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In 1979, our foundational work began a movement in the field. Today, we’re at the forefront, discovering and creating the latest knowledge in the design, leadership and transformation of organizations. We provide leaders from around the world with the trusted insights and hands-on learning they need to help solve complex challenges and build highly effective, sustainable operating models and organizations.
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Recent Research
Working for the (three-day) weekend: As more companies experiment with four-day work weeks, could we ever see them in the US?
Alec Levenson, senior research scientist with the Center for Effective Organizations at the Marshall School of Business at USC, discusses on KPCC AirTalk.
How to Give Women a Fair Shot at Advancement
At most companies, the competition for career success is systemically skewed in favor of men. Here’s how to change that.
The Future of HR: Five Essential but Overlooked Questions
The future of HR is inextricably entwined with the future of work, leadership, society and organizations. It has long been insufficient to consider the future of HR strictly from the perspective of changes in the HR function, its organization, its operating model and its technology. Such questions are important, but HR leaders and their constituents (non-HR leaders, investors, workers, policy-makers and others) must consider the future of HR through more fundamental questions about the future of work.
How impactful is your ERG? Here are 5 important themes most leaders are thinking about
Research led by Dr. Theresa Welbourne, Steven Schlachter, and Skylar Rolf focused on the leaders of ERGs and identified 5 key themes of interest on the dynamics of these groups. Using semi-structured interview techniques with ten ERG leaders in three different organizations, Welbourne, Schlachter, and Rolf sought to shed light on ERGs from a leader’s perspective.
Socio-Technical Action Research Lab Design Lab Description and Process
The STARLab acronym “Socio-technical Action Research Lab” points to a specific type of lab which is designed to create socio-technical action research. This paper outlines the distinctive features of the socio-technical action research lab. First, it outlines the ideas that provide a foundation for STARLab, along with the essential concepts of tacit knowledge and design thinking. Next, it provides a brief background of the origin of the design lab methodology. Last is a description of how the lab works – planning, environment, and process.
STARLab Consortium
Designing a Digitally Enabled Prototype—Jointly-optimized Social and Technical Work System
A core concern of the STARLab work has been the “technological lead, social lag” problem. Technological advance is hurtling forward; our social technologies have not kept up. New work systems are being configured around a network of digital platforms into which are built algorithms and routines for coordination, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and advanced analytic capabilities. They provide much integration and guide decision making, as well as enable efficient execution. Organizations are proceeding with the adoption of these systems because the technology exists and because they fear that not doing so will disadvantage them competitively. There is inadequate concern for creating the optimal combination of social/human and technological factors.
STARLab Consortium
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