Distinguished Scholars Speakers

The Distinguished Scholar speaker series highlights new, cutting-edge research relevant to CGO's work and mission. Each lecture combines discussions on theory and practice, offering opportunities to discuss the practical implications of recent findings and ways to apply them to our own situations.

 

Biographies:

Fall 2009 Series:

December 1, 2009 "Creating Predictable Time Off in a 24/7 World"
Leslie Perlow, Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership in the Organizational Behavior area at the Harvard Business School. She teaches LEAD in the MBA program and runs a seminar on qualitative, inductive research.

 

Professor Perlow’s research focuses on the micro-dynamics of work. She seeks to understand what really happens at work – i.e., what do people do all day, how do they spend their time, with whom do they interact – and with what consequences for organizations and individuals. She documents individuals’ work practices and explores the implications of these practices for organization productivity, individuals’ careers and family life. Through her work, she identifies ways organizations can change their practices to the benefit of both the organization’s productivity and the individuals’ personal lives. She also engages with organizations trying to make these changes and studies the change process itself.

Professor Perlow is trained as an ethnographer, which means she spends long periods of time observing people as they go about their daily work, trying to better understand their world, from their perspectives. Her recent field studies include: 1) the rise and fall of a dot.com; 2) US software engineers involved in product development; 3) a cross cultural comparison of software engineers doing highly similar tasks in India, China, and Hungary; and 4) case teams from a management consulting firm working on different client engagements.

Before joining the Harvard faculty, Professor Perlow spent five years on the faculty of the University of Michigan Business School. She received her B.A. in Economics from Princeton University and her Ph.D. in Organization Studies from MIT. Prior to her academic career, she worked as a management consultant.

 

October 20, 2009 "Workplace Flexibility in Its Interpersonal Context"

Assistant Professor Spela Trefalt, Simmons College

 

Špela Trefalt earned her D.B.A. degree in Management from the Harvard Business School, her M.B.A. from University of Kansas, and her B.A. in Law from University of Ljubljana in Slovenia. In her research, Trefalt focuses on the issues of managing competing demands of work and life outside of work. She is particularly interested in the role of relationships at work in this process. Prior to her academic career, Trefalt spent six years as a human resources management and consultant, and eight years working in the media in Slovenia.

 

September 15, 2009 "Men, Women, and Practicing Gender at Work: Saying & Doing vs. Said & Done"

Professor Patricia Yancey Martin is Emerita Professor of Sociology at Florida State University.

 

Dr. Martin has also been a Distinguished Visiting Professor at University of Delaware, Ohio State University, University of Tennessee, Universita degli Studi di Trento (in Italy), Ruhr University (in Germany), Gothenburg University (Sweden), and University of Illinois at Chicago.

 

Her interests include the practices of gender at work, sociology of the body, and women’s movements. A monograph on organizations responding to sexual assault appeared in 2005 (Rape Work Victims, Gender & Emotions in Organization & Community Context (2005) and a book (with Myra Marx Ferree) on feminist organizations (Feminist Organizations Harvest of the New Women’s Movement) in 1995. Recent work includes ‘Gender as Practice Further Thoughts on Reflexivity,’ Gender, Work and Organization 13(3; 2006), ‘Gender as Social Institution,’ Social Forces 82 (June 2004); ‘“Said and done” vs. “saying and doing” Gendering practices, practicing gender at work,’ Gender & Society 17 (2003), ‘Gender bias and feminist consciousness among judges and lawyers A standpoint theory analysis,’ SIGNS Journal of Women in Culture and Society 27 (3; 2002, with J. Reynolds and S. Keith), “‘Mobilizing Masculinity’ Women’s Experiences of Men at Work,” Organization 8 (2001). Martin also has recent papers on violence against women, with a focus on organizational responses to this aspect of gender relations. In all, she has written 90+ articles, two books, and edited a third book. She served as chair of her department before she retired and she remains active in the American Sociological Association, the Southern Sociological Society, the European Group on Organization Studies, Sociologists for Women in Society, and the Society for the Study of Social Problems.

Martin received the Jocher-Beard Distinguished Contributions to Gender Award from the Southern Sociological Society in 1999, the Distinguished Feminist Lecturer Award from Sociologists for Women in Society in 2001, the Best Paper Award from the Journal of Human Relations in 2002, the Distinguished Article Award from the American Sociological Association’s Section on Sex and Gender in 2004, the Feminist Activism Award from Sociologists for Women in Society in 2006, the Jessie Bernard Award from the American Sociological Association in 2007, and the Roll of Honor Award from the Southern Sociological Society in 2008. She was Marie Jahoda Distinguished Feminist Professor of Women’s Studies at Ruhr University (Bochum, Germany) in 2007 and a Fulbright Scholar in Sweden in spring 2008. Martin serves as Associate editor for Gender, Work, and Organization and is now co-editing the Handbook on Gender, Work, and Organization. Finally, she is writing a book (with S. Bird) on Gender and Organizations.

