Research  

I conduct applied research to help provide data to decision-makers and help them improve policies and practices. This research is occurring in collaboration with students, colleagues, and partners in universities and organizations. We have collected data in the following types of industries: Banking, Hotel and Hospitality, Manufacturing, Retail, Hospitals, Health Services, Volunteer Organizations, United Nations Organizations.

Current projects:

MAS Research Projects

Master of Advanced Studies in Human Resources and Career Development

Motivated students have brought me their research questions and ideas in the last five years. Their exciting topics have allowed me to learn about their organizations and to accompany them in their quest to understand the human side of their organizations. Some of the topics we have explored include:

  • The impact of merger and acquisition integration practices on employee satisfaction and turnover
  • Emotions and financial decision-making
  • International management expectations and local employee perceptions
  • Line managers: role expectations and task incentives
  • Smoking policies and their impact of performance and absenteeism
  • Psychological contract
  • Emotions and health
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Behavioral Finance and Economics

Who is „the market“, reacting to daily news reports? Under which conditions do banks give credit? How do individuals invest their money for retirement? When do consumers have confidence in their bank or their financial advisor? In collaboration with the Toulouse School of Economics, Yale University, and industry partners, we examine how psychological factors such as personality, emotional competence, cognitive skills, and experience influence financial and economic decision-making.

Anger at Work

Anger is one of the most frequent emotions in the workplace and is generally provoked by the real or perceived actions of others (employees, colleagues, bosses, or clients). Moreover, the successful management of these episodes is crucial for productivity, collaboration, and quality of life at work. Finally, anger and conflict have different norms and rules depending on national culture, the persons involved in the anger episode (e.g., status, gender, experience) the quality of the relationship, and the organizational context. We investigated anger episodes in several work contexts (e.g., healthcare, hotel and services, manufacturing, and technology) and cultures and catalogued the range of strategies used in managing anger. Our results suggest that the type of anger management strategy used, and the perceived effectiveness of any particular strategy, is dependent on the characteristics of the person experiencing the anger as well the person who was the object of anger. Organizational and national norms also influence what is considered acceptable behavior. The differences between prescribed rules and actual strategies to deal with anger in different contexts have multiple implications for organizational behavior, change management, and the development of emotional competences.