Page 128 - Harvard Business Review (November-December, 2017)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARIES

FEATURES HOW I DID IT

MANAGING ORGANIZATIONS HEALTH CARE DIVERSITY MANAGING ORGANIZATIONS

FEATURE “NUMBERS TAKE US ONLY SO FAR”
FEATURE THE IT TRANSFORMATION HEALTH CARE NEEDS
HOW I DID IT
THE CEO OF KRONOS ON
“ NUMBERS TAKE LAUNCHING AN UNLIMITED
The IT US ONLY SO FAR” VACATION POLICY by Aron Ain
WHAT MANAGERS NEED TO KNOW orkplaces have adopted internal Transformation FACEBOOK’S GLOBAL DIRECTOR OF
DIVERSITY EXPLAINS WHY STATS
ALONE WON’T SOLVE THE PROBLEM
OF ORGANIZATIONAL BIAS.
social tools—think stand-alone
BY MAXINE WILLIAMS
ABOUT SOCIAL TOOLS
technologies such as Slack,
AVOID THE COMMON PITFALLS SO THAT YOUR ORGANIZATION CAN W Yammer, and Chatter, or em- Health Care was once evicted from an apartment I
bedded applications such as Microsoft Teams
COLLABORATE, LEARN, AND INNOVATE.
BY NIKHIL R. SAHNI,
BY PAUL LEONARDI AND TSEDAL NEELEY and JIRA—at a staggering rate. In an ambitious Needs ROBERT S. HUCKMAN,
ANURAAG CHIGURUPATI,
study of 4,200 companies, conducted by the AND DAVID M. CUTLER
McKinsey Global Institute, 72% reported using
them to facilitate employee communication.
That figure grabbed our attention, so we asked
leaders of both large and small organizations for because I was black. I had secured
more insight into why they were turning to social a lovely place on the banks of Lake
Geneva through an agent and
tools and platforms. They said things like “Other therefore hadn’t met the owner in
companies are, so we should too” and “That’s person before signing the lease. Once
my family and I moved in and the
what you have to do if you want to attract young GETTY IMAGES/HIROSHI WATANABE color of my skin was clear to see, the
talent.” Although the bandwagon effect was not had known that I was black, I was told,
landlady asked us to leave. If she
a surprise, this was: Few of the rationales were she would never have rented to me.
ILLUSTRATION BY JUAN DÍAZ-FAES NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2017 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW 129 PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANASTASIIA SAPON PHOTOGRAPHY BY MATT KALINOWSKI
NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2017 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW 119 142 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2017 NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2017 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW 37
WHAT MANAGERS THE IT TRANSFORMATION “NUMBERS TAKE US THE CEO OF KRONOS
NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HEALTH CARE NEEDS ONLY SO FAR” ON LAUNCHING
SOCIAL TOOLS Nikhil R. Sahni, Robert S. Maxine Williams | page 142 AN UNLIMITED
Paul Leonardi and Tsedal Neeley Huckman, Anuraag Chigurupati, Though executives tend to think— VACATION POLICY
and David M. Cutler | page 128
page 118 and want to believe—they’re hiring Aron Ain | page 37
To identify the value that social In recent years, health care and promoting fairly, bias still
organizations have made sizable
creeps into their decisions. They
tools can bring to companies, the investments in information often use ambiguous criteria to filter Technology has made it possible
authors split employees at a large technology. They’ve used their IT out people who aren’t like them or for employees to be plugged in
financial services firm into two systems to replace paper records deem people from minority groups around the clock, even when
groups, only one of which used with electronic ones and to improve to be “not the right cultural fit,” they’re “on vacation.” In view of
an internal social platform, and billing processes, thereby boosting leaving those employees with the this reality, Kronos launched its
observed them for six months. revenue. But so far, IT has been uneasy feeling that their identity open vacation policy in early 2016.
Those who had used the tool of little value in making medical might be the real issue. To Ain’s surprise, some employees
became 31% more likely to find care delivery more effective or Companies need to acknowledge were very unhappy about it, largely
for three reasons: Because the new
less expensive. that it’s fair for employees from policy required individuals to work
THESE TOOLS tions change this? One key is to underrepresented groups to out time off with their supervisors,
How can health care organiza-
be suspicious about bias, says
some managers thought their jobs
CAN HELP prioritize quality improvement Williams, Facebook’s global would become more difficult. Some
over cost cutting. By harnessing
director of diversity. They also must
employees who had been banking
EMPLOYEES IT to help design better clinical find ways to give those workers unused vacation time resented the
practices, it’s possible to achieve
more support. To that end, many
loss of a bundle of cash when they
BECOME MORE better patient outcomes and better organizations are turning to people retired. And some felt that it was
analytics, which aspires to replace
financial performance. It is also
unfair for new hires to get as much
ENGAGED vital to gather good information— gut decisions with data-driven ones. vacation as they themselves had
by using simpler, more-organic
Unfortunately, firms often say that
earned over time. But Kronos now
they don’t have enough people from
collection methods—and to make
considers the switch a success—and
IN THEIR WORK. it actionable by applying analytics. marginalized groups in their data 2016 was financially the company’s
sets to produce reliable insights.
Finally, many organizations will
best year ever.
need to forge new business and But there are things employers HBR Reprint R1706A
coworkers with relevant expertise operating models, expanding their can do to supplement small n’s:
draw on industry or sector data;
IT staffs, revamping how their
and 88% more likely to discover clinical staffs work, and creating learn from what’s happening in
who had useful connections. new payment structures. other companies; and deeply
Internal social tools can help The authors provide numerous examine the experiences of
employees make faster decisions, examples of health care organiza- individuals who work for them,
develop more innovative ideas for tions that are taking these steps— talking with them to gather critical
products and services, and become and seeing impressive results. qualitative information. If firms
more engaged in their work and HBR Reprint R1706K are systematic and comprehensive
their companies. But companies in these efforts, they’ll have
that try to “go social” often fall a better chance of improving
into four traps: They (1) assume diversity and inclusion. POSTMASTER
that Millennials will embrace social HBR Reprint R1706L Send domestic address changes, orders, and
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these traps. Harvard University; Nitin Nohria, dean.
HBR Reprint R1706J Published by Harvard Business School Publishing
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