Motivation and Incentives →
- 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.
- 02 Jun 2008
- Research & Ideas
Spending on Happiness
Money can't buy love but it can buy happiness—as long as it's spent on someone else. Research by Michael I. Norton and colleagues looks into how and why spending on others promotes happiness. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 21 Apr 2008
- Research & Ideas
The New Math of Customer Relationships
Harvard Business School professor emeritus James L. Heskett has spent much of his career exploring how satisfied employees and customers can drive lifelong profit. Heskett and his colleagues will soon introduce a new concept into the business management literature: customer and employee "owners." Key concepts include: Service profit chain concepts are global, subject only to local cultural practices. Businesses are experimenting with the idea of creating "owners" out of both customers and employees, who create the highest lifetime value to the organization. During times of economic stress, relationships between customer and employee satisfaction, loyalty, and productivity become more critical. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 10 Mar 2008
- Research & Ideas
Encouraging Entrepreneurs: Lessons for Government Policy
Who you know and how much money is in your pocket have always been significant contributors to entrepreneurial success. New research by Harvard Business School professor Ramana Nanda explores new wrinkles in this age-old formula—and how government policy may impact entrepreneurship. Key concepts include: Policymakers can benefit from understanding how peer networks and the financing environment impact the kinds of people who become entrepreneurs. People with a higher fraction of co-workers who have been entrepreneurs are more likely to try it themselves. Moreover, peer effects substitute for an individual's own background—those whose parents have been entrepreneurs benefit less from exposure to entrepreneurial peers. Not everyone who wants money to start a new business necessarily deserves it. Wealthy people are often able to start inadvisable businesses because they don't need to undergo the reality check of an investor's approval for funding. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 15 Feb 2008
- Working Paper Summaries
Embracing Commitment and Performance: CEOs and Practices Used to Manage Paradox
How do chief executives establish strategic practices around their visions and intents? How do such practices make it possible to create both high commitment and high performance? The central puzzle for HBS professor emeritus Michael Beer and colleagues is not the creation of high commitment per se, but the kind of commitment that is useful for the implementation of strategy and sustainable performance. Beer et al. sought out major companies in North America and Europe that had a history of sustainable, above-average financial performance, and where there were indications of the companies being high-commitment organizations. They then conducted in-depth interviews with 26 CEOs of such companies, asking about activities and practices that help create commitment and performance. Key concepts include: The CEOs did not frame choices as "either-or" but rather "both-and." They argued that seemingly conflicting outcomes cannot be made the subject of choice, nor can they be balanced. It is the role of a CEO to embrace paradoxes and at least at the espoused level try to reconcile them. The research team found 5 groups of interrelated managerial practices that characterize this kind of strategic management. The practices engage employees emotionally and rationally, and facilitate strategic change, rather than implement it top-down. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 11 Jan 2008
- Working Paper Summaries
See No Evil: When We Overlook Other People’s Unethical Behavior
Even good people sometimes act unethically without their own awareness. This paper explores psychological processes as they affect the ethical perception of others' behavior, and concludes with implications for organizations. First, there is a tendency for people to overlook unethical behavior in others when recognizing such behavior would harm them. Second, people might readily ignore unethical behavior when others have an agent do their dirty work for them. Third, gradual moral decay leads people to grow comfortable with behavior to which they would otherwise object. Fourth, the tendency to value outcomes over processes can lead us to accept unethical processes for far too long. Key concepts include: Most people value ethical decisions and behavior, and strive to be good. Yet psychological processes sometimes lead them to engage in questionable behaviors that are inconsistent with their own values and beliefs. It is common to fail to notice or act on information when dealing with ethically relevant decisions. Organizational leaders must understand these processes and make the structural changes necessary to reduce the harmful effects of human psychological and ethical limitations. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 30 Nov 2007
- What Do You Think?
What Is Management’s Role in Innovation?
Online forum closed. It's an open question whether management, as it is currently practiced, contributes much to creativity and innovation, says HBS professor Jim Heskett. What changes will allow managers, particularly in larger organizations, to add value to the creative process? What do you think? Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 02 Aug 2007
- What Do You Think?
How Will Millennials Manage?
Gen Yers or "millennials"—those born beginning in the late 1970s—are generally bright, cheery, seemingly well-adjusted, and cooperative, says Jim Heskett. Their work styles are sometimes confounding, though. As managers, how will they shape organizations of the future? Online forum now closed. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 01 Jun 2007
- What Do You Think?
How Should Pay Be Linked to Performance?
