“The Goizueta faculty comprises an outstanding community of accomplished scholars, educators, and leaders,” says Wei Jiang, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Finance, “They continually push the boundaries of knowledge and best practices.”

Join us in celebrating these faculty members for their recent honors and accolades:

Faculty Books

Gareth James, John H. Harland Dean and professor of information systems and operations Management

An Introduction to Statistical Learning with Applications in Python, Springer, July 2023

Jagdish Sheth, Charles H. Kellstadt Chaired Professor of Marketing

Customer Centric Support Services In The Digital Age: The Next Frontier Of Competitive Advantage, Palgrave Macmillan, Decemeber 2023

Wesley Longhofer, Goizueta Foundation Term Associate Professor of Organization & Management and executive academic director of the Business & Society Institute

Social Theory Re-Wired (3rd edition), Routledge, June 2023

Research and Teaching Awards

Sandy Jap, Sarah Beth Brown Professor of Marketing, is a fellow for the American Marketing Association (AMA) Fellow as of 2023. The AMA gives this distinction to members who have who have made significant contributions to the research, theory, and practice of marketing, and/or to the service and activities of the AMA over a prolonged period of time.

Jap is also the 2023 Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management James M. Comer Award (2023) runner up for best contribution to Selling and Sales Management Theory, received for The Big Open Spaces in Sales Negotiation Research, with Stefanie L. Boyer.

Sergio Garate, assistant professor in the practice of finance and director of the Goizueta Real Estate Initiative, won the Jonathan Welch Award for best case study manuscript at the 2023 North American Case Research Association meeting.           

Panagiotis Adamopoulos, assistant professor of information system and operations management, won the 2023 Goizueta Business School Alumni Award for Excellence in Research. Adamopoulos also won the 2023 Emory University Goizueta Business School Research Grant.

Prasanna Parasurama, assistant professor of information system and operations management, was the 2023 runner up for the Best Responsible Research Award from the Academy of Management OMT.

Melissa Williams, associate professor of organization and management, won the 2023 Goizueta Business School Holland Award for Excellence in Research, the school’s research award at the associate professor level.

Allison Burdette, professor in the practice of business law, was awarded Poets and Quants Best Undergraduate Business School Professors Award.

Wei Jiang, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Finance, was elected to become the Vice President of American Finance Association (AFA), the premier association for academic finance. She will become President of AFA in 2026.

Community Service

Jesse Bockstedt, senior associate dean for graduate programs and professor of information systems and operations management, joined the board of directors for Georgia Organics Board of Directors in February 2023. He advises the CEO of the nonprofit Georgia Organics and serves on the Finance and Operations committee.

Bockstedt also joined the board of directors for Atlanta Technology Angels in January 2023. In this role, he leads and manages Atlanta Technology Angels with specific committee responsibilities for member education.

Jeffrey Byrne, assistant professor in the practice of accounting and director of master of professional accounting, joined the Board of Advisors for BidBee, LLC in April 2023.               

Peter Roberts, professor of organization and management and academic director of Specialty Coffee Programs in the Business & Society Institute, co-Founded the Research Group for Sustainable and Equitable Specialty Coffee Markets in March 2023. The group is a network of 30+ researchers from more than 25 universities and other organizations.

Tonya Smalls, assistant professor in the practice of accounting has joined the advisory board of Make-A-Wish Georgia as of May 2023.

Andrea Dittmann, Assistant Professor of Organization & Management, was named Co-Director of Research of New Blue in fall of 2023. In this role, she will be leading and cultivating collaborations between researchers and law enforcement fellows aimed at organizational reform and policy change to improve community trust.

Goizueta Business School is proud to present the accomplishments of these and other faculty members within our institution. To learn more about the teaching, specialized research, and core interests of each faculty member, check out our faculty profiles and their related publications. 

The post Goizueta Faculty Shine Bright with Latest Achievements appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

We mark the official start of the new year with celebrations on January 1. New Year’s is a time for new beginnings and a chance to start fresh. We revel in the possibilities and opportunities the new year brings. Frequently, it is a time for goal setting. Perhaps you’ve even made a New Year’s resolution or two?

But New Year’s is also a time to pause, if only for the briefest of moments, before we return to work, school, or whatever regularly scheduled programming life has in store for us. It’s a chance to take a pulse on the current state of things. We reflect on the past year, bask in the glow of its high points, and appreciate lessons learned from the challenges we faced.

