Select one of the articles listed below from the Harvard Business Review. After reading the article, write a one to two page analysis of the article that relates the ideas of the articles to the relevant material in the text.
You can discuss the relevant theories from the text on this topic and what they would say about the authors’ ideas. You can analyze and critique the article, but use the principles of management discussed and read during the semester. Use no more than one short paragraph summarizing what the article is about. Use the rest of the space to analyze the ideas of the article.
You may select from one of the nine articles listed below. You will find links to articles in our library database.
Record: 1
Building a Game-Changing Talent Strategy. (cover story). By: Ready, Douglas A.; Hill, Linda A.; Thomas, Robert J. Harvard Business Review. Jan/Feb2014, Vol. 92 Issue 1/2, p62-68. 7p. 1 Black and White Photograph. Abstract: When most of the world’s financial services giants were stumbling and retrenching in the aftermath of the 2008 recession, the asset management firm BlackRock was busy charting a course for growth. Its revenues, profits, and stock price all performed consistently through this tumultuous period. The authors looked at BlackRock and other game-changing companies–the Mumbai-based global conglomerate Tata Group, and Envision, an entrepreneurial alternative energy company based in China–and found significant commonalities. These three companies demonstrate the essential attributes of a game-changing organization: They are driven by purpose, oriented toward performance, and guided by principles. In the process of conducting interviews with these companies, the authors discovered a fourth thread that weaves them even more tightly together: Each is supported by a game-changing talent strategy. But, they write, the path to such a strategy seems rife with complexity and ambiguity. How can both strategy and execution be consistently superior? How can they support a collective culture yet enable high potentials to thrive as individuals? How can the strategy be global and local at the same time? And how can its policies endure yet be agile and constantly open to revitalization? BlackRock’s approach provides the answers. INSETS: ENVISION ENERGY;TATA GROUP;DO YOU HAVE A GAME-CHANGING TALENT STRATEGY?. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] (AN: 93302814)
Persistent link to this record (Permalink):
https://login.libweb.lib.utsa.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=93302814&scope=site
Record: 2
Can a Strong Culture Be Too Strong? By: Garvin, David A.; Natarajan, Ganesh; Dowling, Daisy. Harvard Business Review. Jan/Feb2014, Vol. 92 Issue 1/2, p113-117. 5p. Abstract: The article presents a case study of a business enterprise with high employee turnover which is considering adopting a personnel management innovation, referred to as People Support, involving a group of managers whose role is to listen to and help resolve employees’ work-related problems. It offers perspectives from two business experts who have opposing viewpoints on a family-like corporate culture and on whether the People Support plan is advisable. INSET: WHAT WOULD YOU DO?. (AN: 93302856)
Persistent link to this record (Permalink):
https://login.libweb.lib.utsa.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=93302856&scope=site
Record: 3
How Experts Gain Influence. By: Mikes, Anette; Hall, Matthew; Millo, Yuval. Harvard Business Review. Jul/Aug2013, Vol. 91 Issue 7/8, p70-74. 5p. 1 Color Photograph, 1 Diagram. Abstract: In theory, the risk management groups of two British banks-Saxon and Anglo-had the same influence in their organizations. But in practice, they did not: Saxon’s was engaged in critical work throughout the bank, while Anglo’s had little visibility outside its areas of expertise. In their study of these two financial institutions, the authors identified four competencies-trailblazing, toolmaking, teamwork, and translation-that help functional leaders or groups compete for top management’s limited attention and increase their impact. Anglo’s risk managers were strong in only some of the competencies, but Saxon’s were strong in all four. They consistently scanned the internal and external environment for important issues to which they could apply a risk management perspective (trailblazing) and then developed tools-such as quarterly risk reports-that spread their expertise (toolmaking). While controlling the tools’ design and implementation, the risk managers incorporated business managers’ insights (teamwork) and made sure everyone could understand the findings (translation). Ultimately, experts’ roles must fit the organization’s strategy and structural needs. In some situations, functional experts can raise their profile by cultivating just two of the competencies. But those who are strong in all four are likely to be the most influential. INSETS: Influential Experts;Idea in Brief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] (AN: 88350614)
Persistent link to this record (Permalink):
https://login.libweb.lib.utsa.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=88350614&scope=site
Record: 4
