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- 16 Jul 2012
- Research & Ideas
Book Excerpt: ‘The Strategist’
It's time for CEOs to start reclaiming strategy as a key executive responsibility, argues Cynthia A. Montgomery in her new book, The Strategist. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 05 Jul 2012
- What Do You Think?
Why Is Trust So Hard to Achieve in Management?
Summing Up There are many reasons for the trust gap between employees and management—but also many ways to bridge the divide, according to Jim Heskett's readers. What do YOU think? Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 11 Jun 2012
- Research & Ideas
When Business Competition Harms Society
In highly competitive markets, many firms are likely to bend the rules if doing so will keep their customers from leaving for a rival, according to new research by professor Michael W. Toffel and colleagues. Case in point: service stations that cheat on auto emissions testing. Key concepts include: Vehicle owners are less likely to return to a service facility that has failed their vehicle in an auto emissions test. Vehicles were much more likely to pass the test if they were tested at a facility that was located near a competitor. Managers should be aware that fostering a culture of intense competition may instead induce unethical behavior. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 15 Feb 2012
- Op-Ed
Occupy Wall Street Protestors Have a Point
The concerns of the Occupy Wall Street movement are not far different from what business leaders have told professors Joseph L. Bower, Herman B. Leonard, and Lynn S. Paine. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 26 Jan 2012
- Working Paper Summaries
Behavioral Ethics: Toward a Deeper Understanding of Moral Judgment and Dishonesty
What makes even good people cross ethical boundaries? Society demands that business and professional schools address ethics, but the results have been disappointing. This paper argues that a behavioral approach to ethics is essential because it leads to understanding and explaining moral and immoral behavior in systematic ways. The authors first define business ethics and provide an admittedly biased history of the attempts of professional schools to address ethics as a subject of both teaching and research. They next briefly summarize the emergence of the field of behavioral ethics over the last two decades, and turn to recent research findings in behavioral ethics that could provide helpful directions for a social science perspective to ethics. These new findings on both intentional and unintentional unethical behavior can inform new courses on ethics as well as new research investigations. Such new directions can meet the demands of society more effectively than past attempts of professional schools. They can also produce a meaningful and significant change in the behavior of both business school students and professionals. Key concepts include: Shifting the modes of thought can lead to profound differences in how we make ethical decisions. This has implications at the individual and at the societal level. Until recently, little empirical attention was given to how people actually behave when they face ethical dilemmas and decisions or to how their behavior can be improved. A behavioral ethics approach does not teach students how they should behave when facing ethical dilemmas, nor inform them about what philosophers or ethicists would recommend. Instead it sees an opportunity in helping students and professionals better understand their own behavior in the ethics domain, and compare it to how they would ideally like to behave. Behavioral ethics identifies levers at both the individual and the institutional level to change ethically questionable behaviors when individuals are acting in unethical ways that they would not endorse with greater reflection. Prior to the 1990s, it was rare for professional schools to have a significant focus on the area of ethics (or business ethics more specifically) in the courses offered to students. Courses that were taught used philosophical approaches or suggested that morality is a rather stable personality trait that individuals develop by going through differences phases of development. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 07 Dec 2011
- Research & Ideas
Are Creative People More Dishonest?
In a series of studies, Francesca Gino and Dan Ariely found that inherently creative people tend to cheat more than noncreative people. Furthermore, they showed that inducing creative behavior tends to induce unethical behavior. It's a sobering thought in a corporate culture that champions out-of-the-box thinking. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 15 Sep 2011
- Research & Ideas
High Ambition Leadership
Higher-ambition business leaders skillfully integrate both economic and social value. Professor Emeritus Michael Beer explains what makes them special, and how you can learn what they know, in his new book, Higher Ambition: How Great Leaders Create Economic and Social Value. Q&A plus book excerpt. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 06 Sep 2011
- Research & Ideas
The Power of Leadership Groups for Staying on Track
Twenty-first-century organizations are breaking with traditional command-and-control hierarchies to develop a new generation of values-centered leadership, argues Professor Bill George, author of True North. The best way to get there? True North Groups. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 19 Jul 2011
- Research & Ideas
Rupert Murdoch and the Seeds of Moral Hazard
Harvard Business School faculty Michel Anteby, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, and Robert Steven Kaplan explore the moral, ethical, and leadership issues behind Rupert Murdoch's News of the World fiasco. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 06 Jul 2011
- Research & Ideas
Are You a Level-Six Leader?