Online forum now CLOSED. Professor Jim Heskett sums up 98 reader responses from around the world. As he concludes, is there another subject as important as this one about which we assume so much and know so little? Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 15 May 2007
- Working Paper Summaries
I’ll Have the Ice Cream Soon and the Vegetables Later: Decreasing Impatience over Time in Online Grocery Orders
How do people’s preferences differ when they make choices for the near term versus the more distant future? Providing evidence from a field study of an online grocer, this research shows that people act as if they will be increasingly virtuous the further into the future they project. Researchers examined how the length of delay between when an online grocery order is completed and when it is delivered affects what consumers order. They find that consumers purchase more "should" (healthy) groceries such as vegetables and less "want" (unhealthy) groceries such as ice cream the greater the delay between order completion and order delivery. The results have implications for public policy, supply chain managers, and models of time discounting. Key concepts include: Consumers spend less and order a higher percentage of "should" items and a lower percentage of "want" items the further in advance of delivery they place a grocery order. Encouraging people to order their groceries up to 5 days in advance of consumption could influence the healthfulness of the foods that people consume. Similarly, asking students in schools to select their lunches up to a week in advance could considerably increase the healthfulness of the foods they elect to eat. Online and catalog retailers that offer a range of goods as well as different delivery options might be able to improve their demand forecasting by understanding these findings. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 02 Feb 2007
- What Do You Think?
Is There Too Little “Know Why” In Business?
There's know-how in business and then there's "know why." Purpose is a powerful motivator on many levels, says Jim Heskett. Can we aspire to a strong sense of "know why" even if our organization is not out to change the world? What do you think? Online forum now open. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 15 Dec 2006
- Working Paper Summaries
The Business of Free Software: Enterprise Incentives, Investment, and Motivation in the Open Source Community
IBM has contributed more than $1 billion to the development and promotion of the Linux operating system, and other vendors such as Sun are ramping up open source software efforts and investment. Why do information technology vendors that have traditionally sold proprietary software invest millions of dollars in OSS? Where have they chosen to invest, and what are the characteristics of the OSS projects to which they contribute? This study grouped OSS projects into clusters and identified IT vendors' motives in each cluster. Key concepts include: Cluster 1, the "money-driven cluster," consisted of projects that have received almost all of vendor investments. The eighteen projects in this cluster have received over $2 billion in investment. Cluster 2, the "community-driven cluster," has a large number of projects that have received almost no vendor investment. IT vendors have generally ignored projects in this cluster and appear to have no coordinated strategy for dealing with them. Examining the impact of projects in both clusters shows that vendors have not invested uniformly in high-impact OSS projects. Instead, vendors invest in projects that can serve to draw revenues to their own (largely proprietary) core business. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 01 Dec 2006
- What Do You Think?
How Important Is Quality of Labor? And How Is It Achieved?
A new book by Gregory Clark identifies "labor quality" as the major enticement for capital flows that lead to economic prosperity. By defining labor quality in terms of discipline and attitudes toward work, this argument minimizes the long-term threat of outsourcing to developed economies. By understanding labor quality, can we better confront anxieties about outsourcing and immigration? Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 25 Oct 2006
- Op-Ed
Fixing Executive Options: The Veil of Ignorance
Who says you can't rewrite history? Dozens of companies have been caught in the practice of backdating options for top executives. But this is only part of the problem with C-level compensation packages, which often motivate top executives to act in their own best interests rather than those of shareholders. Professors Mihir Desai and Joshua Margolis turn to philosopher John Rawls for a solution: Reward the execs, but don't give them the details. Key concepts include: Too often executive incentive packages are not aligned with the best interests of shareholders. Why create long-term value if your bread is buttered by quarterly performance? Option compensation could be restructured to ensure that managers were aware of the value of their compensation without any knowledge of the details of their compensation—a concept inspired by philosopher John Rawls' work on distributive justice. These options may only be useful for CEOs, senior officers, and directors—not middle management. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 20 Sep 2006
- Research & Ideas
The Power of Ordinary Practices
Seemingly mundane things that managers do can have great impact on their workers, says Professor Teresa Amabile. In this conversation with Professor Mike Roberts, she updates her ongoing research on creativity in the workplace by investigating how people's intense inner work lives affect their productivity—and how managers can encourage production. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 01 Sep 2006
- What Do You Think?
Are We Ready for Self-Management?
On its face, self-management looks like a "win-win" answer to the scarcity of good managers and the predominance of low-involvement entry-level jobs. But are sufficient numbers of entry-level employees ready for self-management? And is management ready? Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 14 Aug 2006
- HBS Case
On Managing with Bobby Knight and “Coach K”
Bobby Knight and Mike Krzyzewski are arguably the two most successful college basketball coaches in the country. But their leadership styles could not be more different. Professor Scott Snook wonders: Is it better to be loved or feared? Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 27 Feb 2006
- Research & Ideas
Corporate Values and Employee Cynicism
A values-driven organization poses unique risks for its leaders—in particular, charges of hypocrisy if the leaders make a mistake. Sandra Cha of McGill University and Amy Edmondson of Harvard Business School discuss what to do when values backfire. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 10 Jan 2005
- Research & Ideas
How to Put Meaning Back into Leading
When research on leadership pays more attention to financial results than a person's ability to give the company a sense of purpose, something crucial is lost. Three Harvard Business School scholars are working to change the debate. A Q&A with Joel M. Podolny, Rakesh Khurana, and Marya Hill-Popper. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
Has the Time Come for “Stretch” in Management?
Summing Up HBS professor Jim Heskett sums up comments from his readers on the topic of stretch goals. Does stretch still make sense as an organizing principle? What, if anything, should be done to ensure that stretch is allowed to flourish in companies today? What do you think? Closed for comment; 0 Comments.