The market for behavioral biometrics-a technological evolution whereby patterns in human movement and activities can be identified, captured, and analyzed-is expected to exceed US $11 billion by 2031. We highlight the evolution from early physiological biometrics (e.g., fingerprints and iris scans used to verify the identity of individuals) to today's behavioral biometrics. Technological advancements now turn our retail stores, offices, and warehouses into live data streams that let us closely and automatically monitor employees' conduct at work. Although this development raises several legitimate surveillance and privacy concerns, behavioral biometrics can potentially benefit organizations and employees alike. Such mutual benefits compel managers to approach behavioral biometrics using our TRUST framework: transparency of intentions, respect for concerns, understanding the importance of choice, sharing the data benefits, and proactively timing the development. Managers who do so will gain a clear focus on organizational and employee well-being.

Many industries and their offerings have fallen victim to managerial shortsightedness. Firms often believe they are invincible and see themselves as immune to threats from seemingly unrelated technologies. There seemed to be no apparent link between bound paper books and the emerging internet, no discernible ties between the video rental business and streaming technologies, and no obvious connections between photography and cellular phones. When these associations were established by means of other, newer technologies, major incumbent firms such as Barnes & Noble, Blockbuster, and Kodak came crashing down. CRISPR is the technology of the moment, one that will enable the programming of evolution. While we might think about gene editing in terms of cures for diseases, its repercussions will impact almost every domain of human and planetary development, and sooner than one might think. In this installment of On The Horizon, we adopt an evolutionary perspective to understand the impact of the genetic revolution on firms regardless of industry.

This article introduces the next major generational evolution of the web: Web3. We review the fundamental evolution of the internet and the web over the past 3 decades, including a brief presentation of the publications in Business Horizons that are important in a discussion of the emergence of Web3. We then discuss what these recent developments mean to organizations, consumers, and the public. Though the degree to which Web3 will be widely adopted is uncertain, these technologies are already creating both exhilarating and terrifying implications for e-commerce, digital media, online social networking, online marketplaces, search engines, supply chain management, and finance, among others. We propose the consideration and management of technical, organizational, and regulatory interoperability for Web3 to deliver on its promises of value and that failure to consider these interoperability components may destroy economic value, consumer confidence, or social issues online. We also call on our fellow researchers to focus on these interoperability issues and how they might impact the positive and negative sides of Web3 technologies to help us understand and shape our Web3 future.

Women and members of other marginalized groups are often excluded from informal professional networks which are critical to gaining access to opportunities for learning and advancement. Based on their analysis of the organizational networks of dozens of companies, surveys of thousands of employees, and interviews with senior executives, the authors have identified specific ways leaders can improve inclusivity at their organizations.

Likened to the discovery of electricity and the introduction of the internet, the arrival of 5G network technology has been met with great enthusiasm and high expectations for its futuristic potential uses. Envisioned 5G-enabled applications include autonomous vehicle fleets; fully immersive, continuous virtual reality; a tactile, sensor-based internet; and billions of peer-to-peer connected Internet-of-Things devices. Despite the hype, a recent survey suggests that most business managers and executives do not understand the technology and its transformative potential nor how to assess its appropriateness for their existing operations. In this article, we explore the potential future applications of 5G, where we are today with the technology, its adoption challenges, and how managers should evaluate investing resources into 5G.

Blockchain technologies are benefiting from significant interest in both societal and business contexts. Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin have grown rapidly in user adoption over the past 8 years. However, blockchain technologies, which fuel cryptocurrencies, have the potential to extend to other business applications even more profoundly. Blockchain can be leveraged to drive innovation and increase efficiencies in new domains-including digital arts management, supply chains, and healthcare-but there remain technical, organizational, and regulatory headwinds that must be overcome before mass adoption can occur. In this article, we provide a brief history of blockchain and identify some of the key features that have enabled its popular uptake in the world of cryptocurrencies. We discuss how blockchain technologies have evolved from traditional software and web technologies and then examine their underlying strengths and evaluate new, noncryptocurrency use cases. We conclude with a look at the limitations of blockchain and present several important factors for managers considering blockchain implementation within their organizations.

