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This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. The IBM Innovation Jam was the largest-ever event to promote networked idea generation. More than 150,000 IBM employees, stakeholders and vendors participated in two three-day online events to foster innovation and help IBM bring products to market faster. Using Web sites, wikis, forums and other online tools, Jam participants generated literally hundreds of thousands of new business ideas. From those ideas, IBM focused on several major topics for the second part of the Jam and invited its employees to build on the ideas within those topics. As a result of this process, 10 distinct businesses were funded. However, it wasn't these successes that make the Jam interesting, argue the authors; it was the difficulties that IBM faced in implementing the Jam. Given unique access to the Jam, the authors discuss the complications inherent in collaborating with so many people. In particular, it was hard to sustain individual "conversations" in the collaborative process. Rather than building on each other's ideas, many participants -- because of excitement about their own ideas -- would "hijack" a thread or take it in an unintended direction. Some great ideas were left to wither on the vine. The authors discuss other attempts at large-scale collaboration, including some by Dell and Starbucks. These include the use of promotion tools to ensure that "good" ideas are seen and captured by as many eyes as possible. The pros and cons of these methods are discussed as well, and the authors provide a framework for thinking about how an organization can collaborate with its stakeholders.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Abstract not available.

HCL Technologies, a major Indian IT services company, rolled out a radical new strategy, "Employee First, Customer Second" (EFCS) in 2005. The strategic goals for EFCS were to create a unique employee organization, drive an inverted organizational structure, create transparency and accountability within the organization, and encourage a value-driven culture. The case describes the different aspects of this program, and its impact on employee engagement, customer experience, financial performance, and innovation in 2005-08.

As more and more firms move activities offshore to countries that are distantly located from their home base of operations, the initial advantages of making this move are increasingly tempered by realities on the ground. For firms contemplating offshoring today, it is important to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of undertaking or extending this strategy in light of what we now know. Broadly speaking, successful offshoring must begin with an understanding of the market and competitive pressures that encourage offshoring, and then build on recognition of how these pressures can be addressed using or modifying the offshoring options currently practiced. Our discussion of these issues is based on analysis of offshoring of IT-enabled services by Fortune Global 500 firms in such areas as software development and business processes that support customer interaction.

During the two years in which coach Jürgen Klinsmann prepared the national soccer team for the World Cup, Germany experienced a soccer revolution. Klinsmann brought a team that had hit rock-bottom back to a world-class level. The soccer team's appearance on and off the field galvanized the Germans and contributed significantly to the World Cup's amazing success: all its games were sold out, the mood was euphoric in the stadiums, and new images of a friendly, open Germany circulated around the world.

This Danish entrepreneur shares widely applicable lessons from his experience managing employees with autism. More than two-thirds of workers at his software-testing firm, Specialisterne, have the condition and are thriving in their jobs.

The Minister of Justice for the Republic of Iceland is contemplating how to work with the various stakeholders to implement the recommendations for the structure of policing. The main issue to address is how to consolidate the number of region-based police forces. The minister's views on restructuring the police force are shared by the police association; however, a number of municipalities and police commissioners are not as enthusiastic about the proposed changes to the structure of the police organization. He understands that change is never a pain-free process. Formal reports have been submitted and now is the time to make some decisions.

What should a manager with a multinational corporation do when his employee confides that he may have accidentally killed someone? The plant where they work is located in Vietnam; the employee, a native, is hesitant to face the charges given his concerns about the fairness of the local legal system. He is seeking both advice and help. The B case (UV1170) updates the situation and provides additional fodder for discussion.

This case updates the situation outlined in the A case (UVA-E-0323), providing information that helps students to both evaluate the decision made in the A case and determine what to do next.

In an ever-changing world, certain topics-such as sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, and gender-still are hot-button items for many people. This series of vignettes covers many diversity topics, primarily in the workplace, and should promote engaging and intense debate. In reading them, students should try to see each vignette from the different perspectives presented.

