Can a "set your own salary" system boost employee happiness and motivation? Spiber made synthetic silk built from proteins mimicking the proteins found in spider silk, the world's toughest known material by weight. Kazuhide Sekiyama and Junichi Sugahara established Spiber to create protein materials that would eventually compete effectively with petrochemical-based materials widely used in apparel, auto parts, and airplane components, among many other applications. From the beginning, they envisioned a team built on mutual respect and a common purpose. The executive team wanted the company's compensation system to match the organization's values. Thus, the company had implemented a unique salary-setting process designed to inspire autonomy and responsibility among employees: each employee retained the ultimate authority to choose his or her own salary. The members of the executive team were excited about the "set your own salary" system, but was it having the intended effect?
In 2019, members of the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (WNT) filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation. The case describes the history of the WNT's quest for equal pay leading up to this event.
In 2018, Magrabi was the leading retailer of eyeglasses, sunglasses, and other optical products in the Middle East, and it was embarking on a major shift in strategy, transitioning from a brand focused on clinical expertise to a brand that combined technical excellence with a luxury retail experience for customers. This case provides an opportunity to discuss the company's plans for executing its strategy, especially when it comes to recruiting the right people and setting them up for success.
In this simulation exercise, four family members must negotiate over the future of the family business. Should the business be sold to a strategic buyer, or should the family retain control? If the business is sold, how should the proceeds of the sale be distributed among family members? If the business is not sold, how should ongoing ownership and control be shared among family members? The exercise, which is inspired by a collection of real-world scenarios, provides an opportunity to practice techniques for learning about the motivations of others and for forging agreements that balance the interests of multiple parties. Special thanks to Boris Tsimerinov (PLDA16, 2017) of Semper8 Capital for his contributions to this exercise.
In this simulation exercise, four family members must negotiate over the future of the family business. Should the business be sold to a strategic buyer, or should the family retain control? If the business is sold, how should the proceeds of the sale be distributed among family members? If the business is not sold, how should ongoing ownership and control be shared among family members? The exercise, which is inspired by a collection of real-world scenarios, provides an opportunity to practice techniques for learning about the motivations of others and for forging agreements that balance the interests of multiple parties. Special thanks to Boris Tsimerinov (PLDA16, 2017) of Semper8 Capital for his contributions to this exercise.
In this simulation exercise, four family members must negotiate over the future of the family business. Should the business be sold to a strategic buyer, or should the family retain control? If the business is sold, how should the proceeds of the sale be distributed among family members? If the business is not sold, how should ongoing ownership and control be shared among family members? The exercise, which is inspired by a collection of real-world scenarios, provides an opportunity to practice techniques for learning about the motivations of others and for forging agreements that balance the interests of multiple parties. Special thanks to Boris Tsimerinov (PLDA16, 2017) of Semper8 Capital for his contributions to this exercise.
In this simulation exercise, four family members must negotiate over the future of the family business. Should the business be sold to a strategic buyer, or should the family retain control? If the business is sold, how should the proceeds of the sale be distributed among family members? If the business is not sold, how should ongoing ownership and control be shared among family members? The exercise, which is inspired by a collection of real-world scenarios, provides an opportunity to practice techniques for learning about the motivations of others and for forging agreements that balance the interests of multiple parties. Special thanks to Boris Tsimerinov (PLDA16, 2017) of Semper8 Capital for his contributions to this exercise.
How should nonprofits design compensation systems to attract and retain talent? GiveDirectly is a respected charitable organization with an unconventional approach. Instead of spending on traditional aid programs in areas such as health care and food access in developing countries, GiveDirectly transfers cash directly to the poor. As experiments have shown this approach to be an effective and efficient way to improve recipients' life satisfaction, the organization has attracted considerable attention among donors and the media. Now, GiveDirectly is looking to grow, and it is contemplating how best to recruit talented employees and keep them motivated. In addition to offering salaries competitive with the private sector, GiveDirectly is considering linking employee compensation to organizational goals regarding the amount of cash transferred-an unusual strategy for a nonprofit.
This case follows the Program Director of La Ceiba, a Honduras-based microfinance institution, as he navigates four challenging negotiation scenarios involving the organization's loan clients. Students are asked to adopt the perspective of the Program Director and to consider how they would act in these negotiation scenarios that are characterized by unclear objectives and severely asymmetric power dynamics. How should they approach negotiation situations in which the power balance is heavily in their own favor? Should they exert this power and engage in a "hard" negotiation approach? Or, are there circumstances where a "soft" negotiation approach is warranted? In addition to helping students to develop a framework about when to use soft versus hard negotiation approaches, two of the notable lessons that arise are (i) the role of apologies after misusing power, and (ii) how even "using one's power for good" can translate into paternalistic outcomes.
