152 articles in Management
This McKinsey survey of over 1,700 executives identifies 21 best practices that increase the likelihood of successful digital transformation. Key findings reveal that investing in digital-savvy leadership, empowering workers to experiment, and upgrading day-to-day tools matter more than any single technology investment.
Self-determination theory identifies three innate psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness, which when fulfilled drive intrinsic motivation. Organizations that satisfy these needs see higher performance, creativity, and persistence compared to those relying on external rewards alone. The article maps each need to specific management practices including flexible work arrangements, skill-building opportunities, and team-based problem solving.
Provides a practical guide to identifying and categorizing project stakeholders using a power/interest grid. Explains how to develop tailored communication and engagement strategies for each stakeholder group to build support and minimize resistance.
A practical guide to Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), the goal-setting framework popularized by Andy Grove at Intel and adopted by Google, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Uber. Covers how to write good objectives (qualitative, inspirational) and key results (quantitative, measurable), cadence (quarterly), and common mistakes (too many OKRs, using as performance review tool).
Sull and Sull challenge the ubiquitous SMART goals framework and propose FAST goals (Frequently discussed, Ambitious, Specific, Transparent) as a more effective alternative. The research shows that transparent, frequently reviewed goals with ambitious targets drive significantly better organizational performance than the conventional approach.
As organizations flatten and cross-functional work increases, the ability to influence without formal authority becomes a critical leadership skill. Hill identifies five currencies of influence: resources, information, relationships, expertise, and organizational legitimacy. The article provides tactics for building each currency and deploying them effectively across stakeholder groups with different motivations and concerns.
How organizations like Amazon, Spotify, and Bosch have scaled agile methods from a few teams to hundreds. Covers common pitfalls (imposing agile on everything, trying to scale too fast), and successful patterns (start with leadership teams, sequence rollout by capability). By Jeff Sutherland, co-creator of Scrum.
Integrative negotiation seeks to expand the pie before dividing it, creating value that distributive bargaining leaves on the table. By identifying differences in priorities, risk tolerance, and time horizons, skilled negotiators craft packages where both parties gain more than simple compromise would allow. The article walks through a structured process for uncovering hidden interests and generating creative trade-offs across multiple issues.
Identifies six signature traits of inclusive leaders—commitment, courage, cognizance, curiosity, cultural intelligence, and collaboration—drawn from research across six countries. Demonstrates that inclusive leadership directly improves team performance, innovation, and employee engagement.
Nudge theory demonstrates that subtle changes in how choices are presented can profoundly influence decisions without restricting options. This article explores practical applications of choice architecture in organizations, from opt-out retirement plans to healthier cafeteria layouts. Default settings, social proof, and friction reduction are the most powerful tools in a nudge designer's toolkit.
Dhawan and Chamorro-Premuzic identify the unique communication challenges of remote work and provide research-backed strategies for overcoming them. The article covers digital body language, the importance of communication norms, and how to build trust and psychological safety when team members cannot meet face to face.
Research reveals that 95% of people believe they are self-aware, but only 10-15% actually are, creating a massive gap between perceived and actual competence. Eurich distinguishes between internal self-awareness (understanding your own values and reactions) and external self-awareness (understanding how others perceive you). The article provides evidence-based techniques for improving both dimensions, with emphasis on seeking feedback and practicing 'what' questions instead of 'why' questions.
Barbara Minto's pyramid principle for structured communication, developed at McKinsey. Start with the answer (conclusion first), then group supporting arguments, then support each argument with data. Every level of the pyramid answers the question raised by the level above. The SCQA framework: Situation, Complication, Question, Answer. Required training for all McKinsey consultants and widely taught in business communication courses.
McCord, former Chief Talent Officer at Netflix, challenges conventional hiring practices and proposes a framework focused on matching specific capabilities to current business problems rather than cultural fit. The article advocates for honest job descriptions, structured interviews, and treating the hiring process as a business strategy rather than an HR function.
Groups amplify individual biases rather than correcting them, leading to groupthink, information cascades, and polarization. Research shows that groups often perform worse than their best individual member on judgment tasks. The article proposes structural fixes including anonymous input rounds, designated dissent roles, and the Delphi method to harness collective wisdom while mitigating group pathologies.
Presents a practical framework for deciding which tasks to delegate, keep, or eliminate based on a matrix of skill level and strategic importance. Includes scripts for how to delegate effectively, set clear expectations, and build in accountability without micromanaging.
Google's Project Aristotle found psychological safety to be the single most important factor distinguishing high-performing teams from average ones, more important than team composition, structure, or resources. Psychological safety means team members feel safe to take interpersonal risks including admitting mistakes, asking questions, and offering dissenting opinions without fear of punishment or humiliation. The article provides six specific practices for building psychological safety including framing work as learning problems, acknowledging fallibility, and modeling curiosity.
Amy Edmondson's work on psychological safety: the shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking. Google's Project Aristotle found it was the number one predictor of team effectiveness. Covers how to create psychological safety: frame work as learning problems, acknowledge your own fallibility, and model curiosity. Now central to team management education.
Reveals that executives spend an average of 23 hours per week in meetings—up from 10 hours in the 1960s—and most consider them unproductive. Provides a systematic approach to auditing meeting culture, including reducing frequency, shortening duration, and improving preparation to reclaim deep work time.
This article applies Goldratt's Theory of Constraints to modern operations, showing how identifying and systematically addressing bottlenecks produces dramatic improvements in throughput. The framework of identify, exploit, subordinate, elevate, and repeat provides a practical methodology for continuous operational improvement in any organization.