Interpersonal skills

A recent study found that people were 67% more likely to agree to in-person requests than those made over audio or video call.

Advice for navigating a contentious climate.

Create safety so people can open up.

It's essential to collaboration.

Here’s how to address the problem in a productive way.

At this large GM plant the union and management jointly seek to change the meaning of work itself

“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 […]

If Marketing and Finance can learn to get along, both can advance their agendas.

Good leadership is about preventing incidents - not just responding to them.

Research on different-sex couples early in the pandemic shows that when dads took a bigger share of domestic labor, moms were more likely to stay in their...

Don’t default to your comfort zone. Deliver your message in the way that works best for the situation.

Much of my work over the past several years has wrestled with issues of diversity, specifically among the generations. My research has shown me time and...

Reflect on what you've learned and how you've grown.

Six tips for soliciting radical candor.

They vary in deference and decision making.

Do you avoid conflict? If you do, you’re not alone. Conflict avoidance is one of the most common characteristics of corporate cultures. At the same time it is one of the most pernicious and dangerous sources of unintentional complexity in organizational life. The tendency to avoid conflict — albeit inconvenient — is very human. Most […]

For decades, negotiators have been working out agreements by focusing on interests, not positions. But the messy problem of how to share the gains created...

Lessons from new research.

Take control of your narrative.

Spend 80% of your energy on 20% of the group.

Supplements the (A) case.

Several experts had drawn attention to a peculiar problem existing in public-sector banks in India. There seemed to be two distinct generations: experienced...

Describes the outcome of Erik Peterson's one-day meeting with his superior and the events of the subsequent day's meeting with the president and vice...

This is a multi-issue one-on-one internal negotiation between a recently promoted boss, Joanna, and an older-than-her employee, Rupert, who is disgruntled...

In October 2010, the beating of a 30-year-old bonded laborer-his punishment for staying home sick from work-in India's northwestern state of Rajasthan...

In Differences at Work: Will (A), HBS Case No. 9-408-013 is set in London. Will, a gay man, must decide how to react to a senior colleague's question...

In summer 2021, School of Rock was a youth-oriented music education company with 291 franchise- and company-owned schools globally. Before CEO Rob Price's...

For the past quarter-century, the field of social cognition has documented a number of ways in which individuals and groups are prone to make characteristic...

Stop running on empty. Every day you juggle the many components that fill your life. Between work and family commitments, volunteer work, hobbies, and...

Supplements Block 16: Conoco's Green Oil Strategy (A). Provides the indigenous people's perspective on Conoco's Ecuadorian strategy. Designed to be distributed...

This note introduces a framework for deliberately building effective interpersonal relationships. First, we will define the necessary attributes of these...

Tracks Merck's efforts to adapt to changes in the pharmaceutical industry. Key challenges include adapting Merck's internally focused, science-led culture...

A unit manager on a field computer installation job is faced with recurring conflict between a programmer and his immediate supervisor.

Implicitly raises the question of what Peterson should do to extricate himself from his difficulties. Should he consider resignation, go directly to the...

Wolfgang Keller, manager of the Ukrainian subsidiary of a German beer company, faces a managerial dilemma. His subordinate, Dmitri Brodsky, is a talented...

This is a multi-issue one-on-one internal negotiation between a recently promoted boss, Joanna, and an older-than-her employee, Rupert, who is disgruntled...

The case describes the evolution of an interpersonal mismatch between a previously successful manager, Jamie Turner, and his new boss, Pat Cardullo. Turner,...

An uneasy ceasefire has held in Western Sahara since 1991, largely preventing a resumption of armed conflict. Yet a final status agreement to sustainably...

A two-party negotiation between an Agent representing a new author and an Editor at a large Publishing Firm. The exercise involves a 1-issue, zero-sum...

A recent study found that people were 67% more likely to agree to in-person requests than those made over audio or video call.

Advice for navigating a contentious climate.

Supplements the (A) case.

Several experts had drawn attention to a peculiar problem existing in public-sector banks in India. There seemed to be two distinct generations: experienced...

Do it before completing 50-60% of your work.

Create safety so people can open up.

It's essential to collaboration.

Here’s how to address the problem in a productive way.

At this large GM plant the union and management jointly seek to change the meaning of work itself

Describes the outcome of Erik Peterson's one-day meeting with his superior and the events of the subsequent day's meeting with the president and vice...