Pub Date : 2021-01-01DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/13930.001.0001
Ravin Jesuthasan, J. Boudreau
Many organizations have adopted the agile methodology to transform their mindsets and work processes beyond software development, guided by agile's core values. These prioritize individuals and interactions over processes and tools, prioritize customer collaboration over contract negotiation, and prioritize responding to change over following a plan. Those principles are particularly vital for pivoting to the new work operating system, yet agile process redesign alone cannot overcome the constraints imposed by traditional ways of thinking about jobs. A major consumer goods organization implemented agile, but despite its thoughtful approach to redesigning its processes and even upskilling its employees, the company faced major difficulty in getting its employees to swarm-to collectively work on and actively engage with challenges that spanned job titles or departments. Here, Jesuthasan and Boudreau discuss the principles of the new work operating system.
{"title":"Work without Jobs","authors":"Ravin Jesuthasan, J. Boudreau","doi":"10.7551/mitpress/13930.001.0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/13930.001.0001","url":null,"abstract":"Many organizations have adopted the agile methodology to transform their mindsets and work processes beyond software development, guided by agile's core values. These prioritize individuals and interactions over processes and tools, prioritize customer collaboration over contract negotiation, and prioritize responding to change over following a plan. Those principles are particularly vital for pivoting to the new work operating system, yet agile process redesign alone cannot overcome the constraints imposed by traditional ways of thinking about jobs. A major consumer goods organization implemented agile, but despite its thoughtful approach to redesigning its processes and even upskilling its employees, the company faced major difficulty in getting its employees to swarm-to collectively work on and actively engage with challenges that spanned job titles or departments. Here, Jesuthasan and Boudreau discuss the principles of the new work operating system.","PeriodicalId":48169,"journal":{"name":"Mit Sloan Management Review","volume":"16 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2021-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90656134","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Within just a few weeks earlier this year, the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a massive shift to remote work that may change the office as we know it forever Many large companies are urging employees to work from home for months to come, and some CFOs are making plans to shed office real estate and permanently move some portion of their workforces to remote working Here, Howard-Grenville discusses how to sustain the organization's culture when everyone is remote
{"title":"How to Sustain Your Organization's Culture When Everyone Is Remote","authors":"Jennifer A. Howard-Grenville","doi":"10.17863/CAM.60133","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.60133","url":null,"abstract":"Within just a few weeks earlier this year, the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a massive shift to remote work that may change the office as we know it forever Many large companies are urging employees to work from home for months to come, and some CFOs are making plans to shed office real estate and permanently move some portion of their workforces to remote working Here, Howard-Grenville discusses how to sustain the organization's culture when everyone is remote","PeriodicalId":48169,"journal":{"name":"Mit Sloan Management Review","volume":"16 1","pages":"1-4"},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78521949","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-09-01DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/11858.003.0017
Anders Richtnér, A. Brattström, Johan Frishammar, Jennie Björk, M. Magnusson
For most companies, innovation is a top managerial priority. Business executives look at successful innovators such as Apple and Google with envy, wishing their companies could be half as innovative. To boost and benchmark innovation, managers often use quantitative performance indicators, but they struggle with identifying the right metric. Yet, our research suggests that the key managerial challenge is not identifying metrics — there is no shortage of measures to choose from. Nor should the goal be to find the perfect metric, since that quest is often futile. Rather, the crux of effective innovation measurement is to understand the problem that measurement should solve for the organization and, based on that insight, to design and implement a useful and usable innovation measurement framework appropriate to the organization’s needs. The aim of this article is to help managers ask the right questions about how to measure innovation and translate their insights into effective innovation measurement practices. We have developed a practical, step-by-step framework that helps managers identify whether their current innovation measurement practices need to change and, if so, how to go about measuring innovation more effectively.
