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In the information technology (IT) industry, women constitute only 33% of employees at the entry level and 17% at the leadership level. In this article, we outline the status of women in the workforce and discuss issues that affect their participation, with a specific focus on the IT sector. We claim that U.S. corporations can influence gender diversity in the IT industry by leveraging their relationships with IT suppliers. To this end, we propose the application of Nudge Theory during the strategic sourcing of IT services. We begin our narrative by describing the current state of gender diversity initiatives. Then, we detail gender diversity initiatives in the sourcing process as revealed by a survey on the topic as related to IT suppliers. We then briefly define Nudge Theory and provide examples of this theory as applied to an organization's supplier base. Finally, we present the details of our recommendation, which suggests that sourcing groups should include questions regarding women's participation in the IT supplier's workplace during competitive market events. We conclude with a call to action and a call to research.

The overarching vision of the global nongovernmental organization Transparency International was to free the world from corruption. Transparency International Ukraine (TIU) was founded in 2014, after three failed attempts, to tackle the high level of corruption that had taken hold of that country. Over the first two years, the chief executive officer faced significant organizational issues that hindered the organization's performance; he appointed an external hire as chief operating officer to help facilitate a transition to a new, more professional team in Kyiv and to turn the organization around. As the two seasoned professionals worked collaboratively to revamp the organization, they realized they faced challenging external and internal pressures. Not only were they tackling highly corrupt public officers and colluding oligarchic elites, they were also faced with alienated volunteers, who questioned their ability to transform TIU. In 2017, they had made some progress but still faced many barriers. How could they reinvent the organization without risking burnout?

This case addresses the nuances of gender dynamics and career progression at the top of the organization, where even women who have strong leadership expertise, experience, and alliances with powerful male colleagues still get stuck. Told from the point of view of Sonia Millar, the case explicitly presents two significant challenges: How can Millar sustain her career momentum into the CEO role despite taking on the critical but difficult role of CIO: How can Millar address the potentially antagonistic actions of another business leader who may be another strong contender for the CEO promotion? The case provides the opportunity to discuss influence, action planning, talent management, inclusion, and implicit bias. It is designed to provoke debate in the classroom regarding the phenomenon of gender bias (among other forms of bias) in the workplace. It is recommended for upper-level undergraduates, MBA candidates, and executive education participants in courses focused on organizational behavior, power and politics, leadership, diversity, and career management.

In 2012, Nalin Jain, then head of GE aviation for South Asia, was given the added responsibility for GE's transportation business in India, including bidding for a $2.5 billion contract to manufacture, service and maintain 1,000 diesel locomotives for state owned Indian Railways (IR). The deal, which would have been "the largest deal on the planet" for the transportation business, had been under discussion for six years, and many within GE had given up hope that it would materialize, but Jain persisted. In February 2015, when IR requested companies to submit a financial bid in six months, Jain quickly built an autonomous team, sequestered from the rest of GE, with people from multiple businesses and functions. His team overcame internal resistance from people at headquarters and stiff competition to help GE win the deal by a narrow margin. Jain was then tasked with executing the deal. As many of his earlier team members had moved on, Jain hired new people and built a new diverse yet integrated team for execution, with members able to put aside their many differences, look beyond their functional silos, and focus on the project deliverables. However, 2017 brought a series of challenges. GE changed India's organization structure, making India business leaders report only to their respective global business leaders instead of reporting to both their business leaders and the India country leader. Jain's mandate was expanded to include the entire international operations of GE's transportation business. And, sub-optimal company performance forced GE to announce cost cuts of $2 billion. In the face of this turmoil, Jain wonders, "Have I created an agile team that can succeed in GE's matrix environment and deal with the internal challenges? Do the team members have the maturity and motivation required for the project to succeed?"

A Harvard Business School alumna discusses her life trajectory.

In 2012, Nalin Jain, then head of GE aviation for South Asia, was given the added responsibility for GE's transportation business in India, including bidding for a $2.5 billion contract to manufacture, service and maintain 1,000 diesel locomotives for state owned Indian Railways (IR). The deal, which would have been "the largest deal on the planet" for the transportation business, had been under discussion for six years, and many within GE had given up hope that it would materialize, but Jain persisted. In February 2015, when IR requested companies to submit a financial bid in six months, Jain quickly built an autonomous team, sequestered from the rest of GE, with people from multiple businesses and functions. His team overcame internal resistance from people at headquarters and stiff competition to help GE win the deal by a narrow margin. Jain was then tasked with executing the deal. As many of his earlier team members had moved on, Jain hired new people and built a new diverse yet integrated team for execution, with members able to put aside their many differences, look beyond their functional silos, and focus on the project deliverables. However, 2017 brought a series of challenges. GE changed India's organization structure, making India business leaders report only to their respective global business leaders instead of reporting to both their business leaders and the India country leader. Jain's mandate was expanded to include the entire international operations of GE's transportation business. And, sub-optimal company performance forced GE to announce cost cuts of $2 billion. In the face of this turmoil, Jain wonders, "Have I created an agile team that can succeed in GE's matrix environment and deal with the internal challenges? Do the team members have the maturity and motivation required for the project to succeed?"

