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New research on management from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including management strategy, accountability, design and succession planning.
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The Key to Managing Stars? Think Team

by Martha Lagace

Stars don't shine alone. As Harvard Business School's Boris Groysberg and Linda-Eling Lee reveal in new research, it is imperative that top performers as well as their managers take into account the quality of colleagues. Groysberg and Lee explain the implications for star mobility and retention in this Q&A. Key concepts include: It takes a team. Despite a star's talent, knowledge, experience, and reputation, his or her colleagues make the difference for sustaining top performance. Before considering a career move, carefully evaluate the support you would receive from colleagues even in other parts of the firm. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

Adding Time to Activity-Based Costing

by Sarah Jane Gilbert

Determining a company's true costs and profitability has always been difficult, although advancements such as activity-based costing (ABC) have helped. In a new book, Professor Robert Kaplan and Acorn Systems' Steven Anderson offer a simplified system based on time-driven ABC that leverages existing enterprise resource planning systems. Key concepts include: The activity-based costing system developed in the 1980s fell out of favor for a number of reasons, including the need for lengthy employee interviews and surveys to collect data. The arrival of enterprise resource planning systems allows crucial data to be pumped automatically into a TDABC system. Managers must answer two questions to build an effective TDABC system: How much does it cost to supply resource capacity for each business process in our organization? How much resource capacity (time) is required to perform work for each of our company's transactions, products, and customers? Profit improvements of up to 2 percent of sales generally come in less than a year. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

Is There Too Little “Know Why” In Business?

by Jim Heskett

There's know-how in business and then there's "know why." Purpose is a powerful motivator on many levels, says Jim Heskett. Can we aspire to a strong sense of "know why" even if our organization is not out to change the world? What do you think? Online forum now open. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

Three Perspectives on Team Learning: Outcome Improvement, Task Mastery, and Group Process

by Amy C. Edmondson, James R. Dillon & Kathryn S. Roloff

Organizations increasingly rely on teams to carry out critical strategies and operational tasks. How do teams learn, and what factors are most important to team learning? This paper reports on current perspectives and findings that address these questions, looking at empirical studies on team learning from three areas of research: outcome improvement, task mastery, and group process. Overall, Edmondson and coauthors characterize the nature of research to date and assemble what is known and unknown about the theoretically and practically important topic of team learning. Key concepts include: Team learning has value for organizations; learning in teams is seen as a key mechanism through which learning organizations become strategically and operationally adaptive and responsive. Research on team learning is at a crossroads. How the learning of individual work teams translates into organizational learning is not well understood, and management literature to date offers few insights. One avenue for future research is the durability and utility of team-based networks for the organization as a whole. Learning in teams almost necessarily plays a role in developing the knowledge and skills of individuals who compose the team. Another avenue for future research is how individuals benefit from their team learning experiences in terms of intellectual, career, and personal development goals. Organizations stand to benefit when ideas are cross-fertilized and diverse individuals learn to work together. "Outsiders" can introduce valuable ideas. Learning and execution are often at odds: Learning by its nature involves uncertainty, false starts, and occasional dead ends. Team learning in organizations must be recognized as a strategy for tolerating forays into the unknown. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

What’s to Be Done About Performance Reviews?

by Jim Heskett

What can we do to make performance reviews more productive and less distasteful? Should their objectives be scaled back to just one or two? Should they be disengaged from the determination of compensation and, if so, how? Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

Science Business: What Happened to Biotech?

by Sean Silverthorne

After thirty years the numbers are in on the biotech business—and it's not what we expected. The industry in aggregate has lost money. R&D performance has not radically improved. The problem? In a new book, Professor Gary Pisano points to systemic flaws as well as unhealthy tensions between science and business. Key concepts include: The biotech industry has underperformed expectations, caught in the conflicting objectives and requirements between science and business. The industry needs to realign business models, organizational structures, and financing arrangements so they will place greater emphasis on long-term learning over short-term monetization of intellectual property. A lesson to managers: Break away from a strategy of doing many narrow deals and focus on fewer but deeper relationships. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

Are We Ready for Self-Management?

by James Heskett

On its face, self-management looks like a "win-win" answer to the scarcity of good managers and the predominance of low-involvement entry-level jobs. But are sufficient numbers of entry-level employees ready for self-management? And is management ready? Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

On Managing with Bobby Knight and “Coach K”

by Sean Silverthorne

Bobby Knight and Mike Krzyzewski are arguably the two most successful college basketball coaches in the country. But their leadership styles could not be more different. Professor Scott Snook wonders: Is it better to be loved or feared? Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

