Employee Relationship Management
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- 04 Jan 2018
- Cold Call Podcast
How to Monetize Happiness
Is there a business model around happiness? Hitachi believes that a happy employee is a productive one, and is investing in "happiness sensors" to prove the connection. Ethan Bernstein explains why in this podcast. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 02 Aug 2017
- What Do You Think?
Summing Up: Why Can’t Organizations Engage Their Employees?
Who is responsible for generating employee engagement? The employee, or the employee's managers? Readers of this month's James Heskett column have a lot to say on the issue. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 03 Nov 2016
- Cold Call Podcast
You're Fired: Managing Gray-Area Decisions
Joseph Badaracco discusses how managers can sort through difficult gray-area decisions, such as firing an employee. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 18 Jan 2016
- Research & Ideas
Hazard Warning: The Unacceptable Cost of Toxic Workers
As much as a firm gains by hiring a superstar, it loses twice that much by hiring a toxic worker. Dylan Minor details the troubles brought by creepy co-workers. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 06 Jan 2016
- What Do You Think?
Why Do Leaders Get Their Timing Wrong?
SUMMING UP: Is good management timing primarily a function of strategy or culture? James Heskett's readers add their opinions. What do YOU think? Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 09 Nov 2015
- Working Paper Summaries
Toxic Workers
This paper identifies personality and situational factors that lead to a worker engaging in toxic behavior, including sexual harassment, workplace violence, and fraud.
- 02 Sep 2015
- What Do You Think?
What's Wrong With Amazon’s Low-Retention HR Strategy?
SUMMING UP Does Amazon's "only the strongest survive" employee-retention policy make for a better company or improved customer relationships? Jim Heskett's readers chime in. Open for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.
- 07 Jan 2015
- Research & Ideas
The Quest for Better Layoffs
Professor Sandra Sucher wants to change the way business thinks about workforce reductions. "We want people to learn about the forces they unleash in the firm when they institute layoffs." Open for comment; 18 Comment(s) posted.
- 05 Jun 2014
- Research & Ideas
Fixing the ‘I Hate Work’ Blues
Many employees report they are overworked and not engaged—a recent New York Times article on the phenomenon was titled, "Why You Hate Work." The problem, says Bill George, is that the way we design work stifles engagement. Here's the fix. Closed for comment; 20 Comment(s) posted.
- 25 Nov 2013
- Research & Ideas
Hiding From Managers Can Increase Your Productivity
Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Ethan S. Bernstein explains why decreasing workplace transparency can increase productivity. Open for comment; 26 Comment(s) posted.
- 01 Apr 2013
- Research & Ideas
First Minutes are Critical in New-Employee Orientation
Employee orientation programs ought to be less about the company and more about the employee, according to new research by Daniel M. Cable, Francesca Gino, and Bradley R. Staats. Closed for comment; 16 Comment(s) posted.
- 23 Jul 2012
- Research & Ideas
The Power of Conversational Leadership
Communication is always a challenge, especially in multinational corporations. Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind discuss why it makes sense to adopt the principles of face-to-face conversation in organizational communication. Closed for comment; 24 Comment(s) posted.
- 31 Oct 2011
- Research & Ideas
The Most Powerful Workplace Motivator
When evaluating compensation issues, economists often assume that both an employer and an employee make rational, albeit self-interested choices while working toward a goal. The problem, says Assistant Professor Ian Larkin, is that the most powerful workplace motivator is our natural tendency to measure our own performance against the performance of others. Open for comment; 33 Comment(s) posted.
- 27 Oct 2011
- Research & Ideas
Horrible Boss Workarounds
Bad bosses are generally more inept than evil, and often aren't purposefully bad, says Professor Rosabeth Moss Kanter. She discusses common bad-boss behaviors, and how good colleagues can mobilize to overcome the roadblocks. Key concepts include: Common traits of bad bosses include a failure to communicate goals effectively, if at all; a failure to realize that employees have more to offer than their job descriptions dictate, and a tendency to get caught up in the details to the detriment of the big picture. Employees can work around bad-boss roadblocks by proactively mobilizing their peers toward a common goal. Closed for comment; 11 Comment(s) posted.
