Performance →
- 23 Oct 2013
- Research & Ideas
Overcoming Nervous Nelly
In situations from business negotiations to karaoke, Alison Wood Brooks explores the harmful effects of anxiety on performance—and how to combat them. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 02 Oct 2013
- What Do You Think?
Is Leadership an Increasingly Difficult Balancing Act?
Summing Up: Do we long for the days of the conventional authority figure? Jim Heskett sums up this month's column. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 25 Jul 2013
- Research & Ideas
Why Unqualified Candidates Get Hired Anyway
Why do businesses evaluate candidates solely on past job performance, failing to consider the job's difficulty? Why do university admissions officers focus on high GPAs, discounting influence of easy grading standards? Francesca Gino and colleagues investigate the phenomenon of the "fundamental attribution error." Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 24 Apr 2013
- Research & Ideas
Who Sets Your Benchmarks?
In his new book, What You're Really Meant to Do, Robert Steven Kaplan outlines a step-by-step approach to defining success on your own terms. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 04 Mar 2013
- Working Paper Summaries
The Dirty Laundry of Employee Award Programs: Evidence from the Field
Many scholars and practitioners in human resource management have recently argued that awards and other forms of on-the-job recognition provide a "free" way to motivate employees. But are there unintended, negative effects of such awards? In this paper, the authors simultaneously examine the costs and benefits of an attendance award program that was implemented in an industrial laundry plant. The award used in the study was effective in that it reduced the average rate of tardiness among employees. However, it also led to a host of potential spillover effects that the plant manager readily admits were not considered when designing the program, and that reduced overall plant productivity. Overall, findings demonstrate that an award program that appears to be effective may also induce unintended consequences severely reducing the net value of the program. These results highlight the impact such a program can have on the overall performance of the firm and suggest caution when designing and implementing such programs. Key concepts include: Even simple awards programs can have much broader and complex implications for employee behavior. In the study, two highly valued employee groups - the most productive workers and the most consistently punctual workers - suffered a 6-8% decrease in productivity after the award was instituted. This finding is remarkable because it suggests that awards for one type of behavior have the potential to "crowd out" positive behavior in a completely different realm. This research suggests that non-monetary but extrinsic rewards such as corporate awards act more like monetary rewards than they do intrinsic motivators such as love for the job or empowerment through autonomy. Award programs with a low likelihood of winning may be ineffective because employees do not habituate good behavior, and instead lead to a highly strategic response from employees. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 18 Feb 2013
- Research & Ideas
Breaking Through a Growth Stall
Many companies get stuck on a plateau, unable to grow and burning through cash at a frightening rate. Frank V. Cespedes discusses how focusing on the right customers can generate growth again. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 02 Jan 2013
- What Do You Think?
Should We Rethink the Promise of Teams?
Summing Up: Teams that are properly structured and managed can support innovative thinking that depends on contributions from both extroverts and introverts, according to Professor Jim Heskett's readers. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 19 Dec 2012
- Research & Ideas
How to be Extremely Productive
Professor Robert Pozen discusses his new book, Extreme Productivity: Boost Your Results, Reduce Your Hours, in which he shares performance-enhancing tips on everything from better sleep on overnight business flights to dealing with employees' mistakes. From the HBS Alumni Bulletin. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 17 Dec 2012
- Research & Ideas
Teaming in the Twenty-First Century
Today's teams are not well designed for getting work done in the twenty-first century, argues Professor Amy C. Edmondson. One starting point: learn the skill of "teaming." Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 28 Nov 2012
- What Do You Think?
Should Pay-for-Performance Compensation be Replaced?
Summing up: In spite of its naysayers, pay for performance compensation still makes sense to most of us, according to those responding to Jim Heskett's column on the subject. But there is a difference of opinion of about when and how it works and how it should be structured. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 17 Sep 2012
- Research & Ideas
Blue Skies, Distractions Arise: How Weather Affects Productivity
New studies show that workers are more productive on rainy days than on sunny ones. Does your office take advantage? Research by Francesca Gino and colleagues. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 05 Sep 2012
- What Do You Think?
Will Business Management Save US Health Care?
Summing Up: Problems confronting the US health care system are much larger and broader than those that can be solved by management in the absence of other remedies, readers tell Jim Heskett. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 27 Aug 2012
- Research & Ideas
Employee-Suggestion Programs That Work
The key to operating a successful employee-suggestion program is to stop spending so much time on big-bang projects and focus on solving "low-hanging-fruit" problems. Research by Anita L. Tucker and Sara J. Singer. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 18 Jun 2012
- Research & Ideas
Better by the Bunch: Evaluating Job Candidates in Groups
The key to avoiding gender stereotyping in the hiring process lies in evaluating job candidates as a group, rather than one at a time. So says new research by Iris Bohnet, Alexandra van Geen, and Max H. Bazerman. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 06 Jun 2012
- What Do You Think?
Is Something Wrong with the Way We Work?
Summing Up Who is to blame for our pressure-packed 24/7 work culture? Technology? Globalization? Increasingly demanding customers? Jim Heskett's readers say it's best to first look in the mirror. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 17 May 2012
- Working Paper Summaries
Is a VC Partnership Greater Than the Sum of Its Partners?
Venture capital investments are an important engine of innovation and economic growth, but extremely risky from an individual investor's point of view. Furthermore, there are large differences in fund performance between top quartile and bottom quartile venture capital funds. The ability to consistently produce top performing investments implies that there is something unique and time-invariant about venture capital firms. But to what extent are the important attributes of performance a part of the firm's organizational capital or embodied in the human capital of the people inside the firm? Michael Ewens and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf find that the partner is extremely important. Additionally, results suggest that venture capital partnerships are not much more than the sum of their partners. Partners are often significantly different from each other, but "good" firms are those with a group of better partners. Thus, firms that have maintained high performance across many funds may have simply been able to retain high quality partners rather than actually provide those partners with much in the way of fundamental help. Key concepts include: Performance seems almost entirely attributable to the partner, and firm characteristics seem to matter little in venture capital investing. The organizational capital inside a venture capital firm is limited. This would imply limited size firms. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 25 Apr 2012
- Research & Ideas
The Importance of Teaming
Managers need to stop thinking of teams as static groups of individuals who have ample time to practice interacting successfully and efficiently, says Amy Edmondson in her new book, Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate, and Compete in the Knowledge Economy. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 12 Mar 2012
- Research & Ideas
Crowded at the Top: The Rise of the Functional Manager
It's not lonely at the top anymore—today's CEO has an average of 10 direct reports, according to new research by Julie M. Wulf, Maria Guadalupe, and Hongyi Li. Thank a dramatic increase in the number of "functional" managers for crowding in the C-suite. Key concepts include: The number of managers reporting directly to the CEO has doubled, from an average of 5 direct reports in 1986 to an average of 10 today. In 2008, companies averaged 2.9 general managers, compared with 1.6 in 1986, according to data from several surveys. The average number of functional managers reporting directly to the CEO increased much more dramatically, from 3.1 in the late 1980s to 6.7 in 2008. Two main factors have driven the C-suite sea change: an overall increase in IT investments and an overall decrease in firm diversification. As hierarchical flattening occurs, companies are pushing some decisions toward the top, casting doubt on the common idea that firms flatten in order to push ideas down the organization. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 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.
Is Top-Down Resource Allocation on the Rise?
Summing Up Respondents to this month's column provided Jim Heskett possible explanations for greater reliance on top-down resource allocation processes while arguing that a blend of influences from the top and bottom of an organization are still important for best results. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.