Education →
- 11 Apr 2014
- Working Paper Summaries
Learning By Thinking: How Reflection Improves Performance
Knowledge plays an important role in the productivity and prosperity of economies, organizations, and individuals. Even so, research on learning has primarily focused on the role of doing (experience) in fostering progress over time. To compare the effectiveness of different sources of learning, the authors take a micro approach and study learning at the individual level. They argue that learning from direct experience can be more effective if coupled with reflection—that is, the intentional attempt to synthesize, abstract, and articulate the key lessons taught by experience. Using a mixed-method approach that combines laboratory experiments and a field study in a large business process outsourcing company in India, they find support for this prediction. Further, they find that the effect of reflection on learning is mediated by greater perceived ability to achieve a goal (i.e., self-efficacy). Together, these results reveal reflection to be a powerful mechanism behind learning, confirming the words of American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer John Dewey: "We do not learn from experience ... we learn from reflecting on experience." Key concepts include: Learning from direct experience can be more effective if coupled with reflection-that is, the intentional attempt to synthesize, abstract, and articulate the key lessons taught by experience. Reflecting on what has been learned makes experience more productive. Reflection builds one's confidence in the ability to achieve a goal (i.e., self-efficacy), which in turn translates into higher rates of learning. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 25 Oct 2013
- Working Paper Summaries
Management: Theory and Practice, and Cases
The author reflects upon his diverse experiences throughout his career with the benefits and challenges of case method teaching and case writing. The case method is undergoing tremendous innovation as students in the twenty-first century engage in learning about corporations, management, and board oversight. In particular, the creative and analytical process of writing the novelAdventures of an IT Leader is examined. The book's "hero's journey" foundation continued in a second Harvard Business Press book, Harder Than I Thought: Adventures of a Twenty-First Century Leader, focusing on CEO leadership in the global economy and the fast-changing IT-enabled pace of business. A third novel is in preparation: It concerns corporate leadership challenges into reinventing boards of directors for the twenty-first century. Key concepts include: A novel-based series of books is incorporating the "hero's journey" classic story structure along with the creation of associated fictional case characters designed to engage readers in the dimensions of human behavior, decision making, and judgments in carrying out the work of the modern corporation. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 20 Jun 2012
- Lessons from the Classroom
Teaching Leadership: What We Know
The field of leadership education has reached a critical stage. After several decades of experimentation, "The Handbook for Teaching Leadership," Scott A. Snook, Rakesh Khurana, and Nitin Nohria, is intended to be a foundational reference for educators facing this increasingly important challenge. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 27 Feb 2012
- Research & Ideas
When Researchers Cheat (Just a Little)
Although cases of clear scientific misconduct have received significant media attention recently, less flagrant transgressions of research norms may be more prevalent and, in the long run, more damaging to the academic enterprise, reports Assistant Professor Leslie K. John. Key concepts include: Many of the surveyed research psychologists admitted to bending scientific norms in their work, but most transgressions were innocuous. Over a third of those surveyed said they doubted the integrity of their own research on at least one occasion. Ten percent of the research psychologists had engaged in the most serious practice of using false data. This methodology could help business practitioners learn about undesirable practices inside their companies. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 17 Oct 2011
- Research & Ideas
How ‘Hybrid’ Nonprofits Can Stay on Mission
As nonprofits add more for-profit elements to their business models, they can suffer mission drift. Associate Professor Julie Battilana says hybrid organizations can stay on target if they focus on two factors: the employees they hire and the way they socialize those employees. Key concepts include: In order to avoid mission drift, hybrid organizations need to focus on whom they hire and whether their employees are open to socialization. Because early socialization is so important, hybrid firms may be better off hiring new college graduates with no work background rather than a mix of seasoned bankers and social workers. The longer their tenure in a hybrid organization, the more likely top managers may be to hire junior people. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 11 Aug 2011
- Lessons from the Classroom
Perfecting the Project Pitch
Entrepreneurs may be great innovators, but not necessarily great presenters. Associate Professor Thomas Steenburgh teaches them the fine art of product pitching. Key concepts include: Crafting a compelling product pitch can be a difficult process for entrepreneurs who have a technical, engineering, or non-sales background, or another non-sales discipline. A pitch can go awry when the presenter gets too wrapped up in details rather than concentrating on the central idea, or has not thought through the idea enough to really understand it. An audience will give presenters 60 seconds to capture their attention—then they tune out. A key for entrepreneurs pitching their plans is to show passion for the idea and for the audience. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 25 Jul 2011
- Research & Ideas
How Disruptive Innovation is Remaking the University
