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2026Organization Science

The Cybernetic Teammate: A Field Experiment on Generative AI and Teamwork

Fabrizio Dell’Acqua, Charles Ayoubi, Hila Lifshitz, Raffaella Sadun, Ethan Mollick, Lilach Mollick, Yi Han, Jeff Goldman, Hari Nair, Stew Taub, Karim R. Lakhani

Generative AI can act like a cybernetic teammate in early-stage product innovation work. In a preregistered field experiment at Procter & Gamble, individuals using AI matched the performance of two-person human teams without AI, AI helped reduce functional silos between commercial and R&D professionals, and AI use was associated with more positive emotional responses during the task.

Digital TransformationKnowledge ManagementR&D ManagementOrganizational ChangeEmployee AcceptanceExperimentSurvey
2025Journal of Management

Modularity, Adaptation Problems, and the Governance and Problem-Solving Capabilities of Core Firms in Ecosystems

Jens Schmidt, Nicolai J. Foss

Core firms in ecosystems matter because modularity and standards do not solve every coordination problem. Schmidt and Foss argue that core firms reduce ecosystem-level transaction costs through governance capabilities and problem-focused capabilities that address interoperability, customization, and availability problems.

Organizational ChangeStrategy ImplementationKnowledge ManagementCompetitive AdvantageTransaction Cost EconomicsDynamic CapabilitiesConceptual Article
2025Strategy Science

Signposts for Problemistic Search: Reference Points and Adaptation in Rugged Landscapes

Axel Zeijen, Manuel Romagnoli, Luigi Marengo

Reference points do more than trigger search; they shape the search space itself. Zeijen, Romagnoli, and Marengo show that aspiration levels and survival points transform rugged performance landscapes into subjective terraced landscapes, affecting which alternatives organizations can reach and when reference points help or trap adaptive search.

Problemistic SearchReference PointsOrganizational ChangeOrganizational InertiaCompetitive AdvantageBehavioral Theory of the FirmSimulation Model
2024Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Does counting change what counts? Quantification fixation biases decision-making

Linda W. Chang, Erika L. Kirgios, Sendhil Mullainathan, Katherine L. Milkman

When decision-makers face tradeoffs, quantifying one attribute can shift choices toward the option that performs better on that numeric dimension. Across 21 preregistered experiments, Chang and colleagues show that people often give more weight to quantified information because numbers feel easier to compare.

Resource AllocationEmployee AcceptanceKnowledge ManagementExperimentSurveyRegression AnalysisOrganizational Behavior
2024Harvard Business School Strategy Unit Working Paper

The Value of Open Source Software

Manuel Hoffmann, Frank Nagle, Yanuo Zhou

Open source software creates economic value far beyond its direct market price of zero. Hoffmann, Nagle, and Zhou estimate that recreating widely used OSS once would cost about $4.15 billion, but recreating the OSS used by each firm individually would cost about $8.8 trillion.

Open Source SoftwareDigital Public GoodsIntangible CapitalKnowledge ManagementCompetitive AdvantagePublic Goods TheoryArchival Data
2024Journal of Management Studies

Understanding the Link between Post-Acquisition Resource Reconfiguration and Technology Out-Licensing

Thomas Maximilian Klueter, Solon Moreira, Clinton Ofoedu

Technology acquisitions are followed by more technology out-licensing because out-licensing helps firms reconfigure enlarged R&D portfolios without fully abandoning technologies. However, this relationship weakens when acquired technologies are highly uncertain or when acquirers have enough financial slack to keep more R&D options in-house.

R&D ManagementResource AllocationKnowledge ManagementStrategic RenewalCompetitive AdvantageDynamic CapabilitiesArchival Data
2023Human Resource Management Journal

Do employees find inclusive talent management fairer? It depends. Contrasting self-interest and principle

Nicky Dries, Robert Kaše

Inclusive talent management is often perceived as fairer on average, but fairness perceptions depend strongly on self-interest and allocation principles. Dries and Kaše show that employees who see themselves, or are made to see themselves, as talented judge exclusive talent management as fairer than employees without talent status. Preferences for merit-based allocation also matter, but mainly when organizations clearly justify their chosen talent philosophy.

