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The Toxic Handler: Organizational Hero—and Casualty
Organizational culture Magazine ArticleWhen companies cause emotional pain through nasty bosses, layoffs, and change, a certain breed of “healing” manager steps in to keep the gears moving. They are toxic handlers—unsung corporate heroes who save the day, but often pay a high price. -
Companyism and Do More Better
Competitive strategy Magazine ArticleImagine yourself solving an arithmetic problem with the top managers of a leading Japanese automobile company. As a group, Japanese producers already export 2.3 million passenger vehicles a year to the United States. They are also building capacity for an additional 2.5 million vehicles in North America. You remind your friends across the table that […] -
Organize Your Change Initiative Around Purpose and Benefits
Leadership & Managing People Digital ArticleConnecting a project to core principles - and explaining how it will benefit stakeholders - can spark the motivation required for success. -
Gender Initiatives Are Culture Change Initiatives
Gender Digital ArticleAt least, the successful ones are. -
The Missing Ingredient in Kraft Heinz’s Restructuring
Mergers and acquisitions Digital ArticleAs the company cut costs, its ability to innovate suffered. -
How Cities Are Using Analytics to Improve Public Health
Global Business Digital ArticleFrom restaurants to lead paint, data is making government more efficient. -
What a Physicist Taught Me About Leading Change
Leadership & Managing People Digital ArticleWhat do leading change and doing physics have in common? Good question. I have no idea. I do know that for my new book, Buy-In I have a co-author, Lorne... -
Making the Deal Real: How GE Capital Integrates Acquisitions
Finance & Accounting Magazine ArticleThousands of companies every year acquire other companies, or are acquired themselves. This event is usually painful and messy--and statistics show, it... -
The Case of the Machinists’ Mutiny
Change management Magazine Article“You can’t be serious!” Mike Trail, the president and fourth-generation owner of Trail Manufacturing, stared at five older men standing uncomfortably in his small office. “I’m afraid we are, Mike.” Sandy Mulder, the most senior of the five, was polite but firm. “We won’t switch over to the new equipment. We want to continue to […] -
Lords of Strategy: A Conversation with Walter Kiechel
Strategy & Execution Digital ArticleI spoke recently with Walter Kiechel about his new book, The Lords of Strategy, which describes the rise of the large strategy consulting firms - BCG,... -
Research: Which Firms Are Allowed to Be Disruptors?
Change management Digital ArticleNewcomers may have the will, but industry insiders have the way. -
The Quick Wins Paradox
Leadership & Managing People Magazine ArticleMany leaders taking on new roles try to prove themselves early on by going after quick wins - fresh, visible contributions to the business. But in the... -
The Value of Digital Transformation
Technology & Operations Digital ArticleA team at McKinsey tracked the performance of 80 banks over four years to identify exactly how their transformation efforts paid off - and how others... -
Getting Employees Excited About a New Direction
Change management Digital ArticleThe story of Royal Bank of Canada. -
Transforming Strategy One Customer at a Time
Marketing Magazine ArticleHow B2B giant Thomson Corporation reinvented itself by embracing a P&G mind-set. -
Getting Past the "But We Already Tried That" Response
Leadership & Managing People Digital ArticleYou and your team have been wrestling with the problem of increasing efficiencies without a big budget to make it happen. You've been authorized to look... -
A Better Way to Cope With Change
Change management Digital ArticleBlame it on advances in technology and communication, globalization, the rise of the middle class, population explosion, global warming, or mismanagement of massive financial institutions. Whatever the cause, for a lot of us, things are very different than they were six months ago, not to mention ten years ago. We have been catapulted toward a […] -
The Two Big Reasons That Digital Transformations Fail
Change management ResearchResults from a study of 1,350 companies. -
The Case of the Downsizing Decision
Decision making and problem solving Magazine ArticleAndrew Jordan sat at his desk, absentmindedly watching a barge chug slowly upstream on the Thames. The dinner meeting he had scheduled with a select group of senior managers at Universal Products Company, Ltd. would begin in an hour. For three years, it had seemed enough to focus on the business problems of UPC’s Connectors […] -
The Change-Dazed Manager
Collaboration and teams Magazine ArticleGeorge Stanton thought a new job would solve his problems. But now he’s facing similar workplace conflicts.
