The current economic recession has provided managers with a tempting environment for acquiring “star” employees on the cheap. Consider, for example, how the recent failures of large organizations like the investment banking giant Lehman Brothers and the venerable law firm Heller Ehrman Partners have enticed competitors to go on a hiring spree, acquiring top-notch talent from those now-defunct businesses. Similar opportunistic hires occurred after the downfall of Drexel Burnham Lambert in 1989 and Arthur Andersen in 2002. But the track record of such acquisitions of human capital has been mixed, with many companies failing to integrate their new talent.
Apparently, an organization can’t just hire star employees and then expect those individuals to automatically shine in their new environment. But how, then, can companies ensure that they get the most out of the talent they hire? Our research suggests that co-workers are a crucial factor. In our study of equities analysts, for example, we found that the greater the number of high-quality colleagues an analyst had the better that analyst performed.1 But it wasn’t enough just to... To read the complete article, login or sign-up using the form below.
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