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While ethics guidelines are abstract, people must apply them to concrete, pressing dilemmas. This requires skill, not just good intentions. How can people learn to wisely put a company ethics guidelines into action? Using real-world lessons from health care leaders, this article outlines three practices that can help decision makers handle tough ethics scenarios. The authors also share four ways leaders can cultivate employees ethical expertise.

Previous technology breakthroughs did not upend organizational structure, but generative AI and LLMs will. We now face a challenge like that of the original railroad operators: how to rebuild an organization around a fundamental shift in the way work is done, organized, and communicated. What is your organization’s vision about how AI makes work better, not worse? Managers must start answering that question. To guide your thinking, use these three principles for reorganizing work around AI.

Digital platforms are often characterized as enablers of new ecosystems. However, platforms are sometimes introduced into pre-existing ecosystems, where a platform's ability to harmonize with the ecosystem is critical for its success. This article draws on the case of digital healthcare platforms and introduces the concept of platform grafting, which denotes the process of integrating a new platform into a pre-existing ecosystem, leading to a coevolutionary process of adapting both the platform and the surrounding ecosystem. Dynamic capabilities are critical for successfully integrating the platform into the ecosystem, and this article provides a capabilities framework for understanding platform grafting.

Why can automated systems that rely on artificial intelligence be a deadly liability in situations unforeseen by the designers?

Employer branding doesn't get the same attention as consumer branding, but its a critical way to attract talent to your organization. By following five steps identifying the talent you need, tuning in to talent perceptions and preferences, defining your employer proposition, communicating your brand, and keeping your promises you can enhance your employer brand and meet the challenge of talent acquisition.

Why can automated systems that rely on artificial intelligence be a deadly liability in situations unforeseen by the designers?

This article explores Nordic countries' and companies' sustainability practices. It explores how nations like Denmark, Finland, and Sweden and companies such as Novo Nordisk and Ørsted achieve top sustainability rankings through their distinctive approach to stakeholder cooperation. It discusses the historical and cultural context that has shaped the Nordic approach, emphasizing the importance of long-term vision, stakeholder engagement, and cooperative strategies. It provides insights into how these practices contribute to achieving sustainable development goals and offers valuable lessons for global businesses seeking to integrate sustainable practices into their operations.

Managing acquired subsidiaries can be daunting. Parent and affiliate executives strive to co-create value, but fixed mindsets around subsidiary autonomy can result in diverging interests and outcomes. Through a longitudinal study of Audi's post-acquisition integration of supercar manufacturer Lamborghini, this article provides guidance on how to manage the level of acquired subsidiary autonomy as a strategic dial that can be dynamically adjusted over time for mutual benefit. This dynamic approach to autonomy rests on three specific managerial levers - appraisal respect, organizational identity, and resource orchestration. These can enable the renewal of competitive capabilities and sustain post-acquisition success.

At AT&T, a raindrop is an annoying policy, outdated process, or unhelpful tool. When enough of them pool up, people feel like they are drowning in bureaucracy. AT& Project Raindrops, which evolved from a grassroots effort to an office with six full-time employees, uses a streamlined process to vet and implement employee ideas on how to fix these annoyances. The company says the project has saved it $230 million so far. AT& CTO shares lessons for leaders on how to make such a program work.

The mass mechanization of farming, coupled with the push to go away for college, has led to rural communities losing many of their most educated and talented workers. This trend, referred to as brain drain, has resulted in rural communities suffering significant population declines and an array of social problems. But one set of rural communities has greatly deviated from this trend: Amish communities. Through an inductive field study of Amish communities and entrepreneurs, we reveal how the Amish have curbed mass exodus and promoted community preservation, resulting in the retention of roughly 90% of their community members and fostering a variety of entrepreneurial opportunities. Specifically, we discover that through a creation perspective toward work, a collectivist focus, and an emphasis on vocational practices, the Amish offer a nuanced approach to community cultivation, thereby reducing brain drain.

This article is about bolstering professor-student rapport (PSR) in business education. Specifically, we integrate relevant published works to advance a model of PSR that includes literature-supported concepts and some examples from Tim, a master rapport builder. We surveyed students in a southeastern university to gain qualitative inputs that we use to refine our conceptual model (n = 75) and present those findings to help explain why PSR impacts outcomes, the primary elements that explain when PSR will impact the outcomes, and the main learning and retention outcomes that PSR may influence. Last, we translate these ideas for the practicing professors in the classroom and summarize our suggestions to advance valuable educational outcomes.

Entrepreneurial firms, due to their size and limited resources, are at a significant disadvantage when it comes to attracting, hiring, and retaining top talent. These challenges place the firm's survival and success in jeopardy, as they waste resources on talent management and operate amid talent shortfalls. Simply put, in the scale-up phase, managing talent could be the most important activity entrepreneurs pursue. While entrepreneurs cannot eliminate their strategic shortcomings (e.g., prestige, the ability to pay top salaries), they can take advantage of their unique strengths (e.g., a more intimate environment, job flexibility, and greater opportunities for growth, advancement, and leadership) to make themselves more competitive among candidates not necesarily destined for large corporations. In this article, drawing upon the lessons of best practice and theory, we make three recommendations for entrepreneurial hiring managers: (1) treat all prospective employees as transformative organizational members, (2) recognize and embrace the contributions of all, and (3) make new and established employees consistently feel valued. While these lessons allow all managers to display their organizational strengths, they provide the best return on investment for those with the greatest hiring challenges: entrepreneurs.