Talent ManagementInclusive Talent ManagementExclusive Talent ManagementFairness PerceptionsWorkforce DifferentiationOrganizational Justice TheoryResource-Based View
2023Human Resource Development Quarterly

Examining the relationship between talent management and employee job-related outcomes: The case of the Indian manufacturing industry

Renu Dalal, Mesut Akdere

Talent management practices were positively associated with employee job-related outcomes in a large Indian manufacturing sample. Dalal and Akdere show that talent acquisition, development, engagement, and retention form an integrated talent management system linked to intent to stay, job engagement, affective commitment, job satisfaction, and employee competency.

Talent ManagementTalent DevelopmentEmployee EngagementEmployee RetentionOrganizational CultureResource-Based ViewSocial Exchange Theory
2022Human Resource Development International

Development and Validation of the Behavioural Index of Occupational Strengths (BIOS)

Hannah L. Moore, Heleen van Mierlo, Arnold B. Bakker

Existing general strengths inventories do not fully capture the work-related strengths employees identify in themselves and colleagues. Moore, van Mierlo, and Bakker develop and validate the Behavioural Index of Occupational Strengths, a 22-category work-specific strengths index designed to support strengths-based HR development, feedback, appraisal, and career development.

Employee StrengthsStrengths-Based HRMPerformance AppraisalTraining and DevelopmentStrengths IdentificationMixed MethodsSurvey
2022Production and Operations Management

Managing Innovation Portfolios: From Project Selection to Portfolio Design

Haijian Si, Stylianos Kavadias, Christoph Loch

Innovation portfolio management often fails because firms overemphasize project selection from an assumed list of candidate projects. Si, Kavadias, and Loch argue that firms should first design a portfolio around strategic innovation goals, then use evaluation and management tools to test, adjust, and govern that portfolio over time.

R&D ManagementResource AllocationStrategy ImplementationStrategic RenewalCompetitive AdvantageLiterature ReviewConceptual Article
2021Organization Science

The Sequence Effect in Panel Decisions: Evidence from the Evaluation of Research and Development Projects

Paola Criscuolo, Linus Dahlander, Thorsten Grohsjean, Ammon Salter

R&D project funding decisions are not independent of sequence. In this study, a project evaluated immediately after a funded project received a lower share of requested funding, and this sequence effect became stronger later in panel meetings, when evaluators were more likely to be mentally fatigued.

R&D ManagementResource AllocationStrategy ImplementationKnowledge ManagementStrategic RenewalArchival DataRegression Analysis
2020Strategic Management Journal

Converting Inventions into Innovations in Large Firms: How Inventors at Xerox Navigated the Innovation Process to Commercialize Their Ideas

Natalya Vinokurova, Rahul Kapoor

Inventors in large firms can do more than generate ideas. In the Xerox PARC cases, inventors helped commercialize breakthrough inventions by searching across the organization for units with more favorable evaluation criteria and, when uncertainty existed, shaping the criteria used to evaluate their inventions.

Strategic RenewalResource AllocationOrganizational InertiaR&D ManagementKnowledge ManagementDynamic CapabilitiesCase Study
2020European Journal of Training and Development

Towards a responsible talent management model

Alex Anlesinya, Kwesi Amponsah-Tawiah

Talent management becomes more responsible when organizations combine inclusivity, corporate responsibility, equity, and equal employment opportunity. Anlesinya and Amponsah-Tawiah argue that responsible talent management should not only focus on elite high performers, but should also identify, develop, and retain the diverse talents of all employees while still allowing differentiated investment where strategically justified.

Talent ManagementResponsible Talent ManagementDecent WorkEmployee Well-BeingOrganizational ChangeStakeholder TheoryOrganizational Justice Theory
2018Journal of Organizational Behavior

Employee reactions to talent management: Assumptions versus evidence

Giverny De Boeck, Maria Christina Meyers, Nicky Dries

Talent management does not simply produce positive reactions among selected talents and negative reactions among non-talents. De Boeck, Meyers, and Dries show that talent management practices are generally linked to positive affective, cognitive, and behavioral reactions, but talent status creates more mixed effects, including stress, insecurity, psychological contract imbalance, and identity struggles among talents.

Talent ManagementTalent StatusTalent PoolWorkforce DifferentiationEmployee ReactionsPsychological ContractSocial Exchange Theory
2017California Management Review

Creating Incentives for Innovation

Gustavo Manso

Innovation requires different incentives than routine productivity. Manso argues that organizations should tolerate early failure, reward long-term success, provide job security, and give regular feedback if they want employees and managers to explore new approaches rather than only exploit known methods.

