Human Resources →
- 27 Feb 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Seeking to Belong: How the Words of Internal and External Beneficiaries Influence Performance
Employees seek to fulfill a deep and fundamental need to belong at work. Positive words from one’s own colleagues can lead to an increased sense of belonging and can, in turn, create enhanced motivation. Results from experiments involving real-world and laboratory data help support the argument.
- 26 Jan 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Relative Performance Benchmarks: Do Boards Get It Right?
Use of relative performance based (RPE) grants has been steadily increasing. Common wisdom is that such grants help induce costly effort from the CEO by shielding them from performance shocks that are outside of their control. This study raises questions about the use of index-based benchmarks in lieu of a narrower set of specific peers.
- 25 Jan 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
The Effects of Quota Frequency on Sales Force Performance: Evidence from a Field Experiment
This study of different sales quotas and their effect on sales performance at a major retail chain in Sweden finds that changing from a monthly to a daily quota plan increases performance mainly for low-performing salespeople.
- 14 Dec 2016
- Book
Simple Ways to Take Gender Bias Out of Your Job Ads
Iris Bohnet's book What Works: Gender Equality by Design, discusses how organizations can leverage findings from behavioral science research to fight gender bias in the workplace—starting with job listings. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 30 Nov 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
The Stock Market and Bank Risk-Taking
It is clear that risk-taking by financial institutions is one of the main causes of financial crises and severe recessions. Yet we know relatively little about what gives rise to such risk-taking in the first place. This paper presents evidence that a focus on short-term stock prices induces publicly-traded banks to increase risk relative to privately-held banks. The findings provide support for the view that compensation schemes should require management to hold stock for longer periods to mitigate their incentives to pump up short-term earnings and the short-term stock price.
- 03 Nov 2016
- Cold Call Podcast
You're Fired: Managing Gray-Area Decisions
Joseph Badaracco discusses how managers can sort through difficult gray-area decisions, such as firing an employee. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 02 Nov 2016
- What Do You Think?
Are Employees Becoming Job 'Renters' Instead of 'Owners'?
SUMMING UP While some employees have a mindset of "renting" their jobs while others "own" them, James Heskett's readers tend to agree that companies plays a large role in determining those attitudes. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 17 Oct 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
Self-Employment Dynamics and the Returns to Entrepreneurship
Why do workers turn to entrepreneurship when many entrepreneurs appear to earn less than what they could earn in paid employment? This is the first paper to characterize how the value of resolving uncertainty about entrepreneurial earnings varies over the lifecycle after adjusting for tax differences between entrepreneurs and paid workers. Findings suggest that helping people learn about their potential earnings in entrepreneurship, either by learning from other's experiences in self-employment or by experimenting themselves, can improve the efficiency of sorting workers across sectors.
- 22 Aug 2016
- Research & Ideas
Master the One-on-One Meeting
The one-on-one meeting between supervisor and staff is an invaluable tool for managing, but requires much attention to detail. Julia B. Austin explains best practices for getting the most out of the 1:1. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 25 Jul 2016
- Research & Ideas
Who is to Blame for 'The Great Training Robbery'?
Companies spend billions annually training their executives, yet rarely realize all the benefit they could, argue Michael Beer and colleagues. He discusses a new research paper, The Great Training Robbery. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 11 Jul 2016
- HBS Case
Neurodiversity: The Benefits of Recruiting Employees with Cognitive Disabilities
Employers are increasingly finding fresh ideas and insights by recruiting workers with Autism Spectrum Disorder and other cognitive disabilities. Gary Pisano and Robert Austin discuss their case study, “SAP SE: Autism at Work.” Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 31 May 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
Who Gets Hired? The Importance of Finding an Open Slot
A worker’s skills alone does not determine the job in which they are hired—or indeed, whether the worker is hired at all. The existence of slots or job positions means that even qualified workers may not be hired or may not be assigned to the job for which they are best suited when there is a superior applicant for that position.
- 19 Apr 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
The Great Training Robbery
There is a widely held assumption in corporate life that well trained, even inspired individuals can change the system. This article explains why training fails and discusses why the “great training robbery” persists. The authors offer a framework for integrating leadership and organization change and development, and discuss implications for the corporate HR function.
- 08 Apr 2016
- Research & Ideas
How to Hire a Millennial
This is not your parents' workplace anymore, Joseph Fuller reminds us. Crucial for attracting millennial workers are flexible work arrangements, meaningful mentorship programs, and sense of mission. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 28 Mar 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
Do Incentive Plans for Exemplary Employees Lead to Productive or Counterproductive Outcomes?
This study of a mobile phone retail company shows that incentive contracts that selectively incentivize exemplary employees (that is, preferential incentive plans) may be helpful when companies want to motivate employees to pursue objectively measured goals in addition to relevant tasks not explicitly written into their contracts. However, preferential incentive plans may lead to unintended consequences if they trigger perceptions of inequity.
- 28 Mar 2016
- Research & Ideas
What's a Boss Worth?
Quite a lot, it turns out. Good bosses can have a multiplier effect that ups everyone’s game, according to new research by Christopher Stanton. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 17 Feb 2016
- Research & Ideas
Man vs. Machine: Which Makes Better Hires?
New research by Danielle Li and colleagues finds that computers make better hiring decisions than managers when filling simpler jobs. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 15 Feb 2016
- Research & Ideas
Want Your Employees to Plan Better for Retirement? Don't Do This
Will people plan more for retirement if they know how their peers are progressing on the same goal? Research by John Beshears and colleagues finds that sharing retirement data can sometimes backfire on employers. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 09 Feb 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
Executive Compensation and Misconduct: Environmental Harm
To what extent does executive compensation push firms into environmental law-breaking in particular and misconduct in general? This study finds that changing a CEO’s compensation from 100 percent stock to 100 percent options resulted in a 60 percent increased odds of environmental harm and close to a doubling of the magnitude of harm. We find similar results for financial accounting misconduct. A rule change making the higher powered incentives more costly for firms to provide reduced incidences.
What's the Ideal Frequency for a Sales Quota?
Sales reps feed on two forms of compensation: salary, and a bonus tied to achieving a periodic quota. Would a more frequent quota incentivize better numbers? Doug Chung and Das Narayandas offer some answers. Open for comment; 0 Comments.