An implicit assumption of the "war for talent" perspective is that departing workers are lost to competitors. Managers should consider two criteria -- the destination and knowledge of departing employees -- when determining how best to handle worker turnover. There are four different scenarios. In the first, employees with knowledge that is generic or of low strategic importance leave to join competitors. This hampers the productive capacity of an organization, while increasing that of its competitors. Defensive maneuvers (such as improving employee benefits) are recommended. In the second scenario, employees possessing knowledge that has low strategic importance depart to join cooperators. Administrative and human-capital costs are incurred that must be weighed against possible social-capital benefits -- the new business opportunities that can be generated by ex-employees in their new jobs. Companies are advised to adopt relational actions to maintain positive relationships with these former employees. The third scenario -- employees with strategically important, company-specific knowledge resign to take jobs with competitors -- is potentially the most damaging form of turnover. Companies might emphasize retaliatory actions (such as the threat of lawsuits to enforce non-compete clauses in contracts) in addition to defensive maneuvers to retain crucial employees. In the fourth scenario, employees with strategically important, company-specific knowledge leave to work for cooperators. Because this loss incurs high administrative and human-capital costs, companies have a strong incentive to adopt defensive strategies to reduce such turnover. But this can also lead to opportunities for businesses to expand their social capital with important clients and suppliers. Therefore, when defensive maneuvers fail, a company should consider adopting a relational approach, maintaining positive relationships with departing employees as they transition into their new jobs.

Breitfelder and Dowling are two recent Harvard MBAs who have worked in fields typically chosen by alumni of esteemed business schools: strategy consulting, investment banking, you know the score. Ultimately, however, these promising young professionals decided to do the unexpected and enter human resources. They switched gears not to achieve work/life balance or avoid tough challenges but to get in early on a good thing, as any smart value investor would. HR sits, according to the authors, in the middle of the most important competitive battleground in business. Finding and retaining the best talent has become an increasingly vital competitive advantage, making HR a truly strategic function for any company today. Breitfelder and Dowling have seen this shift firsthand in their work at Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and MasterCard-and have had it confirmed by their colleagues and former classmates at other top-tier firms. Such companies recognize the real value of excellent, motivated employees and are investing time and energy accordingly; in the process, they are defining what the authors call "the New HR." This HR of the future has five characteristics: It, like a business school, promotes active learning; it serves as an engine for both savings and revenue; it hatches and harvests ideas across organizational boundaries; it makes big places smaller by connecting people intimately and often; and it focuses on the positive, moving beyond fixing problems and enforcing rules to enhancing employee engagement and capitalizing on people's strengths. If that's what HR is becoming, why wouldn't you go into it?

Motivating employees begins with recognizing that to do their best work, people must be in an environment that meets their basic emotional drives to acquire, bond, comprehend, and defend. So say Nohria and Groysberg, of Harvard Business School, and Lee, of the Center for Research on Corporate Performance. Using the results of surveys they conducted with employees at a wide range of Fortune 500 and other companies, they developed a model for how to increase workplace motivation dramatically. The authors identify the organizational levers that companies and frontline managers have at their disposal as they try to meet workers' deep needs. Reward systems that truly value good performance fulfill the drive to acquire. The drive to bond is best met by a culture that promotes collaboration and openness. Jobs that are designed to be meaningful and challenging meet the need to comprehend. Processes for performance management and resource allocation that are fair, trustworthy, and transparent address the drive to defend. Equipped with real-world company examples, the authors articulate how to apply these levers in productive ways. That application should not be selective, they argue, because a holistic approach gets you more than a piecemeal one. By using all four levers simultaneously, and thereby tackling all four drives, organizations can improve motivation levels by leaps and bounds. For example, a company that falls in the 50th percentile on employee motivation improves only to the 56th by boosting performance on one drive, but way up to the 88th percentile by doing better on all four drives. That's a powerful gain in competitive advantage that any business would relish.

The case is about HR practices at Singhania and Partners, one of the largest full-service national law firms in India. People are at the core of the services industry and it is imperative that service organisations have systems in place to attract and retain talent. The Indian legal services industry has been booming since the country's economy began liberalising in the early 1990s. The exponential growth of this industry was accompanied by an acute talent crunch. Indeed, the very ability to hire and retain talent was becoming a source of competitive advantage. Mr Ravi Singhania (managing partner), in conversation with Ms Manju Mohotra (chief executive officer), evaluates the firm's current HR practices and is concerned about whether the firm faces human resource risks.

A new study reveals that U.S. companies face a troubling brain drain: Fifty-two percent of female scientists, engineers, and technologists abandon their chosen professions. If companies understand why women drop out, however, they can create targeted interventions and head off a talent shortage.

Boards should tie CEO pay to more than just company performance - they should link it to performance with integrity. Otherwise, companies can't build the reputation that is vital for survival.

