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    • COVID-19 Business Impact Center
      COVID-19 Business Impact Center
      Cold Call
      A podcast featuring faculty discussing cases they've written and the lessons they impart.
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      • 05 Jan 2021
      • Cold Call Podcast

      Using Behavioral Science to Improve Well-Being for Social Workers

      For child and family social workers, coping with the hardships of children and parents is part of the job. But that can cause a lot of stress. Is it possible for financially constrained organizations to improve social workers’ well-being using non-cash rewards, recognition, and other strategies from behavioral science? Assistant Professor Ashley Whillans describes the experience of Chief Executive Michael Sanders’ at the UK’s What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care, as he led a research program aimed at improving the morale of social workers in her case, “The What Works Centre: Using Behavioral Science to Improve Social Worker Well-being.”  Open for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.

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      Performance ProductivityRemove Performance Productivity →

      Page 1 of 34 Results →
      • 08 Oct 2020
      • Research & Ideas

      Keep Your Weary Workers Engaged and Motivated

      by Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams

      Humans are motivated by four drives: acquire, bond, comprehend, and defend. Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams discuss how managers can use all four to keep employees engaged. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 24 Aug 2020
      • Research & Ideas

      How Much Will Remote Work Continue After the Pandemic?

      by Kristen Senz

      A new survey suggests that at least 16 percent of employees will remain at-home workers long after COVID-19 recedes, report researchers Christopher Stanton, Zoe Cullen, and Michael Luca. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 18 May 2020
      • Working Paper Summaries

      No Line Left Behind: Assortative Matching Inside the Firm

      by Achyuta Adhvaryu, Vittorio Bassi, Anant Nyshadham, and Jorge Tamayo

      This paper studies how buyer relationships influence suppliers' internal organization of labor. The results emphasize that suppliers to the global market, when they are beholden to a small set of powerful buyers, may be driven to allocate managerial skill to service these relationships, even at the expense of productivity.

      • 25 Feb 2020
      • Research & Ideas

      For Migrant Workers, Homesickness Can Reduce Productivity

      by Kristen Senz

      Workers in the global economy increasingly perform their jobs far away from home. It turns out, says Prithwiraj Choudhury, that homesickness is a significant barrier to their productivity. Here's what employers can do. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 31 Jul 2019
      • Research & Ideas

      Distressed Employees? Try Resilience Training

      by Dina Gerdeman

      Depressed employees are up to five times more likely to experience work-related problems than employees with chronic physical illnesses. So why aren't employers helping them? asks Ashley Whillans. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 07 Jul 2019
      • HBS Case

      Walmart's Workforce of the Future

      by Julia Hanna

      A case study by William Kerr explores Walmart's plans for future workforce makeup and training, and its search for opportunities from digital infrastructure and automation. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 01 Jul 2019
      • What Do You Think?

      Are Super Stretch Goals Only for the Very Young?

      by James Heskett

      SUMMING UP: Super stretch goals can produce audacious results, but they are best left to companies agile enough to execute then, readers say. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 02 Apr 2019
      • Working Paper Summaries

      Managerial Quality and Productivity Dynamics

      by Achyuta Adhvaryu, Anant Nyshadham, and Jorge Tamayo

      Which managerial skills, traits, and practices matter most for productivity? This study of a large garment firm in India analyzes the integration of features of managerial quality into a production process characterized by learning by doing.

      • 12 Nov 2018
      • Research & Ideas

      'Always On' Isn't Always Best for Team Decision-Making

      by Roberta Holland

      Is it possible for teams to communicate too frequently? Research by Ethan Bernstein and colleagues suggests that groups that meet less often may be better at problem-solving. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 25 Oct 2018
      • Cold Call Podcast

      Vodafone’s Innovative Approach to Advanced Technologies

      William Kerr discusses how telecom giant Vodafone incorporated big data, automation, and artificial intelligence to improve productivity while ensuring new opportunities were created for the next generation of workers. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 28 Aug 2018
      • Working Paper Summaries

      Homesick or Home Run? Distance from Hometown and Employee Performance: A Natural Experiment from India

      by Prithwiraj Choudhury and Ohchan Kwon

      In the short and long term, distance from one’s hometown has a different effect on individual work performance. First-year performance ratings tend to be high the farther employees work from their hometown. Three years later, however, longer travel times are associated with lower ratings, with implications for managers.

