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CommunicationRemove Communication →

New research on communication from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including intentiona nd meaning, communication technology, and communication strategies.
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Capitalism Works Better When I Can See What You're Doing

by Sean Silverthorne

Lower prices. More innovation. Better government. Transparency fuels the basic principles of competitive business and open government. Well, most of the time. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Collaborating During Coronavirus: The Impact of COVID-19 on the Nature of Work

by Evan DeFilippis, Stephen Michael Impink, Madison Singell, Jeffrey T. Polzer, and Raffaella Sadun

This study of 16 cities is the first large-scale analysis of how digital communication patterns have changed in the early stages of the pandemic. The overall pattern of more meetings and more emails points to a spillover of virtual communication beyond normal working hours.

The New Rules for Remote Work: Pandemic Edition

by Dina Gerdeman

Welcome to the new world of remote work, where employees struggle to learn the rules, managers are unsure how to help them, and organizations get a glimpse into the future. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Love in the Office Is Wonderful. Except for CEOs.

by Regina Herzlinger

Finding love among your office colleagues can be a wonderful thing, and not inevitably career ending. Unless, of course, you are the CEO. Advice to the corporate lovelorn from Regina Herzlinger. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Open Your Organization to Honest Conversations

by Dina Gerdeman

When company leaders can't hear the voices of their workers, serious strategic mistakes are likely. Michael Beer discusses ways organizations can build powerful communication channels. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Fostering Perceptions of Authenticity via Sensitive Self-Disclosure

by Li Jiang, Maryam Kouchaki, Francesca Gino, Reihane Boghrati, and Leslie John

By making sensitive self-disclosures, leaders can enhance how authentic their followers perceive them to be, leading to positive interpersonal outcomes and potentially organizational ones as well. Aside from the obvious costs of disclosing weaknesses, leaders may also reap surprising benefits from doing so.

Engineering Serendipity: The Role of Cognitive Similarity in Knowledge Sharing and Knowledge Production

by Jacqueline N. Lane, Ina Ganguli, Patrick Gaule, Eva C. Guinan, and Karim R. Lakhani

By creating opportunities for cross-disciplinary scientists to meet and talk as part of a natural field experiment, this study analyzes and finds evidence for a systematic relationship between knowledge sharing and knowledge production in the sciences. Findings may extend to similar types of cross-disciplinary knowledge-sharing opportunities in other settings.

How Does a Company like Boeing Respond to Intense Competitive Pressure?

by James Heskett

SUMMING UP: Playing out in real time, Boeing's misguided responses to competitive pressure illustrate organizational "gaps" suffered by many organizations. James Heskett's readers discuss solutions. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

When Your Passion Works Against You

by Dina Gerdeman

Passion is supposed to be the secret sauce that transforms average managers into dynamic leaders. The reality is more complicated, says Jon M. Jachimowicz. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Persuasion by Populist Propaganda: Evidence from the 2015 Argentine Ballotage

by Rafael Di Tella, Sebastian Galiani, and Ernesto Schargrodsky

This paper studies data generated prior to the 2015 Argentine presidential ballotage, when a government propaganda campaign was used to attack the opposition candidate and influence voter preferences. Results show the propaganda was persuasive.

How a New Leader Broke Through a Culture of Accuse, Blame, and Criticize

Re: Amy C. Edmondson

Children’s Hospital & Clinics COO Julie Morath sets out to change the culture by instituting a policy of blameless reporting, which encourages employees to report anything that goes wrong or seems substandard, without fear of reprisal. Professor Amy Edmondson discusses getting an organization into the “High Performance Zone.” Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

How To Ask Better Questions

by Kristen Senz

To make the best decisions, managers must ask the right questions. This collection of past studies by Harvard Business School researchers will help you gather the critical information needed to prepare for action. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Infographic: Can I Please Speak to an Actual Person?

by Katherine Vizcardo and Danielle Kost

Customers still want the option to access human help in automated service—even if they don't use it, says research by Michelle A. Shell and Ryan W. Buell. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Mitigating the Negative Effects of Customer Anxiety Through Access to Human Contact

by Michelle A. Shell and Ryan W. Buell

Firms increasingly deploy self-service technologies (SSTs) to manage customer interfaces that are inherently stressful. For example, patients may be asked to use kiosks to check themselves into hospitals. This study finds that customer anxiety during SST transactions can reduce customers’ trust in the service provider. Operational design choices may help.

Ignore This Advice at Your Own Peril

by Dina Gerdeman

Refusing to act on advice from a respected colleague or mentor can backfire and damage your working relationship, a new study says. Hayley Blunden explains the career implications of seeking counsel from others. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Branding Sells Cereal, Handbags, and Vacations. Can It Sell a Country?

by Danielle Kost

Countries such as Israel now realize they need to engage in public diplomacy as well as foreign diplomacy, and in place branding, not just political advocacy, says Elie Ofek. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Gender Stereotypes in Deliberation and Team Decisions

by Katherine B. Coffman, Clio Bryant Flikkema, and Olga Shurchkov

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.

Oral History and Writing the Business History of Emerging Markets

by Geoffrey Jones and Rachael Comunale

Oral history is a valuable resource to explore how businesses developed and functioned in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, regions with a growing share of global economic activity and the majority of the world’s population. While oral history is not uncritical, it provides openings for opinions, voices, and judgements on events on which there was often silence.

The Salary Taboo: Privacy Norms and the Diffusion of Information

by Zoë B. Cullen and Ricardo Perez-Truglia

Barriers to the diffusion of salary information have implications for a wide range of labor market phenomena. This study of employees of a real organization shows that individuals significantly misinterpret their peers’ salaries, partly due to pervasive preferences for concealing own salary, and a potentially strategic decision of high earners to withhold their personal information.

How Companies Can Increase Market Rewards for Sustainability Efforts

by Rachel Layne

There is a connection between public sentiment about a company and how the market rewards its corporate social performance, according to George Serafeim. Is your company undervalued? Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.