FACING AMBIGUOUS THREATS.
By: Roberto, Michael A., Bohmer, Richard M. J., Edmondson, Amy C.,
Harvard Business Review,
November 2006, Vol. 84, Issue 11
Why do companies have a natural inclination to misread ambiguous threats?
Factors at three levels – human cognition, group dynamics, and organizational culture – interact in ways that predispose companies to respond with less than appropriate intensity when signals of future harm are murky.
Evaluating ambiguous threats often requires rapid experimentation.
Rapid experimentation is exploratory experimentation.
In his book Learning in Action, Harvard Business School professor David Garvin explains that exploratory experiments are creative and iterative, and "designed for discovery, 'to see what would happen if.'" Investigators collect and interpret feedback rapidly and then design new trials.
Authors
Michael A. Roberto (mroberto@bryant.edu) is the Trustee Professor of Management at Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island, and the author of Why Great Leaders Don't Take Yes for an Answer (Wharton School Publishing, 2005).
Richard M. J. Bohmer (rbohmer@hbs.edu) is a physician and an associate professor of business administration at Harvard Business School in Boston.
Amy C. Edmondson (aedmondson@hbs.edu) is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School. For a multimedia preview of this material, visit hbr.org.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Managing Customer Introduced Variability
BREAKING THE TRADE-OFF Between Efficiency and Service.
By: Frei, Frances X.,
Harvard Business Review,
November 2006, Vol. 84, Issue 11
Customers introduce variability to service operations in no fewer than five ways, so it is critical to sort out which type is causing mischief before designing interventions.
Arrival variability.
Request variability.
Capability variability.
Effort variability.
Subjective preference variability.
The four strategic responses are: classic accommodation, classic reduction, low-cost accommodation, and uncompromised reduction.
An example of an uncompromised reduction approach:
A company can greatly reduce the impact of variability on its operating environment without compromising the service experience by targeting customers on the basis of variability type. If, for example, a college fears that admitting students of varying intellectual capabilities will complicate its operations, it can choose only students whose standardized test scores fall within a narrow band. The students get the benefit of a tailored curriculum without the school's having to support more than one.
Frances X. Frei (ffrei@hbs.edu) is an associate professor of business administration in the Technology and Operations Management unit at Harvard Business School in Boston.
By: Frei, Frances X.,
Harvard Business Review,
November 2006, Vol. 84, Issue 11
Customers introduce variability to service operations in no fewer than five ways, so it is critical to sort out which type is causing mischief before designing interventions.
Arrival variability.
Request variability.
Capability variability.
Effort variability.
Subjective preference variability.
The four strategic responses are: classic accommodation, classic reduction, low-cost accommodation, and uncompromised reduction.
An example of an uncompromised reduction approach:
A company can greatly reduce the impact of variability on its operating environment without compromising the service experience by targeting customers on the basis of variability type. If, for example, a college fears that admitting students of varying intellectual capabilities will complicate its operations, it can choose only students whose standardized test scores fall within a narrow band. The students get the benefit of a tailored curriculum without the school's having to support more than one.
Frances X. Frei (ffrei@hbs.edu) is an associate professor of business administration in the Technology and Operations Management unit at Harvard Business School in Boston.
Managing Multicultural Teams
Managing Multicultural Teams.
By: Brett, Jeanne, Behfar, Kristin, Kern, Mary C.,
Harvard Business Review,
Nov 2006, Vol. 84, Issue 11
Four categories of issues that cause difficulties in Managing Multicultural Teams.
direct versus indirect communication;
trouble with accents and fluency;
differing attitudes toward hierarchy and authority; and
conflicting norms for decision making.
Four Strategies
The most successful teams and managers we interviewed used four strategies for dealing with these challenges:
adaptation (acknowledging cultural gaps openly and working around them),
structural intervention (changing the shape of the team),
managerial intervention (setting norms early or bringing in a higher-level manager), and
exit (removing a team member when other options have failed).
Authors
Jeanne Brett is the DeWitt W. Buchanan, Jr. , Distinguished Professor of Dispute Resolution and Organizations and the director of the Dispute Resolution Research Center at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management in Evanston, Illinois.
Kristin Behfar is an assistant professor at the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California at Irvine.
Mary C. Kern is an assistant professor at the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College in New York.
By: Brett, Jeanne, Behfar, Kristin, Kern, Mary C.,
Harvard Business Review,
Nov 2006, Vol. 84, Issue 11
Four categories of issues that cause difficulties in Managing Multicultural Teams.
direct versus indirect communication;
trouble with accents and fluency;
differing attitudes toward hierarchy and authority; and
conflicting norms for decision making.
Four Strategies
The most successful teams and managers we interviewed used four strategies for dealing with these challenges:
adaptation (acknowledging cultural gaps openly and working around them),
structural intervention (changing the shape of the team),
managerial intervention (setting norms early or bringing in a higher-level manager), and
exit (removing a team member when other options have failed).
Authors
Jeanne Brett is the DeWitt W. Buchanan, Jr. , Distinguished Professor of Dispute Resolution and Organizations and the director of the Dispute Resolution Research Center at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management in Evanston, Illinois.
Kristin Behfar is an assistant professor at the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California at Irvine.
Mary C. Kern is an assistant professor at the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College in New York.
Management Mistakes that Stifle Innovators
Innovation: The Classic Traps.