There's a certain age, long established by large corporations, at which executives must make their play for the big promotion that will put them in line for the C-suite. While the timing is good for men, it's not good for women.

Is it a sign or just a coincidence that several talented employees have recently left Sambian Partners? The architecture and engineering firm's latest defector refuses to tell the head of human resources, Mary Donillo, why he was unhappy. And the self-administered employee surveys don't reveal much. When CEO Helen Gasbarian gets word of the next possible flight risk, she promotes the employee on the spot. How can Sambian stop the talent drain? Four experts comment on this fictional case study in R0806A and R0806Z. Anna Pringle, the head of international people and organization capability for Microsoft, thinks that Helen should take a hard look at Mary, who is not safeguarding the firm's talent. Helen must also become an attentive listener. F. Leigh Branham, the CEO of human resources consultancy Keeping the People, thinks that Sambian's employees need a forum in which they can speak openly about their discontent. The candid discussions can expose the "triggering events" that impel people to leave, such as a disconnect between the firm's long-standing focus on innovative design and a more recent concern with profitability. Jim Cornelius, the chairman and CEO of Bristol-Myers Squibb, once faced a potential employee exodus as interim CEO of the pharmaceutical company. He advises Helen to meet face-to-face with her most talented employees and assure them that she understands their concerns and desires. Jean Martin, the executive director of the Corporate Executive Board's leadership council, urges Helen to support a mission and culture to which employees will feel connected. She explains that although people join companies for rational motives, they stay for emotional ones. By the time unhappy workers tell their managers what's going on, it's often too late.

What is the real key to elite performance? According to sports psychologist turned executive coach Graham Jones, star athletes and businesspeople share one defining trait: mental toughness. People who become champions aren't necessarily more gifted than others; they're just masters at managing pressure, meticulously tackling goals, and driving themselves to stay ahead of the competition. Jones, who has advised Olympic medalists and Fortune 500 executives, sees many parallels between the arenas of business and sports, especially in the behavior of people who rise to the very top. These stars have learned to love pressure because it spurs them to achieve. Inner-focused and self-directed, they concentrate on their own excellence and forget the rest. They don't get distracted by others' victories or failures - or even by a personal tragedy off the field of competition. Like Darren Clarke, the golfer who inspired his team to a Ryder Cup victory shortly after the death of his beloved wife, elite performers are masters of compartmentalization. Superstars rebound from defeats more easily, Jones observes, because they don't engage in self-flagellation. One of the keys to their success is a relentless focus on the long term and the careful planning of short-term goals that will help them attain major milestones. Competition doesn't daunt elite performers; they just use it to challenge themselves - and they never stop striving. Even after becoming benchmarks in their fields, stars keep their edge by reinventing themselves. Star businesspeople and athletes also recognize the importance of celebrating their wins. It's not just the emotional reward that's important, however: The very best performers also analyze the factors underpinning their success. That helps them build their expertise and their confidence.

Is it a sign or just a coincidence that several talented employees have recently left Sambian Partners? The architecture and engineering firm's latest defector refuses to tell the head of human resources, Mary Donillo, why he was unhappy. And the self-administered employee surveys don't reveal much. When CEO Helen Gasbarian gets word of the next possible flight risk, she promotes the employee on the spot. How can Sambian stop the talent drain? Four experts comment on this fictional case study in R0806A and R0806Z. Anna Pringle, the head of international people and organization capability for Microsoft, thinks that Helen should take a hard look at Mary, who is not safeguarding the firm's talent. Helen must also become an attentive listener. F. Leigh Branham, the CEO of human resources consultancy Keeping the People, thinks that Sambian's employees need a forum in which they can speak openly about their discontent. The candid discussions can expose the "triggering events" that impel people to leave, such as a disconnect between the firm's long-standing focus on innovative design and a more recent concern with profitability. Jim Cornelius, the chairman and CEO of Bristol-Myers Squibb, once faced a potential employee exodus as interim CEO of the pharmaceutical company. He advises Helen to meet face-to-face with her most talented employees and assure them that she understands their concerns and desires. Jean Martin, the executive director of the Corporate Executive Board's leadership council, urges Helen to support a mission and culture to which employees will feel connected. She explains that although people join companies for rational motives, they stay for emotional ones. By the time unhappy workers tell their managers what's going on, it's often too late.