Center for Effective Organizations

• Winners of Most Effective Leadership Practices Competition Announced

  The winners of the 2012 Most Effective Leadership Practices Competition have been announced. Read about the winners in CEO Research Professor Theresa Welbourne's article in TLNT. The article also describes the winning practices and learnings from the competition. Read the...

• Webinar: 2020 Workplace - Connected, Collaborative, and Social, 4/30 Audio/Slides

    Webinar Slides PDF Click here for audio from the April 30 webinar  Dr. Karie Willyerd, Vice President and Chief Learning Officer at SuccessFactors, presented a webinar on the 2020 Workplace: Connected, Collaborative, and Social on April 30. Karie...

• Webinar - Effective Human Resource Management: A Global Analysis, May 22

  Join Ed Lawler and John Boudreau as they present the results of CEO's sixth tri-annual survey of HR on May 22 at 9 am PT. Their study looks at changes in how HR is organized, how it adds value in...

• Human Capital Exchange Book Discussion with John Boudreau

  The Conference Board recently held a Human Capital Exchange Book Discussion with John Boudreau, where he spoke on his book, Retooling HR. The talk was recorded and can be accessed. Over the past few years, members of the HR profession...

• Webinar: The Future of HR (April 23), Audio/Slides

    Webinar Slides PDF Click here for audio from the April 23 webinar   Ian Ziskin and John Boudreau discussed The Future of HR: Multiple Disciplines, Multiple Connections, Multiple Levels. The promise of the HR profession and discipline is bright,...

• Second ERN Summit Coming in 2013

  Check back soon for more information about the 2013 Employee Resource Network Leadership Summit!...

• Telecommuting "Trending Steadily and Gradually"

  Los Angeles radio station KPCC ran a feature article about the continuing growth in telecommuting. The piece featured commentary from Alec Levenson, CEO senior research scientist, who discussed the nature of jobs best suited for this kind of working. Read...

• Radio Interview: Boudreau on How HR Spends its Time

  Listen to CEO Research Director and Professor John Boudreau's interview on CaribHR.Radio as he talks about research, talent management, fatigue, and how HR spends its time. Listen here....

• Boudreau to Address HRPS St. Louis, May 16, 2012

  John Boudreau, CEO Research Director and Professor, is slated to speak at HRPS St. Louis on May 16, 2012. He'll be speaking on "Transformative HR: How Great Organizations Use Evidence-Based Change for Sustainable Advantage." More information is available....

• Company Stock and Company Loyalty

  Research from Theresa Welbourne Read a working paper on this study. A recent study conducted by Theresa Welbourne (CEO Research Professor) took a look at employee stock purchase plans at a high-tech start-up company. Start-ups, especially in the high-technology sector,...

• How does HR spend its time? Latest Survey Results

  Research from Ed Lawler and John Boudreau The results from the sixth CEO study about HR are in. This latest survey, conducted in 2010 by Ed Lawler (CEO Director and Distinguished Professor of Business) and John Boudreau (CEO Research Director...

• CEO a Knowledge Partner with Human Capital Exchange

  CEO is pleased to be partnering with the Conference Board's Human Capital Exchange site http://hcexchange.conference-board.org/. We will be providing information and content to the site....

• Colleagues Rewarding Performance

  A recent article in the Wall Street Journal highlighted several firms that are allowing their employees to reward fellow workers with stock options or virtual currency. Companies that do this believe that it gives them a better handle on the...

• John Boudreau Joins CMR Editorial Board

  John Boudreau, Professor and Research Director, has been appointed to the editorial board of the California Management Review journal. Learn about the journal here....

• Latest Boudreau Column in CFO.com

  In John Boudreau's latest column for CFO.com, he asks, "Do your HR leaders spend enough time on strategic partnership?" Boudreau notes that the study that he and Ed Lawler have conducted shows that spending more time on strategy is related...

• Coming Soon - It's a Great Time to Be a Physician: Building a Healthcare System that Works

  Coming Soon: It's a Great Time to Be a Physician: Building a Healthcare System that Works by Jeffrey Weisz, M. D., with Susan Albers Mohrman and Arienne McCracken A first-hand account of the changes being demanded of the US healthcare...

• Update on Emerging Markets Research

  Research from Alec Levenson CEO's research stream on organization and talent strategies for emerging markets continues with the publication of a new article on cross-functional talent development, and research activities in China, India, Brazil, Eastern Europe, South Africa, and the...

• Forthcoming this summer: Organizing for Sustainable Healthcare

  Organizing for Sustainable Healthcare, a book edited by Susan Albers Mohrman and A. B. (Rami) Shani This will be the second volume in the "Organizing for Sustainable Effectiveness" series. The purpose of the volume is to provide systematic case material...

• Volunteerism Reaps Higher Performance

  by Theresa M. Welbourne, CEO Research Professor Company-sponsored volunteerism is popular, and public relations departments in most organizations are supportive of these efforts. However, many managers, executives and even HR professionals wonder what the payoff is to the organization. At...

• ERN Summit Held in February

  CEO's Employee Resource Network Leadership Summit was held February 8-9, 2012, at the Mattel Leadership Development Center in El Segundo, California. Over 50 participants from 11 companies took part in the two-day event. The summit was sponsored by Corning,...

• More Companies Instituting Job Swaps

  Alec Levenson, Senior Research Scientist, was recently interviewed for a piece in the Wall Street Journal about the growing number of companies instituting temporary job rotations for their employees. These rotations could be in different geographical locations or in...

• Join Chris Worley at the Organization Design Forum in Atlanta

  CEO Senior Reseach Scientist Chris Worley will be presenting at the April Organization Design Forum in Atlanta, which runs from April 24-26, 2012 . He will speak on rethinking organizational purpose and performance, and how organizations can be designed...

• "Large Group Interventions" - A McGregor Award Winner

  Research from Chris Worley, Sue Mohrman,and Jennifer Nevitt The paper, Large Group Interventions: An Empirical Field Study of their Composition, Process, and Outcomes, was awarded the McGregor Award for outstanding contribution to the Journal of Applied Behavioral Science for 2011....

• 2012 CEO Webinar Schedule

  Join us for one or more of our upcoming 2012 webinars!

• "Evidence, not intuition"

  John Boudreau's latest book, Transformative HR, is the subject of a recent article in the USC News. Writer Julie Riggott notes that "Evidence, not intuition, guides effective human resource leadership." That reliance on evidence and the move to embrace evidence-based...

• Asia-Pacific Leadership Skills

  A recent story in the Human Resource Executive Online discussed the problems facing HR professionals in the emerging Asia-Pacific market to hire C-suite talent. Because of the tremendous growth over the past decade in that market, there is simply not...

• Risk, HR and "Talent in the Cloud"

  Ravin Jesuthasan, co-author of Transformative HR, with co-author John Boudreau, was interviewed in a February story in Human Resource Executive Online. Jesuthasan talked about HR's role in managing human capital risk in an era when an organization's talent can be...

• Lawler on Change at UK Summit

  CEO Director Ed Lawler discussed the evolution of HR and talked about the need for agility in a successful organization at the 2012 HR Directors Business Summit, held in January in Birmingham, United Kingdom. Lawler also presented some findings from...

• One-Third of All Americans Have Passports Now

  A recent article in Forbes.com by Andrew Bender noted that more Americans than ever have passports - about 110 million people. The change in the law that mandated Americans have this documentation to cross into Mexico or Canada, which was...

• McDonald's, Workers over 60, and Optimizing Human Capital

  In John Boudreau's current blog post on CFO.com, he writes about optimizing human capital inventory and how the 80-20 rule still applies. He talks about a McDonald's study that found higher customer satisfaction in its restaurants where there were employees...

• Increased Recognition of the Importance of Analytics in HR

  A recent article by Dave Crisp in the Canadian HR Reporter noted that more and more articles and reports are talking about the criticality of measurement and analytics in HR. CEO Research Director and Professor John Boudreau is listed as...

• Webinar: Maximizing the Return on Your Survey and Measurement Work, 1/11 - Audio/Slides

    Webinar Slides PDF Click here for audio from the January 11 webinar    CEO Senior Research Scientist Alec Levenson spoke about Maximizing the Return on Your Survey and Measurement Work on January 11, 2012. With all the attention...

• 2012 Cohen Award Application Award Available

  Applications are now available for the 2012 Susan G. Cohen Doctoral Research Award in Organization Design, Effectiveness, and Change. CEO and the Organization Development and Change (ODC) division of the Academy of Management announce the Susan G. Cohen Research...

• Holiday Shopping at Work?

  Online shopping is firmly entrenched as a very convenient way to make purchases, especially during the holiday season, since we don't have to physically fight any crowds or vie for a parking space on the web. Yet online shopping during...

• "Measuring HOW We Do Business" - CEO Survey Collaboration

  Findings from the survey CEO did in conjunction with LRN and the Boston Research Group in 2011 are described in "Measuring HOW We Do Business," written by Dov Seidman, in a recent post on Forbes.com. Seidman writes that self-governed companies,...

