Spans of Control and Accountability

Eugene F. Soltes

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Background Note | HBS Case Collection | November 2010 (Revised December 2015)

Spans of Control and Accountability

by Eugene F. Soltes

Abstract

Overview of Spans of Control and Accountability.

Keywords: Organizational Design;

Language: English

Format: Print

3 pages

Educators Purchase

Citation:

Soltes, Eugene F. "Spans of Control and Accountability." Harvard Business School Background Note 111-066, November 2010. (Revised December 2015.)

About the Author

Eugene F. Soltes

Jakurski Family Associate Professor of Business Administration

Accounting and Management

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Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | August 2019

Creating Accountability in Afghanistan

Jonas Heese, Gerardo Pérez Cavazos, Eugene F. Soltes and Grace Liu

Teaching Note for HBS No. 120-024.

Citation:
Heese, Jonas, Gerardo Pérez Cavazos, Eugene F. Soltes, and Grace Liu. "Creating Accountability in Afghanistan." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 120-030, August 2019. View Details

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Case | HBS Case Collection | August 2019

Creating Accountability in Afghanistan

Jonas Heese, Gerardo Pérez Cavazos, Eugene F. Soltes and Grace Liu

By early 2019, the United States had contributed $132 billion to the Afghan reconstruction—an amount exceeding the inflation-adjusted cost of the Marshall Plan, which aided reconstruction in 16 European countries after the Second World War. John Sopko, in his role as the Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR), was in charge of providing accountability for U.S. aid funding. Sopko’s oversight faced severe limitations such as a growing on-budget assistance; pervasive corruption; and lack of transportation, infrastructure, and security for his staff. To fight those odds, SIGAR has implemented multiple strategies with relative success. For example, cultivating a network of sources and informants had allowed SIGAR to save the U.S. over $200 million from a fuel contract bid-rigging scheme. The SIGAR Fraud Hotline had received and reviewed over 3,200 reports. However, with the Afghan presidential elections and peace talks looming on the horizon, Sopko was wondering how SIGAR would have to adapt to a new reality that could potentially be much worse.

Keywords: auditing; fraud; accountability; Crime and Corruption; Law Enforcement; Governance; Infrastructure; Information; Networks; Strategy; Afghanistan;

Citation:
Heese, Jonas, Gerardo Pérez Cavazos, Eugene F. Soltes, and Grace Liu. "Creating Accountability in Afghanistan." Harvard Business School Case 120-024, August 2019. View Details

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Case | HBS Case Collection | December 2016 (Revised July 2019)

Rajat Gupta

Paul Healy and Eugene Soltes

Rajat Gupta, former managing director of McKinsey & Company; a director of Goldman Sachs, Procter & Gamble, and AMR; and a well-known philanthropist, was convicted of engaging in insider trading. The case explores Gupta’s rise and the later legal problems he faced.

Keywords: insider trading; McKinsey; Ethics; Crime and Corruption; United States;

Citation:
Healy, Paul, and Eugene Soltes. "Rajat Gupta." Harvard Business School Case 117-004, December 2016. (Revised July 2019.) View Details

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Spans of Control and Accountability

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