Managing people

Giving feedback, particularly constructive feedback, is often a stressful task. As counterintuitive as it may seem, giving feedback to a top performer can be even tougher. Top performers may not have obvious development needs and in identifying those needs, you can sometimes feel like you’re being nitpicky or over-demanding. In addition, top performers may not […]

Joe Ryan turned a small-town cosmetics company into a national powerhouse, making employees happy and shareholders rich in the process. Does it really matter that he cheats on his wife?

When 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.

The trade-offs can be complex.

A look at the personal, relational, and organizational factors that will help your team do its best work.

When the economy is slow and unemployment rates are high, it’s easy to think your employees will happily stay put in their current jobs. But that’s a dangerous assumption. Research shows that voluntary turnover rates increase as consumer confidence builds. This means, as a manager, you need to figure out ways to retain your top […]

Just as people can develop skills and abilities over time, they can learn to be more or less ethical. Yet many organizations limit ethics training to...

A close study of the real thing — seafarers’ insurrections during the Age of Discovery — might help you decide.

The conventional wisdom on leadership and management is clear: the first matters more than the second. Warren Bennis‘s classic On Becoming a Leader is typical. In a lengthy comparison between leaders and managers, he describes leaders as luminaries and managers as mere mortals. For example: • “The manager administers; the leader innovates.” • “The manager […]

Based on data collected from more than 4,500 employees.

Show people how their work impacts others.

“Put my training wheels back on,” Sophia said in a stern tone, “Or I’m not going to ride my bike!” She had just turned four that day and wanted to learn to ride a bike like her older sister. Now she wasn’t so sure. After a lot of encouraging and a little stubbornness of my […]

What 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...

Four strategies for managers.

They’re more efficient — but not when it comes to killing a bad project.

And how organizations can develop more of them.

Oppositional goals can actually increase creativity.

by Paul Michelman

You’re speeding toward a goal when you hear sounds that make the brakes squeal: “The procedures don’t allow this.” “It will take months to process.” “Submit more forms.” Or worse, you request cooperation but don’t get a response. You curse petty bureaucrats for causing the screeching halt. You wonder if you should offer favors or […]

We live in a world of haves and have nots. No, not the kind you might imagine. These people reside within our companies. We increasingly group the people in our firms into two classes: those who have knowledge and talent and, by implication, those who do not. This segmentation is misleading and damaging to firms […]

A law firm must decide how to split partnership profits among the partners. Issues of seniority versus performance, performance evaluation, and lack of...

Encourages managers to think critically about how to prepare for and give a performance appraisal interview. Presents frameworks for evaluating subordinates'...

Reviews Josie Esquivel's career history, detailing how, through her personal attributes, skills, experiences, and organizational practices she has developed...

Billy Beane and the Oakland A's have 'changed the game' in terms of talent identification, analytics, and player investment in Major League Baseball (MLB)....

The Peer Feedback Assignment is based on the fact that giving feedback is an essential managerial communication skill. The assignment suggests guidelines...

In December 2022, Dr. Tomislav ("Tom") Mihaljevic, CEO and President of Cleveland Clinic, was reflecting on the last few years at the hospital, marked...

Supplements the (A) case.

An abstract is not available for this product.

Managers introduce a new performance evaluation system based on sales growth and return-on-investment (ROI). A branch manager wonders whether his new...

This case describes a setting in which the CFO of Bark Gift Shop Ltd., a gift items retailer, discovers an undesired pattern in the performance data suggesting...

In September 2022, Price and his team evaluated the past year's strategies to increase Method App adoption and discussed new initiatives to consider.

Janice Greer works for NVX Pharmaceuticals, a US firm with increasing global operations. Not long after Greer's promotion to country head for Japan, their...

In most organizations, the employee appraisal process causes more tension than any other aspect of personnel management. Despite the good intentions behind...

Wendy Peterson was recently promoted to Vice President of Sales at the Plano, Texas, office of AccountBack, an accounting software and services company....

This highly engaging exercise is designed to give participants a keen understanding of Blue Ocean Leadership and how to achieve high impact at low cost...

Billy Beane and the Oakland A's have 'changed the game' in terms of talent identification, analytics, and player investment in Major League Baseball (MLB)....

Dr. Jeff Foreman, Professor and Chair of the Marketing Department at Carroll State University, had just left a meeting with the Dean of the College and...

This is the supplement to "Wolfgang Keller at Königsbräu-TAK (A)." This case is a modernized revision of the popular case "Wolfgang Keller at Königsbräu-Hellas...

Supplements the (A) case. Designed as an in-class handout.

This case describes a vacuum cleaner manufacturer whose program for operational improvement includes the development of performance measures. Management...

Harvard Business Review Special Issues are timely, single-theme collections of HBR articles written by some of the world's leading management scholars...

Giving feedback, particularly constructive feedback, is often a stressful task. As counterintuitive as it may seem, giving feedback to a top performer can be even tougher. Top performers may not have obvious development needs and in identifying those needs, you can sometimes feel like you’re being nitpicky or over-demanding. In addition, top performers may not […]

Joe Ryan turned a small-town cosmetics company into a national powerhouse, making employees happy and shareholders rich in the process. Does it really matter that he cheats on his wife?

When 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.

The trade-offs can be complex.

A look at the personal, relational, and organizational factors that will help your team do its best work.

Harvard Business Review special issues are timely, single-theme collections of HBR articles written by some of the world's leading management scholars...

When the economy is slow and unemployment rates are high, it’s easy to think your employees will happily stay put in their current jobs. But that’s a dangerous assumption. Research shows that voluntary turnover rates increase as consumer confidence builds. This means, as a manager, you need to figure out ways to retain your top […]

Just as people can develop skills and abilities over time, they can learn to be more or less ethical. Yet many organizations limit ethics training to...