• Digital Darwinism and "Built to Change"

  Built to Change, the book by Ed Lawler and Chris Worley, was cited in a recent article in the Washington Post on "Digital Darwinism and Why Brands Die." The article explored the impact of technology and the online world on...

• Webinar: Stepping onto the Stage: Preparing Executives as Faculty for Your Executive Education Initiatives, 12/6 Audio/Slides

    Webinar Slides PDF Click here for audio from the December 6 webinar   Jay Conger (CEO) and Rosie Mackenzie (ConocoPhillips) discussed "Stepping onto the Stage: Preparing Executives as Faculty for Your Executive Education Initiatives." They talked about how they...

• Employees Polled on What They Want in Their Next Position

  Human Resource Executive Online reported on a recent survey done by Right Management, which asked workers what they were looking for in their next job. Mentoring, opportunity for advancement, and a good management team were some of the responses cited....

• Talent Forward Features Boudreau

  John Boudreau contributed a thought piece to CIPD's website focusing on "Talent Forward" - considering future talent strategies and challenges to the field. He writes on "Developing talent measurement insight" and the "virtual flood of numbers" that HR professionals increasingly...

• Webinar: Current Issues and Emerging Practices in Performance Management,11/30 Audio/Slides

    Webinar Slides PDF Click here for audio from the November 30 webinar.    George Benson and Ed Lawler discussed the current state of performance management and some of the common issues that large organizations continue to struggle with...

• Boudreau in the Blogosphere

  Catch up on John Boudreau's column in CFO.com. What Do Your HR Practices Tell Your Employees? Do Finance Practices Hinder Optimal Hiring Pinpointing Your Pivotal Talent Moneyball and the Strategic Talent Game...

• Boudreau Speech at HR Technology Conference

  ZDNet writer Brian Sommer heard CEO's John Boudreau give a talk about HR supply chains at the recent Las Vegas HR Technology Conference that was organized by Human Resource Executive in October, 2011. In his article, Sommer focused on Boudreau's...

• The Five Principles Behind "Transformative HR"

  In a recent article in BusinessFinance online, Joanne Sammer enumerates the guiding principles behind John Boudreau and Ravin Jesuthasan's work in Transformative HR. The five principles, which are the tools that enable HR professionals to move to evidence-based HR practice,...

• Management Reset Discussed in FT.com

  Chris Worley, Ed Lawler, and David Creelman's latest book, Management Reset, was recently reviewed in FT.com. Reviewer Stefan Stern focuses on the book's argument that companies today need to be agile, easily changeable, and fluid, instead of slow-moving and tentative....

• News Corp.'s Shareholders Vote Against Murdoch's Children; Lawler Quoted

  CEO Director Ed Lawler was quoted in a recent (October 25, 2011) story in the Los Angeles Times about News Corp. shareholders who oppose returning Rupert Murdoch's two children to the board of directors. Over one-third of shareholders voted against...

• Jeff Shuman Named HR Executive of the Year by HRE

  Jeff Shuman, Vice President and CHRO of Harris Corporation, was recently named HR Executive of the Year by HRE Magazine (Human Resource Executive Magazine). Congratulations to Jeff on this well-deserved honor! We at CEO are proud to have Jeff as...

• Lawler in the Blogosphere

  Catch up on CEO Director Ed Lawler's columns in Forbes.com. Sustainability Must Be a Top Priority Eliminate Performance Appraisals It is Time to Get it Right Forget Manufacturing - the Jobs Aren't Coming Back...

• Segmentation and Transformative HR

  Joanne Sammer, at BusinessFinance, writes about the challenge of segmentation and the difficulties many organizations have with it. Segmenting employees includes identifying those most critical to the success of the organization. Sammer discusses what Jesuthasan and Boudreau's new book, Transformative...

• Take Part in the Most Effective Leadership Practices Competition

  CEO Research Professor Theresa Welbourne, with eePulse, a human capital and leadership consulting and technology firm, announced today the Most Effective Leadership Practices (MELP) competition. The competition is supported by partnerships with CEO, TLNT, Springboard Enterprises and the Incentive Research...

• Generation Gaps at Work

  CEO affiliated research scientist Jennifer Deal was interviewed for a post on the Big think website. Click for article and video. The article argues that often the "generation gap" is really a struggle for power. Deal believes that workers of...

• In the "Financial Times"

  An enthusiastic mention of John Boudreau's new book (coauthored with Ravin Jesuthasan of Towers Watson), Transformative HR: How Great Companies Use Evidence-Based Change for Sustainable Advantage, was posted in the Recruitment Diary on the Financial Times online site. Read more...

• Webinar: Network Designs For Sustainable Effectiveness, 9/26 Audio/Slides

    Webinar Slides PDF Click here for audio from the September 26 webinar.   What Does it Really Take to Get Beyond the Constraints of Hierarchy and Segmentation? "We all need effective networked organizations--but we fight upstream in a world...

• Most Effective Leadership Practices Competition

  Many companies compete in best place to work contests, but to be a great place to work a company needs great managers. The Leadership Pulse is teaming up with a prestigious group of partners (eePulse, CEO, TLNT, and IRF) to...

• "Time to Get it Right" - Unions and the Auto Industry

  Ed Lawler's latest post at the Huffington Post is about the current negotiations between the US automakers and the UAW. He talks about their historically adversarial relationship and the efforts to create a more better relationship between the parties. Read...

• Boudreau on Unemployment

  John Boudreau was a guest speaker on CRI's Today program, where the discussion was on the U.S.'s continuing high unemployment rates. John, Qian Liwei, and Phillip Dine were the guests on this program. Listen to the program here....

• Evidence-Based Change Helps Companies Achieve Greater Success

  When it comes to managing people, many organizations have made important HR decisions without any real rigor, often relying on instincts or copying competitors' practices. Now, a handful of leading-edge global companies are breaking new ground and using evidence-based change...

• Lawler, Boudreau Named to Top 20 HR List

  Ed Lawler, CEO's Director, and John Boudreau, Research Director and Professor, have both been named to HR Magazine's "Top 20 HR Most Influential International Thinkers 2011" list. Ed, listed at #7 this year, was cited for "his work on areas...

• Webinar: Business Partnership with Impact, 9-8, Audio/Slides

    Webinar Slides PDF  Click here for audio from the September 8 webinar    John Boudreau, CEO Research Director and Professor, discussed findings from his forthcoming books, Transformative HR with Ravin Jesuthasan, and Effective HR: A Global Analysis with...

• In the Media

  CEO Senior Research Scientist Alec Levenson was recently interviewed by both KNX and KFWB radio about the current state of jobs and the economy....

• Webinar: Promise and Peril of HR Data, 8/23, Audio/Slides

    Webinar Slides PDF Click here for audio from the August 23 webinar.    CEO Research Professor Theresa Welbourne and Kerrian Bard Fournier, Vice President, Head of Human Capital & Analytics, Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., discussed how to...

• Welbourne Named as Director of Nebraska Center for Entrepreneurship

  CEO Research Professor Theresa Welbourne has just been named the Director of the Nebraska Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Business Administration. Theresa will continue her work with CEO while she directs the center in Nebraska....

• Forget Manufacturing?

  In Ed Lawler's latest Forbes column, he writes about the need for job creation in the U.S. Noting that manufacturing may not be the best place to develop more jobs, he cites advanced technology as one reason why there are...

• John Boudreau to Deliver Opening Keynote at Human Resource Executive Conference

  John Boudreau, CEO Research Director and Professor, is slated to be the opening keynote speaker at Human Resource Executive's 14th Annual Technology Conference & Exposition, which is being held October 3-5 in Las Vegas. John will speak on Transformative HR:...

• 2011 CEO Webinar Schedule

  Join us for one or more of our upcoming 2011 webinars!

• Transformative HR: How Great Companies Use Evidence-Based Change for Sustainable Advantage

  John W. Boudreau and Ravin Jesuthasan with Towers Watson
  (Jossey-Bass, October 2011)

• More Demand, but Businesses Slow to Hire Additional Workforce

  Alec Levenson was interviewed for an article in the Los Angeles Times that discussed small businesses' reluctance to hire additional workers, even though they are starting to see increasing demand for their goods and services. As the article states, although...

• Organizing for Sustainability

  Susan Albers Mohman & A.B. (Rami) Shani, Editors
  (Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2011)

• "Do Finance Practices Hinder Optimal Hiring?"

  John Boudreau's first article in a series on CFO.com is concerned with optimal hiring strategies. He writes, "The financial system treats R&D spending differently than spending to prepare future talent." Read the entire article here. ...

• 2012 Seminars

    High-Leverage Leadership Development: Aligning Design Through Stellar Execution January 25-27, 2012 Los Angeles Employee Resource Network Leadership Summit February, 8-9, 2012 Los Angeles Targeted Analytics February 22-24, 2012 two days total: starts at 1 pm on 2/22 and...

• Webinar: Executing Multidimensional Organizations, 7/22 - Audio/Slides

    Webinar Slides PDF Click here for audio from the July 22 webinar.    Jay Galbraith discussed three-dimensional matrices of functions, business units and countries as well as four-dimensional structures, such as Procter & Gamble's Four Pillar Organization is...

