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• Case | HBS Case Collection | January 2018 (Revised January 2020)

  People Analytics at McKinsey

  Jeffrey T. Polzer and Olivia Hull

  A private equity-backed fast food chain has hired McKinsey’s new People Analytics group to help it improve performance. As the final client workshop approaches, Associate Partner Alex DiLeonardo ponders the best way to present the team’s findings, especially those that conflict with the client executives’ long-held intuitions. If successful, the project would help People Analytics build its reputation both internally and with clients. But to be successful, DiLeonardo knows his team must convince the client that their results are credible and actionable.
  In addition to discussing the specifics of the fast food project, the case also provides an overview of the people analytics field more broadly through the lens of McKinsey’s client portfolio.

  Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Customer Relationship Management; Forecasting and Prediction; Cost Management; Human Resources; Employees; Recruitment; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Measurement and Metrics; Performance; Performance Capacity; Performance Efficiency; Performance Evaluation; Performance Improvement; Consulting Industry; Service Industry;

  Citation:

  Polzer, Jeffrey T., and Olivia Hull. "People Analytics at McKinsey." Harvard Business School Case 418-023, January 2018. (Revised January 2020.)  View Details

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• Article | Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes

  Thin Slices of Workgroups

  Patricia Satterstrom, Jeffrey T. Polzer, Lisa Kwan, Oliver P. Hauser, Wannawiruch Wiruchnipawan and Marina Burke

  In this paper, we explore whether perceivers can accurately assess the effectiveness of groups, how perceivers use group properties to inform their judgment, and the contextual and individual differences that allow some perceivers to be more accurate. Across seven studies, we present consistent evidence that perceivers can judge workgroup effectiveness in videos of different lengths—60, 30, and 10 seconds—and in 10-second silent videos and 10-second audio clips. We find that perceptions of collective properties of groups, including cohesion, affective trust, and cognitive trust partially mediate perceivers’ ability to accurately judge groups. Furthermore, increased attentional focus improves perceivers’ ability to judge group effectiveness. Finally, we find that perceivers with higher levels of social sensitivity are more accurate at judging group effectiveness. We discuss the implications of these findings for the groups literature and social perception literature.

  Keywords: group perception; group effectiveness; thin slices; social sensitivity; attentional focus; Groups and Teams; Performance Effectiveness; Perception;

  Citation:

  Satterstrom, Patricia, Jeffrey T. Polzer, Lisa Kwan, Oliver P. Hauser, Wannawiruch Wiruchnipawan, and Marina Burke. "Thin Slices of Workgroups." Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 151 (March 2019): 104–117.  View Details

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• Supplement | HBS Case Collection | August 2018

  Sarah Powers at Automated Precision Products

  Jeffrey T. Polzer

  Citation:

  Polzer, Jeffrey T. "Sarah Powers at Automated Precision Products." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 419-705, August 2018.  View Details

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