Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) shares that for several decades there as has been an on again off again debate about whether executives in U.S. corporations are paid too much. Recently, the issue has come front and center as a result of the high bonus pay outs to executives in some major financial institutions.
Research and Insights Archive
Research and Insights from the Center for Effective Organizations
Available Content
Measuring Internal Communication: A toolkit for planning, conducting and applying performance measurement research
Theresa Welbourne asks “Why isn’t pure measurement or data enough to drive action?” Action planning requires powerful research data and dialogue.
Corporate Board Attributes, Team Effectiveness and Financial Performance
G. Tyge Payne (Texas Tech University), George S. Benson (University of Texas), and David L. Finegold (Rutgers University) discuss how researchers have recently begun to integrate the literature on corporate boards with that of team effectiveness in an effort to understand how boards function and impact company performance.
Make Human Capital a Source of Competitive Advantage
This article by Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) looks at four areas where human capital should have a major impact on design: corporate boards, leadership, the human resource department, and information practices.
Sharing Leadership on Corporate Boards: A Critical Requirement for Teamwork at the Top
Jay A. Conger (CEO) and Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) argue that critical to the success of a high performance board is the ability of its directors to share leadership and to work as a dynamic team.
Management Consultants as Professionals, or are They?
Larry Greiner (USC) and Ilse Ennsfellner (Ennsfellner Consulting) share their concern and critical conclusion about the questionable knowledge and skills of today’s consultants.
Employment Horizon and the Choice of Performance Measures: Empirical Evidence from Annual Bonus Plans of Loss-Making Entities
Michal Matějka (University of Michigan), Kenneth A. Merchant (USC), and Wim A. Van Der Stede (School of Economics and Political Science) examine the extent to which employment horizon concerns affect the relative emphasis on financial versus nonfinancial performance measures in annual bonus plans.
Extra-Role Behaviors Among Temporary Workers: How Firms Create Relational Wealth
Elizabeth George (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology), Alec R. Levenson (CEO), David Finegold (Rutgers University), and Prithviraj Chattopadhyay (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) examine temporary workers’ differential extra-role behaviors (ERBs) towards their client and employer.
Make Human Capital a Source of Competitive Advantage
This article by Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) looks at four areas where human capital should have a major impact on design: corporate boards, leadership, the human resource department, and information practices.
Measuring and Maximizing the Business Impact of Executive Coaching
This article by Alec R. Levenson (CEO) addresses the conceptual and methodological issues involved in measuring the business impact of executive coaching.
Are All Nonfinancial Performance Measures Created Equal? Evidence on Customer Satisfaction and Employee Satisfaction Measures from the Homebuilding Industry
Clara Xiaoling Chen (University of Illinois), Melissa Martin (USC), and Kenneth A. Merchant’s (USC) findings suggest that the validity of a business model depends not only on the soundness of the conceptual model per se, but also on how the variables in the business model are measured.
Performance Measure Properties and Incentive System Design
Michael Gibbs (University of Chicago), Kenneth A. Merchant (USC), Wim A. Van Der Stede (London School of Economics), and Mark E. Vargas (University of Texas) analyze effects of performance measure properties (controllable and uncontrollable risk, distortion, and manipulation) on incentive plan design, using data from auto dealership manager incentive systems