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Organizational Reinvention
Leadership & Managing People Case Study8.95View Details This note is designed to introduce students to the fundamental concepts of leading innovation in established organizations. Reinvention is a process whereby... -
Alaska Airlines: Navigating Change
Organizational Development Case Study11.95View Details Alaska Airlines has recently recovered from a period of operational instability, yet its executives worry the airline is draining its reserves of customer... -
Polyphonic HMI: Mixing Music and Math
Sales & Marketing Case Study11.95View Details In 2003, Mike McCready, CEO of Barcelona-based Polyphonic HMI, was preparing to launch an artificial intelligence tool that could create significant value... -
Alltech
Sales & Marketing Case Study11.95View Details Alltech was a Lexington, Kentucky-based producer of supplements for animal feed, with revenues of over $2 billion (projected to reach $3 billion in 2018),... -
West Side United: Hospitals Tackle the Racial Health and Wealth Gap
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. David Ansell, Darlene Hightower, and Ayesho Jaco, leaders of West Side United (WSU), a coalition of Chicago hospitals,... -
Ingersoll Rand: Creating Effective Engineering and Technology Centres (B)
Organizational Development Case Study5.00View Details Supplement to case W17439. -
Carolinas HealthCare System: Consumer Analytics
Sales & Marketing Case Study11.95View Details In 2014, Dr. Michael Dulin, chief clinical officer for analytics and outcomes research and head of the Dickson Advanced Analytics (DA2) group at Carolinas... -
Alibaba's Values Dilemma
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details This case starts by exploring the brief history of Alibaba from 1999 to 2020 from the perspective of strategy and values. The case shows how a company's... -
House for Sale: The Buyer
Management Case Study8.95View Details You are married with two teenage children and living in a two-bedroom apartment. You have lived in the north of Horsley all your life, but following the... -
AES Corporation (A): Global Sourcing Initiative
Communication Case Study11.95View Details This case is a good fit for courses in operations management and business communications. It examines the procurement strategy of a global energy company... -
Egghead to Egghead.com (B)
Sales & Marketing Case Study5.00View Details Supplements the (A) case. -
Frank Cornelissen: The Great Sulfite Debate (A)
Management Case Study11.95View Details In 2018, artisanal Italian vineyard Frank Cornelissen was one of the world's leading natural wine vineyards. Its founder, Frank Cornelissen, faced weather... -
Zurich Insurance: Diversity and Inclusion
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details Zurich Insurance was undergoing organizational change after implementing five new people practices focused on: manager development, diversity and inclusion,... -
Municipal Decentralization in Buenos Aires: Sequel
Leadership & Managing People Case Study5.00View Details As part of its efforts to recover from hyperinflation and an oversized public sector, the government of Argentinaspecifically the province of Buenos Airesseeks... -
Haier: Incubating Entrepreneurs in a Chinese Giant
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details CEO Zhang Ruimin must plan how to accelerate the growth of self-managed micro-enterprises. Platforms were Haier's business platforms operating in five... -
"Captains of Lives" (A): The Transformation Journey of the Singapore Prison Service
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details In the late 1990s, faced with a number of burning management issues, a growing inmate population, and a problem of officer recruitment, the director of... -
John Smithers at Sigtek
Organizational Development Case Study11.95View Details Describes an ill-fated effort to institute a total quality program. Using the vantage point of one of the managers selected to be a quality instructor,... -
Managing Diversity and Inclusion at Yelp
Organizational Development Case Study11.95View Details This case explores the industry-wide lack of employee diversity in the technology sector, and Yelp's decision to take a leadership position in identifying... -
Ford vs. GM: The Evolution of Mass Production (B)
Technology & Operations Case Study5.00View Details This case explores the very different paths taken by the Ford Motor Company and the General Motors Corporation in the first three decades of the twentieth... -
Deloitte & Touche (A): A Hole in the Pipeline
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details Deloitte & Touche was losing talented women, and CEO Mike Cook wanted to stop the loss, especially as the accounting and consulting fields became more...
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The Toxic Handler: Organizational Hero—and Casualty
Organizational culture Magazine ArticleWhen companies cause emotional pain through nasty bosses, layoffs, and change, a certain breed of “healing” manager steps in to keep the gears moving. They are toxic handlers—unsung corporate heroes who save the day, but often pay a high price. -
Aligning Human Capital with Business Strategy: Perspectives from Thought Leaders
Organizational Development Other Article9.50View Details Human capital is firmly acknowledged as a strategic source of value creation for all types of organizations in today's knowledge-based economy. As is... -
Organizational Reinvention
Leadership & Managing People Case Study8.95View Details This note is designed to introduce students to the fundamental concepts of leading innovation in established organizations. Reinvention is a process whereby... -
Alaska Airlines: Navigating Change
Organizational Development Case Study11.95View Details Alaska Airlines has recently recovered from a period of operational instability, yet its executives worry the airline is draining its reserves of customer... -
Polyphonic HMI: Mixing Music and Math
Sales & Marketing Case Study11.95View Details In 2003, Mike McCready, CEO of Barcelona-based Polyphonic HMI, was preparing to launch an artificial intelligence tool that could create significant value... -
Companyism and Do More Better
Competitive strategy Magazine ArticleImagine yourself solving an arithmetic problem with the top managers of a leading Japanese automobile company. As a group, Japanese producers already export 2.3 million passenger vehicles a year to the United States. They are also building capacity for an additional 2.5 million vehicles in North America. You remind your friends across the table that […] -
Alltech
Sales & Marketing Case Study11.95View Details Alltech was a Lexington, Kentucky-based producer of supplements for animal feed, with revenues of over $2 billion (projected to reach $3 billion in 2018),... -
Organize Your Change Initiative Around Purpose and Benefits
Leadership & Managing People Digital ArticleConnecting a project to core principles - and explaining how it will benefit stakeholders - can spark the motivation required for success. -
West Side United: Hospitals Tackle the Racial Health and Wealth Gap
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. David Ansell, Darlene Hightower, and Ayesho Jaco, leaders of West Side United (WSU), a coalition of Chicago hospitals,... -
Gender Initiatives Are Culture Change Initiatives
Gender Digital ArticleAt least, the successful ones are.