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At Kid Spectrum, a provider of in-home services for autistic children, two high-value employees are at war. Ronnie, director of clinical operations, is a class-A clinician who is well respected by his peers and subordinates; Ellen is a highly efficient administrative director who understands the importance of the bottom line. Their work styles couldn't be more different even though each is thoroughly dedicated to the company. Kid Spectrum's owner, Matthew Sparks, must figure out how to make his newly acquired business more profitable while retaining these two key employees whose interaction is starting to become toxic. H. Irving Grousbeck, of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, presents a fictionalized case to explore this common workplace dilemma. Expert commentary comes from Jim Southern, of Pacific Lake Partners, and Peter Kelly, of Stanford Graduate School of Business and formerly of Pacific Pulmonary Services.

At Kid Spectrum, a provider of in-home services for autistic children, two high-value employees are at war. Ronnie, director of clinical operations, is a class-A clinician who is well respected by his peers and subordinates; Ellen is a highly efficient administrative director who understands the importance of the bottom line. Their work styles couldn't be more different even though each is thoroughly dedicated to the company. Kid Spectrum's owner, Matthew Sparks, must figure out how to make his newly acquired business more profitable while retaining these two key employees whose interaction is starting to become toxic. H. Irving Grousbeck, of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, presents a fictionalized case to explore this common workplace dilemma. Expert commentary comes from Jim Southern, of Pacific Lake Partners, and Peter Kelly, of Stanford Graduate School of Business and formerly of Pacific Pulmonary Services.

At Kid Spectrum, a provider of in-home services for autistic children, two high-value employees are at war. Ronnie, director of clinical operations, is a class-A clinician who is well respected by his peers and subordinates; Ellen is a highly efficient administrative director who understands the importance of the bottom line. Their work styles couldn't be more different even though each is thoroughly dedicated to the company. Kid Spectrum's owner, Matthew Sparks, must figure out how to make his newly acquired business more profitable while retaining these two key employees whose interaction is starting to become toxic. H. Irving Grousbeck, of the Stanford Graduate School of Business, presents a fictionalized case to explore this common workplace dilemma. Expert commentary comes from Jim Southern, of Pacific Lake Partners, and Peter Kelly, of Stanford Graduate School of Business and formerly of Pacific Pulmonary Services.

Full-time, permanent jobs with large organizations are quite possibly an artifact of a particular moment in economic history--about 60 or 70 years ago. For elite executives and professionals, such jobs are now in many cases far less attractive than independent, project-based work, say the authors, who are "supertemps" themselves. Independent professionals are making inroads in law, consulting, and even management roles, sometimes earning more than they did in their previous positions while escaping 80-hour weeks, endless internal meetings, and corporate politics. And they're achieving a gratifying work/life balance. Corporations are learning how best to tap the supertemps' skills; organizations may soon come to look less like pyramids and more like jigsaw puzzles. Intermediary firms that broker independent talent are growing rapidly. But social biases against temporary work persist. And--especially in the U.S.--the health care and tax systems are unfriendly to project workers. Rising numbers of highly paid independents will be motivated to overcome those obstacles: Health coverage could become portable; tax rules could be rewritten. The result would be not just more-rewarding careers but a more innovative economy.

Industries like restaurants and retail, which are populated by low-wage workers, have found it hard to increase employee productivity. New technology and methods are allowing them to increase their profits by shifting more work to their best workers.

Huntington University was a distinguished not-for-profit academic institution in the United States whose endowment grew from $7 billion to nearly $20 billion over the course of a decade. The funds prompted a variety of development projects. New funds, new buildings, and new programs brought with them new people, and Huntington was in a period of growth and change on all fronts. As administrative headcount grew dramatically from 6,800 to over 10,000, Singletary launched a major initiative to develop the University's most promising managers through effective instruction and feedback. Among the attendees were Rita Torres, Dieter Kopp, and Marilyn Malkin. They were excited to be among the select group of Singletary Management Program participants, and were eager to receive expert teaching and peer guidance on how they could improve as managers.

The Serena and Lily case describes three challenging situations faced by Lily Kanter, CEO of Serena and Lily, a luxury home goods company. The first vignette involves Marta Calfee, one of Lily's first and most dedicated employees. As the company grows, Marta takes on increasing responsibilities, but it soon becomes clear that her title, compensation and domain are all greater than her actual capabilities, and Lily must determine how to scale back or let go one of her most loyal and trusted employees. In the second vignette, Lily deals with an extremely challenging investor/board member whose abrasive style and conflicting ideas about the strategic direction of the company threaten to severely hinder the company's progress. Finally, Lily is trying to recruit a highly valuable consultant to a permanent position at the company, but must figure out how to compete against a lucrative counter-offer from a highly esteemed retailer.

When you work for an organization that proudly touts its pay-for-performance ethos, you can be sure you'll get a fair shake, right? Not necessarily. In explicit meritocracies, managers feel more at liberty to act on their politically incorrect biases, with the result that they shortchange women when handing out raises and bonuses.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Traits that benefit an executive in one position often do not work well in another position. Moving into new roles or environments, executives may need to play up or rein in different facets of their personalities. Strengths can become weaknesses. Psychologists have identified countless traits distinguishing us from one another. But recent research has converged toward five broad dimensions, each comprising a cluster of traits that account for the majority of the differences among individual personalities. These dimensions have been dubbed the Big Five: need for stability, extraversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness. Drawing on their extensive coaching work with senior executives, the authors identify common leadership pitfalls associated with high and low scores on each of the Big Five personality dimensions, as well as potential solutions. For example, executives who tend to dominate group settings -demonstrating high levels of extraversion -can practice the "four-sentence"rule: limiting whatever they have to say to four sentences. Executives who are too blunt or aggressive -demonstrating low levels of agreeableness -can practice the art of cushioning their criticisms with phrases such as "let me play devil's advocate for a moment"or "if I put on my critic's hat." Self-awareness, the authors conclude, is the inevitable starting point for managing one's psychological preferences. Without it, executives will struggle to evolve or find coping strategies. With it, leaders can learn where their natural inclinations lie -and they can boost or compensate for those inclinations, depending on the circumstances. The idea is not to undergo a personality change. It is to be yourself, with more skill.