Resource AllocationR&D ManagementStrategic RenewalCompetitive AdvantageCorporate VenturingAgency TheoryConceptual Article
2014Journal of World Business

Talent management in China and India: A comparison of management perceptions and human resource practices

Fang Lee Cooke, Debi S. Saini, Jue Wang

Talent management in China and India cannot be understood as a universal HR recipe. Cooke, Saini, and Wang show that managers in both countries tend to define talent in elitist, performance-oriented, and firm-centered terms, while talent management practices are shaped by ownership form, sector, education systems, labour-market pressures, cultural values, and institutional context.

Talent ManagementGlobal Talent ManagementStrategic Human Resource ManagementEmerging MarketsTalent RetentionTalent DevelopmentResource-Based View
2014Journal of World Business

The influence of underlying philosophies on talent management: Theory, implications for practice, and research agenda

Maria Christina Meyers, Marianne van Woerkom

Talent management practices are shaped by deeper assumptions about what talent is. Meyers and van Woerkom distinguish four talent philosophies based on whether talent is seen as exclusive or inclusive, and stable or developable. Each philosophy leads to different HR practices, opportunities, risks, and research questions.

Talent ManagementTalent PhilosophiesWorkforce DifferentiationTalent DevelopmentStrengths-Based HRMResource-Based ViewPositive Psychology
2013Business Ethics: A European Review

The ethics of talent management

Stephen Swailes

Elitist talent management can be ethically defensible only if organizations identify talent fairly, avoid dehumanizing excluded employees, justify unequal development investment, protect employee well-being, and show that the programme benefits more than the selected few.

Talent ManagementWorkforce SegmentationEthical Talent ManagementDuty EthicsVirtue EthicsDistributive JusticeStakeholder Theory
2013Human Resource Management Review

What is the meaning of ‘talent’ in the world of work?

Eva Gallardo-Gallardo, Nicky Dries, Tomás F. González-Cruz

The meaning of talent in the workplace is conceptually fragmented. Gallardo-Gallardo, Dries, and González-Cruz organize the literature into object approaches, where talent means characteristics of people, and subject approaches, where talent means people themselves. This distinction helps clarify debates about natural ability, mastery, commitment, fit, inclusive talent management, and exclusive talent pools.

Talent ManagementWorkforce SegmentationTalent ConceptualizationConceptual ArticleLiterature ReviewHuman Resource ManagementOrganizational Behavior
2011European Journal of International Management

European perspectives on talent management

David G. Collings, Hugh Scullion, Vlad Vaiman

Talent management research has been strongly shaped by North American assumptions, but the European context differs through institutional regulation, stakeholder traditions, labour mobility, demographic pressures, multilingual diversity, and the internationalization patterns of European multinationals. Collings, Scullion, and Vaiman argue that talent management theory needs stronger European and comparative perspectives.

Talent ManagementGlobal Talent ManagementEuropean ManagementInternational Human Resource ManagementConceptual ArticleLiterature ReviewHuman Resource Management
2011Industrial and Commercial Training

What do we mean by the term “talent” in talent management?

Carole Tansley

Organizations should not assume that everyone means the same thing by talent. Tansley shows that the term has shifted historically, differs across languages, and varies strongly across organizations. A clear organizational definition of talent is necessary before talent can be identified, developed, grouped, or managed.

Talent ManagementTalent ConceptualizationTalent DevelopmentHigh PotentialHigh PerformanceStrengths-Based HRMConceptual Article
2009Human Resource Management Review

Strategic Talent Management: A review and research agenda

David G. Collings, Kamel Mellahi

Strategic talent management should begin with identifying pivotal positions, not simply labelling individual employees as talent. Collings and Mellahi define strategic talent management as the systematic identification of key roles, development of a talent pool to fill those roles, and use of a differentiated HR architecture to support motivation, commitment, extra-role behaviour, and firm performance.

Talent ManagementStrategic Talent ManagementTalent PoolPivotal PositionsWorkforce DifferentiationResource-Based ViewContingency Theory
2009Industrial and Organizational Psychology

The Pearls and Perils of Identifying Potential

Rob Silzer, Allan H. Church

High potential should not be treated as a vague label or confused with current performance. Silzer and Church argue that organizations need to ask “potential for what?” and assess potential through a clearer structure of foundational dimensions, growth dimensions, and career dimensions.