 

Spring 2009 Series Lineup:

May 12, 2009 "How to Make Change: Lessons Learned from a Seven-Year Experiment"

Shifra Bronznick and Didi Goldenhar of Advancing Women Professional and the Jewish Community are co-authors (with Marty Linsky) of Leveling the Playing Field Advancing Women in Jewish Organizational Life.

 

Shifra Bronznick is a consultant who specializes in creating new initiatives and helping not-for-profit organizations navigate change. Shifra is the founding President of Advancing Women Professionals and the Jewish Community, and the co-author with Didi Goldenhar and Marty Linsky of the book, “Leveling the Playing Field.”  The leadership strategist to the White House Project virtually since its inception, Shifra designed their National Women’s Leadership Summits and a new initiative “Women Rule,” a groundbreaking program launched in partnership with O, the Oprah magazine.  Shifra Bronznick is a senior fellow at the NYU Research Center for Leadership in Action at the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service. Previously, Shifra served as Executive Vice-President of Swig, Weiler & Arnow Mgt. Co., Inc., one of the premier commercial real estate firms in New York.

 

Didi Goldenhar is a consultant for the nonprofit sector, focusing on leadership development and change initiatives in the areas of education reform, the environment, culture and women’s leadership. She serves as a senior consultant to Advancing Women Professionals and the Jewish Community and is the co-author, with Shifra Bronznick and Marty Linsky of Leveling the Playing Field. She currently advises the NYC Leadership Academy, an innovative incubator to train principals in high-need NYC schools and is a member of the Leading Change Working Group, based at the Hauser Center for Nonprofits at Harvard University’s Kennedy School.

 

April 29, 2009 "Putting Conflict in its Proper Place: A Look at Outside Influences on Competition and Controversy Among Women"

Dr. Karen L. Proudford, Associate Professor of Management, Morgan State University, Department of Business Administration

 

Dr. Proudford's research focuses on group and intergroup dynamics, diversity and conflict. She has presented papers on these topics at academic conferences and lectured on the related issues of leadership, organizational growth and change, and employee motivation. Her work has appeared in Group and Organization Management, the Journal of Labor and Employment Law, the Journal of Career Development, The Diversity Factor, and the International Review of Women and Leadership. In addition, she contributed to the volume, Addressing Cultural Issues in Organizations: Beyond the Corporate Context. Dr. Proudford is also affiliated with the Center for Gender in Organizations, SIMMONS Graduate School of Management, Boston, Massachusetts.

 

 

March 10, 2009 "The Accumulation of Disadvantage: A Simulation of How Perceptions Advance Women's Leadership"

Dr. Barbara S. Lawrence, Professor of Human Resources and Organizational Behavior at the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA

 

Dr. Lawrence's current research examines organizational reference groups, the evolution of organizational norms, internal labor markets and their influence on employees' expectations and implicit work contracts, and the impact of population age change on occupations. Her work on careers includes the Handbook of Career Theory, Cambridge University Press (with Michael Arthur & Tim Hall).  She received the 1998 Outstanding Publication in Organizational Behavior Award from the Academy of Management and a Citation of Excellence from Anbar Electronic Intelligence, UK. In 1999 her work with co-authors in Spain and the United States received the Best Paper Award of the First International Conference of the Iberoamerican Academy of Management. In 2009 she received the Everett Cherington Hughes award for her contributions to interdisciplinary research on careers.  Her research has been funded by corporate, academic, and government agencies, including the National Institutes of Health.

Professor Lawrence is a member of the Academy of Management, American Psychological Association, American Sociological Association, INFORMS, and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. She is a Past-President of the Careers Division.  She served as Senior Editor for Organization Science for nine years, as Co-Editor of special issues for the Academy of Management Review and the Journal of Organizational Behavior, and on the editorial boards of The Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, and Organization Science.

 

February 17, 2009 "Board Diversity: Critical Mass for Achieving Change"

Alison M. Konrad, Professor of Organizational Behavior at the University of Western Ontario Richard Ivey School of Business, and holder of the Corus Entertainment Chair in Women in Management

 

She earned her Ph.D. in Applied Social Psychology at the Claremont Graduate University. She is a Fellow of the Eastern Academy of Management and a member of the Women's Executive Network (WXN) Advisory Board for Canada's Most Powerful Women Top 100. Dr. Konrad was Chair of the Academy of Management’s Gender and Diversity in Organizations Division in 1996-97 and President of the Eastern Academy of Management in 1997-98. She was President of the International Society for the Study of Work and Organizational Values in 2002-04. Prior to joining the school in 2003, she was Professor of Human Resource Management at the Fox School of Business and Management, Temple University.
 
Dr. Konrad's research interests center on gender and diversity in organizations. She received a CDN$113K grant from SSHRC to study Strategic Diversity Initiatives in Canadian organizations in 2004-07; a CDN$52K grant from SSHRC to study the impact of workplace diversity on innovation in 2007-10; a US$89K grant from the Graduate Admissions Council of Canada to study social networking among MBAs in 2008-09; and a CDN$149K grant from SSHRC to expand the social networking study to 2008-11. Her work on gender effects on earnings, Affirmative Action programs, and gender differences in job attribute preferences has received three distinguished paper awards from the Gender and Diversity in Organizations Division of the Academy of Management. She was also recipient of the Division's Sage Award for Scholarly Contributions to Management in 1998. Her work on Employer Initiatives to manage the Welfare to Work Transition was funded by a US$108K grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.


