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Organizational Behavior

The Ethnography of Organizational Change

Using the tools of ethnography, Yale SOM’s Julia DiBenigno meticulously documents the lived experience of people at work to uncover the root causes of complex problems and devise solutions that change organizations for the better.

Julia DiBenigno
  • What Happens When Couples Disagree about the Meaning of Work?

    In a new study, Prof. Amy Wrzesniewski and her co-author found that having a partner with a different orientation toward their career lowers a person’s chances of reemployment after leaving a job.

    An illustration of two men working at desks in a living room. One is imagining mountain biking; the other is picturing himself working
  • Beyond Resolutions: Research-Based Suggestions for 2022

    We asked faculty from the Yale School of Management for their advice—philosophical, professional, and personal—for our readers for the coming year.

    A colorful mosaic
  • What Activists Want from Allies

    In a new study, Yale SOM’s Michael Kraus and PhD graduate Jun Won Park found that activists working for social change value allies who are trustworthy and willing to defer to activists’ leadership.

    A White protester standing behind a Black protester, both with fists raised.
  • Video: Identifying with a Team Helps Prevent Stress and Burnout among Healthcare Workers

    A Yale study conducted in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic found that feeling like part of a team reduced reported stress and burnout—an insight with implications for how any kind of organization can weather a crisis.

    A group of healthcare workers preparing for surgery
  • How Finding a Mentor—or Even Better, a Sponsor—Can Accelerate Your Career 

    In an excerpt from her book Social Chemistry: Decoding the Patterns of Human Connection, Prof. Marissa King explains how a more experienced colleague can help propel your career.

    A young penguin with an adult penguin
  • Traditional Firms Get More Room to Innovate 

    A study of the Champagne market co-authored by Yale SOM’s Amandine Ody-Brasier suggests that other industry players are more likely to accept unconventional practices when they come from established firms.

    Champagne bottles on an automated assembly line
  • Mapping Our Social Worlds

    Prof. Marissa King’s interdisciplinary approach to network science has produced new insights into how people interact and ideas spread. Her new book, Social Chemistry, explains how an understanding of social networks can help solve issues faced every day by individuals, organizations, and societies.

    Marissa King teaching in a classroom
  • How to Keep Your Sense of Purpose While Working Remotely

    Yale SOM’s Amy Wrzesniewski, an expert in how people find meaning in their jobs, says that working remotely can diminish our sense of community and structure—and offers suggestions for staying anchored.

    A cat sitting next to a laptop on a sofa
  • What Allies Should Know about Interracial Communication

    A majority of White Americans say that the Black Lives Matter movement has prompted them to have conversations about race. We asked Yale SOM’s Cydney Dupree, who has studied how people from different racial groups communicate with each other, what her research says about the dynamics of the current moment.

    Demonstrators march in St. Anthony, Minnesota, on July 6, 2020, the fourth anniversary of the murder of Philando Castile. Photo: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images.
  • Online and Off, We Are Drawn Toward Those with Similar Writing Styles

    Both online and in-person friendships are more likely to develop between people who have similar linguistic styles, according to a new study co-authored by Balázs Kovács at Yale SOM.

    An illustration of overlapping profiles