      • 23 Jul 2018
      • Research & Ideas

      The Open Office Revolution Has Gone Too Far

      Re: Ethan S. Bernstein

      When Ethan Bernstein used wearable technology to track workers around their open office, he discovered many who were trying to avoid collaboration rather than engage in it. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 28 Feb 2018
      • Sharpening Your Skills

      Master the Team Meeting

      by Julia Austin

      Business meetings aren't always enjoyable, but they are key to moving a team forward. Julia Austin offers tips for making the most of your meeting time. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 12 Feb 2018
      • Working Paper Summaries

      Private Equity, Jobs, and Productivity: Reply to Ayash and Rastad

      by Steven J. Davis, John Haltiwanger, Kyle Handley, Ron S. Jarmin, Josh Lerner, and Javier Miranda

      In 2014, the authors published an influential analysis of private equity buyouts in the American Economic Review. Recently, economists Brian Ayash and Mahdi Rastad have challenged the accuracy of those findings. This new paper responds point by point to their critique, contending that it reflects a misunderstanding of the data and methodology behind the original study.

      • 31 Jan 2018
      • Research & Ideas

      American Idle: Workers Spend Too Much Time Waiting for Something to Do

      by Michael Blanding

      Workers across the country are spending far too much time doing nothing—and it's costing their companies $100 billion annually. Research by Teresa Amabile and Andrew Brodsky. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 17 Jan 2018
      • Research & Ideas

      If the CEO’s High Salary Isn't Justified to Employees, Firm Performance May Suffer

      by Dina Gerdeman

      Researcher Ethan Rouen discovers that rank-and-file employees understand the boss deserves a big salary, but only when the number is fully explained. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 09 Jan 2018
      • Working Paper Summaries

      Identifying Sources of Inefficiency in Health Care

      by Amitabh Chandra and Douglas O. Staiger

      This economic study finds evidence of allocative inefficiency and substantial variation in comparative advantage across hospitals, with the benefits from treatment being much higher in some hospitals than others. The study overall suggests new directions for research on productivity in healthcare.

      • 14 Dec 2017
      • Working Paper Summaries

      The Real Exchange Rate, Innovation and Productivity

      by Laura Alfaro, Alejandro Cuñat, Harald Fadinger, and Yanping Liu

      Addressing debates on the effects of real exchange rate (RER) movements on the economy, this study examines manufacturing firm-level effects of medium-term fluctuations, in particular firm-level productivity across a wide range of countries. RER changes have different impacts depending on the export and import orientation of regions and the prevalence of credit constraints. Effects are non-linear and asymmetric, suggesting that the link between RER changes and macroeconomic performance might be much more nuanced than usually thought.

      • 09 Aug 2017
      • Sharpening Your Skills

      Productivity Tips You Probably Haven't Considered Before

      by Sean Silverthorne

      Want to be more productive at work? These recent studies from Harvard Business School researchers offer tips on everything from organizing work flow to paying attention to the weather. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 12 Jul 2017
      • Working Paper Summaries

      Task Selection and Workload: A Focus on Completing Easy Tasks Hurts Long-Term Performance

      by Diwas S. KC, Bradley R. Staats, Maryam Kouchaki, and Francesca Gino

      Employees facing increased workloads usually tackle easier tasks first. This study tests the performance implications of such prioritization. Findings show that it happens because people feel positive emotions after task completion, yet it could hurt long-term performance. Workloads could be structured to help employee development as well as organizational performance.

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