Diversity →
- 11 Oct 2010
- Research & Ideas
It Pays to Hire Women in Countries That Won’t
South Korean companies don't hire many women, no matter how qualified. So multinationals are moving in to take advantage of this rich hiring opportunity, according to new research by professor Jordan Siegel. Key concepts include: Employing women who are excluded by their own countries' labor markets is a growing trend for international affiliates of global multinational companies. Using data from South Korea, researchers showed that a 10 percent nominal increase in the percentage of female managers (at the level of the then-prevailing glass ceiling) was associated with a 1 percent nominal increase in ROA. Multinational firms that recruit females into management roles at their local affiliates face the possibility of upsetting local male employees, partners, and customers who don't approve of women in executive roles. In many instances, multinational firms hired and promoted female managers in a discriminatory host market at a far higher rate than they employed female managers in their own home markets. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 05 Oct 2010
- Working Paper Summaries
A Positive Approach to Studying Diversity in Organizations
Considering that the topic of workplace diversity often garners unhappy discussions of prejudice, isolation, and conflict, it's not surprising that many researchers avoid the topic altogether. Only 5 percent of articles published in management journals from 2000-2008 included race or gender in their keywords. In this paper, Harvard Business School professors Lakshmi Ramarajan and David Thomas propose a positive approach to studying diversity, with hopes that this will lead managers to feel more positive about adopting diversity policies in the workplace. Key concepts include: Most workplace policies governing issues of race, gender, and sexual orientation come out of traditional studies that focus on discrimination. Because these policies are borne of these traditional studies, they often yield negative consequences--such as a manager refraining from honest discourse for fear of a discrimination lawsuit. A positive approach to diversity research could lead to policies that feel more organically productive and less threatening to managers. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 20 Sep 2010
- Research & Ideas
Power Posing: Fake It Until You Make It
Nervous about an upcoming presentation or job interview? Holding one's body in "high-power" poses for short time periods can summon an extra surge of power and sense of well-being when it's needed, according to Harvard Business School professor Amy J.C. Cuddy. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 15 Sep 2010
- Working Paper Summaries
From Bench to Board: Gender Differences in University Scientists’ Participation in Commercial Science
Does gender affect whether a university scientist will be invited to work with for-profit companies? Indeed it does. A new paper finds that male professors receive more opportunities than their female counterparts to join scientific advisory boards and start new companies. Research, focusing on the biotechnology field, was conducted by Haas School of Business professor Waverly W. Ding, MIT Sloan professor Fiona Murray, and HBS professor Toby E. Stuart. Key concepts include: University-employed scientists helped to found at least half of the publicly traded biotech firms in existence today. Women scientists receive far fewer invitations than men to join scientific advisory boards, and so male scientists are more than twice as likely as female scientists to become formal board advisors. When female scientists do receive invitations to join boards, they generally come from small start-ups with limited financial backing, rather than from high-profile companies backed by high-status venture capitalists. The corporate gender gap increases among scientists employed at elite universities or academic departments. However, the gender gap decreases at schools with formal technology transfer offices, indicating that institutional support can help women overcome obstacles to entry into commercial science. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 31 Aug 2010
- Working Paper Summaries
Multinational Firms, Labor Market Discrimination, and the Capture of Competitive Advantage by Exploiting the Social Divide
Women and ethnic minorities are frequently discriminated against in the labor markets of both developed and emerging economies, particularly in opportunities for management positions. Multinationals entering such markets must decide whether to aggressively hire and promote the excluded group, thus reaping the benefits of their underutilized talent, or conform to local practice and avoid provoking some bigoted policymakers, executives, purchasers, and/or supply agents. In this paper, HBS professor Jordan Siegel, Lynn Pyun, and B.Y. Cheon find that multinationals gain significant competitive opportunities by scanning the host-market social landscape, identifying social schisms in the labor market, and exploiting such schisms by actively hiring and promoting members of the excluded group to positions of management responsibility. Key concepts include: Foreigners achieve a competitive advantage by exploiting the social divide in a host market. This competitive advantage is not unique to foreigners. However, foreign multinationals, who are not affected by prior social network obligations, may often find it easier than some domestic firms to in effect form an alliance with the excluded group. Foreign multinationals can exploit market failure where the excluded group is talented but underutilized. This competitive advantage is associated with a significant profit benefit, and one that is only very slowly being whittled away through imitation. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 08 Mar 2010
- Sharpening Your Skills
Sharpening Your Skills: Successful Negotiation
Can you out-negotiate Wal-Mart? Can women overcome gender stereotypes to win equitable pay? Recent research from Harvard Business School looks at important factors to consider before sitting down at the bargaining table. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 05 Mar 2010
