Note on Hackathons

Ethan  Bernstein

Background Note | HBS Case Collection | August 2018

Note on Hackathons

Abstract

Organizations have often sought to meet the pressures of rapid change through novel ways of managing human capital to boost innovation and productivity. Hackathons have emerged as one of the latest approaches to do just that. How can those responsible for managing human capital use hackathons as a new tool in their toolkit? This note is meant as a guide for academics and practitioners to understand what hackathons are, how they work, when and how they can be useful, and how they complement other more traditional tools for organizational innovation and productivity. The note ends with a summary of questions and additional resources for more detail.

Keywords: hackathon; crowdsourcing; hack; innovation; productivity; minimum viable product; time; transparency; bootcamp; Design; Entrepreneurship; Human Resources; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Management; Organizational Structure; Performance Productivity; Technology; Technology Industry;

Language: English

Format: Print

19 pages

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Citation:

Bernstein, Ethan. "Note on Hackathons." Harvard Business School Background Note 419-021, August 2018.

Making good hiring decisions is a critical management activity, yet many leaders just “wing it” when interviewing candidates to fill openings by having an organic conversation to assess the candidate’s fit, unknowingly subjecting the process to unconscious bias. Instead, organizations should employ structured interviewing techniques to carefully assess the skills needed for a given opening, to determine a consistent approach for fairly evaluating candidates’ skills, and ultimately to make the best possible hiring decision. This note aims to help the reader acquire the skills necessary to be an effective interviewer and to champion best-practice interviewing within his or her organization. Beginning by briefly summarizing the pitfalls of unstructured interviewing, the note proceeds to explain three types of structured interviewing techniques, the steps hiring managers should undertake to prepare for and conduct interviews, and tips for making evidence-based assessments.

Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | October 2015 (Revised February 2020)

Trouble at Tessei

Ethan Bernstein and Ryan Buell

In 2005, Teruo Yabe is asked to revive Tessei, the 669-person JR-East subsidiary responsible for cleaning its Shinkansen ("bullet") trains. Operational mistakes, customer complaints, safety issues, and employee turnover are at or near all-time highs, even as the demands on Tessei continued to grow.

Given previous leaders' failed attempts to fix Tessei's problems with increased managerial monitoring and controls, Yabe seeks a creative approach to overcome the motivation, capability, and coordination challenges facing his organization. Like many contemporary leaders, he selects transparency as his tool. He is, however, unique in adopting a highly nuanced approach to implementing transparency. In the process, he not only leads a fantastic organizational turnaround but even helps to make otherwise "dirty" work more meaningful for Tessei front-line employees. The case therefore presents students, particularly in leadership, organizational behavior, operations management, and service operations courses, with an opportunity to think through how a well-crafted transparency strategy can act as a powerful leadership tool.

Keywords: service operations; service management; employee engagement; employee motivation; leadership and managing people; leadership; quality improvement; efficiency; Japan; operational transparency; employee coordination; transparency; Leadership; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Employees; Quality; Transportation Industry; Japan;

Citation:

Bernstein, Ethan, and Ryan Buell. "Trouble at Tessei." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 616-031, October 2015. (Revised February 2020.) View Details

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Video Supplement for "Coaching Makena Lane," product number 418-031. Videos include a collection of ~3 minute animated videos of 5 celebrity coaches answering the same 2 questions participants are asked in the teaching plan: 1. How would you evaluate Makena Lane’s coaching process?, and 2. If you were Mills, would you promote Lane? Why or why not? There is also a video with comments by Lane's coach, Betsy Hale, about her coaching pedagogy and engagement with Lane. These videos are described in detail in Appendix D of the Teaching Note (product number 419-082).

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Note on Hackathons

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