Geographically-Colocated Subgroups in Globally Dispersed Teams: A Test of the Faultline Hypothesis

by Jeffrey T. Polzer, C. Brad Crisp, Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa & Jerry W. Kim

Team diversity can harness strengths or drive a team apart. Troublesome faultlines appear when team members identify with a subgroup more strongly than with the larger team. Previous research, conducted on teams who worked face-to-face, has shown that these faultlines can be based on demographic factors (such as differences in nationality). The authors of this paper conducted a study on faultlines that arise between subgroups in different geographic locations. They found that faultline dynamics did indeed occur in teams with subgroups in different locations, and that their geographic diversity caused disruptive group relations, diminished trust, and increased conflict between subgroups. Key concepts include: Geographic diversity is becoming increasingly important as more organizations rely on dispersed work teams to perform their core work activities. The existence of subgroups in different locations creates an "us versus them" mentality, which leads to misunderstandings and negative feelings between team members. When managing geographically dispersed teams, build relationships and instill a collective identity to integrate subgroups in different locations, and be aware of the very real potential for disruptive group dynamics. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

Improving Corporate Governance with the Balanced Scorecard

by Robert S. Kaplan & Michael E. Nagel

The authors review the key roles of corporate boards and recommend a Balanced Scorecard approach to help boards work smarter, not harder. Kaplan and Nagel recommend a three-part Balanced Scorecard program: Part 1: An Enterprise Scorecard that includes enterprise-wide strategic objectives, performance measures, targets, and initiatives; Part 2: A Board Scorecard that defines and clarifies the strategic contributions and requirements of the board, and provides a tool to manage the board's performance; Part 3: Executive Scorecards, which define strategic contributions of top management and are used to select, evaluate, and reward senior executives. Key concepts include: Reforms such as Sarbanes-Oxley have increased the amount of work that boards need to do. A Balanced Scorecard approach can help boards use their limited time effectively. An enterprise strategy map and enterprise Balanced Scorecard should be the primary documents distributed to the board in advance of meetings. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

Managing Alignment as a Process

by Robert S. Kaplan & David P. Norton

"Most organizations attempt to create synergy, but in a fragmented, uncoordinated way," say HBS professor Robert S. Kaplan and colleague David P. Norton. Their new book excerpted here, Alignment, tells how to see alignment as a management process. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

When Benchmarks Don’t Work

by Robert S. Kaplan

Benchmarks have their virtues, but professor Robert S. Kaplan argues they should be saved for surveys of commoditized processes or services. From Balanced Scorecard Report. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

Unilever: Transformation and Tradition

by Geoffrey Jones

In a new book, professor Geoffrey Jones looks at Unilever's decades-old transformation from fragmented underperformer to focused consumer products giant. This epilogue summarizes the years 1960 to 1990. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

The Hard Work of Failure Analysis

by Amy Edmondson & Mark D. Cannon

We all should learn from failure—but it's difficult to do so objectively. In this excerpt from "Failing to Learn and Learning to Fail (Intelligently)" in Long Range Planning Journal, HBS professor Amy Edmondson and coauthor Mark Cannon offer a process for analyzing what went wrong. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

Decision Rights: Who Gives the Green Light?

by Peter Jacobs

Four steps to ensure that the right decisions are made by the right people. HBS professor emeritus Michael C. Jensen explains in Harvard Management Update. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

A Balanced Scorecard Approach To Measure Customer Profitability

by Robert S. Kaplan

Happy customers are good, but profitable customers are much better. In this article, professor and Balanced Scorecard guru Robert S. Kaplan introduces BSC Customer Profitability Metrics. From Balanced Scorecard Report. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

A Diagnostic for Disruptive Innovation

by Scott D. Anthony, Mark W. Johnson & Matt Eyring

You have three potential innovations, but resources to develop just one. Here are diagnostics to help you make the best decision. From Strategy & Innovation newsletter. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

What Drives Supply Chain Behavior?

by Sarah Jane Johnston

Surprise: Managers are not always rational decision makers. In this interview, professors Rogelio Oliva and Noel Watson discuss how human behavior affects supply chain coordination. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

How Team Leaders Show Support–or Not

by Martha Lagace

What does a team leader do so that employees know they are being supported? A Q&A with HBS professor and creativity expert Teresa Amabile about new research. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

Operations and the Competitive Edge

by Martha Lagace

Many managers expect operations organizations to fulfill only a support role. But an effective operations strategy can give you a competitive advantage. An interview with professor Robert Hayes. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.