- Working Paper Summaries
Will I Stay or Will I Go? Cooperative and Competitive Effects of Workgroup Sex and Race Composition on Turnover
Inequalities in the senior ranks by sex and race remain rampant in up-or-out knowledge organizations such as consulting firms, law firms, and universities. HBS professor Kathleen L. McGinn and Wharton School professor Katherine L. Milkman focus on patterns of voluntary and involuntary turnover over six years in one such organization to untangle the multiple ways in which social identity influences career mobility. Predicting that higher proportions of demographically similar supervisors will reduce the likelihood of subordinate turnover, while higher proportions of demographically similar peers will increase the likelihood of turnover, the researchers find evidence of the hypothesized effects. They suggest that integrating research about social cohesion and social comparison enhances understanding of racial and gender inequality within organizations and facilitates organizations' ability to reduce that inequality. Key concepts include: Senior sponsorship is vital for junior professionals in up-or-out organizations. To address the problem of persistent underrepresentation of women and minorities at the highest levels, knowledge organizations need to attend to the ways in which policies and practices invoke competition, rather than social cohesion, among demographically similar peers. Clustering same race or same sex junior employees to provide an increased sense of community may have the opposite effects of those desired unless accompanied by similar or greater increases in the diversity of senior professionals. Studies of organizational sex composition and career mobility need to consider effects at multiple levels. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 01 Feb 2010
- Research & Ideas
The ‘Luxury Prime’: How Luxury Changes People
What effect does luxury have on human cognition and decision making? According to new research, there seems to be a link between luxury and self interest, an insight that may help curb corporate excesses. Roy Y.J. Chua discusses findings from his work conducted with Xi Zou of London Business School. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 29 Apr 2009
- Working Paper Summaries
Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines
Does access to personal savings increase female decision-making power in the household? The answer could be important for policymakers looking to increase female empowerment. HBS professor Nava Ashraf and colleagues developed a commitment savings product called a SEED (Save, Earn, Enjoy Deposits) account with a small, rural bank in the Philippines. The SEED account requires that clients commit not to withdraw funds that are in the account until they reach a goal date or amount, but it does not explicitly commit the client to continue depositing funds after opening the account. This working paper examines the impact of the commitment savings product on both self-reported decision-making processes within the household and the subsequent household allocation of resources. Key concepts include: The commitment savings product positively impacts household decision-making power for women (i.e., the household is more likely to buy female-oriented durables) and self-perception of savings behavior (time-inconsistent females report being more disciplined savers), as well as actual consumption decisions regarding durable goods. A simple design feature such as a restriction on withdrawals or encouraging savings through marketing or door-to-door deposits can benefit women in search of self-control devices as well as those who desire to have more decision-making power in the household. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 19 Mar 2009
- Working Paper Summaries
Beyond Gender and Negotiation to Gendered Negotiations
How does gender affect negotiations within organizations or rather how do organizations affect gender relations? Deborah Kolb, a professor at Simmons College School of Management, and HBS professor Kathleen McGinn explore how definitions of work, specified roles in organizations, status hierarchies, and the politics and practices of organizational realities affect how gender plays out in organizations. Considering gender in organizations from a "negotiated order perspective"—that is, from the perspective that cultural patterns and work practices are the result of past interaction and negotiation—not only expands the range of issues that are potentially negotiable, it also turns attention to rethinking certain dimensions of the negotiation process itself. Key concepts include: Following recent scholarship, the authors distinguish between "first generation" gender discrimination involving intentional acts of bias from "second generation" gender issues, practices that are embedded in organizational workings, that seem unbiased in isolation, but result in different experiences for and treatment of women and men. Certain roles may be deemed more suitable to men than women and vice versa, setting up the need to negotiate for opportunities and fit. A woman's effectiveness as a leader, and the authority she can claim, is often judged differently from that of her male counterparts. Access to networks and flexible work arrangements give rise to the need to negotiate and this need often falls along gendered lines. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 21 Jan 2009
- Working Paper Summaries
The Supply Side of Innovation: H-1B Visa Reforms and US Ethnic Invention
