamwork in health-care organizations. About 60 percent of primary-care practices in the United States use team-based models to coordinate work across the broad spectrum of health professionals needed to deliver quality care; in many other countries the percentage is almost 100 percent. While the benefits of effective teamwork are substantial, effective teamwork is often lacking in these settings, with negative consequences for patients. To date, little has been known about the survey instruments available to measure teamwork. In this paper Valentine, Nembhard, and Edmondson report the results of their systematic review of survey instruments that have been used to measure teamwork in various contexts. Their research helps to identify existing teamwork scales that may be most useful in testing theoretical models. Key concepts include: Researchers often develop a new scale for their project rather than adapt existing scales. It would be better to utilize existing, psychometrically valid scales when possible so that cumulative knowledge of teamwork can be built. Many scales have been developed to assess teamwork. However, only eight scales satisfy the standard psychometric criteria the authors identified, and only three of those have been significantly associated with non-self-reported outcomes. Future research needs to clarify the concept of teamwork. Currently, the variation in ways of conceptualizing teamwork even within the scales that do show relationships to outcomes of interest makes it difficult to know what dimensions are core versus peripheral to the concept. The criteria set forth in this article should be considered standard research practice, and as such the scales that the authors identified are worthy of attention. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 06 Sep 2011
- Research & Ideas
The Power of Leadership Groups for Staying on Track
Twenty-first-century organizations are breaking with traditional command-and-control hierarchies to develop a new generation of values-centered leadership, argues Professor Bill George, author of True North. The best way to get there? True North Groups. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 06 Sep 2011
- Research & Ideas
How Small Wins Unleash Creativity
In their new book, The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work, authors Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer discuss how even seemingly small steps forward on a project can make huge differences in employees' emotional and intellectual well-being. Amabile talks about the main findings of the book. Plus: book excerpt. Key concepts include: Of all the factors that induce creativity, productivity, collegiality, and commitment among employees, the single most important one is a sense of making progress on meaningful work. Seemingly small signs of progress will induce huge positive effects on employees' psyches. On the other hand, seemingly small setbacks will induce huge negative effects. The catalysts that induce progress include setting clear goals; allowing autonomy; providing resources; giving enough time-but not too much; offering help with the work; learning from both problems and successes; and allowing ideas to flow. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 04 Aug 2011
- What Do You Think?
How Dangerous Is Common Sense to Managers?
Forum Closed Summing Up: Is experience really the best teacher? Sure—when not much is on the line, according to readers commenting on Professor Jim Heskett's column on common sense. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 21 Jul 2011
- Working Paper Summaries
Collaborating Across Cultures: Cultural Metacognition and Affect-Based Trust in Creative Collaboration
Creative solutions often are born when two unrelated ideas come together for the first time. That's more likely to happen when the collaborators come from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, thus diminishing the likelihood of redundant ideas. In this paper, via a series of studies, Roy Y.J. Chua, Michael W. Morris, and Shira Mor examine the factors that make intercultural creative collaboration happen. Key concepts include: An individual's cultural metacognition (i.e. reflective thinking about intercultural interactions) is directly linked to success in intercultural creative collaborations. Affect-based trust, but not cognition-based trust, is positively associated with cultural metacognition. In order to further intercultural creative collaboration, managers need to do more than simply passively learn about other cultures. Rather, they need to develop their cultural metacognition in anticipation of possible intercultural encounters. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 18 Jul 2011
- Research & Ideas
Looking in the Mirror: Questions Every Leader Must Ask
"Show me a company or nonprofit or government in trouble, and I will almost invariably show you a set of leaders who are asking absolutely the wrong questions," says professor Robert Steven Kaplan. He discusses his new book, What to Ask the Person in the Mirror. Plus: book excerpt. Key concepts include: Leaders need to address critical issues including: vision and priorities, time management, giving and getting feedback, succession planning and delegation, evaluation and alignment, being a role model, and reaching true potential. Leaders must have a clear vision and a set of priorities for the organization, and must ensure that their key subordinates know what those priorities are. Because CEOs don't have the benefit of feedback from their superiors, it's crucial that they solicit feedback about their leadership style from subordinates. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 25 Apr 2011
- Research & Ideas
What CEOs Do, and How They Can Do it Better
A CEO's schedule is especially important to a firm's financial success, which raises a few questions: What do they do all day? Can they be more efficient time managers? HBS professor Raffaella Sadun and colleagues set out to find some answers. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 18 Apr 2011
