Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) states that one of, if not the most important asset of today’s corporations is their human capital. CEO’s and board chairs recognize this and frequently make statements that say people are our companies’ most important asset.
Research and Insights Archive
Research and Insights from the Center for Effective Organizations
Available Content
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.
Extreme Strategizing
Theresa Welbourne discusses how this month (September, 2008) business leaders, government officials, students, and many workers at every level in the organization were shocked by the massive losses in the financial industry being documented in the press.
Relational Capital: Strategic Advantage for Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) Negotiation and Collaboration
Theresa M. Welbourne (CEO) and Manuela Pardo del Val (Universitat de València) explain that collaborative entrepreneurship research suggests that organizations will soon pursue more collaborative relationships throughout a worldwide network of firms, driving a strategy of continuous innovation, specially small-and medium-size firms (SMEs).
Leadership Confidence: What Goes Down…Keeps Going Down
Theresa M. Welbourne (CEO) states that the problem we find is that when leader confidence erodes, then employee confidence declines.
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.
Building a Change Capability at Capital One Financial
This article by Christopher G. Worley (CEO) and Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) describes the development of an enterprise-wide change capability at Capital One Financial.
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.
Building a Change Capability at Capital One Financial: Separating Rhetoric and Reality
This article by Christopher G. Worley (CEO) and Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) describes the development of an enterprise-wide change capability at Capital One Financial.
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.
Talent: Making People Your Competitive Advantage
Organizations can gain a powerful competitive advantage by tapping into their talent and learning how to effectively organize and lead it. But, according to Professor Edward Lawler in Talent: Making People Your Competitive Advantage, although many organizations acknowledge the importance of people, most do little or nothing to make them a source of competitive advantage.