So, before we launch full steam ahead into the new year, let’s take a look back at some great stories you may have missed this past year on EmoryBusiness.com.

Students Write Notes to Themselves for the Future

Every August, the students in Goizueta Business School’s Full-Time MBA programs gather for Keystone. It’s a week of giving back through volunteering and catching up with classmates after a summer internship. Students take the opportunity to pause, reflect, and project. As part Keystone, they write a letter to their future self, not to be opened for at least five years. The letter-writing experience has been a Goizueta MBA tradition since 2012.

Emory Entrepreneurship Summit Features Renowned Shoe Designer Stuart Weitzman

Goizueta Business School hosted the 7th annual Emory Entrepreneurship Summit March 30-31. One of the highlight’s of this year’s was the keynote address from Stuart Weitzman. Known for his commitment to prioritizing function as an integral element of fashion, Weitzman encouraged those in attendance to pursue their passions. He shared insights with a packed room of aspiring entrepreneurs and innovators in the form of a number of his truisms—or as he prefers to call them, “Stu-isms.”

Goizueta Launches Graduate Business Degree for Veterans & Active-Duty Military

Emory University’s Goizueta Business School announced in July the launch of its new Master in Business for Veterans. The program is a fully accredited 11-month degree for active-duty military, veterans, National Guard, and Reserve personnel. Spearheaded by Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General and Associate Dean for Leadership Ken Keen, as well as Faculty Lead Professor JB Kurish, the program will be guided by an advisory board of high-level business executives, several of whom are both retired military and graduates of Goizueta. The working professional program began accepting applications in August 2023 with the first cohort of veterans starting classes in May 2024.

Goizueta Business School Introduces New Master in Management Program for Recent Graduates

This past summer, Goizueta introduced its new Master in Management program. It’s designed specifically for graduates with a non-business major who are looking to level up their undergraduate degree. Experienced professors who are experts in their respective fields help students develop a foundation of with business knowledge and skills. Best of all, students can complete the Master in Management program in just ten months. This provides a fast-track option for students to gain a valuable business education and expand their career options.

Virtual Reality Revolutionizes Classroom Learning

Jill Perry-Smith is bringing an entirely new dimension to Goizueta’s Executive MBA program. Her focus: navigating difficult conversations and finding effective conflict resolution strategies. Through the use of virtual reality (VR) and artificial intelligence (AI), Perry-Smith, senior associate dean for strategic initiatives and professor of organization and management, hopes to provide more students with experience in dealing with interpersonal conflict.

Goizueta Faculty Work to Help the LGBTQ+ Community Thrive

Emory University’s Goizueta Business School and the LGBTQ Institute at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights are partners in the second survey of LGBTQ+ Southerners, released in April 2023. The study is a follow up to the 2017-18 inaugural survey, which was conducted by the Institute and George State University. This newly released study aims to help fill a critical research gap, looking at an understudied group with a larger data set.

The Voice of Alexa: How Speech Characteristics Impact Consumer Decisions

Rajiv Garg is associate professor of Information Systems & Operations Management at Emory’s Goizueta Business School. Garg conducts research that explores the impact of artificial intelligence voices on consumer behavior and purchase intent, along with partners at HEC Paris and The University of Texas at Austin.

So, here’s the question: Can the voice of Samuel L. Jackson sell you an office chair? Read on to find out.

Playing Ball: How One Goizueta Graduate Has Scored Big in the NBA

Meet Lauren Cohen 00BBA, who recently entered her 24^th season with the National Basketball Association (NBA). But she doesn’t play basketball. She’s the vice president of partner management and operations lead for the NBA’s global partnerships group.

Cohen credits two things with the stability and tenure she’s enjoyed at the NBA: the people she works with and her opportunities to change roles every few years. But it all started with the strong foundation she build at Goizueta.

Preparing Workers of the Future

The future of work. What does it mean?

For Goizueta Business School graduates, the future of work is an exciting prospect, and they are ready for it. These workers of the future are embracing their passions and pursuing multiple careers. They are making business decisions for the betterment of society and leveraging technology to enhance their skills. On top of that, they are learning how to lead dispersed, remote teams.

Goizueta graduates don’t fear the future. They embrace it.

Talking about the Business of Healthcare

Healthcare is a business like many other industries, but instead of just making money, healthcare workers must also save lives. Navigating patient care and profitability is a unique challenge that neither business professionals nor doctors are able to address alone.

