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Parivar, an IT services firm with a long history of attracting talented people with its family-like culture suddenly faces a spate of resignations among rank-and-file employees. As the vice president of HR tries to figure out what's behind the exodus, the CEO wants to create a brand-new function charged with reinforcing the company's culture. As Parivar prepares for global expansion, is emphasizing the family-like atmosphere the key to retaining employees, or has the company's approach started to become a liability? David A. Garvin, of Harvard Business School, lays out the fictionalized case. Expert commentary comes from Ganesh Natarajan, the vice chairman and CEO of Zensar Technologies (on which the case is loosely based), and from Daisy Dowling, the head of talent development at Blackstone Group.

Parivar, an IT services firm with a long history of attracting talented people with its family-like culture suddenly faces a spate of resignations among rank-and-file employees. As the vice president of HR tries to figure out what's behind the exodus, the CEO wants to create a brand-new function charged with reinforcing the company's culture. As Parivar prepares for global expansion, is emphasizing the family-like atmosphere the key to retaining employees, or has the company's approach started to become a liability? David A. Garvin, of Harvard Business School, lays out the fictionalized case. Expert commentary comes from Ganesh Natarajan, the vice chairman and CEO of Zensar Technologies (on which the case is loosely based), and from Daisy Dowling, the head of talent development at Blackstone Group.

Parivar, an IT services firm with a long history of attracting talented people with its family-like culture suddenly faces a spate of resignations among rank-and-file employees. As the vice president of HR tries to figure out what's behind the exodus, the CEO wants to create a brand-new function charged with reinforcing the company's culture. As Parivar prepares for global expansion, is emphasizing the family-like atmosphere the key to retaining employees, or has the company's approach started to become a liability? David A. Garvin, of Harvard Business School, lays out the fictionalized case. Expert commentary comes from Ganesh Natarajan, the vice chairman and CEO of Zensar Technologies (on which the case is loosely based), and from Daisy Dowling, the head of talent development at Blackstone Group.

When a travel company tried cutting office overhead by allowing call center reps to do their jobs at home, it realized some unexpected results.

Deloitte Dads is a firm-sponsored diversity and inclusion initiative aimed at supporting working fathers within Deloitte (Canada) LLP, an independent member of the Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited global network. With support from senior management, Deloitte Dads was founded in 2010 by a junior consultant in the management consulting division in the company's Greater Toronto Area office and quickly gained both members and media attention. The group not only had to be distinctly separate from other parenting initiatives already in place but had to negotiate with the company's performance management practices, which historically had not considered flexibility in appraising employees. In 2013, the founder was wondering not only if the group could be rolled out to other divisions within the company across the country and perhaps across the world but also how best to handle its success while managing his own career and the demands of being a father of two small children. He had mastered the quarterly events within his office, but how could he create a formal governance model? Already working 80 to 90 hours per week, with no end in sight, how was he going to make Deloitte Dads sustainable and successful?

Tariq Khan arrived home after a nearly 16-hour meeting. He was grappling with whether to take the global sales and marketing team manager position that had been offered to him, and had spent the entire day with the senior leadership of his potential new team. He wanted to understand the causes of the group's multiple problems and get a handle on how to help them thrive. But so far, the meeting had raised more questions than answers.

The executive director, human resources, at Hindustan Unilever Ltd., a market leader in the Indian fast moving consumer goods sector and the Indian subsidiary of the major multinational, Unilever Ltd., is concerned that the company may be losing its position as the "dream employer" for graduates from the top Indian business schools from which it recruits its management personnel. The shifting demographic profile of employees and their changing expectations have already resulted in changes in the company's employment model. These include on-the-job training and classroom and e-learning program facilities at all levels of the organization and at all stages of one's career; mentoring by senior management; communication of vision and goals throughout the company, especially through regular meetings with the CEO; a focus on corporate social responsibility; and an emphasis on work-life balance, such as offering sabbaticals and providing health and recreation facilities at the new headquarters. While the company has changed its traditional employment value proposition, in a highly competitive and talent-scarce job market, can it continue to be relevant in order to attract and retain the best talent in the country?

