Center for Organizational Research (COR)

Seminar

The element of suprise: Resilience and recovery in organizations

March 2, Noon- 1:30 PM
Room 306, Social Ecology I

Beth Bechky
Assistant Professor of Management
Graduate School of Management
Co-director, Center for Women and Leadership
University of California, Davis

Biography

Assistant Professor Bechky is an ethnographer of work and occupations. Her research investigates how people accomplish their work as a means for generating theory about the relationships between social structures, work, and organizational outcomes. She is particularly interested in the cross-occupational interactions of technical workers. Recent studies have examined how workers in manufacturing use engineering drawings and prototype machines to negotiate occupational jurisdiction, how film crew members coordinate their work in temporary organizations, and how contract workers acquire jobs that stretch their skills in order to advance their careers.  

Bechky’s recent publications include “Gaffers, gofers, and grips: Role-based coordination in temporary organizations,” published in Organization Science; “Stretchwork: Managing the career progression paradox in external labor markets” (with Siobhan O’Mahony) in Academy of Management Journal; and “When collections of creatives become create collectives: A field study of problem solving at work” (with Andrew Hargadon) in Organization Science. 

Bechky received her PhD in organizational behavior from the department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management at Stanford University. She also holds a master of arts in Sociology from Stanford and a bachelor of science in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University

[CV]

[Paper – Gaffers, Gofers and Grips]

Workshop

Managing conflict in teams: A closer look at relationships between conflict type, conflict management, and team outcomes

February 2, Noon – 1:30pm
Room 306, Social Ecology I

Kristin Behfar
Assistant Professor, Organization & Strategy
The Paul Merage School of Business
University of California, Irvine

Biography

Professor Kristin Behfar received her Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior at the S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University in 2003. From 2003-2005 she was a Visiting Assistant Professor and a Post-doctoral Fellow at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in the Management and Organizations department. Her research interests include: conflict management in teams, leadership in groups and teams, team performance and performance assessment, and group decision-making. Her publications have appeared in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes and Organizational Research Methods. Her professional activities include working in marketing communications and group process consulting.

[Behfar et al — Conflict Resolution]

Seminar

Entrepreneurial Learning and University Start-ups

January 11, 3:30 – 5:00PM
Location: SB 117

Anne Miner
Professor of Management and Human Resources
University of Wisconsin-Madison

Biography

Miner’s current research focuses on organizational entrepreneurial learning. She has examined improvisation in start-ups, the emergence of routines and capabilities in new organizations, and vicarious learning by new firms. In this talk, Miner will explore issues of organizational learning about and by University spin-offs. She will update prior work on possible unintended outcomes of the world-wide vicarious learning that has led to a proliferation of programs to promote university start-ups. This work implies that no single recipe can provide value in all locations. Miner will then present early results from work in progress on microprocsses related to the creation and impact of university start-ups.

Miner directs the Initiative for Studies in Technology Entrepeneurship (INSITE), the G. Steven Burrill Technology Business Plan Competition and Research and Cross-Campus programs at the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship. Miner was founding director for the new MBA concentration in Strategic Management in the Life and Engineering Sciences (SMILES) and teaches a course on technology strategy in SMILES, along with Executive MBA and courses in the M.S.in Biotechnology. Miner’s research highlights organizational learning, including learning from the failure of other organizations and improvisation by new organizations. The Technology and Innovation Management Division of the Academy of Management named Miner the Scholar of the Year for 2004.

The colloquium is sponsored by the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation’s Science and Art of Strategic Innovation with the collaboration of the Center for Organizational Research and the Organization & Management area of The Paul Merage School of Business.

Miner’s CV

Miner Working Paper 1

Miner Working Paper 2

End of the Year Event!

Featuring Previous COR Fellows and Small Grant Recipient Panel

June 1, 12:00-1:30
Room 306, Social Ecology I

This event will showcase the work of the 2006-2007 COR Fellows and Small Grant Recipient:

Graduate Student Fellows:

Elizabeth Chiarello, Social Sciences — “Collective action, conscience clauses and change in the pharmacy field”

Heather Goldsworthy, Social Ecology — “Environmental sustainability and the microfinance industry”

Danielle Rudes, Social Sciences — “Parole agent decision-making and occupational socialization in an era of organizational change”

Taryn Stanko, School of Business — “Finding a balance: An examination of the antecedents and consequnces of role facilitation”

Faculty Small Grant Recipient:
Judith Stepan-Norris, Social Sciences — “Democratic competition and union growth: Tracing the relationship between splits in the American labor movement and union growth”

The panel will be followed by discussion, and the announcement of the new 2007-2008 Fellows.

Chiarello Presentation
Goldsworthy Presentation
Rudes Presentation
Stanko Presentation
Stepan-Norris Presentation