Goizueta helps bridge that gap. We teach clinicians the fundamentals of business and teach business professionals how to apply their knowledge specifically within the healthcare field.

Help keep the great Goizueta stories coming with a gift of support to Emory’s 2O36 campaign.

The post The Best Stories of 2023 from Goizueta Business School appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

“We continue to develop principled and impactful leaders and entrepreneurs, foster innovation for a data and technology driven world, and grow a global presence fueled by local synergies,” said Gareth James, John H. Harland Dean. “I’m proud of our faculty and staff – and energized about the future of our school and students.”

Impacting Business & Beyond

Faculty and staff contribute to the Goizueta and Emory community, but also have significant impact on society and the broader business world. External awards include:

Karen Sedatole, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Accounting, was named as an editor to the Accounting Review. Sedatole was also elected to the position of president elect for the Management Accounting section of the American Accounting Association.

Emma Zhang, associate professor of information systems & operations management, was named an elected member of the International Statistical Institute. Zhang was also named an associate editor to the Journal of the American Accounting Association.

Ruomeng Cui, associate professor of information systems & operations management, was a finalist for the 2022 Management Science Best Paper Award in Operations Management for her paper, “Learning from Inventory Availability Information: Evidence from Field Experiments on Amazon.”

Panos Adamopoulos, assistant professor of information systems & operations management, was named as an associate editor at Management Science.

Giacomo Negro, professor of organization & management, was appointed as the senior editor of Organization Science and also received an honorable mention for the Robert K. Merton Award for his paper, “What’s Next? Artists’ Music After Grammy Awards.” Negro additionally served as the principal investigator for the 2022 LGBTQ Southern Survey.

Erika Hall, associate professor of organization & management, was named as an incoming associate editor at the Academy of Management Discoveries.

Dan McCarthy, assistant professor of marketing and Marina Cooley, assistant professor in the practice of marketing were recognized by Poets&Quants’.” McCarthy was also a finalist for the Weitz-Winer-O’Dell Award.

John Kim, associate professor in the practice of organization & management, was designated as one of the top instructors by Coursera for Management Consulting courses.

Vilma Todri, assistant professor of information systems & operations management, was named an associate editor to the Management Information Systems Quarterly Journal, one of the top three leading Information Systems journals.

Tonya Smalls, assistant professor in the practice of accounting, has been appointed to serve on the Inaugural Advisory Board for Make-A-Wish Georgia (MAWGA).

Leading the Future Of Emory and Goizueta

Goizueta Business School and Emory also honor academic professionals and leaders for their dedication to excellence through teaching, content development, experiential learning, scholarly inquisition, and commitment.

“We could not be prouder of our exceptional faculty and staff for their remarkable work and dedication throughout the past year,” says Anandhi Bharadwaj, who will step down as vice dean for faculty and research this summer as Professor Wei Jiang prepares to take on the role. “It has been an honor to work alongside our faculty and staff in developing the school and its programs.”

The recipients of these prestigious honors and awards are listed below:

Rajiv Garg, associate professor of information systems & operations management, was awarded the Provost’s Distinguished Teaching Award for Excellence in Graduate and Professional Education. Garg was also honored as the MSBA Distinguished Core Educator.

John Kim, associate professor in the practice of organization & management, was awarded Emory Williams Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching Award.

Giacomo Negro, professor of organization & management, received the Keough Faculty Award. Negro also received the Jordan Research Award.

Marvell Nesmith, associate dean of academic affairs & instructional design, received the Keough Staff Award.

Marina Cooley, assistant professor in the practice of marketing, was honored as the BBA Distinguished Educator and was also recognized for MBA Teaching Excellence (One Year).

Omar Rodríguez-Vilá, professor in the practice of marketing, was awarded the Evening MBA Distinguished Core Educator and was also recognized for MBA Teaching Excellence (Two Year).

Charles Goetz, associate professor in the Practice of organization & management, was awarded Evening MBA Distinguished Elective Educator.

Ray Hill, associate professor in the practice of finance, was recognized for MBA Teaching Excellence (Classic Faculty).

Alvin Lim and David Sackin were awarded MSBA Distinguished Elective Educators.

Rob Kazanjian, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Organization & Management, was awarded Executive MBA Distinguished Educator (Core).

Kevin Crowley, associate professor in the practice of finance and Narasimhan Jegadeesh, Dean’s Distinguished Chair of Finance, were awarded MAF Distinguished Educators. Crowley was also awarded Executive MBA Distinguished Educator (Elective).