• The New World of Management

  Read about what the new world of management will look like. Ed Lawler and Chris Worley were guest bloggers at CNBC and wrote about what they're seeing worldwide as business changes and adapts, including more virtual work, a greater focus...

• Society Demands More Sustainable Products--But Consumers May Be Unwilling to Cooperate

  By Barbara Steele and Christopher G. Worley  What does a major grocer do when it has pledged to buy seafood from sustainable sources, but cannot do so for the most popular fish products? Knowing that the competition is offering these...

• Worley and Lawler Chapter Wins Editor's Award -- Free Download

  CEO's Chris Worley and Ed Lawler's chapter, Built to change organizations and responsible progress: Twin pillars of sustainable success, published in the book Research in Organizational Change and Development, was chosen as an Outstanding Author Contribution Award Winner at...

• "Executive Compensation's New Normal: A Missed Opportunity"

  At his Forbes blog, Ed Lawler discusses executive pay and how it has increased in 2010, so much so that the pay difference ratio between top executives and the lowest paid in a corporation is now 500 to 1. Read...

• Keep Up with Theresa Welbourne's Column at TLNT Site

  Read CEO Research Professor Theresa Welbourne's regular column at TLNT's website. In her latest column, Theresa takes a different look at the employee value proposition and thinks about some of the problems with its focus. She suggests using an "employee...

• How Sustainable is Cisco?

  Chris Worley blogs about Cisco, Flip videocameras, and sustainability. Read his entire post here....

• 2011 Cohen Award Winner

  Melissa Valentine of Harvard University is the 2011 recipient of the Susan G. Cohen Award and receives $2,500. Her dissertation title is "High-Velocity Teaming: How Meta-team Affiliation Promotes Coordination Effectiveness." Congratulations to Melissa! The Susan G. Cohen Research Award...

• May 2011 Leadership Pulse Now Open - Your Input Requested

  The May 2011 Leadership Pulse is now open, and we invite you to take part! By engaging in this dialogue you will be able to help leadership and management teams by sharing real-time benchmarking and knowledge. Combined with the input...

• Reward Strategies, Sustainability - and Soccer

  Ed Lawler, Chris Worley, and David Creelman write about an important aspect of a sustainable organization -- restructuring reward strategies. Read why they hold up Manchester United as an example in How Sustainable Business is a Lot like a Soccer...

• Who's on Corporate Boards?

  Ed Lawler writes about the move towards quotas in some countries for women on corporate boards on Forbes.com. He notes that this move, while laudable, may be a symptom of a larger issue: corporate boards simply only represent one kind...

• How Does Your Employer Rate for Sustainability?

  Lawler and Worley list six ways a company can be organized to best incorporate sustainability into its DNA. Read the whole post here.    ...

• View Recording of "Efficiency, Effectiveness and Impact - Achieving Excellence in HR Management" Webinar

  CEO's John Boudreau and Ed Lawler held a webinar on "Efficiency, Effectiveness and Impact - Achieving Excellence in HR Management" for the Conference Board of Canada on May 10, as a preliminary event for the Board's upcoming HR Service Delivery...

• Shared Work Space a Growing Phenomenon

  USA Today (May 5, 2011) described the growing trend of individuals using shared work spaces, offered by companies including NextSpace and Blankspaces, in "Entrepreneurs find office alternatives to coffee shops." Shared work spaces are targeted to small companies, startups, independent...

• View Mercer Webcast with Jay Conger, 4/21

  What's New in Leadership Development? Webcast held by Mercer with Jason Jeffay (Mercer), Colleen O'Neill (Mercer), and Jay Conger (CEO) In this session, the speakers unveil the results of two recent Mercer studies - one on women's leadership development and...

• View Recording of AMA Webcast with Worley and Lawler, 4/20

  Integrating Sustainability into Strategy, Design and Practice Webcast held by the American Management Association (AMA) 12 noon ET/9 am PT with Ed Lawler and Chris Worley In this webcast, Ed Lawler and Chris Worley explain why companies must reorganize...

• HR Emerging from the Recession

  John Boudreau and Ed Lawler are both quoted in an article (April 27, 2011) on the Human Resource Executive website about the market for HR jobs, which has been growing. They noted in the article that HR's status has been...

• Levenson on Capital Public Radio

  CEO Senior Research Scientist Alec Levenson was interviewed on Capital Public Radio about a drop in the California unemployment rate. He noted the drop, but said that the trend shows far too slow progress. Listen here....

• The Problem with Iconic Leaders

  Ed Lawler wrote about the problem with iconic leaders at the Forbes.com website. Read it here....

• High Potential Event Held in Concert with Microsoft

  CEO and Microsoft recently partnered on an event for high potentials within Microsoft and CEO's other sponsor organizations. Each sponsor organization was invited to send high potential HR employees for an event featuring Ian Ziskin, Lacey Leone McLaughlin, and...

• "People, Profits and Sustainability"

   Anne Bergman of USC's Marshall School reported on CEO's fourth sustainability conference, held in February 2011 at Mattel's Leadership Development Center. Read the complete article here....

• CEO's Fourth Sustainability Conference

  The fourth working conference for CEO's sustainability research focus was held February 17-18, 2011, hosted by Mattel, Inc., at their Leadership Development Center in El Segundo, CA. The conference featured 47 participants from 25 different organizations and four nations, and...

• CEO Researchers Speaking at SIOP Conference in April

  Several CEO members will be presenting at the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology's Annual Conference in Chicago, April 14-16. Sue Mohrman and Ed Lawler will be presenting on Doing Research that Influences Theory and Practice on Thursday, April14 at...

• Lawler and Worley for the Egalitarian Workplace

  Chris Worley and Ed Lawler are featured in Business Week's "Debate Room" writing in favor of the egalitarian workplace. Noting that traditional hierarchies in many organizations have become a thing of the past, they also press for the death of...

• Singapore Boards and HR Expertise

  A survey jointly conducted by Aon Hewitt and CEO, "Pay at the Top: A Comparative Study of When HR Makes a Difference," discussed Singapore boardrooms and how much they used their company HR expertise for questions on executive compensation and...

• Mergers & Acquisitions -- and Talent Managers

  CEO Director Ed Lawler was interviewed for an article in Talent Management magazine about mergers and acquisitions, where he noted that during a time of M&A, HR professionals and talent managers have the opportunity to "play a more strategic role...

• Webinar with Ian Ziskin: 3/21 - Audio/Slides

    Webinar Slides PDF Click here for audio from the March 21 webinar. (Please note: there is some line noise on the call at about 11 minutes in. We apologize for the inconvenience.)   CEO Executive in Residence Ian Ziskin...

• WillBe: 13 Reasons WillBe's are Luckier than WannaBe's

  Ian Ziskin (2011)

• Management Reset: Organizing for Sustainable Effectiveness

  Edward E. Lawler III and Christopher G. Worley, with David Creelman (Jossey-Bass, 2011)

• Useful Research: Advancing Theory and Practice

  Susan Albers Mohrman, Edward E. Lawler III, and Associates
  (Berrett-Koehler, 2011)

• Move Past Quarterly Earnings to Real Sustainability

  CEO Senior Research Scientist Chris Worley writes in Forbes.com that real sustainability demands companies move away from short-sighted short-term goals, such as a single-minded drive to meet profitability expectations. He writes, "What does your company value? Short-term gains or long-term...

• "Get rid of job descriptions."

  Read CEO Director Ed Lawler and Senior Research Scientist Chris Worley's list of reasons why job descriptions hinder organizations and what they suggest companies do instead. Getting rid of job descriptions "fits a management approach that highlights agility by...

• Hiring the Overqualified

  CEO Director Ed Lawler was interviewed for a piece on "Hiring and Managing the Overqualified" in Talent Management magazine. Because of the economy and the state of the job market, many overqualified people seem to applying for jobs below their...

• Lawler Post in HuffPo

  CEO Director Ed Lawler's latest post in the Huffington Post is up. He writes about the lack of triple bottom line accountability in typical corporate annual reports. Read his whole post here.  ...

• Leaders as Unrecognized Victims of the Recession

  Read CEO Research Professor Theresa Welbourne's latest article based on Leadership Pulse data notes that leaders and managers "are reporting lost productivity and lower than ideal energy levels at work." Studying the data, Welbourne makes some suggestions for focusing on...

• Diversity in Work and Management Teams a Competitive Advantage

  The Sacramento Bee ran a viewpoint piece, Diversity is Imperative to Keep California Businesses Competitive on February 27, 2011, about the necessity for diversity in the workplace, especially focusing on women in California businesses. CEO Research Professor Theresa Welbourne's research...

• John Boudreau Elected as SIOP Fellow

  CEO Research Director and Professor John Boudreau has been elected a Fellow of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP). SIOP is Division 14 of the American Psychological Assocation and Organizational Affiliate of athe Association for Psychological Science (APS)....

• Boudreau, Lawler, Jamrog in SHRM's HR Magazine

  CEO's John Boudreau and Ed Lawler, along with Jay Jamrog, write in the February 2011 issue of HR Magazine about Shining Light on the HR Profession. In the article, they consider what the recession may have done to the status...