January 28, 2009 "Beyond Narrow Bands and Fine Lines"

Professor Joyce K. Fletcher, Distinguished Research Scholar and CGO Faculty

 

Dr. Fletcher, an authority on leadership and the interaction of gender and power in the workplace, is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences on the topic of women, power, and leadership. She uses relational theory and feminist concepts of power to understand and improve organizational effectiveness. Published extensively in academic journals, Fletcher has co-authored a widely read Harvard Business Review article entitled "A Modest Manifesto for Shattering the Glass Ceiling." Fletcher’s book, Disappearing Acts: Gender, Power and Relational Practice at Work, was nominated as one of the year’s best management books by the Academy of Management in 2001. She also co-authored Beyond Work Family Balance: Advancing Gender Equity and Workplace Performance, a book about how to lead organizational change efforts to achieve equity and effectiveness.

 

Dr. Fletcher is a Senior Research Scholar at the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute at the Wellesley College Centers for Women. She was on the faculty of Northeastern University before joining Simmons in 1998.

 

Fall 2008 Series Lineup:

December 1, 2008 "Making Time for Life in Leadership"

Jessica DeGroot, MBA, President and Founder, Third Path Institute

 

Jessica DeGroot is one of the nation's leading figures in the work/life field. Passionately committed to educating others about work and family issues and how these impact organizations, communities, parents and children, Jessica founded the ThirdPath Institute. Jessica and the work she has been doing at ThirdPath have been featured in national and local newspapers and radio shows, including Working Mother magazine, Fast Company magazine, Parenting magazine, the National Public Radio show The Parents Journal, and a number of local and regional cable and television shows. Jessica received her MBA from the Wharton School in 1994, where she was co-founder of the Wharton Work/Life Roundtable. She has been published in The Harvard Business Review, The American Woman 2003-2004: Daughters of a Revolution, and is co-author of the Wharton Work/Life Resource Guide. After receiving her B.A. from Hampshire College, Jessica managed a childcare resource and referral service and a then a work-life program for a bank. Jessica and her husband live in Philadelphia and share in the care of their two children.

 

November 5, 2008 "Gender, Culture and Success: How Latina 'cultural scripts' affect the career success of mid-level managers"

Evangelina Holvino, Ed.D. , President, Chaos Management, Ltd., and CGO Affiliate

 

Evangelina Holvino's research and writing focuses on the intersection of race and gender, and the situation of Hispanics in organizations. She is also president of Chaos Management Ltd., a consulting and research partnership specializing in collaborative group and organizational approaches to social change. Dr. Holvino has consulted to a wide range of for-profit organizations such as Lucent Technologies, Kraft Foods, Mobil, and Verizon, as well as many not-for-profit organizations in Southeast Asia, West Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. She consults on such topics as global diversity strategies; working with differences and conflict management; strategic planning processes and future search conferences; and developing group process and intervention skills for leaders and managers. Dr. Holvino has a doctorate in organizational development from the University of Massachusetts and has taught at the School for International Training, the University of Massachusetts, and at The American University/NTL Master’s program in human resource management. She is currently a member and previously served on the board of directors of the Boston Center of the A.K. Rice Institute and the NTL Institute for Applied Behavioral Sciences. She is also a founding member of Madrinas: A Latina Leaders Network, principal investigator of the research project "Latinas at Work: Journeys to Leadership", and a member of the advisory boards of Working Mother Media's Best Companies for Women of Color and the Diversity Factor.

 

September 15, 2008 "Discussing the Undiscussable: Race Talk, Race Practice and Learning about Race at Work”

Erica Foldy, Ph.D, is an Associate Professor of Public and Nonprofit Management at the Wagner Graduate School of Public Service at New York University. She is affiliated faculty with the Research Center for Leadership in Action, based at Wagner, and with the Center for Gender in Organizations at the Simmons School of Management in Boston.


Prof. Foldy's research addresses the question: What enables and inhibits working and learning together across potential divisions like race and gender?  She is interested in how cognitive processes, like framing and sensemaking, affect our ability to connect with others, and how leaders act as "sensegivers" to affect their constituents' capacity for joint work. 

Prof. Foldy has published articles in a variety of journals and edited volumes, including Leadership Quarterly, Academy of Management Learning and Education, and Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory.  She also co-edited, with Robin Ely and Maureen Scully, the Reader in Gender, Work and Organization. 

 

Prior to her Ph.D. program, Prof. Foldy worked for 15 years with non-profit organizations addressing foreign policy, women’s rights, and occupational health and safety. She has consulted on strategic planning and organization development to a wide range of non-profit groups. She holds a BA from Harvard College and a PhD from Boston College. She was a Post Doctoral Fellow at Harvard Business School in 2002-03. During the 2007-08 academic year, she was a Visiting Scholar at the Russell Sage Foundation.