Human resource management

Companies pay a premium for prestigious degrees. Should they?

Using the results of a survey of 380 companies in 34 industries, this author examines three basic types of compensation plans: salary, commission, and combination (salary plus commission). Most companies in the study favored a combination plan, but such plans have some disadvantages to offset their obvious attractiveness. The author sets out the possible reasons […]

Six questions to ask before you fill the role.

In the middle of an economic and jobs crisis, why should any politician or executive focus on a "soft" issue like work-life policy? Most are thinking...

A guide to building a better pipeline.

People won't speak up if they don't trust the process.

Relying on "sink-or-swim" approaches is expensive - and irresponsible.

Skills leaders need today from the professor who wrote the book on leadership.

No doubt about it, the top managers in this fictitious case study agree, Wellington Associates is a great place to work. Analysts at the high-tech consulting...

Set them - and your executives - up for success.

Dilbert is right. Managers are incompetent, worse even than the managers themselves realize. That was the conclusion of a well-known study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in December 1999, long before The Office premiered. “Not only do incompetent people reach incompetent conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them […]

I was walking through the lobby of the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose one day last week just before 6 pm, feeling a bit bleary after three consecutive weeks...

The best candidates think more like engineers, architects, and scientists.

Zhang Ruimin's leadership of the renowned Haier Group began before the Chinese company even carried that name. More than 20 years ago, Zhang was appointed...

Five new paradigms for leaders—and employees

Make it clear you've got a plan.

Researchers studied backlash to change at five elite law firms — and how leadership eventually won the skeptics over.

As IBM celebrates its 100th birthday, many observers are rightly calling attention to the many strategic changes the company put itself through to remain relevant amidst dramatic technological and economic change. But one of the biggest transformations IBM went through is less about computers and more about culture. Over the last decade and a half, […]

You’ve decided to start a company. Your business plan is based on sound strategy and thorough market research. Your background and training have prepared you for the challenge. Now you must assemble the quality management team that venture investors demand. So you begin the search for a topflight engineer to head product development and a […]

Analysis of college coach compensation shows how hard it is to align pay with performance.