• Webinar: Anatomy of a High Potential, 2/22 - Audio/Slides

    Webinar Slides PDF Click here for audio from the February 22 webinar    In this webinar on February 22, Jay Conger discussed recent research on the characteristics of high potentials. Rising stars who make the grade are remarkably...

• Employee Resource Network - Learning Congress

  Join the faculty from the Center for Effective Organizations and a select group of your peers in leading the continued transformation of employee resource networks (ERNs) at our upcoming Employee Resource Network Learning Congress, which will take place in the...

• Webinar: Beyond Change Management, Feb. 7 - Audio/Slides

  Beyond Change Management - From Traditional Phase Models to More Robust Models of Transformation Amidst Chaos  Webinar Slides PDF Click here for audio from the February 7 webinar    Chris Worley and Sue Mohrman highlighted the characteristics of more...

• Annual Reviews and Sustainability?

  Ed Lawler in the Huffington Post on February 3, 2011: Do your annual reviews include a sustainability component? Why not?  ...

• Information About the February 2011 Sustainability Conference

  This conference is by invitation only. Agenda Important Information for Attendees Introduction and Background on the Conference Registration Form   Organizing for Sustainability Cross-Functional and Multi-Organizational Approaches to Accelerate Progress Toward Sustainable Corporations, Economies and Societies A working conference to...

• Using Targeted Analytics to Improve Talent Decisions

  Download a working paper from CEO Senior Research Scientist Alec Levenson on Using Targeted Analytics to Improve Talent Decisions. Analytics and metrics offer great potential to improve the quality of decision making on HR and human capital issues in organizations....

• Mohrman is Keynote at Society of Consulting Psychology Conference

  The Mid-Winter Conference, held by the Society of Consulting Psychology, will feature CEO Senior Research Scientist Sue Mohrman as a keynote speaker on Saturday, January 29. Sue is speaking on how consultants generate and use organizational knowledge. She writes, "Knowledge...

• Huffington Post: Lawler on Eco-Stadiums and Sustainable Effectiveness

    Catch Ed Lawler's column at the Huffington Post, "Philadelphia Eagles Go Green - But One-Off Initiates Are Not the Final Answer."  ...

• Webinar: Targeted and Predictive Human Capital Analytics, Jan. 20 - Audio/Slides

    Webinar Slides PDF Click here for audio from the January 20 webinar    Alec Levenson spoke on January 20 about the fact that maximizing the contribution people make to the bottom line is a critical issue for organizations,...

• Charismatic Leadership and Post-Steve Jobs Apple

  CEO Senior Research Scientist Jay Conger was quoted in a Bloomberg commentary about Apple's CEO Steve Jobs as he stepped down for a second medical leave of absence on January 17. Jay has written extensively about charismatic leadership, including the...

• Positive Peer Pressure

  Theresa Welbourne, CEO Research Professor, writes in her column on the TLNT website about Creating a Culture of Accountability: It's All About Positive Peer PRessure. She says that "Leaders can provide clearly established goals to executives, managers and employees, but...

• Boudreau Interviewed in CFO Magazine

  CEO Research Director and Professor John Boudreau is featured in CFO Magazine's article People are Different - but Shouldn't Be. John talks about the importance of HR metrics. He also discusses talent development and employee turnover. Read the full article...

• ITT Becomes 3 Companies - Lawler Comments

  CEO Director Ed Lawler was interviewed for American Public Radio's Marketplace program on the story that ITT was splitting into three separate companies. Read and listen to the report here. As the report notes, being "big is not necessarily better,"...

• December 9 Webinar: HR Function of the Future - Audio/Slides

    Webinar Slides PDF Click here for audio from the December 9 webinar  John Boudreau spoke on the HR Function of the Future: How Strategic Partnership with Impact Reshapes the HR Profession on December 9.The tools to enable HR...

• 2 Lawler Articles Listed Among Most Read at Organizational Dynamics

  CEO Director Ed Lawler has two articles in the list of the Top 25 Hottest Articles from the Organizational Dynamics journal: Reward Practices and Performance Management System Effectiveness Make Human Capital a Source of Competitive Advantage The list is a...

• Fast HR - "You can go fast and not be stupid."

  Workforce Management online has an article on Fast HR with quotes from Bill Cushard, who was a guest speaker on CEO's recent webinar on Fast HRM & Leadership, CEO Research Professor Theresa Welbourne, and Tom Leitko of American Express, a...

• Worley Teaching Summer 2011 at the Cape Cod Institute

  CEO Senior Research Scientist Chris Worley will be teaching on "The Third Management Reset, Sustainable Effectiveness, and the Future of OD" at the Cape Cod Institute in summer 2011. The Cape Cod Institute is a series of courses for mental...

• Sustainability: NYT Blog Talking About Andrew Hoffman

  Read the October 27, 2010 New York Times Green blog post about Andrew Hoffman and his paper on how society will "begin to accept the reality of global warming and do something about it." He believes "there has been too...

• Fast HR is a Competitive Advantage

  CEO Research Professor Theresa Welbourne writes about speeding up HR - and its ability to be a competitive advantage - in a guest post at the TLNT website. Read the article here. ...

• HR Upheaval at Tribune Co. - Lawler Interviewed for Article

  The recent restructuring of the Tribune Co. was the subject of a story by Workforce Management, "Top HR Leaders Among Those Purged by Tribune Co" (November 3, 2010). CEO Director Ed Lawler was interviewed for the piece, which wondered about...

• Engaged in What?

  Is engagement a myth? What should employees be engaged in? Download the PDF slide deck from Theresa Welbourne's talk about this topic, along with a diagnostic tool. Engaged in What? Diagnostic for Engaged in What ...

• Oct. 27 Webinar: Data Coaching - Audio/Slides

    Webinar Slides PDF Click here for audio for the October 27 webinar Theresa Welbourne, CEO Research Professor, and Denise Avink of Northrop Grumman, spoke on October 27 on Data Coaching: A Cure for HR Data Analysis Paralysis?. They discussed...

• Special Issue on Organizing for Sustainability

  The special issue of Organizational Dynamics (Volume 39, Issue 4) is dedicated to frameworks and rich examples of organizational sustainability transitions. The special issue is edited by Sue Mohrman and Chris Worley, who are co-faculty directors of CEO's program...

• Organizational and Talent Strategies for Emerging Markets: Interview with Mary Eckenrod of Research In Motion

  Emerging markets are becoming a central part of multinational organizations' strategies and success. At the CEO sponsors' meeting in May 2010, the theme of organizational and talent strategies for large emerging markets was addressed by CEO researcher Alec Levenson, Subhasis...

• Ian Ziskin Assumes Role as CEO's Executive in Residence

  CEO is very happy to welcome Ian Ziskin as he assumes his new role as our Executive in Residence and advisor. At USC, Ian will be responsible for consulting with corporate sponsors, faculty, students, and alumni to execute the...

• Oct. 19 Webinar: Fast HRM & Leadership Confidence - Audio/Slides

    Webinar Slides PDF Click here for audio for the October 19 webinar Theresa Welbourne, Research Professor and Bill Cushard, Chief Learning Officer, Knowland Group spoke on October 19 about Fast HRM and the results of the Summer 2010 Leadership...

• Talking about the 3-Minute 360

  CEO is now offering a new research-derived product. It is called the role-based, 3-Minute 360 (TM) because the rater can finish the on-line feedback in just 3 minutes. It may be fast, but it is robust, research driven, and part...

• From e-HRM to Fast HRM

  Theresa Welbourne, CEO Research Professor, writes about the shift from e-HRM to Fast HRM in Workforce Solutions Review Online. Read the entire piece here.  ...

• Levenson in La Opinion Article

  CEO Research Scientist Alec Levenson was quoted in La Opinion in an article about labor unions during the current economic downturn. Read the entire article here....

• Podcast: Aligning Strategic HR Metrics to Overall Business Goals

  Listen to CEO's Alec Levenson in his guest spot on Human Resources IQ's podcast as he talks about maximizing HR metrics ROI. The podcast is here....

• Internships Leading to Jobs

  Alec Levenson, CEO Research Scientist, was interviewed for a story in USC's Daily Trojan newspaper on a recent study that showed internships becoming an increasingly significant route to securing a job post-graduation. Read the entire article here....

• List of All 2011 Seminars

  Upcoming 2011 CEO seminars and workshops

• Aligning Strategic Metrics to Business Goals

  Alec Levenson was the keynote speaker at the IQPC HR Metrics Summit in Chicago on September 14, 2010. He spoke on the topic of "Aligning Strategic Metrics to the Overall Business Goals." Click for his presentation slides....

• Ed Lawler Listed in UK Magazine's Most Influential International Thinkers

  CEO Director Ed Lawler has been named to the list of the UK-based HR Magazine's Top 18 HR Most Influential Thinkers-International for 2010....