- Research & Ideas
It’s Not Nagging: Why Persistent, Redundant Communication Works
Managers who inundate their teams with the same messages, over and over, via multiple media, need not feel bad about their persistence. In fact, this redundant communication works to get projects completed quickly, according to new research by Harvard Business School professor Tsedal B. Neeley and Northwestern University's Paul M. Leonardi and Elizabeth M. Gerber. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 01 Apr 2011
- Working Paper Summaries
When Power Makes Others Speechless: The Negative Impact of Leader Power on Team Performance
History has shown that possessing a great deal of power does not necessarily make someone a good leader. This paper explores the idea that power actually has a detrimental effect on leadership, especially with regard to how it affects open communication within a team. Research was conducted by Leigh Plunkett Tost of the University of Washington, Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School, and Richard P. Larrick of Duke University. Key concepts include: Members of teams with high-power leaders are likely to keep quiet in meetings, both because high-power leaders talk a lot, meaning there's not much time for others to talk, and because of the perception—fair or not—that powerful people aren't interested in anyone else's ideas. This can result in a dearth of ideas during brainstorming sessions. Leader power has a negative effect on team members' perceptions of the leader's ability and desire to engage in open communication. Because open communication is vital to any project, these perceptions can hurt team performance. These negative effects of leader power can be virtually eliminated simply by clearly communicating the idea that every team member is individually instrumental to any given task at hand. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 21 Mar 2011
- Research & Ideas
Are We Thinking Too Little, or Too Much?
In the course of making a decision, managers often err in one of two directions—either overanalyzing a situation or forgoing all the relevant information and simply going with their gut. HBS marketing professor Michael I. Norton discusses the potential pitfalls of thinking too much or thinking too little. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 07 Mar 2011
- Research & Ideas
Why Companies Fail—and How Their Founders Can Bounce Back
Leading a doomed company can often help a career by providing experience, insight, and contacts that lead to new opportunities, says professor Shikhar Ghosh. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 03 Feb 2011
- What Do You Think?
Are We Going “Back to the Future” In Researching Management?
Summing Up Jim Heskett's readers wonder whether the best business management ideas over the next decade will be for cleaning up the messes from the previous one. (Online forum has closed; next forum opens March 10) Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 17 Jan 2011
- Research & Ideas
Being the Boss
Striking the right balance between good management and good leadership is a daunting but necessary challenge for anyone endeavoring to be a good boss. In Being the Boss: The 3 Imperatives for Becoming a Great Leader, Harvard Business School professor Linda A. Hill and former executive Kent Lineback discuss the steps to take and the roadblocks to avoid in order to meet that challenge. Q&A with Hill, plus book excerpt. Key concepts include: You have three key imperatives as a manager: manage yourself, manage your network, and manage your team. Formal authority on its own will fail to influence people and get results. It's important to manage your relationship with your boss, if only to avoid powerlessness, which can be as corruptive a force as power. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
Team Scaffolds: How Minimal In-Group Structures Support Fast-Paced Teaming
It is increasingly necessary for 24/7 shift operations to include some component of team-based work. But how can organizations support such work among constantly changing groups of people in a setting where stable teams are not feasible? This research investigates an organizational structure the authors call team scaffolds: a role set with collective responsibility for accomplishing interdependent tasks. Studying the implementation of team scaffolding in a high-stakes setting, a city hospital emergency room, the authors observed that workers readily affiliated with the temporary teams—even without ongoing relationships—and worked together intensely during the short duration of these groupings, even developing a competitive dynamic with other team scaffolds. The role sets established job placeholders in an interdependent group so that people starting up a shift could take their places in the set and immediately understand the interdependence and accountability they shared with others. Overall, this design improved the ability and motivation of clinicians to engage in teaming. Key concepts include: Team scaffolds, as team shells that can be instantly populated with transitory teams, is an organizational structure that may have broad applicability for supporting teams of people who work intense shifts together in virtual or actual settings. Implementing the team scaffolding organizational design in a city hospital triggered significant changes in teaming networks and behaviors in ways that improved operational performance. With team scaffolds the hospital supported teaming among people who were often strangers and among people who might work together intensely for six hours and then not again for a month. In the team scaffold, people starting a shift would come in and occupy their place in the role set. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.