In The Innovative University, authors Clayton M. Christensen and Henry J. Eyring take Christensen's theory of disruptive innovation to the field of higher education, where new online institutions and learning tools are challenging the future of traditional colleges and universities. Key concepts include: A disruptive innovation brings to market a product or service that isn't as good as the best traditional offerings, but is less expensive and easier to use. Online learning is a disruptive technology that is making colleges and universities reconsider their higher education models. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 08 Jun 2011
- Lessons from the Classroom
Twenty-first Century Skill: Trading Carbon Credits
As cap and trade becomes an increasingly popular mechanism for governments to cut corporate pollution, students at Harvard Business School use a simulation to learn how it works. An interview with professor Peter Coles. Key concepts include: The simulation provides a classroom experience for students to see the impact of different design principles in the cap-and-trade mechanism. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 02 May 2011
- Research & Ideas
Casino Payoff: Hands-Off Management Works Best
Micromanagers beware: Research of casino hosts by Harvard Business School's Dennis Campbell and Francisco de Asís Martinez-Jerez and Rice's Marc Epstein makes the case that hands-off management can work to improve employee learning and decision making. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 22 Feb 2011
- Research & Ideas
The Most Important Management Trends of the (Still Young) Twenty-First Century
HBS Dean Nitin Nohria and faculty look backward and forward at the most important business trends of the young twenty-first century. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 22 Oct 2010
- Research & Ideas
Panel on Pedagogical Innovations in MBA Courses
Faculty Research Symposium 2010: Multiple pedagogical innovations are taking place at HBS that are fundamentally changing students' learning experiences. Key concepts include: The Global Leader Initiative seeks to make the educational experience more powerful by forging greater integration between courses. The Building Green Businesses Seminar was created to accelerate the rate at which green business issues enter the mainstream curriculum. Weekly one-page papers are used by professor Youngme Moon to force students to distill their thinking, take a point of view, and reflect on lessons learned, while raising the overall quality of discussion in the classroom. The Authentic Leadership Development course encourages students to understand themselves before leading others. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 16 Aug 2010
- Lessons from the Classroom
HBS Introduces Marketing Analysis Tools for Managers
These tools can help managers make informed decisions on market analysis, breakeven analysis, customer lifetime value, profit and pricing, and analyzing the competitive environment. Interview with Tom Steenburgh. Key concepts include: Immense changes in marketing are driving an increasing need for data analysis. The five HBS-developed tools provide decision-making support for market analysis, breakeven analysis, customer lifetime value, profit and pricing, and analyzing the competitive environment. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 10 May 2010
- Research & Ideas
What Top Scholars Say About Leadership
As a subject of scholarly inquiry, leadership—and who leaders are, what makes them tick, how they affect others—has been neglected for decades. The Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice, edited by Harvard Business School's Nitin Nohria and Rakesh Khurana, brings together some of the best minds on this important subject. Q&A with Khurana, plus book excerpt. Key concepts include: Leadership as a phenomenon for research is experiencing a rebirth due to developments in the academy and the urgency of improving leadership globally. At the turn of the 20th century, leadership was studied intensely. It then fell off the academic grid. Given the number of schools asserting leadership development as part of their mission statement, it is critical for scholars to understand and explain how leaders succeed and fail based on opportunities and constraints. Leadership should be examined through a variety of lenses, including psychology, sociology, economics, and history. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 06 May 2010
- Working Paper Summaries
Introductory Reading For Being a Leader and The Effective Exercise of Leadership: An Ontological Model
Effective leadership does not come from mere knowledge about what successful leaders do; or from trying to emulate the characteristics or styles of noteworthy leaders; or from trying to remember and follow the steps, tips, or techniques from books or coaching on leadership. And it certainly does not come from merely being in a leadership position or in a position of authority or having decision rights. This paper, the sixth of six pre-course reading assignments for an experimental leadership course developed by HBS professor emeritus Michael C. Jensen and coauthors, accompanies a course specifically designed to provide actionable access to being a leader and the effective exercise of leadership as one's natural self-expression. Key concepts include: One of the conditions for realizing the promise of the leadership course is that students must be open to examine, question, and then transform their worldviews (models of reality) and frames of reference (mindsets). Students create for themselves a powerful 4-part contextual framework that calls them into being as a leader. Having done this what remains is to confront one's own Ontological Perceptual and Functional constraints so as: 1) to relax their ability to restrict one's perceptions of what must be dealt with in any leadership situation, and 2) to relax their ability to restrict one's freedom of choice for action in any leadership situation. Students cannot master that which they do not create for themselves. This is especially true of anything that is at first counterintuitive. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 03 May 2010
- Research & Ideas
What Is the Future of MBA Education?