This case follows the Program Director of La Ceiba, a Honduras-based microfinance institution, as he navigates four challenging negotiation scenarios involving the organization's loan clients. Students are asked to adopt the perspective of the Program Director and to consider how they would act in these negotiation scenarios that are characterized by unclear objectives and severely asymmetric power dynamics. How should they approach negotiation situations in which the power balance is heavily in their own favor? Should they exert this power and engage in a "hard" negotiation approach? Or, are there circumstances where a "soft" negotiation approach is warranted? In addition to helping students to develop a framework about when to use soft versus hard negotiation approaches, two of the notable lessons that arise are (i) the role of apologies after misusing power, and (ii) how even "using one's power for good" can translate into paternalistic outcomes.
Evive Health is a company that manages communication campaigns on behalf of health insurance plans and large employers. Using big data techniques and insights from behavioral economics, Evive deploys targeted and effective messages that improve individuals' health behaviors. This case follows Prashant Srivastava, Evive's Chief Operating Officer, and Jennifer Lindner, Evive's Creative Director, as they design a messaging strategy for promoting influenza vaccination at the free workplace clinics of a large utility company.
The pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) sector processes prescription drug claims on behalf of companies that offer a prescription drug benefit to their employees. This case follows Bob Nease, Chief Scientist at Express Scripts, as he considers methods to promote home delivery of prescription drugs by mail-a process proven to lower prescription fill error rates, increase cost savings, and improve medication adherence.
The pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) sector processes prescription drug claims on behalf of companies that offer a prescription drug benefit to their employees. This case follows Bob Nease, Chief Scientist at Express Scripts, as he considers methods to promote home delivery of prescription drugs by mail-a process proven to lower prescription fill error rates, increase cost savings, and improve medication adherence.
By 2013, the U.S. wireless industry was in the midst of a costly transition. As consumers began to embrace more sophisticated mobile devices, the industry's four main players spent heavily to improve their infrastructures for providing reliable high-speed data services. T-Mobile, the smallest of the four major carriers, lacked the scale of its competitors and risked falling further behind in the contest for market share. Faced with this daunting business environment, T-Mobile's new CEO declared war on the rest of the industry, decrying competitor pricing practices and upending the traditional contract-based business model. This case provides background information on the state of the wireless industry in 2013 and follows T-Mobile's early steps to transform its market position.
Everyone from CEOs to frontline workers commits preventable mistakes-for example, underestimating how long it will take to finish a project or focusing too much on information that supports their current view. It is extraordinarily difficult to rewire the human brain to undo the patterns that lead to such mistakes. But there is another approach: Alter the environment in ways that encourage people to make decisions that lead to good outcomes. Leaders can do this by restructuring how work is performed, say Harvard Business School's John Beshears and Francesca Gino. In this article, they offer a five-step process for mitigating the effects of cognitive biases and low motivation on decision making: Understand the kinds of systematic errors people make and the factors that affect motivation. Define the problem to determine whether behavioral issues are at play. Diagnose the specific underlying causes. Design a way to tweak the environment to reduce or mitigate the negative impact of cognitive biases and insufficient motivation on decisions. Rigorously test the proposed solution.
The case examines HelloWallet, the online, independent financial guidance service, in the context of behavioral finance concepts. It also looks at the specific challenges faced by online personal financial management (PFM) systems. In addition, the case has a detailed overview of American household finance, including data regarding Americans' ability to save money, readiness for retirement, and level of financial literacy. HelloWallet offers a range of services including PFM, financial planning, a system to aggregate users' financial accounts, and an application to help users find financial products that are better deals than their current ones. While not the first to market with this type of service, HelloWallet differentiated itself in three major ways. First, it was independent, meaning it did not receive monetary incentives from financial institutions to push their products, nor did it receive payments (i.e., commissions) when individuals made buying decisions. Second, it looked at over 130,000 financial products to help users find the best products for them, compared to its competitors, which searched through a much smaller number of products. Third, because it was independent, it used a subscription model in which individuals paid a monthly fee. The case is set in March 2010, just after the beta launch of HelloWallet's web site, and it examines two key issues HelloWallet is grappling with: 1) How to price its product for its two different channels - the direct-to-consumer channel and the enterprise channel - and 2) How to proportionately allocate its resources for the two channels.