Implementing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives is an ongoing process that poses benefits and potential risks. One of the major challenges organizations face in implementing DEI initiatives is backfire, which occurs when well-intended initiatives result in unintended negative outcomes (e.g., discrimination against and decreased performance of members of underrepresented groups). Many leaders need an understanding of how and why DEI practices may backfire. As such, we provide five evidence-based recommendations to help organizations successfully implement DEI practices while preventing and minimizing backfire. We recommend they (1) broaden engagement in targeted recruitment, (2) adopt a context-conscious perspective on diversity training, (3) create DEI accountability structures, (4) align DEI with communication and culture, and (5) use a multilevel approach to monitor and evaluate DEI practices.

As applied fields, management, industrial-organizational psychology, and related disciplines seek to make their knowledge relevant to business practitioners. But the current dissemination model is inefficient, leading some to conclude that the gap between academics and practitioners poses one of the most pressing problems in management today. Using insights derived from the life and work of Timothy Baldwin, we offer four takeaways designed to foster collaboration between theoreticians and practitioners: (1) shrink the mission, (2) do not internalize the enemy, (3) find your champions, and (4) use the science of persuasion. These strategies are crucial to closing the gap and thus uniting the efforts of researchers and practitioners so as to ensure the practical relevance of research and to strengthen the organizational value proposition.

Many businesses engage genuinely in corporate social responsibility (CSR). But others engage in CSR-washing: using social concerns for financial gain and the distortion of internal practices to project the image of CSR to stakeholders. Unfair CSR-washing happens when a company is accused of being a CSR-washer despite having made significant and genuine efforts to address social or environmental issues. CSR-washing harms firms' reputations, resulting in the loss of consumer and stakeholder trust and even in potential lawsuits, depending on the type and severity of the behavior. We offer four interconnected, evidence-based recommendations to minimize a business's unfair perception as a CSR-washer: (1) integrate CSR into core activities rather than peripheral activities, (2) adopt a bottom-up approach to CSR, (3) develop an integrative performance-management/CSR system, and (4) develop an effective CSR communication strategy. We also offer specific implementation guidelines for each recommendation. Implementing these evidence-based practices will help organizations plan, execute, and monitor their CSR initiatives while remaining authentic and minimizing the chance of being labeled as CSR-washers.

Organizations face increasing demand for employees to develop their skills, and managers play an important role in supporting employees' learning and development. In contrast to the large body of research evidence on formal training, the emerging findings on informal learning have yet to provide managers with the necessary guidance to support employees' informal learning activities. Adopting a coaching analogy, we integrate these two research streams to introduce a model with which managers can simultaneously support employees' formal and informal learning. We elaborate on three critical dimensions of support, including direct assistance, guidance, and emotional support. We then present specific steps managers can adopt along each of these dimensions to better engage in employees' needs assessment, enhance their motivation to learn, and facilitate learning. Finally, we explain how managers can use a strategic learning plan for each employee and create synergy across formal and informal learning support, resulting in a positive learning climate.

Four years of research by a team in Sweden uncovered the unique challenges emerging digital health platforms face, such as integrating with existing solutions in a largely physical health care system and exerting influence in a tightly regulated industry. Based on more than 100 interviews with leaders and managers at 14 organizations in Sweden, the researchers developed a three-part strategy to help digital health platforms successfully scale to address global health care systems challenges.

Since the launch of ChatGPT, interest and investments in generative AI technologies have surged. Which players stand to gain the most from the growth and adoption of this technology? Analyzing the factors underlying generative AI allows us to identify points of differentiation. Given that the technology is resource and data intensive and benefits from network effects, incumbents have the greatest advantage; however, there are some areas where new entrants can create and capture value.

Many corporate venture capital initiatives (CVCs) do not deliver on their potential to bolster innovation. Research finds that these units often fit awkwardly within their parent companies, fail to meet their goals, or lack clear objectives. The authors identify the salient issues and specific questions that business leaders who are overseeing, or launching, CVC efforts should work through to improve their odds of success.

<div style="font-size: 0.94em; line-height: 1.4;"><p align="justify">When Kellogg’s CEO Gary Pilnick suggested during a CNBC interview that families facing financial hardship could eat cereal for dinner, a backlash was triggered. As Kellogg’s was attacked across social media, some consumers insisted the company had benefited from rising food prices and calls for a boycott emerged. If companies aren’t quick to respond to consumers’ concerns, they can find themselves buffeted by negative media attention. To be prepared for a media misstep, companies should consider the following steps. First, have a crisis plan: The best strategy is to hope for the best and plan for the worst. That means developing a crisis communications plan before something stirs up unwanted media attention. Second, let spokespeople do their job: The person who caused the problem should not be the one who fixes it. Third, have a Plan B: Identifying fallback communicators in a crisis plan and making sure they’re prepared to play the role will increase the plan’s value. Fourth, apologize and clarify: Even if a company decides it hasn’t committed wrongdoing, it should apologize for the confusion that its comments or actions caused. Fifth, be open to dialogue: A willingness to engage in open communication can help foster reconciliation. Sixth, rebuild trust: This can involve taking action to improve the quality, safety, or reliability of products or services or enhancing efforts to show a commitment to certain values.