In this first in a series of cases on organizational network analysis (ONA), Vic Gulas, the new head of IT at the engineering consulting firm MWH Consulting, is charged with turning a geographically organized department into one organized by function. He knows that the success of the reorganization will depend on effective collaboration, but he cannot get a sense of what collaborative relationships do and do not exist by looking at a formal organizational chart. Instead, Gulas uses ONA, a method for mapping relationships among people in a group. In the ONA results, Gulas sees a group still fragmented by geography and constrained by hierarchy and other gaps in connectivity. After studying the highly detailed assessment of working relationships within the IT department, Gulas must decide in the A case what steps he can take to align the department's network with its business objectives.

In this first in a series of cases on organizational network analysis (ONA), Vic Gulas, the new head of IT at the engineering consulting firm MWH Consulting, is charged with turning a geographically organized department into one organized by function. He knows that the success of the reorganization will depend on effective collaboration, but he cannot get a sense of what collaborative relationships do and do not exist by looking at a formal organizational chart. Instead, Gulas uses ONA, a method for mapping relationships among people in a group. In the ONA results, Gulas sees a group still fragmented by geography and constrained by hierarchy and other gaps in connectivity. The B case presents the network-building steps Gulas took on the basis of the ONA results and the results of a follow-up ONA Gulas conducted two years after the initial analysis. This second ONA revealed a network that was stronger and more appropriately connected in various ways.

Although many organizations initiate communities of practice to drive performance and innovation, managers typically have little insight into their internal effectiveness and business impact. Offers network analytics, interventions, and metrics (both in terms of network connectivity and business outcomes) to improve and track the success of such community initiatives. Specifically, shows how social network analysis can help move a community from an ad hoc, informal group to a value-producing network by focusing on five critical levers: improving information flow and knowledge reuse; developing an ability to sense and respond to key problems or opportunities; driving planned and emergent innovation; nurturing value-creating interactions; and engaging employees through community efforts.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. People in organizations commonly talk about the energy associated with a project, team, or individual. But is energy related to performance or learning in organizations? And how is it created and transferred in groups? To answer those questions, the authors assessed energy within seven large groups in different organizations. They collected data that allowed them to map social networks and, more specifically, determine who the "energizers" and "de-energizers" were in those groups. Their analyses, supplemented by interviews with network members, also reveal why energy is important for performance and learning and how it is created (or destroyed) in organizations. And they gave rise to a set of questions that can help managers and the people they oversee increase the energy they generate in their interactions with colleagues. By mapping relationships, managers can see where energy is being created and where it is being depleted. They can then take action, encouraging simple changes in behavior to increase energy in places where its absence hinders the progress of important organizational initiatives.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Over the past couple of decades, management innovations have pushed companies toward the ideal of the "boundaryless" organization. As a result of these changes, formal reporting structures and detailed work processes have a much diminished role in the way important work is accomplished. Instead, informal networks of employees are increasingly at the forefront, and the general health and "connectivity" of these groups can have a significant impact on strategy execution and organizational effectiveness. Many corporate leaders intuitively understand this, but few spend any real time assessing or supporting informal networks. And because they do not receive adequate resources or executive attention, these groups are often fragmented, and their efforts are often disrupted by management practices or organizational design principles that are biased in favor of task specialization and individual rather than collaborative endeavors. The authors initiated a research program two years ago to determine how organizations can better support work occurring in and through informal networks of employees; they assessed more than 40 networks in 23 organizations. They discovered in all cases that the networks provided strategic and operational benefits by enabling members to collaborate effectively; they also found that managers truly wanting to assist these groups had to overcome six myths about how networks operate. Explains the six myths and why they are harmful; in place of these assumptions, the authors offer reality checks that can be implemented to help networks become more effective.

With efforts to de-layer organizations and reduce functional boundaries, coordination increasingly occurs through networks of informal relations rather than channels tightly prescribed by formal reporting structures or detailed work processes. However, although organizations are moving to network forms through joint ventures, alliances, and other collaborative relationships, executives generally pay little attention to assessing and supporting informal networks within their own organizations. Social network analysis is a valuable means of facilitating collaboration in strategically important groups such as top leadership networks, strategic business units, new product development teams, communities of practice, joint ventures, and mergers. By making informal networks visible, social network analysis helps managers systematically assess and support strategically important collaboration.