• Podcast on Metrics & Talent with John Boudreau

  Listen to an interview with CEO Research Director and Professor John Boudreau on the Human Resources IQ's HR Today podcast. He talks about how the HR profession has involved and how metrics have become more and more integral to the...

• Boudreau in August Workforce Management

  CEO Professor and Research Director John Boudreau was quoted in an article in the August, 2010 Workforce Management magazine. The article, "Making the Call for Themselves," by Ed Frauenheim, talks about American Express' efforts to overhaul its customer service call...

• Lawler on Reemployed in L.A. Times

  CEO Director Ed Lawler was interviewed for a recent L.A. Times article, "The Reemployed: Overqualified and Underpaid," on people who have been rehired after layoffs. The article discussed a survey by the Pew Research Center (pdf of the survey report...

• IPOs and HRM

  CEO Research Professor Theresa Welbourne writes in the September 2010 issue of Workforce Management magazine about how, and why, HR management factors predict firm performance. Welbourne writes, "Firms that value employees, share the wealth and are willing to take the...

• Singapore Human Capital Summit 2010

  John Boudreau will be speaking on and facilitating two panels at the upcoming Singapore Human Capital Summit 2010, held September 29-30, 2010. He will be speaking on "Leveraging on the World's Talents" and "Perspectives of Leaders - People Strategies...

• Welbourne: Leadership Confidence is Down, Especially in HR

  CEO Research Professor Theresa Welbourne writes in TLNT about the findings from her latest Leadership Pulse survey that "confidence in all internal aspects of leadership confidence [has] declined." She goes on to note that "confidence scores from HR are particularly...

• Boudreau to Speak at Energy Forum in September

  CEO Research Director and Professor John Boudreau will give the keynote address at the Energy-Moving Forward 2010 forum on September 14, 2010, hosted by the Global Energy Management Program at the University of Colorado Denver Business School. John will speak...

• Using Research, Data, and Positive Examples to Develop Human Capital Strategies that Make a Difference

  This article continues a conversation between Sue Mohrman and Mike Fenlon, a national Human Capital Leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The first part of this interview appeared earlier online and in our last newsletter.  Sue: We at CEO have been...

• Blog Post on How the Dreamliner Retools Talent Management

  John Boudreau writes in the HBR blog, The Conversation, about the roll out of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and how its creation may be a good lesson for the future of HR and talent strategy. Read the post here....

• Lawler Comments on Whitman Run for Governor

  In a MarketWatch article about Meg Whitman's run for governor of California, CEO Director Ed Lawler was quoted on whether experience as a CEO would translate into knowing how to deal with the huge California bureaucracy. Read the entire article...

• CEO Receives Grant to Expand HR Research Benchmark Study will now Include Sampling of International Companies

  Edward Lawler, Distinguished Professor of Business and CEO Director, and John Boudreau, Professor of Management and Organization, and Research Director for the CEO, received funding for "The Future of HR: Longitudinal Study and 2010 Survey" by the Society for Human...

• Levenson Discusses Long-Term Unemployment on Fox News

  Alec Levenson appeared on a Fox News report on people dealing with long-term unemployment. The segment discussed "discouraged workers," people who have been out of work for longer than 99 weeks and are thus unable to qualify for more unemployment,...

• Conference Focused on Health Care Restructuring and Sustainability

  Cornell University's ILR School convened the international healthcare conference, "A Time for Change: Restructuring America's Health Care Delivery System" on May 11-12, 2010, which brought together a host of people from health care systems, labor, academia, and government to discuss...

• July '10 Leadership Pulse Survey Results

  Theresa Welbourne, CEO Research Professor, released the latest results from her ongoing Leadership Pulse surveys. With this latest survey, Welbourne received responses from 677 executives. Theresa is finding that internal organizational confidence is "declining due to strategy not being executed,...

• Speed Up Departments to Better Meet Customers' Needs

  CEO Research Professor Theresa Welbourne writes in the July 2010 Chief Learning Officer Magazine about the "Fast Agenda for CLOs." She describes the development of the extreme programming method in software development, which caused a profound change in the way...

• Join Alec Levenson in Chicago for the September HR Metrics Summit

  Alec Levenson will be giving the opening keynote address at IQPC's HR Metrics Summit on September 14. He'll be speaking on "Aligning Strategic Metrics to the Overall Business Goals." The Summit runs from September 13-15. More information, including the...

• Employee Training for Future Growth

  Alec Levenson was interviewed for an article appearing in Smart Business, "Corporate Training Positions Your Company for Future Growth," that argues for further employee training even in a downturn. Training often includes the subject areas of leadership, operations excellence, management...

• Welbourne on Winning the New War for IT Talent

  Writing in the CIO Update, CEO Research Professor Theresa Welbourne describes the "neglected warriors" of the recession, who may currently be at risk of being recruited away from their current companies. Drawing on her Leadership Pulse survey data, she notes...

• Conger on Executive Development Issues

  Trina Soske and Jay Conger had a very interesting blog post in the Harvard Business Review Blog, "Imagining the Future of Leadership," where they describe the problems facing executive development programs. Read their post here. Soske and Conger describe...

• Lawler on "Why You Should Embrace Change"

  Ed Lawler was interviewed for the Globe and Mail (July 6) on organizational adaptability, and why change, and the ability to change well, is a necessity. He says, "Clearly, organizational change is not something that has been very well managed...

• Time for a Promotion?

  CEO Director Ed Lawler was interviewed for a recent (July 4) Wall Street Journal piece, Negotiating for More, on the current economic climate in the workplace. The article says that while salary increases may not be possible at present, it...

• "How to Keep from Being Poached in the Upcoming War for Talent"

  Theresa Welbourne writes about "the neglected warriors of the recession" in How to Keep from Being Poached in the Upcoming War for Talent on the TLNT website. "The upcoming war for talent is different because the people pipeline has changed....

• Measuring Talent Management Practices

  John Boudreau was interviewed in the Human Resource Executive Online article, "Metric Failure," which discussed the importance of measuring talent management practices. Boudreau mentioned that current metrics being collected might not be enough, or the right ones to "determine the...

• Volunteer Programs See Increasing Applications During Recession

  Programs such as AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps have seen a great increase in the number of applicants since the onset of the recession, writes Sara Jerome in the article, "In Recession, Volunteers Reenlist" in National Journal Magazine. Alec Levenson...

• Report Out on the Annual Sponsors' Meeting

  Report on CEO's 2010 Sponsors' Meeting - The proceedings of the meeting...

• Interview with Mike Fenlon of PricewaterhouseCoopers

  As change in the business world seems to speed up day by day, the HR function must be firmly grounded in the organization's business strategy. Mike Fenlon, a national Human Capital Leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), was interviewed recently by...

• Boudreau Keynote Presentation at HRPS Global Conference

  CEO Research Director and Professor John Boudreau was one of the keynote speakers at the 2010 HRPS Global Conference, held in San Diego at the end of April. His talk, with Sandy Ogg, Chief HR Officer of Unilever, discussed...

• Part 2 of the IMT Interview with Theresa Welbourne

  Part Two of the interview with Theresa Welbourne discusses employee engagement and talent retention. Read Part 2 here. Part 1, which concerns management, leadership and HR lessons learned from the recession, is also available....

• Making Sense of the Millennial Generation: What Organizations Need to Know

  by Alec Levenson This article is based on a recently published paper - Millennials and the world of work: An economist's perspective - in the Journal of Business and Psychology. The Millennial Generation - people born in the 1980s and...

• Management, Leadership and HR Lessons Learned from the Recession

  CEO Research Professor Theresa Welbourne was interviewed by IMT (Industry Market Trends) for their Expert's Corner today (May 25, 2010). Part 1 of her interview discusses "management, leadership and HR lessons learned from the recession." Read Part 1 of Welbourne's...

• The Battle for Talent, Post Recession

  From the report: Our research suggests that an overall generic war for talent likely will not be the rallying cry post recession. Instead, a new battle will be waged for a select group of people whom we call the neglected...

• CEO Annual Review 2010

  Download CEO's Annual Review here....

• The Employees You're Most Likely to Lose

  Research from CEO's Theresa Welbourne and the Leadership Pulse gives some clues as to which employees a firm is most likely to lose as the job market loosens. Read the full story here....

• 2010 HCEO Graduates

  We are very pleased to announce our HCEO graduates for 2010. HCEO (Human Capital and Effective Organizations) is one of the certificate programs that CEO offers. It provides an innovative and rigorous curriculum that prepares high-potential professionals to take...

• 2010 Cohen Award Winner

  Ethan Bernstein of Harvard University is the 2010 recipient of the Susan G. Cohen Award and receives $2,500. His dissertation title is "Innovation Boundaries: Deconstructing Autonomy." Congratulations to Ethan!...

• The Platinum Leadership Pulse Offers More

  Theresa Welbourne of CEO, with eePulse, is now offering a special platinum-level membership in the Leadership Team Pulse. Download information about the Platinum Leadership Pulse, which can help you Keeping your team ahead of the competition Helping your team members...

• Freelancing Story in L.A. Times

  Alana Semuels, writing in the L.A. Times, noted that although unemployment rates in the U.S. are starting to go down, many of the jobs people are taking are freelance or independent contract jobs, without benefits, in her article, "Freelancing Beats...