In the hotel industry, the reuse of towels is considered a main step toward reducing hotels' high carbon footprint. Windermere Manor, a private, high-end hotel, has established a routine to encourage its guests to reuse towels; however, the hotel's towel-replacement rate exceeds its towel-reuse rate. The intended routine for identifying towels for reuse is not being followed, even by the hotels' own housekeeping staff. The hotel's general manager examines the reasons for the breakdown of routine and considers ways of correcting the situation.

This case covers the scandal that occurred in 2008 at Société Générale when one trader, Jérôme Kerviel, lost the prominent French bank nearly €5 billion through his unauthorized trading. The case describes Kerviel's schemes as well as SocGen's internal monitoring and reporting processes, organizational structures, and culture so that students reading the case can identify and discuss the shortcomings of the firm's risk management practices. The case and epilogue also describe the French government's and Finance Minister Christine Lagarde's reactions to the scandal (e.g., imposition of a €4 million fine and increased regulations), prompting students to consider the role of government in overseeing that healthy risk management practices are followed in key industries (such as banking) that are highly entwined with entire economies. Finally, the case encourages students-during class discussion-to critically consider whether it is truly possible for one rogue trader to act alone, which elements in a work environment enable or even encourage risky behavior, and who should be held accountable when such scandals occur. Interestingly, this case highlights a story that is not unique. Prior to Kerviel's transgressions were the similar scandals of Nick Leeson at Barings Bank and Toshihide Iguchi at Daiwa Bank, yet history has repeated itself. This case gives students a vivid example of the dangers of internal, self-inflicted risk on organizations, and it opens a discussion on how to avoid it.

Seven years of research into how teams work shows just how great the benefits are when team members have lots of experience working with one another. Five steps can help managers take advantage of team familiarity, a surprisingly underutilized tool.

"No" doesn't necessarily mean "never." In fact, new research from Stanford shows that people who've refused your first request are much likelier to agree to your second one than anyone would expect.

The case serves as an illustration of organizational behavior when it comes to the issue of silence in organizations. It describes a critical leadership situation that requires speaking up against the orders of a superior in a hierarchical structure - in this case, the armed forces. When the protagonist, a young Israeli officer leading a special-forces platoon, receives an order that would put his platoon in extreme danger, he has to make a decision. The case is not concerned with combat situations, but rather with how to act as a responsible leader. Given the setting of an army unit governed by command and control, the initial case discussion is likely to focus on typical leadership issues, such as motivation and followership. However, the more interesting aspect concerns the dual roles that leaders typically have to fulfill, that is, they may be both leaders and followers. The protagonist of the case is a captain who receives an order from a major that will have consequences for the captain's platoon. The core issue of the case is the decision to reject the order in question. Participants will discuss why speaking up is an issue in organizations and usually does not occur. The case also allows us to look at situations in high-risk organizations that allow open communication.

"Highlights critical gaps between research and practice in the field of strategic human resources management. Also, aims to debunk some myths and preconceptions that general managers bring to their HR decisions. Before class, participants fill out a true-or-false questionnaire for subsequent class discussion.<br> Note: Please refer to the Teaching Note for ""People Management"" (Product #: 406034). Although the numbering of the questions will not line up, all the information is included. A Teaching Note for the abridged version is forthcoming."

Explores the role of CEO Man Jit Singh and his senior management committee in leading Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd. (formerly SET Pvt. Ltd.), a leading television broadcaster in India. Describes Singh's decision to evaluate employees based on values as well as performance, and the management committee's response. Allows for discussion of: 1) the impact of leadership style on team culture, performance, and effectiveness; 2) the challenges of building a values-based organization; 3) the complexities of managing talent in a young industry, particularly within an emerging market; and 4) the final decision by CEO Man Jit Singh and the subsequent actions taken by members of the management committee.

Supplement to (A) case: Explores the role of CEO Man Jit Singh and his senior management committee in leading Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd. (formerly SET Pvt. Ltd.), a leading television broadcaster in India. Describes Singh's decision to evaluate employees based on values as well as performance, and the management committee's response. Allows for discussion of: 1) the impact of leadership style on team culture, performance, and effectiveness; 2) the challenges of building a values-based organization; 3) the complexities of managing talent in a young industry, particularly within an emerging market; and 4) the final decision by CEO Man Jit Singh and the subsequent actions taken by members of the management committee.

