Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) and Jay A. Conger (CEO) discuss how historically, organizations have adapted themselves to the paradigm of sustainable effectiveness either by adding a philanthropic function or a department focused on sustainability initiatives. However, both approaches fall seriously short in terms of effectiveness.
Research and Insights Archive
Research and Insights from the Center for Effective Organizations
Available Content
Misconceptions Of Agility, 10/6/14, recording/slides
In this webinar, Chris Worley, Tom Williams, and Ed Lawler will present and discuss several of the leading “misconceptions of agility”.
The Agility Factor: Building Adaptable Organizations for Superior Performance
In The Agility Factor: Building Adaptable Organizations for Superior Performance, the authors (Christopher G. Worley, Thomas D. Williams, and Edward E. Lawler III) reveal the factors that drive long-term profitability based on the practices of successful companies that have consistently outperformed their peers.
Talent Agility is Critical
Although there is great agreement that organizations have to get better at changing, there is much less agreement on what organizations need to do in order to become more agile. In our recent book, The Agility Factor, Chris Worley, Tom Williams, and Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) provide an answer.
Sustainable Effectiveness and Organization Development
Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) shares that there is growing movement around the globe to broaden the definition of organizational effectiveness. Fewer and fewer countries and societies are willing to accept that financial performance is all that matters when it comes to organizational performance.
Assessing Organization Agility: Creating Diagnostic Profiles to Guide Transformation
This “short format” publication by Christopher G. Worley, Thomas D. Williams, and Edward E. Lawler III is a “tools” product that describes how to assess an organization’s level of agility. The book features two forms of assessment.
Effective HR Management: Will HR Capabilities Face the Future
USC professors John Boudreau and Ed Lawler describe a unique longitudinal study of the evolution of the HR function that began in 1995 with data collection done every 3 years. The results suggest that HR is changing slower than most HR leaders believe, and they suggest how to accelerate the path to a more effective HR profession.
Designing Organizations for Sustainable Effectiveness: A New Paradigm for Organizations and Academic Researchers
The article by Susan A. Mohrman (CEO) and Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) examines design features that enable an organization to address today’s complex and increasingly pressing global issues in ways that are sustainably effective. It identifies key social and environmental issues and reviews research examining how organizations can respond to them.
Individualizing Organizations: What it takes
Forty years ago, Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) wrote an article arguing that organizations could be more effective and provide a better quality of life for their employees if they would individualize their relationship with their employees.
Employee Involvement: Research Foundations
George S. Benson (University of Texas) and Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) Employee involvement is an approach to work‐system design that emphasizes high levels of employee decision‐making authority.
What Makes HR Effective?
What does the HR function of an organization have to do to be a high performer? To determine what makes HR effective, Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) and John W. Boudreau (CEO) surveyed senior HR executives and other executives from more than 200 U.S. corporations.
Corporate Boards and Sustainability, 4/25/13, Audio/Slides
What are corporate boards doing to assure that their corporations are sustainably effective? This webinar with Ed Lawler (Director, CEO) and Sue Mohrman (Senior Research Scientist, CEO) was a review of the data from our study of the role of corporate boards in sustainability.