• Download "How to Win in Today's Economy"

  Read How to Win in Today's Economy, the new report from Theresa Welbourne based on the latest research results from the Leadership Pulse survey. "How do you win in today's economy in the middle of a recession? That's the topic...

• Webinar on April 19 with John Boudreau: Audio/Slides

  Can HR Evolve Faster? What's in Its Way? - and How to Remove It   Webinar Slides PDF Click here for audio for the April 19 webinar John discussed his view on the evolution of the HR profession, drawing on...

• 2010 Public Webinars

  Please note that all webinars are scheduled to take place from 9 - 10 am Pacific Time (Los Angeles) unless otherwise noted. Audio files and PDFs of the slide decks will be posted here after the webinar has occurred....

• April 9 Webinar with Jay Galbraith: Audio/Slides

  Designing the Enterprise Organization  Webinar Slides PDF Download this recent article from Jay on the topic Click here for audio from the April 9 seminar   Jay Galbraith spoke on April 9 about Designing the Enterprise Organization. Jay writes, "The...

• Getting the Most Out of Your Temporary and Contingent Employees

  After the economy hits bottom during the middle of a recession, temporary employment typically is the first to recover. Companies make ample use of temps as a buffer when revenues initially increase, while they wait for evidence that the...

• Getting What You Pay For: The Productivity Impacts of Incentive Pay Optimization

  Alec Levenson will present on this topic, along with co-authors Cindy Zoghi, Michael Gibbs, and George Benson, at the 9th IZA/SOLE Transatlantic Meeting of Labor Economists in Buch/Ammersee, Germany, on May 27, 2010....

• L. A. Times Article on City Government Layoffs - Seniority Based

  The L.A. Times ran a front-page article today (March 12, 2010), "L.A. City Hall Fears Ripple Effect of Layoffs," on the process of laying off 4,000 civil service employees working for L.A. city government. As the article notes, seniority is...

• Latest Findings from the Leadership Pulse

  Energy held steady, but high-profile talent are still not "in the zone." The good news is that personal energy at work (a key predictor of productivity) held steady. The bad news is that personal energy at work is less...

• Organization Effectiveness in Emerging Markets

  As part of CEO's action research agenda on organization effectiveness in emerging markets, Alec Levenson will be making two trips to China. In March he travels to Nanjing, China, to work with Chinese companies making the transition from traditional...

• Chris Worley to Speak on "Building Change Capabilities"

  Chris Worley is one of the featured speakers at the Prosci Global Conference on Best Practices in Change Management taking place April 25-28 in Las Vegas. The 2010 focus for the conference is "Trends, Tools & Methodologies." Chris' talk...

• Workshop on E-HRM Features Welbourne

  Theresa Welbourne is the keynote speaker at the 3rd European Academic Workshop on Electronic Human Resource Management. The workshop will be held on May 20-21, 2010 in Bamberg, Germany and will focus on "Evidence-Based E-HRM - On the Way...

• What do Corporate Directors Think About Executive Pay?

  Ed Lawler's article in the latest edition of workspan magazine talks about the findings from a recent CEO survey on this topic. He writes that while board members may agree that in some cases executives are paid too much,...

• Lawler and Conger - Top 100 Thought Leaders

  Jay Conger (top) and Ed Lawler were both named to Leadership Excellence Magazine's 2010 list of the 100 top thought leaders (February 2010 issue). The magazine focuses on the areas of leadership development, managerial effectiveness, and organizational productivity....

• HCEO News

  LinkedIn Group Current members and graduates of the HCEO Certificate program now have their own group on LinkedIn. The private group will allow the HCEO community to better share experiences, ask for feedback, and get to know each other. HCEO-Only...

• Data Coaching Workshop: Working Agenda

  The working agenda for CEO's Data Coaching workshop is now available. More information about the workshop is available....

• Webinar: Data Coaching - Audio/Slides

  Dr. Theresa M. Welbourne held a webinar on January 27, 2010 entitled "Data Coaching is What's New." She discussed data coaching as a must-have skill for HR, OD, and communications professionals as well as consultants and executive coaches. She...

• List of All 2010 Seminars

  2010 CEO seminars and workshops

• Photos from Our Seminars

  Take a look at our Flickr albums for a glimpse at some of our seminars and workshops from last year!...

• Jay Conger to Speak at TEDxManhattan Beach

  Jay Conger will be one of the featured speakers at the inaugural TEDxManhattanBeach conference on February 27, 2010, which has the theme Building Stronger Communities. TEDx events are independently organized offshoots of the annual TED conferences, which bring some...

• The Right Way to Create Jobs in L.A.?

  L.A. Weekly reported (January 20, 2010) on a proposed deal by L.A. city government to create a small number of additional jobs in Los Angeles (between 30 and 74 jobs) - by essentially luring them away from South Gate, a...

• Useful Research - 30 Years Later

  Doing Research that is Useful for Theory and Practice has been CEO's focus for the 30 years it has been in existence. Our founding and ongoing belief is that academic research should in fact be useful to practitioners in addressing...

• When Do High-Level Managers Believe They Can Influence the Stock Price?

  John Boudreau co-wrote this article, which will appear in the January/February 2010 issue of Human Resource Management. The article argues that "stock price expectancy," or individuals' perceptions of influence over their firm's stock price, depends upon a variety of...

• John Boudreau Speaking at HRPS Annual Conference

    The Human Resource Planning Society (HRPS) is a strong network of more than 3,000 HR thought leaders and executives representing the world's most prominent businesses. HRPS is a long-standing partner of the Center for Effective Organizations. We encourage...

• Flexible Resource Capabilities and Organization Agility

  Sue Mohrman and I were recently in Europe talking about organization design with executives from a well-known consumer products company. Our meetings ended on a Friday, and so a few months earlier I had invited my daughter, Sarah, to fly over and enjoy a long weekend in Geneva with her dear old dad as one of her Christmas presents.

• Learning about Employee Engagement through In-Depth Study of Employees Going through Change

  In a new series of studies we are examining the dynamics of employee engagement as employees go through change. The findings so far challenge some of our traditional thinking about change management. Key "aha" moments: Employees reporting high levels...

• Free CEO Working Papers

  Most CEO working papers (2008 and older) are now free to download. See what's available here....

• A Misplaced Drive for Employee Engagement?

  Ed Frauenheim at Workforce Management writes a cautionary and thought-provoking article on what he sees as a misplaced drive for employee engagement. He warns that current measures are not "invigorat[ing] dispirited workplace cultures." Both Ed Lawler and Theresa Welbourne are...

• Retaining Star Performers in Trying Times

  Jay Conger is quoted extensively in Retaining Star Performers in Trying Times. The HBR blog post, by Amy Gallo, lists several tools and to-dos to keep your best talent, even in a downturn....

• Lawler Interview/Video: New World Needs New Management Model

  CEO Director Ed Lawler was interviewed for the Globe and Mail. He talked about his belief that there is a need for a new approach to managing complex organizations. Click for the article and video....

• Keeping Employees Motivated During Tough Times

  CEO research professor Theresa Welbourne talks about how to keep employees motivated in an interview on StartupNation. Read the interview here....

• Barrie Stott Talks About CEO

  Barrie Stott of IBB Global talks about CEO and its programs. Barrie is a graduate of CEO's Human Capital and Effective Organizations Certificate program....

• Organization Design Executive Education Programs

  2009 marks the 11th year of CEO's bi-annual Organization Design Workshop (we've had 827 attendees representing over 370 companies) and the 9th cycle of our Certificate in Organization Design program (121 attendees have come to our Advanced Topics Workshop, representing...

• June 2010: First Conference of the International Network of Business and Management Journals

  Upcoming conference: The First Conference of the International Network of Business and Management Journals will be held in Valencia, Spain from June 1-4, 2010. The theme will be "Creativity and Innovation in an International Context." Editors-in-chief of several journals, including...

• Spotlight on Jeff Shuman, Harris Corporation

  Jeff Shuman It's no secret that the field of human resources has changed tremendously during the past decade. While traditional activities - recruiting, benefits and payroll - are still important functions, today's HR team must hold its own within the...

• Raging Debates in HR

  Read 10 experts' takes on some timely HR and talent management issues at Halogen Software's Raging Debates in HR site. See their opinions on banning social media at work, annual reviews, forced ranking, and more! CEO's own Ed Lawler is...

• March 2010 Symposium on Optimizing the Performance of People

  John Boudreau will present a keynote address on "Beyond HR - A Business Approach to Building Human Capital" at the upcoming 8th annual Symposium on Optimizing the Performance of People, presented by KnowledgeAdvisors. Find out more and register for the...

• What is Fast HR?

  Fast HR is a growing body of work that spells out ways HR can change to meet the needs of today's fast-growth and high change organizations. No longer is change management enough. Traditional change management implies it will finished at...

• Focal Jobs Report

  Have you seen the recent report from the IBM Institute for Business Value on focal jobs, pivotal roles in the future of HR, and talent strategy? We were pleased to note that the work of John Boudreau and Pete Ramstad...