How Google Sold Its Engineers on Management. By: Garvin, David A. Harvard Business Review. Dec2013, Vol. 91 Issue 12, p74-82. 9p. 1 Color Photograph, 1 Diagram, 1 Chart. Abstract: High-performing knowledge workers often question whether managers actually contribute much, especially in a technical environment. Until recently, that was the case at Google, a company filled with self-starters who viewed management as more destructive than beneficial and as a distraction from “real work.” But when Google’s people analytics team examined the value of managers, applying the same rigorous research methods the company uses in its operations, it proved the skeptics wrong. Mining data from employee surveys, performance reviews, and double-blind interviews, the team verified that managers indeed had a positive impact. It also pinpointed exactly how, identifying the eight key behaviors of great Google managers. In this article, Harvard Business School professor Garvin describes how Google has incorporated the detailed findings from the research into highly specific, concrete guidelines; classes; and feedback reports that help managers hone their essential skills. Because these tools were built from the ground up, using the staff’s own input, they’ve been embraced by Google employees. Managers say that they’ve found their training to be invaluable, and managers’ ratings from direct reports have steadily risen across the company. INSETS: What Google’s Best Managers Do;One Manager’s Feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] (AN: 92545712)
Persistent link to this record (Permalink):
https://login.libweb.lib.utsa.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=92545712&scope=site
Record: 5
How Netflix Reinvented HR. (cover story). By: McCord, Patty. Harvard Business Review. Jan/Feb2014, Vol. 92 Issue 1/2, p70-76. 7p. 1 Color Photograph, 1 Black and White Photograph. Abstract: When Netflix executives wrote a PowerPoint deck about the organization’s talent management strategies, the document went viral-it’s been viewed more than 5 million times on the web. Now one of those executives, the company’s longtime chief talent officer, goes beyond the bullet points to paint a detailed picture of how Netflix attracts, retains, and manages stellar employees. The firm draws on five key tenets: Hire, reward, and tolerate only fully formed adults. Ask workers to rely on logic and common sense instead of formal policies, whether the issue is communication, time off, or expenses. Tell the truth about performance. Scrap formal reviews in favor of informal conversations. Offer generous severance rather than holding on to workers whose skills no longer fit your needs. Managers must build great teams. This is their most important task. Don’t rate them on whether they are good mentors or fill out paperwork on time. Leaders own the job of creating the company culture. You’ve got to actually model and encourage the behavior you talk up. Talent managers should think like businesspeople and innovators first, and like HR people last. Forget throwing parties and handing out T-shirts; make sure every employee understands what the company needs most and exactly what’s meant by “high performance.” INSET: Crafting a Culture of Excellence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] (AN: 93302820)
Persistent link to this record (Permalink):
https://login.libweb.lib.utsa.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=93302820&scope=site
Record: 6
IDEO’s Culture of Helping. (cover story). By: Amabile, Teresa; Fisher, Colin M.; Pillemer, Julianna. Harvard Business Review. Jan/Feb2014, Vol. 92 Issue 1/2, p54-61. 8p. 1 Color Photograph, 1 Diagram, 1 Graph. Abstract: Leaders can do few things more important than encouraging helping behavior within their organizations. In the highest-performing companies, it is a norm that colleagues support one another’s efforts to do the best work they can. That has always been true for efficiency reasons, but collaborative helping becomes even more vital in an era of knowledge work, when positive business outcomes depend on high creativity in often very complex projects. A help-friendly organization has to be actively nurtured, however, because helpfulness among colleagues does not arise automatically: Competition, pride, or distrust may get in the way. The trickiness of this management challenge-to increase a discretionary behavior that by definition must be inspired- makes all the more impressive what the design firm IDEO has already achieved. Its help-seeking and help-giving culture is behind the firm’s success. But how has IDEO managed to make helping the norm? To answer this question, the authors spent two years observing, interviewing people, and conducting surveys at one office of the firm. They discovered four keys to building a help-friendly organization that leaders of other organizations could learn and apply to similar effect. INSETS: Mapping Help at IDEO;The Helping Tango. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] (AN: 93302787)
Persistent link to this record (Permalink):
https://login.libweb.lib.utsa.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=93302787&scope=site
Record: 7