{"title":"Creating Better Innovation Measurement Practices","authors":"Anders Richtnér, A. Brattström, Johan Frishammar, Jennie Björk, M. Magnusson","doi":"10.7551/mitpress/11858.003.0017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11858.003.0017","url":null,"abstract":"For most companies, innovation is a top managerial priority. Business executives look at successful innovators such as Apple and Google with envy, wishing their companies could be half as innovative. To boost and benchmark innovation, managers often use quantitative performance indicators, but they struggle with identifying the right metric. Yet, our research suggests that the key managerial challenge is not identifying metrics — there is no shortage of measures to choose from. Nor should the goal be to find the perfect metric, since that quest is often futile. Rather, the crux of effective innovation measurement is to understand the problem that measurement should solve for the organization and, based on that insight, to design and implement a useful and usable innovation measurement framework appropriate to the organization’s needs. The aim of this article is to help managers ask the right questions about how to measure innovation and translate their insights into effective innovation measurement practices. We have developed a practical, step-by-step framework that helps managers identify whether their current innovation measurement practices need to change and, if so, how to go about measuring innovation more effectively.","PeriodicalId":48169,"journal":{"name":"Mit Sloan Management Review","volume":"23 1","pages":"45-53"},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2017-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"78052592","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2017-01-01DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/11633.003.0011
B. Baesens, S. Winne, L. Sels
Although many companies have been investing heavily in big data and analytics, there haven’t yet been many success stories in applying analytics to human resources. But that may be about to change.
{"title":"Is your company ready for HR analytics","authors":"B. Baesens, S. Winne, L. Sels","doi":"10.7551/mitpress/11633.003.0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11633.003.0011","url":null,"abstract":"Although many companies have been investing heavily in big data and analytics, there haven’t yet been many success stories in applying analytics to human resources. But that may be about to change.","PeriodicalId":48169,"journal":{"name":"Mit Sloan Management Review","volume":"3 1","pages":"20-21"},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2017-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73630198","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2016-09-01DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/11633.003.0015
Mary C Lacity, L. Willcocks
While many white collar workers may feel threatened by service automation, companies that thoughtfully automate services are finding that the worries are overblown. By pairing humans and robots, companies can deliver better services for less, and jobs can become more interesting.
{"title":"A new approach to automating services","authors":"Mary C Lacity, L. Willcocks","doi":"10.7551/mitpress/11633.003.0015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11633.003.0015","url":null,"abstract":"While many white collar workers may feel threatened by service automation, companies that thoughtfully automate services are finding that the worries are overblown. By pairing humans and robots, companies can deliver better services for less, and jobs can become more interesting.","PeriodicalId":48169,"journal":{"name":"Mit Sloan Management Review","volume":"74 1","pages":"41-49"},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2016-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83628500","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2016-09-01DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0015
Lynda Gratton
Constant improvements in robotics and machine learning, in conjunction with the automation of routine tasks, make management a more unclear practice. When technology enables many people to have more information about themselves and others, its easier to take a clear and more mature view of the workplace. Self-assessment tools, particularly those that enable people to diagnose what they do and how they do it, can help employees pinpoint their own productivity issues. They have less need for the watchful eyes of a manager. Technology-enabled social networking is capable of creating robust and realistic maps of influence and power. Rather than seeing the end of management, we seem to be witnessing the rise of a more skilled form of it.
{"title":"Rethinking the manager's role","authors":"Lynda Gratton","doi":"10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0015","url":null,"abstract":"Constant improvements in robotics and machine learning, in conjunction with the automation of routine tasks, make management a more unclear practice. When technology enables many people to have more information about themselves and others, its easier to take a clear and more mature view of the workplace. Self-assessment tools, particularly those that enable people to diagnose what they do and how they do it, can help employees pinpoint their own productivity issues. They have less need for the watchful eyes of a manager. Technology-enabled social networking is capable of creating robust and realistic maps of influence and power. Rather than seeing the end of management, we seem to be witnessing the rise of a more skilled form of it.","PeriodicalId":48169,"journal":{"name":"Mit Sloan Management Review","volume":"8 1","pages":"8-9"},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2016-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90484541","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2016-09-01DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0016
Monideepa Tarafdar
In the coming years, both business leaders and their employees will face a number of challenges as they deal with changing digital technologies. In particular, they will need to learn three important new skills: (1) how to partner with new digital colleagues; (2) how to create a mindful relationship with increasingly ubiquitous digital technologies; and (3) how to develop empathy for the varying technology preferences of their human coworkers. As the data become denser and algorithms get faster and more complex, there is a danger of runaway algorithms that become disconnected from the reality of the phenomenon they represent, eventually leading to wrong solutions. To prevent this, managers will need to retain their expertise and control over their tasks and processes.