• Organization Strategy and Effectiveness in Large Emerging Markets

  In September Alec Levenson traveled to China to kick off a new CEO research agenda on organization strategy and effectiveness in large emerging markets. Countries such as China, India, Indonesia and Brazil offer unique challenges and opportunities to both...

• Ecological Sustainability to Catalyze High Performance

  In October, 2008, CEO hosted a conference on "organizing for sustainability" that was attended by the Cleveland Clinic, including leaders from Huron Hospital, one of the hospitals in the Cleveland Clinic system. Huron is notable because of the severe...

• CEO's Talent Management and Leadership Development Seminars

  "I left thinking about ways we can enrich our talent processes with more up, down and across." -- Sarah Hunt, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans CEO's Talent Management and Leadership Development seminars, held consecutively in September, featured the Calder Quartet, Steve...

• When do High-Level Managers Believe They Can Influence the Stock Price?

  Upcoming article to appear in the Human Resources Management Journal in 2010 by Benjamin Dunford (Purdue), Wendy Boswell (Texas A&M), and John Boudreau (CEO, USC): When do High-Level Managers Believe They Can Influence the Stock Price? Antecedents of Stock Price...

• Engaged in What? Why Employee Engagement is Not Enough

  Theresa Welbourne writes that traditional approaches to engagement are not enough and may even backfire. Rather, she suggests that figuring out "what employees are engaged in doing at work is more important than if they are or are not...

• Boards of Directors Think CEO Perks Need Cutting

  Findings from a Center for Effective Organizations survey shows that most people on corporate boards believe that CEO pay packages need trimming, especially perks like corporate jet rides and severence pay. The findings come from an annual survey conducted by...

• CEO in Top 5 of Leadership Development Programs

  Leadership Excellence magazine named CEO the #5 educational organization that offers leadership development programs in their October 2009 issue....

• Join Ed Lawler, Chris Worley and Theresa Welbourne in Bellevue, Washington

  Built for Agility: Leading in Uncertain Times Thursday, November 12, 2009 8:00 AM In the face of increasing market and economic uncertainties, the need for strategic and organizational agility seems obvious. But when it comes to organization change, the goal...

• Recession Permanently Changing Workplace and Work Force

  AP reported on the permanent changes being made to the workplace because of the recession. From an acceleration of offshoring jobs, more cautious consumer spending, Alec Levenson, a research scientist of CEO, was interviewed for the piece and noted that...

• CEO's Executive Education Advisory Board

  CEO is excited to introduce our new Executive Education Advisory Board. This dynamic group will help guide CEO's executive education programming and content. They bring considerable expertise and energy to our efforts and we look forward to working with them....

• Welbourne Interview on SmallBizAmerica Radio

  Tune in to an interview with Theresa Welbourne on SmallBiz America radio as she discusses her research on leadership, HR, and change management and how it applies to the world of work....

• Hiring is a More Protracted Process

  The New York Times reported on the increasing trend towards putting job applicants through several job interviews and asking them to work on a temporary basis before being offered a position. CEO research scientist Alec Levenson was quoted in the...

• Webinar: Retooling Talent Management to Be More Businesslike - Audio/Video

  CEO Research Director and Professor John Boudreau held a webinar on September 29 discussing how to retool talent management so that it can be more businesslike. There are valuable data and frameworks for talent management today, but they tend to...

• Driving High Performance with Home Working

  Dr. Theresa Welbourne and her colleagues from Telefonica O2 Europe recently completed a study on the impact of home working on employee performance. Working with Amanda Jones, a doctoral student from King's College London and Danielle Lee, Head of Employee...

• Sustainable Cleveland - the Experience of Place

  Northeast Ohio, a geographical area of some 16 counties based in and around Cleveland and adjacent to Lake Erie, is making a name for itself as a seedbed of sustainability practices and a model for other communities wishing to...

• 2009 Cohen Award Winner

  Jill Waymier Paine, of Teachers College, Columbia University, is the 2009 recipient of the Susan G. Cohen Award and receives $2,500. Her dissertation title is "Follower Engagement and Commitment to Change: Examining the Role of Regulatory Fit." Congratulations to Jill!...

• HRPS's Fall Executive Forum

   Learn more and register for the Human Resource Planning Society's Fall Executive Forum, held October 25-27 in Chicago. At the Forum, some of the world's best talent development executives and thought leaders will share the approaches, challenges and best practices...

• Workbook/Slides Available: Keys to Success During a Recession

  The slides and workbook for Dr. Theresa Welbourne's August online learning event based on the latest findings from the Leadership Pulse are now available. Slides Workbook The Leadership Pulse is the first and only real-time benchmarking and leadership tool....

• Jay Galbraith at Business Week: Pro-Matrix

  To Matrix or not to matrix? That is the question posed by BusinessWeek.com and answered by two leading organizational design experts. In this week's "Debate Room" feature, CEO-affiliated research scientist Dr. Jay Galbraith and Dr. Guido Quelle discuss their arguments...

• Boudreau, Levenson, Benson Presentation at Wharton School

  CEO's John Boudreau and Alec Levenson, and affiliated research scientist George Benson (University of Texas at Arlington) presented Strategic Management of Human Capital: A Case Study of Task Differentiation at the :2nd People and Organizations Conference: Understanding Human Capital as...

• 2009 HCEO Graduates

  We are very pleased to announce our HCEO graduates for 2009. HCEO (Human Capital and Effective Organizations) is one of the certificate programs that CEO offers. It provides an innovative and rigorous curriculum that prepares high-potential professionals to take...

• Company and Individuals Recognized at Annual Meeting

  In celebrating CEO's 30 years, we wanted to highlight and thank groups and people with whom we've worked especially closely. At our 30th Anniversary annual meeting and celebration, we presented one company award and three individual awards. The company...

• Ed Lawler in the News

  Ed Lawler opines, Let's Get CEO Pay Right This Time in the latest Conference Board Review. What's the right way to fix executive compensation? See Lawler's article on this topic in the May/June 2009 Chief Executive magazine. Ed Lawler was...

• Some Highlights of CEO's 30 Years

  Check out some highlights of CEO's first 30 years! These clips were first shown at CEO's 30th Anniversary Dinner. (Note: there is no audio for these clips.)

• John Boudreau Award for Human Capital Management Established

  AHRI, the Australian Human Resources Institute, has established this organizational award to recognize outstanding people initiatives/strategies. Specifically, the John Boudreau Award for Human Capital Management is designed to recognize outstanding people management initiatives and strategies demonstrating improved decision systems for...

• Alec Levenson Featured in HR Magazine

  CEO Research Scientist Alec Levenson's article "Count on Productivity Gains," written with Tracy Faber, Vice President of HR for PepsiCo Customer Teams, appears in the current HR Magazine (June 2009). SHRM members can read the article online....

• 3-Minute 360

  Learn about our new 3-minute 360. More information here...

• Ways to Get Involved with CEO's Ongoing Research

  Agility/the Strategic Leadership Project What is agile? CEO has been developing a model of the agile organization, and we are currently working with firms to understand the drivers of long-term performance from an agility perspective. Firms participating in the study...

• CEO Turns 30!

  Setting the Standard in Organizational Effectiveness Research   Thirty years later, USC Marshall's Center for Effective Organizations is still blazing a trail By Jeremy DeutchmanWhen Ed Lawler arrived at USC Marshall in 1978, he had no way of knowing his...

• Webinar with Jay Galbraith: Designing Matrix Organizations That Actually Work - Slides/Audio

  Renowned OD thinker Jay Galbraith held a webinar on June 17 at 9 am Pacific Time about designing matrix organizations that actually work. Jay's latest book is all about this subject.   Click here for 6/17 audio Slides PDF (this...

• Hope and Humility - Leadership Pulse June Report

   "Hope is part of the theme for this leadership pulse because for the first time since 2003, the overall leadership confidence index is showing a statistically significant increase, most of the individual questions that make up the index are on...

• Lawler and Boudreau Talk About Google

  Ed Lawler weighed in on Google's use of an algorithm to figure out which of its employees was most likely to quit in the May 19, 2009 Wall Street Journal. John Boudreau was also interviewed about the subject and appeared...

• New Book Available: Achieving Excellence in HR Management

  Ed Lawler and John Boudreau's new book, Achieving Excellence in HR Management, is now available. Click here to learn more......

• Sustainability Summer Conference in Cleveland, August 2009

  Organizing for Sustainable Impact: Creating Synergy and Acceleration to Implement a Sustainable Future Held August 7, 2009  Click for the Report Out on the Conference  The August get-together of our sustainability network was co-sponsored and hosted by the Nance College...

• Extreme Strategizing Article in Leader to Leader Journal

  Theresa Welbourne's article on Extreme Strategizing appears in the Spring 2009 edition of Leader to Leader Journal....

• Report Out on the October, 2008 Sustainability Conference

  Click to read the report on the October 2008 Sustainability Conference...

• CEO Informational Folio

  The 2009 information folio and guide to CEO is now available....

