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This case is based on Kingfisher Airlines, the brainchild of Dr. Vijay Mallaya. It made a grand entrance into the Indian aviation industry as a single-class, all-economy air carrier in 2005. The company soon turned its focus to becoming a premium service operator offering high-class in-flight services and unrivalled luxuries. Subsequently, it took a number of steps to differentiate itself from other airlines, while also embarking upon an ambitious expansion plan. Its acquisition of an ailing airline, Air Deccan, combined with rising fuel costs and a rapidly changing business environment made its survival difficult. The company's bank accounts were frozen several times by the Income Tax Department and the Service Tax Department because of defaults on tax payments, leaving it cash dry. The battered airline had to temporarily suspend its operations from several cities and cope with a staggering debt load that had reached Rs. 7,000 crore by March 27, 2012. The staff was demoralized and some employees left the company due to the non-payment of salaries. There was also widespread anger among passengers owing to last-minute flight cancellations. The challenge facing its CEO, Sanjay Agarwal, was to make Kingfisher Airlines bounce back from its precarious position. The company had to tackle the issue of raising funds to meet its day-to-day expenses, maintain the current number of flights and perhaps also conduct a thorough review of its past policies and strategies and try to learn from the competitors that had managed to weather the storm and still remain profitable in the most unfavourable of business environments.

If the HR function is to become a strategic partner within an organization, it must be able to measure the results of its activities and programs. But how? The case places students in the position of an external consultant who is mandated to identify and develop indicators that will be used to establish a balanced scorecard for the head of the Staffing and Workforce Planning Division of the Société de transport de Montréal (STM). This is a decision-making case, since it asks students to decide on the relevant indicators to be selected for the balanced scorecard. At the same time, it can also be regarded as an analytical case, in that the solutions/indicators must be based on an exhaustive analysis of the situation and information conveyed in the case and its appendices.

Using simple online psychometric tests at the start of the hiring regimen can reap a smaller, better applicant pool and save thousands of hours of managerial time.

Line managers are taking on duties that once belonged to human resources. They can benefit from emerging best practices and can start by asking and answering the five key questions the author explores.

This case focuses on the necessity of developing a human resource strategy for downsizing Daktronics, Inc., a company that was founded in 1968 in Brookings, South Dakota as a small producer of scoreboards for collegiate wrestling matches. By 2009, the company was generating a half billion dollars in revenue annually by producing electronic scoreboards, programmable display systems, and large screen video displays using light emitting diode (LED) technology. The dream of the founder was to grow the company to a billion dollars in revenue. However, by the spring of 2010 the recession that the United States had been suffering since 2008 had now produced negative earnings for Daktronics. Carla Gatzke, VP of Human Resources, realized that she needed a strategy to further reduce personnel costs during the duration of the recession, yet respect company culture and its relationship with communities. The plan would also need to position the company strategically for continued growth.

Reprint: R1309D Business leaders send a powerful message when they make a commitment to diversity that goes beyond rhetoric. But what motivates them to do so, and how do they actually create inclusive cultures? To find out, the authors interviewed 24 CEOs whose firms were known for embracing people of all backgrounds. These executives saw diversity as a strategic and moral imperative and made promoting it a personal mission. Many had experienced what it was like to be an outsider, which gave them a deeper understanding of the barriers that women, in particular, face at work. The CEOs resoundingly agreed that an inclusive environment was one in which employees contributed to success as their authentic selves, and the organization respected and leveraged their talents and provided a sense of connectedness. Eight best organizational practices for instilling such a culture emerged from their interviews: 1. Measure diversity and inclusion. 2. Hold managers accountable. 3. Support flexible arrangements. 4. Recruit and promote from diverse pools of candidates. 5. Provide leadership education. 6. Sponsor employee resource groups and mentoring programs. 7. Offer quality role models. 8. Make the chief diversity officer position count. It's also key for CEOs to dedicate time to work personally on diversity initiatives. That sets the tone for everyone and helps ensure that organizations attract and develop the best talent.

A variety of recent research by business, psychology, and sociology scholars offers a window into women's collective experiences at work. Some of these studies confirm widely held assumptions: that women are paid less than men; that the numbers of women drop dramatically the higher you go in organizations; that women are more ethical. But some cast doubt on other popular notions: that caring for their families is a major reason that high-achieving women leave their careers; that female MBAs are less likely to get job offers than male MBAs are; that being disliked is a disadvantage in the workplace. And some studies bring to light forms of discrimination that are less obvious but pernicious: the way men receive more plum assignments, more key sales accounts, and other marks of favor, while women get more praise but not necessarily the big promotions. One of the most disturbing studies? One that reveals the extent to which both women and men are biased against working mothers.

Human resource (HR) management practices in Japan are significantly different from those in Europe and North America. A knowledge of the traditional Japanese HR system, including practices relating to recruiting and compensation, unions and the labour market, is crucial for foreign companies operating in Japan as well as those seeking to do business with Japanese firms. While Japan's distinct HR system was once considered a source of competitive advantage, changing economies and labour markets have called its current effectiveness into question. The traditional system primarily provided stable long-term employment for full-time employees; however, for a variety of reasons, non-regular forms of employment, including part-time and short-term positions, are on the rise. HR managers in Japan must consider relevant societal and economic changes and develop more effective HR systems in response.

