D. Finegold, G. Benson, and S. Mohrman explain that economic theory predicts that firms will not invest in developing employees’ general skills because unlike investments in physical capital, this human capital can walk out the door at any time. Companies, however, are spending billions of dollars each year on general education and training programs.
Research and Insights Archive
Research and Insights from the Center for Effective Organizations
Available Content
Contextual Determinants of Organizational Ambidexterity
Cristina B. Gibson and Julian Birkinshaw empirically investigate predictors and consequences of organisational ambidexterity, defined as the capacity to simultaneously achieve alignment and adaptability.
ROI and Strategy for Teams and Collaborative Work Systems
Alec Levenson share that return on investment (ROI) has long been used to evaluate capital spending projects. The underlying principle is straightforward and compelling: use a uniform financial metric for projects and outcomes that otherwise would be difficult to compare.
Corporate Boards: Keys to Effectiveness
E. Lawler, D. Finegold, G. Benson, and J. Conger discuss how many of the changes that are occurring in the business environment have significant implications for Corporate Boards. Together they are redefining the roles and activities of boards.
What Makes Corporate Boards Effective
E. Lawler, D. Finegold, G. Benson, and J. Conger explain that several powerful forces are currently redefining the roles and activities of boardrooms, and they are not likely to diminish but rather to accelerate.
Team Effectiveness in Multinational Organizations: Evaluations Across Contexts
Incorporating team context into research and practice concerning team effectiveness in multinational organizations is an on-going challenge. Cristina B. Gibson, Mary E. Zellmer-Bruhn, and Donald P. Schwab argue that a common measure of team effectiveness with demonstrated equivalence across contexts expands current theoretical developments and addresses team implementation needs.
A Cultural Analysis of the Effectiveness of Transformational Leadership
Research by Gretchen Spreitzer, Katherine Xin, and Kimberly Hopkins Perttula examines the cultural boundaries of the effectiveness of transformational leadership.
Beyond the Vision: What Makes HR Effective?
Edward Lawler III and Susan A. Mohrman argue that corporations are undergoing dramatic changes that have significant implications for how their human resources are managed and for how the human resource function is best organized and managed.
Time Flies Like an Arrow: Tracing Antecedents and Consequences of Temporal Elements of Organizational Culture
Mary E. Zellmer-Bruhn, Cristina B. Gibson, and Ramon J. Aldag state that time has recently become a more central focus in management research and practice. Time to market has become a critical issue in many industries, with ever shortening new product development times.
Building Better Bureaucracies
Paul A. Adler states that colloquially speaking, “bureaucracy” means red tape, over-controlling bosses, and apathetic employees. But large-scale organizations need appropriately designed formalized procedures and hierarchical structure to avoid chaos and to assure efficiency, quality, and timeliness.
Effective Structuring of Product Development Groups: An Information Processing Perspective
This paper by Paul Emmanuelides and Philip H. Birnbaum-More applies an information-processing approach to the study of product development projects.
New Product Development Throughout Time: The Japanese Portion of a Cross-National Study
In a comprehensive study of Japanese and U.S. electronic firm product development practices, the authors (Russel W. Wright, Lillian C. Wright, Phillip H. Birnbaum-More, and Ryo Hirasawa) find significant differences between countries in the inputs, process, outputs, and other differences associated with first to market and fast responding firms.