This note is an overview of the context for managing layoffs in the United States. It describes the legal responsibilities of managers in conducting layoffs, recent unemployment trends, and the financial, health, training, job placement and other benefits that laid-off employees can expect to receive.

This note is an overview of the context for managing layoffs in India. It describes the legal responsibilities of managers in conducting layoffs, recent unemployment trends, and the financial, health, training, job placement and other benefits that laid-off employees can expect to receive.

Ponce de Leon (POL) is a four-party negotiation exercise in which a film studio is trying to sign a major actress to star in an upcoming movie. The negotiation centers around the different extrinsic and intrinsic motivations underlying each of these party's approach to the movie, and therefore to the negotiation. The exercise allows exploration of the risks of "monetizing" different types of extrinsic (e.g. pay, awards, status) and intrinsic (e.g. love of the work, values) motivation.

Ponce de Leon (POL) is a four-party negotiation exercise in which a film studio is trying to sign a major actress to star in an upcoming movie. The negotiation centers around the different extrinsic and intrinsic motivations underlying each of these party's approach to the movie, and therefore to the negotiation. The exercise allows exploration of the risks of "monetizing" different types of extrinsic (e.g. pay, awards, status) and intrinsic (e.g. love of the work, values) motivation.

Ponce de Leon (POL) is a four-party negotiation exercise in which a film studio is trying to sign a major actress to star in an upcoming movie. The negotiation centers around the different extrinsic and intrinsic motivations underlying each of these party's approach to the movie, and therefore to the negotiation. The exercise allows exploration of the risks of "monetizing" different types of extrinsic (e.g. pay, awards, status) and intrinsic (e.g. love of the work, values) motivation.

Ponce de Leon (POL) is a four-party negotiation exercise in which a film studio is trying to sign a major actress to star in an upcoming movie. The negotiation centers around the different extrinsic and intrinsic motivations underlying each of these party's approach to the movie, and therefore to the negotiation. The exercise allows exploration of the risks of "monetizing" different types of extrinsic (e.g. pay, awards, status) and intrinsic (e.g. love of the work, values) motivation.

One month after the launch of the Freelancers Insurance Company Sara Horowitz, Founder and CEO, holds a staff meeting to discuss the outcome. The discussion focuses in particular on members' reaction. With the staff at odds with one another, Horowitz considers what next steps to take.

What's good for individual U.S. companies is no longer automatically good for business nationwide, for U.S. workers, or for the economy. That, coupled with the failure of business, government, and other institutions to engage in productive dialogue and ultimately cooperate, has led to a crisis of human capital in the United States. In short, badly needed investments in the workforce are not being made, thereby threatening the country's future competitiveness and living standards. So argues Kochan, of MIT's Sloan School of Management. He explains precisely how the U.S. currently undervalues human capital; how exceptional companies such as Southwest and Kaiser Permanente buck the "maximizing shareholder value" trend with what researchers call "high-road" human resources strategies; and how labor unions and schools have a role to play in setting the nation's workers and the companies that employ them on the right path. Kochan's call to action for U.S. corporations and business schools emphasizes apprenticeship programs, technology-education partnerships, infrastructure investments, and a host of other practical ideas for jump-starting and then accelerating the journey on the high road. His jobs compact for America advocates a systematic approach, not a fool's errand to find a panacea. But it nonetheless has the urgency of now.

Betsy Sugarman, a rising star in a biotech company, finds out that she is pregnant. This is good news for her, but bad timing for her career. She has been interviewing internally to take on a new role as the director of overseas operations, a position that requires a great deal of travel. Her prospective boss has all but offered her the job and is expecting a commitment from her within a week. She wants the job and feels she is prepared to do what it requires, but she's hesitant to disclose such personal information. Should she tell him about the pregnancy or not? With commentaries by Mary B. Cranston, the firm senior partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, and Michael Hamilton, a partner at Ernst & Young.

Betsy Sugarman, a rising star in a biotech company, finds out that she is pregnant. This is good news for her, but bad timing for her career. She has been interviewing internally to take on a new role as the director of overseas operations, a position that requires a great deal of travel. Her prospective boss has all but offered her the job and is expecting a commitment from her within a week. She wants the job and feels she is prepared to do what it requires, but she's hesitant to disclose such personal information. Should she tell him about the pregnancy or not?

Betsy Sugarman, a rising star in a biotech company, finds out that she is pregnant. This is good news for her, but bad timing for her career. She has been interviewing internally to take on a new role as the director of overseas operations, a position that requires a great deal of travel. Her prospective boss has all but offered her the job and is expecting a commitment from her within a week. She wants the job and feels she is prepared to do what it requires, but she's hesitant to disclose such personal information. Should she tell him about the pregnancy or not? With commentaries by Mary B. Cranston, the firm senior partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, and Michael Hamilton, a partner at Ernst & Young.