Giacomo Negro, Melissa Williams and Panos Adamopoulos received Goizueta research awards at the levels of full, associate, and assistant professor, respectively.

Goizueta Business School is proud to present the accomplishments of these and other faculty members within our institution. To learn more about the teaching, specialized research, and core interests of each faculty member, check out our faculty profiles and their related publications. 

The post Goizueta Faculty and Staff Shine with Prestigious Accolades and Honors appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

In time for Pride Month, new research, led by Goizueta faculty, working with the LGBTQ Institute, highlights the evolving challenges and progress for LGBTQ+ Southerners. One of the many takeaways: even though most respondents have, at some point, felt stigmatized, most also view their LGBTQ+ identity as a positive in their lives. Pride in the Goizueta community brings this point home.

Amid a recent wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, especially concentrated in the South, Pride Month matters for the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. At Emory, taking Pride to heart can be seen in recent research that aims to better understand the needs of LGBTQ+ Southerners, as well as in support for campus activities, groups, and the fostering of a sense of belonging for all.

First, the research.  

The Survey

Emory University’s Goizueta Business School and the LGBTQ Institute at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights are partners in the second survey of LGBTQ+ Southerners, released in April 2023. Following up on the 2017-18 inaugural survey, which was conducted by the Institute and George State University, this newly released study aims to help fill a critical research gap, looking at an understudied group with a larger data set.

A total of 1,326 LGBTQ+ adults living in the American South answered questions about their education, employment, healthcare, social and political involvement, and some of their experiences of discrimination.

Here are a few of the notable takeaways from this survey:

• Positivity: The vast majority—78%—of survey respondents view their LGBTQ identity as something positive in their lives.
• Stigma: At the same time, more than 83% reported having been subject to slurs or jokes because of that identity at least a few times in their lives. (On top of those, other instances of harassment and discrimination were tallied.)
• Early awareness: Nearly 23% of the survey respondents reported that they first felt that were LGBTQ+ before age 10. Another 36% identified between the ages of 10 and 14. By age 19, about 84% of the survey sample felt aware of their LGBTQ+ identity.
• Speaking out as teens: Meanwhile, 55% said they had told someone else that they were or might be LGBTQ+ before age 20. Others came out later in life.
• Active and engaged politically: A resounding 70% of respondents have donated to political campaigns at some point, with 71% saying they donated to candidates who supported LGBTQ+ rights. What’s more, 96% said they were registered to vote, with 92% reporting that they did vote in the 2020 presidential election.
• With allies at work: On the job, 80% of the respondents said they can rely on at least one ally (that is, someone they consider supportive regarding matters concerning their sexual orientation and/or gender identity), with 71% reporting the reassurance of multiple allies.

The survey was conducted between June 2021 and March 2022, amid a wave of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that continues to this day. It covers responses from the current residents of 14 U.S. states: namely, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia.

“The 2022 Southern Survey provides valuable data for advocates, policymakers, and community members working to advance LGBTQ+ rights in the South,” says Tim’m T. West, the current executive director of the LGBTQ Institute.

More LGBTQ+ people live in the South than any other U.S. region although they have been underrepresented in previous national surveys.

Tim’m T. West, Executive Director, LGBTQ Institute

More on the overall study design and methodology is available in the published report.

The View From Goizueta

From Goizueta Business School faculty, Giacomo Negro, professor of organization and management, was the principal investigator and co-director of the study. He worked closely with Melissa Williams, associate professor in the same department. These two were joined by Gabrielle Lopiano, who earned her PhD at Goizueta in 2021 (and now is assistant professor of management at Vanderbilt), as well as LGBTQ Institute Scholar Ashlei R. Petion and the Institute’s former director Ryan M. Roemerman, who was also co-director of the study.

“It’s important to remember that this is not a monolithic community we’re studying,” says Negro. “There’s a lot of complexity here.”

That complexity includes the respondents’ gender identities, racial identities, sexual orientations, education and class, age groups, as well as other demographic factors in the South’s rural and urban settings. And with this complexity in mind, the survey broaches a broad range of topics, including experiences of discrimination.

Understanding this complexity is important, because “LGBTQ rights are, fundamentally, human rights,” Negro emphasizes. And the study can be a means for community leaders and policymakers to better understand the barriers to thriving that are faced by the more vulnerable members of the LGBTQ+ community. For example, they ask: who may struggle in school or experience harassment seeking medical care? Which groups and sub-groups are most at risk?