{"title":"The three new skills managers need","authors":"Monideepa Tarafdar","doi":"10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11645.003.0016","url":null,"abstract":"In the coming years, both business leaders and their employees will face a number of challenges as they deal with changing digital technologies. In particular, they will need to learn three important new skills: (1) how to partner with new digital colleagues; (2) how to create a mindful relationship with increasingly ubiquitous digital technologies; and (3) how to develop empathy for the varying technology preferences of their human coworkers. As the data become denser and algorithms get faster and more complex, there is a danger of runaway algorithms that become disconnected from the reality of the phenomenon they represent, eventually leading to wrong solutions. To prevent this, managers will need to retain their expertise and control over their tasks and processes.","PeriodicalId":48169,"journal":{"name":"Mit Sloan Management Review","volume":"36 1","pages":"24-24"},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2016-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89080186","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2016-04-08DOI: 10.7551/mitpress/11633.003.0019
Deborah. L. Roberts, F. Piller
Although some companies have been able to use social media to develop new insights that lead to successful new products, many others simply do not know how to utilize social media for innovation. Whats more, some companies have seen their innovation performance negatively affected. Nevertheless, social media provides a game-changing opportunity for companies that learn how to exploit it. In order to use social media for innovation, organizations need clear strategies and objectives. The authors of this article recently studied the social media practices of large global companies as they relate to new product development, using data from the Product Development Management Associations 2012 Comparative Performance Assessment Study. Broadly speaking, we found that for many companies, the results of using social media for new product development fell short of expectations. Less than 50% of the companies surveyed use social media during the new product development process. Many of the companies we surveyed didn't seem to recognize the differences and functionalities of different social media platforms and media sources. It is critical that top leadership play an active role by encouraging cooperation and idea sharing among the various players.
{"title":"Finding the right role for social media in innovation","authors":"Deborah. L. Roberts, F. Piller","doi":"10.7551/mitpress/11633.003.0019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/11633.003.0019","url":null,"abstract":"Although some companies have been able to use social media to develop new insights that lead to successful new products, many others simply do not know how to utilize social media for innovation. Whats more, some companies have seen their innovation performance negatively affected. Nevertheless, social media provides a game-changing opportunity for companies that learn how to exploit it. In order to use social media for innovation, organizations need clear strategies and objectives. The authors of this article recently studied the social media practices of large global companies as they relate to new product development, using data from the Product Development Management Associations 2012 Comparative Performance Assessment Study. Broadly speaking, we found that for many companies, the results of using social media for new product development fell short of expectations. Less than 50% of the companies surveyed use social media during the new product development process. Many of the companies we surveyed didn't seem to recognize the differences and functionalities of different social media platforms and media sources. It is critical that top leadership play an active role by encouraging cooperation and idea sharing among the various players.","PeriodicalId":48169,"journal":{"name":"Mit Sloan Management Review","volume":"4 1","pages":"41-47"},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2016-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80516165","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A recent study of almost 9,000 new products that achieved broad distribution at a national retailer revealed that just 40% of them were still sold three years later. Companies generally focus primarily on creating value without enough regard to whether customers will recognize this value. For a customer, the perceived benefit of searching for a better solution may not be the same as the actual benefit, particularly in markets with little recent innovation. The most common cues people use to infer product quality are price and brand. In many circumstances, the more effectively customers can search, the less they will rely on the brand. Moreover, their perceptions of the brand will change quickly as new information comes in. Both factors diminish the importance of the brand. However, in markets where customers cannot search easily and effectively, they are forced to use the brand to make purchasing decisions. The role of the brand may vary across product features.
{"title":"Why Great New Products Fail","authors":"D. Simester","doi":"10.13007/601","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.13007/601","url":null,"abstract":"A recent study of almost 9,000 new products that achieved broad distribution at a national retailer revealed that just 40% of them were still sold three years later. Companies generally focus primarily on creating value without enough regard to whether customers will recognize this value. For a customer, the perceived benefit of searching for a better solution may not be the same as the actual benefit, particularly in markets with little recent innovation. The most common cues people use to infer product quality are price and brand. In many circumstances, the more effectively customers can search, the less they will rely on the brand. Moreover, their perceptions of the brand will change quickly as new information comes in. Both factors diminish the importance of the brand. However, in markets where customers cannot search easily and effectively, they are forced to use the brand to make purchasing decisions. The role of the brand may vary across product features.","PeriodicalId":48169,"journal":{"name":"Mit Sloan Management Review","volume":"54 1","pages":"33-39"},"PeriodicalIF":4.2,"publicationDate":"2016-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91127225","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}