By: Kanter, Rosabeth Moss,
Harvard Business Review,
Nov 2006, Vol. 84, Issue 11
Innovation Hurdles
Strategy Mistakes: Hurdles Too High, Scope Too Narrow
Process Mistakes: Controls Too Tight
Structure Mistakes: Connections Too Loose, Separations Too Sharp
Skills Mistakes: Leadership Too Weak, Communication Too Poor
Innovation Remedies
Strategy remedy: Widen the search, broaden the scope.
Process remedy: Add flexibility to planning and control systems.
Structure remedy: Facilitate close connections between innovators and mainstream businesses.
Skills remedy: Select for leadership and interpersonal skills, and surround innovators with a supportive culture of collaboration.
Author
Rosabeth Moss Kanter is the Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School in Boston. She is a frequent contributor to HBR and was the editor from 1989 to 1992.
By: Kanter, Rosabeth Moss,
Harvard Business Review,
Nov 2006, Vol. 84, Issue 11
Innovation Hurdles
Strategy Mistakes: Hurdles Too High, Scope Too Narrow
Process Mistakes: Controls Too Tight
Structure Mistakes: Connections Too Loose, Separations Too Sharp
Skills Mistakes: Leadership Too Weak, Communication Too Poor
Innovation Remedies
Strategy remedy: Widen the search, broaden the scope.
Process remedy: Add flexibility to planning and control systems.
Structure remedy: Facilitate close connections between innovators and mainstream businesses.
Skills remedy: Select for leadership and interpersonal skills, and surround innovators with a supportive culture of collaboration.
Author
Rosabeth Moss Kanter is the Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School in Boston. She is a frequent contributor to HBR and was the editor from 1989 to 1992.
Management of Learning
How to Manage Urban School Districts.
By: Childress, Stacey, Elmore, Richard, Grossman, Allen,
Harvard Business Review,
November 2006, Vol. 84, Issue 11
To help leaders of urban school systems develop and implement a management model, 12 faculty members from Harvard Business School and Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2003 launched the Public Education Leadership Project (PELP).
Strategy for teaching and learning. At the heart of the framework is the instructional core – a term we use to describe the critical teaching and learning that goes on in the classroom. In order to improve student achievement, a district office must continuously strengthen this core by increasing teachers' skills and knowledge, engaging students in learning, and ensuring that the curriculum challenges students academically.
In education, however, most external forces pull public school districts away from their focus on student achievement. Thus, a district must develop strategy from the inside out and begin at the nucleus of its organization: teaching and learning.
Urban school districts must establish a culture of collaboration, high expectations, and accountability.
Authors
Stacey Childress (schildress@hbs.edu) is a lecturer at Harvard Business School in Boston, where she studies the entrepreneurial efforts of leadership teams in urban districts, charter schools, and other enterprises in education.
Richard Elmore (Richard_elmore@harvard.edu) is the Gregory R. Anrig Professor of Educational Leadership at Harvard Graduate School of Education in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he researches the effects of federal, state, and local education policy on schools.
Allen Grossman (agrossman@hbs.edu) is the MBA Class of 1957 Professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School, where he researches leadership and management in public education and the issues of managing multisite nonprofit organizations.
Grossman and Elmore are cochairs of Harvard’s Public Education Leadership Project.
By: Childress, Stacey, Elmore, Richard, Grossman, Allen,
Harvard Business Review,
November 2006, Vol. 84, Issue 11
To help leaders of urban school systems develop and implement a management model, 12 faculty members from Harvard Business School and Harvard Graduate School of Education in 2003 launched the Public Education Leadership Project (PELP).
Strategy for teaching and learning. At the heart of the framework is the instructional core – a term we use to describe the critical teaching and learning that goes on in the classroom. In order to improve student achievement, a district office must continuously strengthen this core by increasing teachers' skills and knowledge, engaging students in learning, and ensuring that the curriculum challenges students academically.
In education, however, most external forces pull public school districts away from their focus on student achievement. Thus, a district must develop strategy from the inside out and begin at the nucleus of its organization: teaching and learning.
Urban school districts must establish a culture of collaboration, high expectations, and accountability.
Authors
Stacey Childress (schildress@hbs.edu) is a lecturer at Harvard Business School in Boston, where she studies the entrepreneurial efforts of leadership teams in urban districts, charter schools, and other enterprises in education.
Richard Elmore (Richard_elmore@harvard.edu) is the Gregory R. Anrig Professor of Educational Leadership at Harvard Graduate School of Education in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he researches the effects of federal, state, and local education policy on schools.
Allen Grossman (agrossman@hbs.edu) is the MBA Class of 1957 Professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School, where he researches leadership and management in public education and the issues of managing multisite nonprofit organizations.
Grossman and Elmore are cochairs of Harvard’s Public Education Leadership Project.
HBR Case Study November 2006
The Reign of Zero Tolerance. By: Gerson, Ben, Parker, Janet, Volokh, Eugene, Halloran, Jean, Cherkasky, Michael G., Harvard Business Review, 00178012, Nov2006, Vol. 84, Issue 11
Actions that damage a company and its employees should be stamped out, everyone would agree. But should the people responsible be stamped out, too?
Actions that damage a company and its employees should be stamped out, everyone would agree. But should the people responsible be stamped out, too?
Innovation and Invention
Innovation refers to a process that begins with a novel idea and concludes
with market introduction. Invention by itself is not an innovation.
John Freeman
Jerome S. Engel
Models of Innovation: Startups and Mature Corporations
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY VOL. 50,NO. 1 FALL 2007
with market introduction. Invention by itself is not an innovation.
John Freeman
Jerome S. Engel
Models of Innovation: Startups and Mature Corporations
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY VOL. 50,NO. 1 FALL 2007
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