The H-1B visa program governs most admissions of temporary immigrants into the U.S. for employment in patenting-related fields. This program has become a point of significant controversy in the public debate over immigration, with proponents and detractors at odds over how important H-1B admission levels are for U.S. technology advancement and whether native U.S. workers are being displaced by immigrants. In this study, Kerr and Lincoln quantify the impact of changes in H-1B admission levels on the pace and character of U.S. invention over the 1995-2006 period. Key concepts include: Immigrants represented 24 percent and 47 percent of the U.S.'s scientists and engineers (S&Es) with bachelors and doctorate educations in the 2000 Census, respectively. Immigrants have accounted for most of the net increase in U.S. S&Es since 1995. Because it governs the admissions of many S&E immigrants, the H-1B program plays an important role in U.S. innovation. Moreover, the policy shifts in this program have been relatively large compared to other policies concerning immigration or innovation. Fluctuations in H-1B admissions levels significantly influence the rate of Indian and Chinese patenting in cities and firms dependent upon the program relative to their peers. Most specifications find little impact on the invention rates of native U.S. workers, although a small crowding-in effect may exist. Most increases in U.S. innovation with higher H-1B admissions come through direct contributions of the immigrants themselves. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 22 Sep 2008
- Research & Ideas
The Silo Lives! Analyzing Coordination and Communication in Multiunit Companies
A new Harvard Business School working paper looks inside the communications "black box" of a large company to understand who talks to whom, and finds the corporate silo as impenetrable as ever. Q&A with professor Toby E. Stuart. Key concepts include: Inside the studied company, practically speaking, little interaction occurred across three major corporate boundaries: business units, organizational functions, and office locations. Communication patterns were extremely hierarchical: Executives, middle managers, and rank-and-file employees communicated extensively within their own levels, but there were far fewer cross-pay-grade interactions in the firm. Junior executives, women, and members of the salesforce were the key actors in bridging the silos. Relative to men, women participate in a greater volume of electronic and face-to-face interactions and do so with a larger and more diverse set of communication partners. Server logs can provide valuable information to managers on communication flows within their own organizations. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 04 Aug 2008
- Research & Ideas
How Female Stars Succeed in New Jobs
Women who are star performers on Wall Street tend to fare better than men after changing jobs. Why? According to HBS professor Boris Groysberg, star women place greater emphasis than men on external business relationships, and conduct better research on potential employers. Plus: Businesswomen are asked to share career experiences. Key concepts include: Star women performers invest more in external than in in-house relationships. They also tend to do far more due diligence than men when they receive a job offer. Organizations that deliberately set out to create female-friendly environments seem to reap a competitive advantage. Women in a male-dominated industry realize that they are vulnerable, but men are also vulnerable to bad management and cultural mismatches more than they realize. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 31 Jul 2008
- Working Paper Summaries
Communication (and Coordination?) in a Modern, Complex Organization
Coordination, and the communication it implies, is central to the very existence of organizations. Despite their fundamental role in the purpose of organizations, scholars have little understanding of actual interaction patterns in modern, complex, multiunit firms. To open the proverbial "black box" and begin to reveal the internal wiring of the firm, this paper presents a detailed, descriptive analysis of the network of communications among members of a large, structurally, functionally, geographically, and strategically diverse firm. The full data set comprises more than 100 million electronic mail messages and over 60 million electronic calendar entries for a sample of more 30,000 employees over a three-month period in 2006. Key concepts include: Communication is heavily constrained by formal organizational structure: the vast majority of communication occurs within business unit and functional boundaries, not across them. This points to the importance of drawing the right organizational boundaries. Women, mid- to high-level executives, and members of the executive management, sales, and marketing functions are most likely to participate in cross-group communications. These individuals provide a bridge for distant groups in a company's social structure. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 23 Jun 2008
- Research & Ideas
Innovative Ways to Encourage Personal Savings
Saving money doesn't need to be so difficult. According to HBS professor Peter Tufano, "The most interesting ideas—indeed the oldest—try to make savings a fun or satisfying experience." As Tufano describes in this Q&A, different solutions appeal to different people. Here's what government policy, the private sector, and nonprofits can do. Key concepts include: A variety of levers can be used to support people who want to save (not to force someone to save who doesn't want to). Some levers are simple changes that make the process of savings easier. Other levers involve providing various incentives, be they financial or sociological. The oldest and most interesting ideas try to make savings a fun or satisfying experience. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 11 Jun 2008
- Working Paper Summaries
Gender in Job Negotiations: A Two-Level Game