Why get an MBA degree? Transformations in business and society make this question increasingly urgent for executives, business school deans, students, faculty, and the public. In a new book, Rethinking the MBA: Business Education at a Crossroads, Harvard Business School's Srikant M. Datar, David A. Garvin, and Patrick G. Cullen suggest opportunities for innovation. Q&A with Datar and Garvin plus book excerpt. Key concepts include: Executives and business school deans raised multiple concerns about the MBA landscape when the authors interviewed them for an HBS Centennial colloquium in 2008 on the future of MBA education. The challenges: Stakeholders question the value-added of MBA degrees. And MBAs lack sufficient leadership development, a "global mindset," and skill in navigating organizational realities. Rethinking the MBA examines each challenge in turn, and provides six case studies of schools that demonstrate flexibility and innovation in MBA education. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 10 Feb 2010
- Working Paper Summaries
Investing in Improvement: Strategy and Resource Allocation in Public School Districts
The operating environments of public school districts are largely void of the market forces that reward a company's success with more capital and exert pressure on it to eventually abandon unproductive activities. Stacey Childress describes the strategic resource decisions in 3 of the 20 public school districts that she and colleagues have studied through the Public Education Leadership Project at Harvard. The stories in San Francisco, New York City, and Maryland's Montgomery County occurred largely before the districts faced dramatic decreases in revenues, though they show the superintendents facing budget concerns near the end of the narratives. Even so, the situations share common principles that superintendents and their leadership teams can use to make differentiated resource decisions—reducing spending in some areas and increasing it in others with a clear rationale for why these decisions will produce results for students. Key concepts include: Given the rarity of strategic approaches to resource allocation described in the examples, it is clear that district leaders need more guidance and tools to help them make better decisions and manage the consequences, particularly when they are under enormous fiscal pressure. Back your strategy with a resource plan—otherwise it is not a strategy. Don't get trapped by the dogma of decentralization. If leaders alienate influential stakeholders when budgets are flush, it will be even more difficult to preserve key strategic investments during financial crises. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 18 Nov 2009
- HBS Case
Customer Feedback Not on elBulli’s Menu
The world is beating a path to Chef Ferran Adrià's door at elBulli, but why? In professor Michael Norton's course, students learn about marketing from a business owner who says he doesn't care whether or not customers like his product. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 07 Oct 2009
- Research Event
HBS Past and Present
Eight enduring themes have characterized Harvard Business School from its earliest years, and remain as integral as ever to the way the School thinks and operates. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 30 Sep 2009
- Research & Ideas
Harvard and HBS: The Next 100 Years
Harvard President Drew Gilpin Faust reflected on Harvard Business School's past 100 years and shared her vision of the future, while HBS Dean Jay Light discussed the School's history and highlighted key focus areas for the future. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
Reflecting on Work Improves Job Performance
New research by Francesca Gino, Gary Pisano, and colleagues shows that taking time to reflect on our work improves job performance in the long run. Open for comment; 0 Comments.