Motivating employees has long been a topic of fascination for business leaders. Psychologists have developed many useful insights that are helping businesses to accrue value from their workforces. Regulatory focus theory stands out as one of the newer theories that is gaining traction as well as substantial empirical support. The purpose of this reading is to explain the basic tenets of regulatory focus theory and to discuss how it can be used to enhance motivation and engagement in the workplace.

The six vignettes in this case present situations that call for the application of one of the six leadership styles: coercive, pacesetting, authoritative, affiliative, democratic, and coaching. The vignettes, each demonstrating a correct, incorrect, or possible use of a particular style, can be used in class for the purpose of developing students' leadership style, diagnostic skills, as a group discussion material, or as test material for post-class examination. Each of the vignettes is a generalized experience story based on examples shared by participants in executive education programs run over the course of the author's eight years of teaching the leadership styles model as presented by Goleman (2000) at a leading European business school. The vignettes have been tested within the context of MBA and executive MBA programs, and executive education courses for high potentials, middle managers, and board level executives.

Most businesses rely on traditional capital-budgeting tools when making strategic decisions such as investing in an innovative technology or entering a new market. These tools assume that decision makers have access to remarkably complete and reliable information--yet most strategic decisions must be made under conditions of great uncertainty. Why are these traditional tools used so often even though their limitations are widely acknowledged? The problem is not a lack of alternatives. Managers have at their disposal a wide variety of tools--including decision analysis, scenario planning, and information aggregation tools--that can help them make smart decisions under high degrees of uncertainty. But the sheer variety can be overwhelming. This article provides a model for matching the decision-making tool to the decision being made, on the basis of three factors: how well you understand the variables that will determine success, how well you can predict the range of possible outcomes, and how centralized the relevant information is. The authors bring their framework to life using decisions that executives at McDonald's might need to make--from the very clear-cut (choosing a site for a new store in the United States) to the highly uncertain (changing the business in response to the obesity epidemic).

As one of the world's preeminent advisers to CEOs, Ram Charan has spent the past 35 years on the road, helping hundreds of executives deal with their toughest challenges. In this edited interview, he shares what he's learned about decision making over the decades. Getting to the right answer is a lot harder today than it was 10 years ago, Charan points out. Leaders have to contend with more variables and constituencies than ever before. They must be able to cut through all that complexity and to make subjective judgments about highly ambiguous, and constantly changing, factors. The best executives know which decisions to focus on (and which to delegate), when to make a decision, and what the risk of not making a decision is. When opportunities arise and vanish quickly, timing is critical. In this environment, good decisions involve a lot more than analytics. They demand perceptual acuity, or the ability to see change coming; qualitative judgment, which allows leaders to formulate and select the right options; and credibility, which helps them gain acceptance for decisions. All three traits can be developed over time by practicing the right habits, such as listening to diverse and contradictory views, thinking through second- and third-order consequences, and socializing decisions by demonstrating transparency and explaining their performance payoff.

Though a few superbright people may have the almost magical ability to consistently make good decisions, the rest of us just get by--or so conventional wisdom holds. But new research contradicts that thinking. A recent study by MIT's Sandy Pentland and his colleagues shows that anyone can become a good decision maker. The key is to constantly conduct "social exploration," or seek out a wide range of new people and ideas. In 2011, Pentland's team gathered data on 1.6 million users of eToro, an investment site that lets day traders see and copy one another's moves. Information on the site is extremely transparent, so the researchers were able to plot the return each trader achieved against the amount of social exploration he or she did. The traders who had the right level of diversity of ideas and people in their networks experienced a return on investment that was 30% higher than the return of the isolated traders. They equally outperformed the traders who were too interconnected to one group and got trapped in an "echo chamber," where similar ideas kept recirculating. What's more, by offering incentives and nudges, the researchers were able to help more traders attain the model idea flow. The results? The profitability of all traders on eToro doubled. Although these findings involve only stock investments, the researchers believe that many kinds of organizations can apply them to improve their internal decision making.