Working Papers

Research and Insights from the Center for Effective Organizations

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.

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What is the future of HR?

John W. Boudreau (CEO) Ian Ziskin (CEO) and Carrie Gibson (CEO) take a different departure point by starting with prominent emerging general trends and examining their potential effect on HR, now and in the future, and HR’s desired and actual role in addressing them.

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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.

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Learning Analytics that Maximize Business Impact

This article covers analytics for evaluating the impact of training and development (T&D). There is a literature on measuring T&D impact, starting with Kirkpatrick’s classic model and ROI calculations promoted by Phillips and others. Alec Levenson takes a different approach, using analytics of T&D to inform not just program measurement, but also program design and implementation.

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Appreciating and ‘retooling’ diversity in talent management conceptual models: A commentary on “The psychology of talent management: A review and research agenda”

This commentary by John W. Boudreau (CEO) on “The Psychology of Talent Management” suggests that readers should avoid concluding that the diversity of talent management concepts across psychological disciplines is something to be “corrected,” and instead embrace it as a resource to be tapped for future understanding.

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Growth, Innovation and High Performance

Started in 2003 by Theresa M. Welbourne, with participation from over 9,200 different individuals, the Leadership Pulse™ is conducted in partnership with Mercer and the Center for Effective Organizations (CEO) at the University of Southern California.The research shows that optimal employee energy increases financial performance while too much energy can significantly decrease productivity.

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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.

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Are Monetary Rewards Compatible with Lean Systems?

Gerald E. Ledford, Jr. (CEO) argues here that the lack of attention to rewards in the lean systems literature is a mistake. Decades of academic research confirm that pay exerts powerful effects on employee attitudes and behavior.

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What distinguishes the Millennial generation from Generation X at work?

Jennifer J. Deal (Center for Creative Leadership), Alec R. Levenson (CEO), and George S. Benson (University of Texas) answer the questions, “So what drives organizational commitment, helps Gen Xers and Millennials thrive, and improves retention? And what do organizations need to know about what is different for Millennials and Gen Xers, so they can most effectively address the needs of each generation?”

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What works for leading the new multi-generational workforce

Alec R. Levenson (CEO), George S. Benson (University of Texas), and Jennifer J. Deal (Center for Creative Leadership) recently completed a global research project that provides the most comprehensive view of the multi-generational workforce to date.

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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.

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The Promise of Big Data for HR

Alec R. Levenson (CEO) argues that “Big data” is all the rage these days. Companies have been making large advances in understanding their customers and markets as we gather more and more information on how people shop, work and live their lives.

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