Every day, at almost every company, strategy is being hijacked by numbers. Because strategy is abstract, employees often mentally replace it with the hard metrics meant to assess whether the organization is succeeding at it. This tendency is called surrogation, and it destroys a lot of value. Take Wells Fargo. Executives there decided to track cross-sales to customers to measure performance on the bank's strategy of building long-term customer relationships. The focus on cross-selling goals led employees to open 3.5 million accounts without customer consent, which, with brutal irony, severely damaged the long-term relationships the bank sought. Though it's easy to fall into the surrogation snare, firms can take steps to avoid it. For instance, they can involve the people who'll implement a strategy in its formulation, so they'll be more likely to grasp it and less likely to replace it with a metric. Tying financial incentives to a metric is usually a mistake: It only increases the focus on the numbers. Using multiple yardsticks is very helpful, however; that highlights the fact that no single metric captures the strategy and makes people less apt to surrogate.

The agendas of company boards are so packed that it's hard to get to every question and concern during regular meetings. So between meetings, directors do what members of a team always do in this situation: They start having conversations on the side. Conducted properly, side discussions allow directors to work together efficiently--to trade opinions, share information, and exert influence. But conducted improperly, they encourage political maneuvering, marginalize members with key expertise, foster inappropriate alliances, and lead to poor decisions. They shut out diverse input, and they make boards dysfunctional. The authors started examining side conversations three years ago as part of a larger study of board dynamics. In this article they share what they've learned about how directors should approach them. High-functioning boards, for instance, set clear rules of engagement and regularly review whether they're following them. They create onboarding processes, help directors form personal relationships, and take measures to maintain trust--such as ensuring that every member is briefed on all relevant information before formal discussions restart.

Adopting a 100 percent direct operations model, Haidilao (HDL) previously lacked experienced restaurant managers, who were deemed as the company's core talent. The founder Zhang Yong designed a profit-sharing mechanism that not only motivated restaurant managers effectively, but also facilitated mentor-protégé relationships. After two years of execution, the company achieved high-speed expansion and formed a core talent pool for the future. Zhang Yong is not resting satisfied with HDL's China market success, but rather aims to introduce the hot pot dining experience in overseas markets, especially to local mainstream customers. However, would HDL's incentive system work as well in different cultures? Another issue is food safety concerns. HDL has invested heavily in a smart restaurant with an unmanned kitchen in Beijing; could that be the solution?

This field-based case offers the experiences of a historic winery in Tuscany, Italy, to set the stage for how the leader's philosophy affects all aspects of the company, as well as how those practices create the culture of an all-female-staffed organization. The situation provides an opportunity to explore and connect the relationship among the leader's values, the actions she takes, and the impact of those values and actions on how the organization works. The case opens with the owner of Casato Prime Donne and Fattoria del Colle wineries, Donatella Cinelli Colombini, reflecting on strategic plans to increase production, build a warehouse, and grow the estates. In the long term, she would have to decide when a good time might be to step down from the business and pass it to her daughter. Had she built a self-managed team that could continue to grow the business and build future relationships between the wineries and tourism? Was her business sturdy enough to stand on its own when she left?

In February 2018, the dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of the East Coast in eastern Canada was faced with the challenge of managing a protest by one of his professors. Tension had been brewing between the two for a few months because of inappropriate expense claims and complaints of sexual harassment. However, because of the way the dean had been appointed, he was in a weak position and could not depend on his superiors for help in solving the problem. As a result, donors were complaining, prospective students were changing their minds about applying, and department chairs were beginning to complain. The dean wondered what he should do to bring his faculty back to a normal functioning state. What should he do about the protesting professor, the apparent fraud, and the reactions of potential employers, potential students, and donors? How could he improve the image of his faculty and the university?

After the establishment of his critically-acclaimed upscale vegetarian restaurant, King's Joy, in Beijing, chef and entrepreneur David Yin must decide whether or not to expand to other locations or continue to invest in his existing location in order to fulfill his mission of promoting vegetarian cuisine.