Recently, technological advances have led neuroscientists to develop a new and more sophisticated framework. It shifts the focus of study from the activity of specific brain regions to how networks of brain regions activate in concurrent patterns. In this article, two experts in brain science explain important discoveries that have been made about four key networks: the default network, which is engaged in introspection and in imagining a different time, place, or reality; the reward network, which activates in response to pleasure; the affect network, which plays a central role in emotions; and the control network, which is involved in understanding consequences, impulse control, and selective attention. These discoveries hold major implications for managers. In particular, they shed light on: (1) the best way to generate "Eureka!" thinking; (2) what motivates employees; (3) whether you should trust your gut and listen to your emotions in decision making; and (4) the opportunities and pitfalls of multitasking. These insights are just the beginning, say the authors, who believe that a hugely productive dialogue between neuroscience and business will develop as more findings emerge.

Pretending not to notice race for fear of appearing prejudiced actually has the opposite effect--others will perceive you as more biased. Research documenting this effect suggests that smart companies will deal with the subject of race head-on and will recognize that "embracing diversity" means recognizing all races, including the majority one.

The CEO of Kaiser Permanente writes that instilling a foundational culture of continuous improvement is the only way to unify an organization as large and diverse as his. People must understand how small improvements add up to big differences; they must love improving; and they must have confidence in their colleagues.

When Cote arrived at Honeywell, in 2002, the company had gone through three CEOs in four years. It had repeatedly missed earnings, and it had environmental liabilities that had never been dealt with. Virtually no pipeline of new products existed, because managers had been disinvesting to boost profits. Over the next five years he worked to fix many of those problems, and by the end of 2007 the company's credibility had been reestablished with investors and its share price had more than doubled. Then the recession hit. Cote's view was that any restructuring Honeywell did in response should be what was best for business efficiency and profitability over the long term--not solely a reaction to the recession--and should have no impact on the company's ability to outperform in recovery. The leadership team settled on furloughs, and this is the story of how they worked.

For most of the 20th century, the relationship between employers and employees in the developed world was all about stability and lifetime loyalty. That has recently changed, giving way to a transactional, laissez-faire approach that serves neither party well. A new arrangement is needed, the authors argue--one built on alliance (usually temporary) and reciprocity. The high-tech start-up community of Silicon Valley is pointing the way--and companies that wish to be similarly agile and entrepreneurial can learn valuable lessons from its example. Under the new compact, both employer and employee seek to add value to each other. Employees invest in the company's adaptability; the company invests in employees' employability. Hoffman (a cofounder of LinkedIn), Casnocha (a technology entrepreneur), and Yeh (an entrepreneur and angel investor) outline three simple, straightforward ways in which companies can make the new compact tangible and workable. These are (1) hiring employees for explicit "tours of duty," (2) encouraging, even subsidizing, employees' efforts to build networks outside the organization, and (3) establishing active alumni networks that will enable career-long relationships with employees after they've moved on. In the war for talent, such a compact can be a secret weapon that helps you fill your ranks with the creative, adaptive superstars who fuel entrepreneurial success.

Though boards claim they strive for diversity, the number of female directors remains low; women held only 16.6% of Fortune 500 board seats in 2012. To find out why--and learn about the women appointed to boards and their experiences--Harvard Business School's Groysberg and organizational researcher Bell teamed up with Heidrick & Struggles and WomenCorporateDirectors to conduct annual surveys of board members. In this article they reveal the findings of their 2010 survey of 294 women and 104 men, presenting a profile of the typical female director, what directors thought about the benefits of diversity and the dynamics between men and women on boards, and best practices for recruiting and managing directors. Three themes emerged from the data: (1) Women had to be more qualified than men to be considered for boards. Contrary to popular belief, female directors had more operational and leadership experience than male directors. (2) Boards don't know how to leverage diversity. The women said they were not treated as full members of the group, though the men were largely oblivious to this problem. (3) Great talent is not enough to create a great board. Boards need processes and cultures that encourage inclusiveness as well as diversity.

""Ten Years Later"is a series of one-page narratives that provide a glimpse of "what happened next" in the lives of a group of members of the INSEAD MBA graduating class of 2002. The narratives, recounted by female and male graduates of different nationalities and aspirations, give students a flavour of how life can turn out for people who have 'sat in their seats' before. "

This case traces the evolution of the personal networks of Russell Mehta, CEO of Rosy Blue, as he steps out of his father's shadow to run one of the largest diamond companies in the world. His challenge is to adapt his personal networks to drive his organization's success.

Increasingly, service innovation is a source of competitive differentiation for product-dominant companies such as manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. However, the relative intangibility of services has led to uncertainty concerning how to apply product innovation expertise to the services space. We argue that meaningful service innovation by a product-dominant company must begin with the recognition that services are solutions to customer needs. As such, the primary goal of a product-dominant company seeking service innovation should not be to innovate service. Rather, it should be to help customers get a specific job done better or to help them get more jobs done. To this end, we offer three approaches for companies seeking new service innovation based on how customers define value.

Drawing from the literature on self-presentation, leader-member exchange (LMX), and developmental networks, we attempt to explain how employees might react to a Facebook 'friend' request from their supervisor and why they might react that way. We then examine blog comments to determine how individuals feel about such requests and determine whether their comments support any of the aforementioned theoretical frameworks. We conclude with suggestions for how Facebook can be used in the workplace.

DJI-Innovations is an early-stage company that developed hardware and software for remote-controlled helicopters and drones. Frank Wang, the CEO and founder is an exceptionally bright and passionate young man who has seen his company grow rapidly. Such growth confronts him with human resource challenges that his engineering background has not prepared him for. The case describes the situation and offers the following challenge to students: If you were Frank Wang, what will be your strategy to manage its human resources to meet DJI's challenges and needs during this critical growth stage and ensure that the core value of the company continues to serve as a driver of its competitive advantage?