Talent ManagementHigh PotentialPotential IdentificationTalent PoolSuccession PlanningPerformance-Potential MatrixLearning Agility
2008Academy of Management Journal

Transformational Leadership’s Role in Promoting Corporate Entrepreneurship: Examining the CEO-TMT Interface

Yan Ling, Zeki Simsek, Michael H. Lubatkin, John F. Veiga

Transformational CEOs can promote corporate entrepreneurship partly by shaping the top management team. In this study of 152 small-to-medium-sized firms, transformational CEO leadership was positively associated with TMT behavioral integration, decentralization of responsibilities, risk propensity, and long-term compensation. Decentralization, risk propensity, and long-term compensation were then positively associated with corporate entrepreneurship.

Strategic RenewalResource AllocationStrategy ImplementationOrganizational ChangeCorporate VenturingAgency TheorySurvey
2004MIT Sloan Management Review

Building Ambidexterity Into an Organization

Julian Birkinshaw, Cristina Gibson

Ambidexterity can be built not only through separate structures but also through an organizational context that enables employees to balance alignment and adaptability in their daily work. Birkinshaw and Gibson argue that high performance depends on combining performance management with social support so employees can deliver current goals while adapting to new opportunities.

Organizational AmbidexterityOrganizational ChangeStrategic RenewalStrategy ImplementationCompetitive AdvantageMixed MethodsQualitative Interviews
2004Harvard Business Review

Darwin and the Demon: Innovating Within Established Enterprises

Geoffrey A. Moore

Established firms should not treat innovation as one generic activity. Moore argues that different innovation types create the strongest returns at different stages of a market's life cycle, and that mature firms must fight organizational inertia by shifting innovation focus while extracting resources from legacy processes and organizations.

Innovation TypesMarket Life CycleBusiness Model InnovationOrganizational InertiaResource AllocationCompetitive AdvantageMarket Life-Cycle Logic
2004Organization Science

Exploration vs. Exploitation: An Empirical Test of the Ambidexterity Hypothesis

Zi-Lin He, Poh-Kam Wong

Firms benefit when explorative and exploitative innovation strategies are balanced rather than treated as substitutes. In this study of manufacturing firms, the interaction between exploration and exploitation is positively related to sales growth, while imbalance between the two is negatively related to sales growth.

Organizational AmbidexterityInnovation TypesR&D ManagementCompetitive AdvantageResource AllocationDynamic CapabilitiesAbsorptive Capacity
2000Harvard Business Review

Meeting the Challenge of Disruptive Change

Clayton M. Christensen, Michael Overdorf

Established companies often fail at disruptive change not because they lack talented people or resources, but because their existing processes and values are built for the current business. Christensen and Overdorf argue that managers should diagnose whether a new challenge fits the organization’s resources, processes, and values, then choose the right structure: existing organization, lightweight team, heavyweight team, spinout, or acquisition.

Strategic TransformationOrganizational ChangeOrganizational InertiaInnovation TypesResource AllocationStrategic RenewalConceptual Article
1998McKinsey Quarterly

The War for Talent

Elizabeth G. Chambers, Mark Foulon, Helen Handfield-Jones, Steven M. Hankin, Edward G. Michaels III

Chambers, Foulon, Handfield-Jones, Hankin, and Michaels argue that executive talent had become a scarce strategic resource and that companies needed to compete for it deliberately. Their core prescription is to make talent management a top leadership priority, create a compelling employee value proposition, recruit continuously, develop people aggressively, retain high performers, and move poor performers out of key roles.

Talent ManagementStrategic Talent ManagementTalent AcquisitionTalent RetentionEmployee Value PropositionPerformance ManagementSuccession Planning
1968Harvard Business Review

One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?

Frederick Herzberg

Herzberg argues that managers often confuse movement with motivation. External pushes such as pay increases, benefits, supervision, and working conditions may reduce dissatisfaction, but lasting motivation comes from redesigning work so employees experience achievement, recognition, responsibility, growth, advancement, and meaningful work itself.

Organizational ChangeEmployee AcceptanceStrategy ImplementationConceptual ArticleManagerial FrameworkHuman Resource ManagementOrganizational Behavior