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.
Research and Insights Archive
Research and Insights from the Center for Effective Organizations
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Creating American Businesses that Can Compete Globally
James O’Toole (CEO) and Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) argue that American companies increasingly outsource and offshore jobs, cut employee benefits, substitute contingent or contract workers for regular or permanent employees, eliminate traditional career paths, and reduce expenditures on training.
Built for Talent
Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) shares that survey after survey has found that executives believe finding and developing the right talent should be one of their top priorities and that their company’s human resources are one of their most important assets.
Beyond HR: The New Science of Human Capital
Beyond HR (John W. Boudreau and Peter M. Ramstad (Harvard Business School Press, 2007)) shows how organizations can uncover distinctive talent contributions, strategically differentiate their HR practices and metrics, and more optimally allocate talent to create value.
What if – Organizations Were Built for Talent?
Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) explains that for at least the last decade, it’s been hard to pick up a business book, article, or corporate annual report without seeing statements that stress the importance of human capital— people.
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.
Crafting a Path Toward Mastery: Turning a Personal Leadership Development Plan into Something
Morgan W. McCall, Jr. (USC) attempts to describe an alternative approach to creating a personal plan for developing leadership ability.
Developing the Expert Leader
In this article, Morgan W. McCall, Jr. (USC) and George P. Hollenbeck (Hollenbeck and Associates) look at leadership through the lens of expertise and relate the findings of a wide range of research on experts, expertise, and expert performance to how we think about leaders and leadership development.
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.
Designing Organizations for Growth: The Human Resource Contribution
Susan A. Mohrman (CEO) states that HR is staring at an incredible opportunity to increase its impact on organizational performance and become a true strategic partner by contributing to the organization and work design challenges that enable growth.
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
Why HR Practices are not Evidence-Based
Edward E. Lawler III (CEO) states that in short, most organizations do not practice evidence-based human resource management. As a result, they often under-perform with respect to their key stakeholders: employees, investors and the community.