Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams

A.  Edmondson

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Article | Administrative Science Quarterly | December 1999

Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams

by A. Edmondson

Keywords: Learning; Behavior; Groups and Teams; Health;

Format: Print

34 pages

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Citation:

Edmondson, A. "Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams." Administrative Science Quarterly 44, no. 4 (December 1999): 350–383. (Outstanding Publication in Organizational Behavior, 2000 by the Academy of Management.)

About the Author

Amy C. Edmondson

Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management

Technology and Operations Management

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Burnout in Surgery Viewed Through the Lens of Psychological Safety

RA Swendiman, Amy C. Edmondson and NM Mahmoud

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Swendiman, RA, Amy C. Edmondson, and NM Mahmoud. "Burnout in Surgery Viewed Through the Lens of Psychological Safety." Annals of Surgery Volume 269, no. Issue 2 (February 2019): 234–235. View Details

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Article | JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association | January 2019

Health as a Way of Doing Business

Howard Koh, Sara J. Singer and Amy C. Edmondson

For too long, the worlds of business and health have been mired in a checkered, sometimes contentious, history. Millions of deaths worldwide can be attributed to risk factors including tobacco use, alcohol and drug misuse, and suboptimal dietary intake linked to commercial products. Media (including social media) coverage about the safety and cost of many consumer goods, both medical (drugs, devices) and nonmedical, reflect profound public concerns. Longstanding societal scrutiny about the role of business in environmental pollution has only increased in the era of global warming.

Citation:
Koh, Howard, Sara J. Singer, and Amy C. Edmondson. "Health as a Way of Doing Business." JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association 321, no. 1 (January 2019): 33–34. View Details

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Case | HBS Case Collection | December 2018

Corporate Transformation at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

Joseph B. Fuller, Amy C. Edmondson, Daniela Beyersdorfer and Tonia Labruyere

When Stefan Oschmann became CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, in 2016, the company had started its transformation from a mid-tier traditional German industry player to a global modern science and technology player. The restructuring and portfolio overhaul led by Oschmann’s predecessor Karl-Ludwig Kley since 2007 had been approved by the Merck founding family in its 13th generation, which still owned the majority of the shares. Its intermediate results had been encouraging. After three large acquisitions (Serono, Millipore, and Sigma-Aldrich) that broadened its reach from healthcare and pharmaceuticals into life sciences and performance materials and an internal optimization program, revenues and profitability had doubled in the decade leading up to 2016. But more needed to be done. Preparing for the company’s 350-year anniversary in 2018, Oschmann had kept up the pace of change, and announced further divestments and restructurings, sparking reactions from employees who expressed increasing exasperation about the new measures. In the fall of 2017 Oschmann and his Executive Board had to decide on the best strategic option for the company’s consumer health division. Should they divest a division that lacked scale but that with its consumer brands in pain and cold remedies was viewed as a symbol of the company’s origins? Was more change too much change in such a short time?

Keywords: Corporate governance with Family Ownership; Transformation; Change Management; Restructuring; Corporate Governance; Family Ownership;

Citation:
Fuller, Joseph B., Amy C. Edmondson, Daniela Beyersdorfer, and Tonia Labruyere. "Corporate Transformation at Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany." Harvard Business School Case 319-072, December 2018. View Details

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