Asking the question, whom do you serve? is a powerful vector on which to build a useful typology of leadership. Visiting professor Modesto Maidique offers a six-level Purpose-Driven Model of Leadership ranging from Sociopath to Transcendent. Key concepts include: The most telling question to ask a leader is, whom do you serve? Yourself? Your group? Society? The answer to this question often reveals more about leaders than knowing their personality traits, level of achievement, or whether they were "transformational" or "transactional" leaders. The six levels of leadership are Sociopath, Opportunist, Chameleon, Achiever, Builder, and Transcendent. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 27 Jun 2011
- Research & Ideas
Recovering from the Need to Achieve
In his new book, Flying without a Net: Turn Fear of Change into Fuel for Success, HBS professor Thomas J. DeLong explores the world of "high-need-for-achievement professionals" or HNAPs—those for whom the constant, insatiable need to achieve can lead to anxiety and dysfunction. Plus: book excerpt. Key concepts include: Instead of happiness or well-being, high-need-for-achievement professionals seek "relief in the accomplishment of tasks." This creates a vicious cycle marked by a lack of a real sense of purpose. Four characteristics define an HNAP: comparing, busyness, worrying, and blaming. DeLong calls for HNAP readers to take the following steps toward recovery: stop and reflect with self-awareness, let go of the past, create a vision or specific goal with an agenda, seek support through mentors and a network, don't blink (or fall back on old behaviors), and purposefully expose themselves to vulnerability. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 06 Jun 2011
- Research & Ideas
Why Leaders Lose Their Way
Bill George discusses how powerful people lose their moral bearings. To stay grounded executives must prepare themselves to confront enormous complexities and pressures. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 02 Jun 2011
- Research & Ideas
Signing at the Top: The Key to Preventing Tax Fraud?
In filling out self-reported documents such as tax forms, we declare the information truthful with our signature, but usually we sign at the end of the form. Researchers Francesca Gino and Lisa Shu discuss whether governments and companies can bolster honesty simply by moving the honesty pledge and signature line to the top of the form, before people encounter the opportunity to cheat. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 20 Apr 2011
- Research & Ideas
Blind Spots: We’re Not as Ethical as We Think
Even when we think we are making principled decisions, recent research reveals we are not as ethical as we would like to believe. Professor Max H. Bazerman discusses his new book, Blind Spots: Why We Fail to Do What's Right and What to Do about It. Plus: Book excerpt. Key concepts include: Good people do bad things without being aware that they are doing anything wrong. Motivational blindness is the tendency to not notice the unethical actions of others when it is against our own best interests to notice. The "want" self—that part of us that behaves according to self-interest and, often, without regard for moral principles—is silent during the planning stage of a decision but typically emerges and dominates at the time of the decision. Organizations can monitor how they are creating institutions, structures, and incentives that increase the likelihood of unethical actions, while individuals can "precommit" to intended ethical choices. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 10 Mar 2011
- What Do You Think?
To What Degree Does the Job Make the Person?
Summing Up: Jobs shape us as much as we shape our jobs, Jim Heskett's readers suggest. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 08 Mar 2011
- Working Paper Summaries
Memory Lane and Morality: How Childhood Memories Promote Prosocial Behavior
Little Damien from The Omen notwithstanding, we generally associate childhood with goodness, purity, and innocence. This paper investigates whether feelings of moral purity can be triggered by reminding adults of their childhoods, and whether this can help to induce kind and philanthropic behavior both in social settings and in the workplace. Research was conducted by Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino and Sreedhari D. Desai of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University. Key concepts include: Through four experiments, the researchers show that triggering childhood memories induces feelings of moral purity in adults, which leads them to behave pro-socially—that is, to do kind, ethical things that benefit others. Recalling childhood memories also can lead adults to judge (and punish) unethical behavior more harshly than they would have otherwise. Businesses can promote positive, ethical behavior by using tasks and triggers that cause employees to hearken back to their childhoods. For example, Google, Disney, and IDEO decorate their offices with toys and colorful furniture. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 28 Feb 2011
- Research & Ideas
The Importance of ‘Don’t’ in Inducing Ethical Employee Behavior
In a new study, HBS professors Francesca Gino and Joshua D. Margolis look at two ways that companies can encourage ethical behavior: the promotion of good deeds or the prevention of bad deeds. It turns out that employees tend to act more ethically when focused on what not to do. That can be problematic in firms where success is commonly framed in terms of advancement of positive outcomes rather than prevention of bad ones. Key concepts include: In general, there are two ways a company can encourage ethical conduct among its employees: either the promotion of good actions and outcomes or the prevention of bad ones. Through several experiments, the professors found that inducing a prevention focus will lead to ethical behavior more than inducing a promotion focus. In encouraging ethical behavior among employees, it behooves firms to consider focusing on preventing negative outcomes, not only in creating a code of ethics but also in setting goals and framing task directives. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 10 Feb 2011
- Working Paper Summaries
The Dark Side of Creativity: Original Thinkers Can Be More Dishonest
Anyone who has spent significant time with artists knows that creative genius often comes with a dark side. This paper offers experimental evidence, specifically with regard to the relationship between creativity and unethical behavior. Research involving four experiments with university students was conducted by Francesca Gino of Harvard Business School and Dan Ariely of the Fuqua School of Business. Key concepts include: Creative students who showed a natural aptitude for divergent thinking tended to cheat more than linear thinkers. Creativity is a better predictor of unethical behavior than intelligence. Students who were deliberately induced to think creatively were, in turn, more likely to cheat than those who weren't primed to think outside the box. Creative people are more likely to cheat in part because their creativity helps them to come up with ingenious explanations to justify their unethical behavior. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 24 Jan 2011
- HBS Case
Terror at the Taj
Under terrorist attack, employees of the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower bravely stayed at their posts to help guests. A look at the hotel's customer-centered culture and value system. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
Penn State Lesson: Today’s Cover-Up was Yesterday’s Opportunity
While leaders may rationalize that a cover-up protects the interests of their organizations, the inevitable damage harms their institutions far more than acknowledging a mistake, says professor Bill George. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.