• Photos from Our Workshop in Chicago!

  Check out the snapshots we took during the Strategic Organization Design Workshop held April 14-17, 2009 in Chicago....

• Participate in Agility Research

  What is agile? CEO has been developing a model of the agile organization. We are currently working with firms to correlate actual performance with this model and the presence or absence of expected OD and capability features. Learn more about...

• April 23 Leadership Pulse Webinar Slides/Audio

  The Leadership Pulse: Deep Dive on Leadership Confidence (or how to improve confidence and build for the future) April 23, 9 am PDT  Click the play button below to start audio file. A PDF of the slides is available. Mentioned...

• CEO at HRPS Annual Conference, April 27-29

  We'll have a booth at the HRPS's annual conference. Come say hello!...

• Business Leadership Confidence Finally on the Rise

  Study indicates economic challenges increase management energy levels and drive focus

• Lawler Paper a Top Ten Download

  Ed Lawler's paper, "Human Capital Management: What are Boards Doing?," was named one of the top ten downloaded papers in its category at the Social Science Research Network's (SSRN) website. All of Ed's papers at SSRN are available....

• Lawler's List: 5 Books on How to Increase Workplace Productivity

  CEO Director Ed Lawler was asked by the Wall Street Journal to pick five books on increasing productivity at work. His list appeared in the March 27, 2009 edition....

• Removing Execs During a Time of Crisis

  Director Ed Lawler comments on the firing of GM's erstwhile CEO in a March 31 BusinessWeek article....

• Leadership Confidence is on the Rise

  For the first time since running the leadership pulse study, which started in 2003, leadership confidence is on the rise (report coming soon). While confidence in the economy was down, confidence in leadership teams, ability to execute on vision, that...

• Get Involved: Employee Engagement After Layoffs

  CEO is conducting a major piece of work on employee engagement and energy after layoffs. We are not just measuring engagement and energy; our team of experts, who have been helping create innovative solutions for some of the most effective...

• Levenson Featured on Radio re: Unemployment Figures

  Alec Levenson, CEO Research Scientist, was interviewed by the CBS radio affiliate KNX on March 16 about the latest national unemployment statistics, looking at differences in the figures depending on gender and education level. Levenson was also featured by KNX...

• Leadership Pulse Research Results

  Check out the Leadership Pulse research results from the summer 2008 Pulse Dialogue. Report available here....

• Director Lawler Receives Katzell Award

  Ed Lawler has been named the 2009 recipient of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology's Katzell Award, which is awarded to a SIOP member who has shown the importance of work done by industrial/organizational psychology for addressing social issues....

• IHRIM Honors John Boudreau

  IHRIM, the International Association for Human Resources Information Management, has selected Professor and CEO Research Director John Boudreau to receive its 2009 Chairman's Award. The IHRIM Chairman's Award is presented to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to the...

• CNN's iReport Features Ed Lawler

  CEO Director Ed Lawler talks to David Kronmiller.

• Free Webinars by Theresa Welbourne on the Leadership Pulse

  Join us for one or all three

• Doing Useful Research - a Conference

  Doing Research that is Useful for Theory and Practice has been CEO's focus for the 30 years it has been in existence. Our founding and ongoing belief is that academic research should in fact be useful to practitioners in addressing...

• Webinar and White Paper: Developing Capabilities During the Downturn

  Chris Worley and Sue Mohrman discuss organizational design approaches that contribute to capability development during challenging and uncertain times. Download their new white paper "Organization Design Levers for Dealing with Rough Times: A Capabilities Development Approach to Surviving and Thriving."...

• Lawler Article Featured in BusinessWeek Online

  CEO Director Ed Lawler's article on "Fixing Executive Compensation Excesses" is BusinessWeek's online Viewpoint article for February 5, 2009....

• Extreme Strategizing

  Extreme strategizing is a new method for strategy making in organizations experiencing high change, developed by Dr. Theresa Welbourne. Download CEO's new brochure on this innovative method....

• Lawler Interviewed in L.A. Times on Bank's Vegas Junket

  CEO Director Ed Lawler was quoted in the February 4, 2009 story in the Los Angeles Times about Wells Fargo and its cancelled trip to Las Vegas for top mortgage salespeople....

• Reuters Quotes Levenson

  CEO Research Scientist Alec Levenson was quoted in a February 1 Reuters story, "Hard Times give US Goverment Jobs Greater Allure," which was picked up by numerous news outlets, including Yahoo! News, Yahoo! India News, XE.com, MSNBC Wire Services, Sott.net...

• List of All 2009 Seminars

  Dates and locations for all scheduled 2009 CEO seminars

• Welcome to our new site!

  Bookmark this site for direct access to CEO!

• Levenson Quoted on Circuit City Closing

  CEO Research Scientist Alec Levenson was interviewed for the L.A. Times' story, "Circuit City to close remaining 567 stores in U.S," which was published on January 17, 2009. Click to link to the story on the L.A. Times site....

• DOE Research

  DOE Research Homepage -- Department of Energy-Sponsored Research on Knowledge Networks in Government-Sponsored Basic Research Latest Report: The Dynamics of Knowledge Creation (September 2008)...

• Employee Engagement

  Employee engagement is one of the hottest topics in management. Read Theresa Welbourne's article Employee Engagement: Beyond the Fad and into the Executive Suite here. Theresa offers actions that leaders can take to ensure that the people in charge of...

• Join the Leadership Pulse Study

  Learn about the Leadership Pulse, which is the first and only real-time leadership benchmarking and learning project. You can also join the new Leadership Team Pulse, which allows any team of 100 managers / senior professionals to join and receive...

• Boudreau Featured on "Bill Kutik Radio Show" Podcast

  Listen on January 7 at 12 noon Eastern time to John Boudreau on the Bill Kutik Radio Show internet podcast. You can also listen to a recording of the show by going to the same URL at any time. John...

• Welbourne on Reorienting HRM in Tough Times

  CEO Research Professor Theresa Welbourne has an article in the current IHRIMlink. Read a PDF of her "In My Opinion" column....

• Lawler as Guest Columnist in Wall Street Journal

  Ed Lawler writes that Boards are MIA for Workforce Decisions in the December 11 Wall Street Journal....

• Good Riddance to the Imperial CEO

  Ed Lawler's viewpoint on the Imperial CEO, from Business Week Magazine online

• Is HR a Strategic Partner?

  The Center for Effective Organizations (CEO) at the University of Southern California has completed its fifth study of the human resources (HR) function in large corporations.

• 5 Top Thought Leaders Affiliated with CEO

  Leadership Excellence Magazine named to its Excellence 100 Top Thought Leaders list 5 people affiliated with CEO: Warren Bennis, James O'Toole, Jay Conger, Morgan McCall, Jr., and Ed Lawler. Ed was also named as one of the top Practitioners in...

• CEO in NAHR Class of 2008

  CEO was named the NAHR Honored Organization of 2008 in recognition of 30 years of contributions to the HR field.

• Talent is a 2008 Best Biz Book

  Ed Lawler's Talent is named one of the best business books of 2008 according to Strategy + Business magazine. (You'll need to register - which is free - to read the article.)...

• John Boudreau Guest Blogger on Evidence-Based Management Site

  Most organizations today are awash in evidence about talent, yet lack the logic to use those numbers for vital strategic decisions. Lots of data with little logic is why Pete Ramstad and I proposed that we need a decision science for talent, in our book, "Beyond HR."

• Stop Keeping Pay Secret

  Pay secrecy hurts both organizations as a whole and employees as individuals

• Rewarding Employees When You Are Out Of Cash

  In the report Cash May Not Be King, you can find some unexpected good news to help with your dilemma.

• Managers Lament: Have Strategy, Need Direction

  Is it possible that our current models for making strategy are broken? Read the article and join in a discussion

• CEO Named as Top Leadership Development Program

  Leadership Excellence magazine named CEO as the number 5 Leadership Development program in the Education/Universities/Schools of Management and Business category for 2008-9....

• Talent: Making People Your Competitive Advantage

  A new book by Edward E. Lawler III

• Investing in People: Financial Impact of Human Resource Initiatives

  A new book by Wayne F. Cascio and John W. Boudreau

• Conference on Economic, Social, and Environmental Sustainability

  A Working Conference
  October 2-3, 2008

• Interview: John Boudreau talks to HR Horizons

  Boudreau discusses identifying pivotal talent and more in the interview....

• Boudreau writing as guest columnist at Evidence-Based Management

  Read John's column at Evidence-Based Management, "Supply Chain Logic for Evidence-Based Talent Management."...

• Video Interview: Boudreau Discusses Beyond Talent

  John Boudreau discussing his book, Beyond Talent June 21, 2007...

Upcoming Seminars

• The HR Emerging Executive (THREE)

  Oakbrook, IL
  June 27-29, 2012

• Data Coaching Workshop, 2012

  Los Angeles
  September 19-21, 2012

• Strategic Organization Design Workshop, 2012

  Bethesda, Maryland
  October 9-12, 2012

• Strategic Partnership with Impact, 2012

  Los Angeles
  October 24-26, 2012