The traditional division of labor between the sexes—women managing the private realm and men the public—continues to have an indirect influence on job negotiation outcomes through links between private realm and public realm negotiations. Women's negotiations at work are often constrained by agreements in negotiations at home. There still remains a significant "unexplained" difference in male and female compensation that, according to research in the past several years, cannot be accounted for by gender differences in work commitment, education, and experience, or other considerations such as unionization. The literature on gender in negotiation may offer insights with regard to how negotiation contributes to or could help diminish gender differences in compensation. Bowles and McGinn review two bodies of literature on gender in negotiation—one from psychology and organizational behavior on candidate-employer negotiations, and another from economics and sociology on household bargaining over chores and child care. Key concepts include: The traditional division of labor between the sexes—in which women managed the private realm and men the public—continues to have an indirect influence on job negotiation outcomes through gendered stereotypes feeding into gendered pay expectations. The effects of gender on job negotiations are best understood if negotiations at work are viewed as a two-level phenomenon in which candidates' job outcomes are the product of negotiations with domestic partners as well as prospective employers. Separate bodies of research on gender in candidate-employer negotiations and on gender in intra-household bargaining offer complementary insights into these two levels of negotiation. Taking stock of the practical implications of this literature may help candidates overcome disadvantageous effects of gender on job negotiations and facilitate the creation of greater value for their employers, their domestic partners, and themselves. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 12 Sep 2007
- Working Paper Summaries
The Ethnic Composition of U.S. Inventors
The contributions of immigrants to U.S. technology formation are staggering. While the foreign-born account for just over 10 percent of the U.S. working population, they represent 25 percent of the U.S. science and engineering workforce and nearly 50 percent of those with doctorates. Even looking within the Ph.D. level, ethnic researchers make an exceptional contribution to science as measured by Nobel Prizes, election to the National Academy of Sciences, patent citation counts, and so on. The magnitude of these ethnic contributions raises many research and policy questions: 4 examples are debates regarding the appropriate quota for H1-B temporary visas, the possible crowding out of native students from the science and engineering fields, the brain-drain or brain-circulation effect on sending countries, and the future prospects for U.S. technology leadership. This paper describes a new approach for quantifying the ethnic composition of U.S. inventors with previously unavailable detail. Key concepts include: Ethnic scientists and engineers are an important and growing contributor to U.S. technology development. The rapidly increasing ethnic contribution in high-tech sectors is due to the strong growth of the Chinese and Indian ethnicities. Shifts in the concentration of ethnic inventors appear to facilitate changes in the geographic composition of U.S. innovation. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 10 Jul 2007
- Working Paper Summaries
The Persuasive Appeal of Stigma
Are minority groups more persuasive when their conversations with majority groups are conducted face-to-face? Interracial interactions are among the most perilous social occasions in contemporary America, full of opportunities for things to go awry. People in stigmatized groups, for instance, may worry that members of majority groups hold prejudiced attitudes that can lead to discriminatory or offensive behavior. Members of majority groups, for their part, may fear coming across as biased or racist. While psychology has traditionally explored the damaging effects of such interactions on social exchange, new findings contribute to the growing recognition that stigma may be a two-sided construct, marked with a host of costs but occasional benefits. This study demonstrates the persuasive power of stigmatized individuals and shows how self-presentational concerns may change attitudes. Key concepts include: During face-to-face interactions, stigmatized minorities may sometimes have an edge in persuading majority group members. The stigma of being labeled racist may in some situations be potent enough to promote an ironic power reversal. While whites may assume the more solicitous role typically associated with stigmatized minorities, it is important to add that the discomfort that accompanies such efforts may simply pose yet another problem for members of stigmatized groups to manage. This research underscores the need to examine social interactions around stigma in real-world contexts, from organizations to interpersonal relationships. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 25 Jun 2007
- Research & Ideas
HBS Cases: Beauty Entrepreneur Madam Walker
She may have been the first self-made African American millionaire. Born of emancipated slaves, Madam C.J. Walker traveled from the cotton fields to business fame as a purveyor of hair-care products that offered beauty and dignity. Harvard Business School's Nancy F. Koehn and Katherine Miller explain what motivated her triumph. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
Reversing the Queue: Performance, Legitimacy, and Minority Hiring
While there has been a steady rise in the number of black executives in corporate America, the fact remains that white males have a persistent advantage in terms of access to managerial positions. This paper sets out to find out how a company's performance influences the hiring of minorities into management positions, and whether the presence of minorities in senior management positions affects the racial composition of the subordinate management team. Research, which focused on the corporate structure of the National Football League, was conducted by Harvard Business School doctoral candidate Andrew Hill and professor David Thomas. Key concepts include: The higher a team's winning percentage prior to the hire, the more likely the team is to hire an African-American head coach. The lower a team's winning percentage in the prior season, the more African-American subordinate coaches are likely to be hired. A team with a black head coach hires about twenty-five percent more black subordinates than a team with a white head coach. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.