Coffman, Katherine B. →

Diversity and Inclusion at Mars Petcare: Translating Awareness into Action

In 2020, the Mars Petcare leadership team found themselves facing critically important inclusion and diversity issues. Unprecedented protests for racial justice in the U.S. and across the globe generated demand for substantive change, and Mars Petcare's 100,000 employees across six continents were ready for visible signs of progress. How should Mars’ leadership build on their existing diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts and effectively capitalize on the new energy for change? Harvard Business School associate professor Katherine Coffman is joined by Erica Coletta, Mars Petcare’s chief people officer, and Ibtehal Fathy, global inclusion and diversity officer at Mars Inc., to discuss the case, “Inclusion and Diversity at Mars Petcare.”

Can Mass General Brigham Diversify Its Community of Innovators?

In November 2019, Mass General Brigham (MGB) was the largest recipient of National Institutes of Health funding in the world. The Innovation Office, led by Chief Innovation Officer Chris Coburn, sought to capitalize on that funding – with the goal of commercializing research done at the hospital to generate revenue and improve patient care. But CEO Anne Klibanski and other key stakeholders had a serious concern: although women comprised approximately 40 percent of the medical researchers and physicians at MGB, the percentage of women participating in innovation activities lagged behind. Associate Professor Katie Coffman, Coburn, and MGB’s managing director of administration and strategy Diana Schwartzstein discuss how they identify the main sources of the disparities and find the right strategy to expand and diversify MGB’s community of innovators in the case, “Inclusive Innovation at Mass General Brigham.” Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Older People Are Less Pessimistic about the Health Risks of COVID-19

The pandemic presents a unique opportunity to investigate formation of beliefs about an unprecedented, widespread, and life-threatening event. One finding: COVID-19 makes the prospect of disease and death particularly salient for the young.

Starbucks Commits to Raising Awareness of Racial Bias

After a highly publicized act of racial discrimination by a Starbucks employee the company revised store policies and employee training practices. Francesca Gino and Katherine Coffman discuss unconscious bias in corporate culture. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

When to Apply?

Using a series of experiments, the authors studied gender differences in how job-seekers perceive their own qualifications for different opportunities and how this affects their decision to apply. Results suggest that soft touch employer interventions can improve the diversity of applicant pools even if candidate beliefs about their own ability are unchanged.

Memory and Representativeness

We explore the foundations of individuals’ probabilistic judgments, looking to better understand the sources of systematic errors. We conduct a laboratory experiment where participants view abstract images and are then asked to recall what they saw. We find evidence that interference in episodic memory contributes to biased probabilistic judgments.

How Gender Stereotypes Kill a Woman’s Self-Confidence

Researchers believe gender stereotypes hold women back in the workplace. Katherine Coffman's research adds a new twist: They can even cause women to question their own abilities. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

Gender Stereotypes in Deliberation and Team Decisions

Professional success requires the ability to contribute ideas, and receive credit for them. This paper explores gender differences in how men and women communicate and reward each other in team decision-making problems. We find that women are recognized less often for their contributions in male-typed domains.

The Impact of Penalties for Wrong Answers on the Gender Gap in Test Scores

Multiple-choice questions on standardized tests are widely seen as objective measures of student ability, but the common practice of assessing penalties for wrong answers may generate gender bias. This study documents the impact of a policy change that removed penalties for wrong answers on the national college entry exam in Chile. This simple change reduced the gender gap in test performance by 9 percent.

Sponsorship Programs Could Actually Widen the Gender Gap

Companies increasingly provide sponsors to help women get ahead. But certain aspects of sponsorship programs can hinder women instead, according to experimental research by Nancy R. Baldiga and Katherine B. Coffman. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

When Gender Discrimination Is Not About Gender

Gender discrimination in a typically male workplace is not necessarily driven by misogyny. Rather, employers are less willing to hire applicants associated with a lower performing group-even if that group is defined by a demographic characteristic other than gender.

Why Employers Favor Men

Why are women discriminated against in hiring decisions? Research by Katherine Coffman, Christine Exley, and Muriel Niederle finds the answer is more subtle than expected. Open for comment; 0 Comments.