Different jobs and businesses require professionals with different skills. Michael Gibbs, Clinical Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and Alec Levenson, Research Scientist at the USC, explain the advantages and disadvantages of two opposite, yet complementary, approaches used to design employee jobs.
Research and Insights Archive
Research and Insights from the Center for Effective Organizations
Available Content
HRM in IPOs
Want to Make Money on the New Initial Public Offerings? Learn about their Human Resource Management Strategies. This article by Theresa M. Welbourne (CEO) reports critical information for firms planning to go public and those going through high rates of change.
Raising Skill Demand: Generating Good Jobs
Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) and George S. Benson (University of Texas) discuss how there have been profound changes in the global economy and corporate landscape over the last 40 years but advocates of “high road” management approaches that emphasize highly skilled and involved employees continue for several reasons.
Rethinking Retention Strategies: Work-Life Versus Deferred Compensation in a Total Rewards Strategy
This paper by Alec R. Levenson (CEO), Michael J. Fenlon (PwC), and George Benson (University of Texas) explains a rethinking of the meaning of total rewards that led to changes that produced lasting reductions in turnover and direct bottom-line benefits.
The Multi-Dimensional and Reconfigurable Organization
In this paper Jay R. Galbraith argues that multi-dimensional organizations like Procter & Gamble’s Four Pillars structure are a new form of organization.
CHROs and Boards: A Missing Link
Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) states that it’s not a pretty picture – in fact, it is not much of a picture at all! The relationship between corporate boards and CHROs is often so distant as to be of little practical significance from a board and organizational effectiveness perspective.
Built to Change Organizations: Industry Influences and Performance Implications
Christopher G. Worley (CEO) and Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) define organization agility as “an evolving change and design capability, a leadership challenge that is never finished, only approached over time, but which yields consistently high levels of sustainable effectiveness.”
Built to Change Organizations and Responsible Progress – Twin Pillars of Sustainable Success
Christopher G. Worley (CEO) and Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) propose an integration called “responsible progress” and suggest that is represents an important new stream of organization development theory.
Where Counting Counts: Data Document a Dramatic Turnaround in Employee Relations among Accounting Professionals
This paper by Michael J. Fenlon (PwC) and Susan A. Mohrman (CEO) describes PricewaterhouseCooper’s (PwC) situation starting in the early 2000’s, when a serious problem with turnover was costing the firm “approximately $40 million annually.”
Millennials and the World of Work: An Economist’s Perspective
This article by Alec R. Levenson (CEO) uses an economic approach to address whether and how the Millennial generation is significantly different from its predecessors.
Agility and Organization Design: A Diagnostic Framework
This article by Christopher G. Worley (CEO) and Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) describes one comprehensive agility framework called “built to change” and the diagnostic process developed to assess an organization’s agility.
Fast HR
Theresa M. Welbourne (CEO) explains that 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.