Simons, Robert →

Muhammad Ali: A Case Study in Purpose-Driven Decision Making

Muhammad Ali, born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., rose from a poor family in segregated Louisville, Kentucky to international fame, winning three heavyweight boxing titles and becoming a civil rights leader and role model for millions of people around the world. How did he do it? Early in his career, Ali’s creativity and hard work helped him overcome significant obstacles. Rather than letting his fear of flying keep him from competing in the 1960 Olympics, he traveled to Italy wearing a parachute -- and easily won the gold medal in boxing. When he returned to the U.S. as a gold medalist, Ali used his growing fame to bring attention to racism and humanitarian causes he supported, including his then-controversial decision to refuse to fight in the Vietnam War. Professor Robert Simons discusses how Ali made decisions throughout his life and career to leave a lasting impact on the world in his case, “Muhammad Ali: Changing the World.”

Marie Curie: A Case Study in Breaking Barriers

Marie Curie, born Maria Sklodowska from a poor family in Poland, rose to the pinnacle of scientific fame in the early years of the twentieth century, winning the Nobel Prize twice in the fields of physics and chemistry. At the time women were simply not accepted in scientific fields so Curie had to overcome enormous obstacles in order to earn a doctorate at the Sorbonne and perform her pathbreaking research on radioactive materials. How did she plan her time and navigate her life choices to leave a lasting impact on the world? Professor Robert Simons discusses how Marie Curie rose to scientific fame despite poverty and gender barriers in his case, “Marie Curie: Changing the World.”

5 Career-Related New Year’s Resolutions (and 5 Tips for Keeping Them)

Here are well-researched tips from Harvard Business School faculty to help you keep your career-related resolutions this year. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Bad At Your Job? Maybe It's the Job’s Fault

A poorly designed job can work against even the most dedicated employee, setting the person up to fail. Robert Simons explains how to gauge whether an employee's position offers the right mix of organizational support and responsibility. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Self-Interest: The Economist's Straitjacket

Research explores the downsides of self-interest on businesses, government, and the economy as a whole.

The Entrepreneurial Gap: How Managers Adjust Span of Accountability and Span of Control to Implement Business Strategy

The management accounting literature of the past twenty years is replete with studies of budgeting systems, balanced scorecards, performance measures, and contract-based incentives. Relatively little attention has been devoted, however, to the organization structure in which these systems exist. Existing accounting theory has little to say, for example, on how the design of performance measures might differ if a business is organized by function, by region, or by product or customer group. In this study, which augments in-depth field data collected by the author in three separate companies with a larger data set generated by 72 teams of MBA student researchers, organization design is reintroduced as a critical variable in understanding management control systems in the context of intensifying global competition. Results suggest that managers appear to adjust span of accountability relative to span of control based on the degree of innovation and independent initiative they wish to foster. In addition, when managers want employees to build long-term relationships with customers, develop new products and services, or navigate the labyrinths created by complex organization designs, they set span of accountability wider than span of control. Key concepts include: The propositions developed in this study offer a potentially new way of thinking about the links between accountability, performance measures, and organization design in complex organizations. Holding individuals accountable for measures that are wider than the resources they control forces them to become resourceful in working with others in different units to figure out how to solve problems and turn opportunities to advantage. At the same time, norms must exist that encourage the offering of a helping hand to those seeking new ways of achieving their goals. Without these conditions, dysfunctional behavior is inevitable. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

Seven Strategy Questions: A Simple Approach for Better Execution

Successful business strategy lies not in having all the right answers, but rather in asking the right questions, says Harvard Business School professor Robert Simons. In an excerpt from his book Seven Strategy Questions, Simons explains how managers can make smarter choices. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

Accountability and Control as Catalysts for Strategic Exploration and Exploitation: Field Study Results

The need for organizations to both exploit current resources and explore new opportunities is a central and long-standing theme in the literature of organizations. The challenge, of course, is that these two imperatives require very different structures and skills. Exploitation demands a focus on efficiency and effectiveness in executing preset plans and procedures. Exploration requires the ability to step outside these routines by emphasizing experimentation, creativity, and novelty. In this study, HBS professor Robert L. Simons focuses on the relationship between two organization design variables—span of control and span of accountability. Using data from 102 field studies, he illustrates how these variables can be manipulated by managers to tilt the balance toward either exploration or exploitation in response to different tasks, different organizational contexts, and changing competitive environments. Key concepts include: Managers can fine-tune their organization along the dimensions of exploitation and exploration more easily than we may have suspected. For these situations, accountability and control can be adjusted to create an opening for entrepreneurship. It is the tension between the resources allocated by organizational architecture and accountability for those resources that provides a powerful catalyst for strategic exploitation and exploration. Most of the research on exploration and exploitation has focused on design architecture (centralization/decentralization, internal venture groups, alliances) and related organizational coordinating mechanisms. We must remember, however, that these structures are merely tools to affect the behavior of individuals. It is individuals, in the end, who must devote their energy and attention to either exploiting current resources or exploring new opportunities. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.