- 13 Dec 2010
- Research & Ideas
Managing the Support Staff Identity Crisis
Employees not connected directly to profit and loss can suffer from a collective "I-am-not-strategic" identity crisis. Professor Ranjay Gulati suggests that business managers allow so-called support function employees to become catalysts for change. Open for comment; 29 Comment(s) posted.
- 25 Aug 2010
- Working Paper Summaries
Managerial Practices That Promote Voice and Taking Charge among Frontline Workers
How can front-line workers be encouraged to speak up when they know how to improve an organization's operation processes? This question is particularly urgent in the US health- care industry, where problems occur often and consequences range from minor inconveniences to serious patient harm. In this paper, HBS doctoral student Julia Adler-Milstein, Harvard School of Public Health professor Sara Singer, and HBS professor Michael W. Toffel examine the effectiveness of organizational information campaigns and managerial role modeling in encouraging hospital staff to speak up when they encounter operational problems and, when speaking up, to propose solutions to hospital management. The researchers find that both mechanisms can lead employees to report problems and propose solutions, and that information campaigns are particularly effective in departments whose managers are less engaged in problem solving. Key concepts include: Front-line workers offer more solutions to operational problems in departments whose managers are more engaged in problem solving. Information campaigns that promote process improvement generate more solutions from front-line workers, especially from workers whose managers are less routinely engaged in problem solving. Efforts at the organizational level can compensate for managers who cannot or do not create an environment that inspires front-line workers to speak up. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.
- 19 Jul 2010
- Research & Ideas
How Mercadona Fixes Retail’s ’Last 10 Yards’ Problem
Spanish supermarket chain Mercadona offers aggressive pricing, yet high-touch customer service and above-average employee wages. What's its secret? The operations between loading dock and the customer's hands, says HBS professor Zeynep Ton. Key concepts include: The last 10 yards of the supply chain lies between the store's loading dock and the customer's hands. Poor operational decisions create unnecessary complications that lead to quality problems and lower labor productivity and, in general, make life hard for retail employees. Adopting Mercadona's approach requires a long-term view and a leader with a strong backbone. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.
- 02 Apr 2010
- What Do You Think?
Why Are Fewer and Fewer U.S. Employees Satisfied With Their Jobs?
This month's column yielded many hypotheses to explain why U.S. employees' job satisfaction is at a 23-year low, says HBS professor Jim Heskett. Readers also offered antidotes to job malaise. (Online forum now closed. New forum begins May 5.) Closed for comment; 95 Comment(s) posted.
- 05 Aug 2009
- Working Paper Summaries
Authority versus Persuasion
In directing employees, managers often face a choice between invoking authority and persuasion. In particular, since a firm's formal and relational contracts and its culture and norms are quite rigid in the short term, a manager who needs to prevent an employee from undertaking the wrong action has the choice of either trying to persuade the employee or relying on interpersonal authority. In choosing between persuasion and authority the manager makes a cost-benefit trade-off. This paper studies that trade-off, focusing in particular on conflicts that originate in open disagreement. Key concepts include: Persuasion and authority can be both substitutes and complements. In particular, authority and persuasion are substitutes when authority is highly effective but complements when authority is not very effective. Persuasion is attractive on projects where effort or motivation is more important. The reason is that (under the assumption that executing a good project is more valuable than executing a bad project) the employee will exert extra effort if he or she believes more in the project. The manager also relies more on persuasion (without authority) when employees have higher pay-for-performance incentives. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.
Kids of Working Moms Grow into Happy Adults
In earlier research, Kathleen McGinn and colleagues discovered that adult kids of working moms are high achievers at work. Now it turns out they are happy, too. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.