Reinventing Performance Management. (cover story). By: Buckingham, Marcus; Goodall, Ashley. Harvard Business Review. Apr2015, Vol. 93 Issue 4, p40-50. 9p. 1 Color Photograph, 4 Diagrams, 4 Graphs. Abstract: Like many other companies, Deloitte realized that its system for evaluating the work of employees—and then training them, promoting them, and paying them accordingly—was increasingly out of step with its objectives. It searched for something nimbler, real-time, and more individualized—something squarely focused on fueling performance in the future rather than assessing it in the past. The new system will have no cascading objectives, no once-a-year reviews, and no 360-degree-feedback tools. Its hallmarks are speed, agility, one-size-fits-one, and constant learning, all underpinned by a new way of collecting reliable performance data. To arrive at this design, Deloitte drew on three pieces of evidence: a simple counting of hours, a review of research in the science of ratings, and a carefully controlled study of its own organization. It discovered that the organization was spending close to 2 million hours a year on performance management, and that “idiosyncratic rater effects” led to ratings that revealed more about team leaders than about the people they were rating. From an empirical study of its own high-performing teams, the company learned that three items correlated best with high performance for a team: “My coworkers are committed to doing quality work,” “The mission of our company inspires me,” and “I have the chance to use my strengths every day.” Of these, the third was the most powerful across the organization. With all this evidence in hand, the company set about designing a radical new performance management system, which the authors describe in this article. INSETS: Idea in Brief.;How Deloitte Built a Radically Simple Performance Measure.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] (AN: 101710288)
Persistent link to this record (Permalink):
https://login.libweb.lib.utsa.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=101710288&scope=site
Record: 8
The Ambidextrous CEO. By: Tushman, Michael L.; Smith, Wendy K.; Binns, Andy. Harvard Business Review. Jun2011, Vol. 89 Issue 6, p74-80. 7p. 1 Color Photograph, 1 Diagram. Abstract: Although most managers publicly acknowledge the need to explore new businesses and markets, the claims of established businesses on company resources almost always come first, especially when times are hard. When top teams allow the tension between core and speculative units to play out at lower levels of management, innovation loses out. At best, leaders of core business units dismiss innovation initiatives as irrelevancies. At worst, they see the new businesses as threats to the firm’s core identity and values. Many CEOs take a backseat in debates over resources, ceding much of their power to middle managers, and the company ends up as a collection of feudal baronies. This is a recipe for long-term failure, say the authors. Their research of 12 top management teams at major companies suggests that firms thrive only when senior teams lead ambidextrously-when they foster a state of constant creative conflict between the old and the new. Successful CEOs first develop a broad, forward-looking strategic aspiration that sets ambitious targets both for innovation and core business growth. They then hold the tension between innovation unit demands and core business demands at the very top of the organization. And finally they embrace inconsistency, allowing themselves the latitude to pursue multiple and often conflicting agendas. INSETS: Idea in Brief;How to Hold Tension at the Top: Two Approaches [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] (AN: 60781469)
Persistent link to this record (Permalink):
https://login.libweb.lib.utsa.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=60781469&scope=site
Record: 9
The New Path To the C-Suite. (cover story). By: Groysberg, Boris; Kelly, L. Kevin; MacDonald, Bryan. Harvard Business Review. Mar2011, Vol. 89 Issue 3, p60-68. 9p. 2 Color Photographs. Abstract: Job requirements at the top of corporations have changed. Companies have come to expect much more from their C-level executives, who need new and different skills to deal with today’s business realities. Exactly what abilities do firms want in their leaders–now and in the future? By examining hundreds of job profiles developed by executive-search firm Heidrick & Struggles and interviewing numerous senior managers, the authors have identified some clear trends. One strikingly consistent finding is that today technical and functional expertise matters less at the top than business acumen and “soft” leadership skills do. Members of senior management now have more in common with their peers than with the people they manage. To thrive at the C-level, you must be a strong communicator, a collaborator, and a strategic thinker. You need a global mind-set and will be expected to offer your CEO deep insights on key business decisions. This article explores those developments in more detail and explains other findings about the latest requirements in each of seven C-level jobs: CIO, chief marketing and sales officer, CFO, general counsel, chief supply-chain management officer, chief human resources officer, and CEO. It offers a road map for ambitious managers who want to know which skills they should focus on developing in order to rise up the chain of command. INSET: About the Research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] (AN: 58557026)
Persistent link to this record (Permalink):
https://login.libweb.lib.utsa.edu/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=58557026&scope=site