Take the high school experiences, which can be a crucial time in identity formation and shape later socioeconomic outcomes. Where is support found, or not? Have certain people skipped class or even dropped out of school to avoid harassment or negative treatment? Knowing this can help target resources to help, Negro explains.

Agreeing with Negro, Williams also adds that their analyses so far—there is still more work to be done—reveals good news in growing awareness, growing support, along with areas of concern, where stigmas persist. For example, “we see people coming out at a younger age, which shows that awareness growing. And yet, there is still a gap between the age when most know and when most tell others about their LGBTQ+ identity,” she notes.

Fostering Belonging for All on Campus

“Belonging is such an important concept,” says Allison Gilmore, director of admissions and student services for Goizueta’s PhD program and a member of Goizueta’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Council. Gilmore has worked at being an active ally—she herself has family members who identify as LGBTQ+—to make sure students can bring their authentic selves to their studies and pursuits. “It’s about upholding Goizueta’s core values,” she says, serving its mission to prepare principled leaders to have a positive influence on business and society. “That makes me proud of where I work.”

Fellow staff and DEI Council member Jamie Anne Harrell wholeheartedly agrees. Harrell, who is Goizueta’s business intelligence and data analytics lead, was the school’s first openly transgender MBA graduate.

I started transitioning in December 2015 and in the Spring of 2016, ahead of my graduation in May, I was reintroduced to my class with my chosen name ‘Jamie,’ to a huge round of applause. I was not just accepted or tolerated, but actively welcomed.

Jamie Anne Harrell, Goizueta Business Intelligence & Analytics Lead & DEI Council Member

Upon graduation, she started working at Goizueta and has observed more progress since. For instance, Harrell points to medical coverage that now includes more expenses that are relevant to her wellbeing, such as vocal feminization training. “I don’t want to have to worry for my safety if I speak up in a bathroom in Florida. It’s about being accepted, and it matters.”

Back at work, “it’s about bringing your whole self in, which is important for engagement and outcomes,” the analytics expert notes. “You know, Pride Month means showing the world who we are.”

Out and Networking for What Comes Next

That sentiment is echoed by Tyler Dinucci, who identifies as a gay man and expects to receive his MBA degree from Goizueta in 2024. “Pride Month is a chance for LGBTQ+ people to declare we are here and our identities are valid,” he explains.

“For so long, many LGBTQ+ people were treated as deviants or degenerates because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.” But now is a time “for people across the LGBTQ+ spectrum to celebrate themselves as complete members of society.”

Tyler Dinucci

As a student, Dinucci appreciates resources such as Goizueta’s Pride Alliance, serving as a support space and a way to network with alumni. He also appreciates access to the annual ROMBA (“Reaching out MBA”) conference, which gathers LGBTQ+ business students and alumni at a national level. (Last October it was in Washington, DC, and this October in Chicago.)

Here, it’s clear: “LGBTQ identities are not just something to be tolerated, they are to be celebrated,” as Negro puts it. Happy Pride Month to all.

Want to get involved? The Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Life seeks to engage the university community in the creation of an affirming and just campus environment while supporting the development of students of all gender and sexual identities. Check out resources including legal services, navigating campus, health, and professional development.

Have specific questions or need assistance? Reach out to your Goizueta Business School Safe Space Allies who have been trained to help and support members of the LGBTQ+ community at Emory.

The post Pride Month: Working to Help the LGBTQ+ Community Thrive appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

In 2018, the LGBTQ Institute started surveying LGBTQ people in the South to glean unprecedented insights into their quality of life with a focus on access to health care, civic engagement and employment. They are preparing for another round of the survey and have partnered with Emory’s Goizueta Business School to develop and disseminate the survey and organize the data.

“The South receives the least amount of money for LGBTQ research, and we wanted to fill that gap,” says Ryan Roemerman, executive director of the LGBTQ Institute. “The goal is to create an infrastructure for community intervention resources and serve as a tool for activists and academics to work together.”

During the first survey, the LGBTQ Institute collected 6,502 responses from LGBTQ individuals living in 14 states, including: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. This year, they hope to increase that number.

“We hope to understand more about the daily life of LGBTQ people in the South, and how it might have changed over the last few years as the politics of the country have changed,” says Giacomo Negro, who teaches organization and management at Goizueta and serves as the principal investigator from Emory on the project.

Partnering on the survey aligns with Negro’s research on identity in the workplace. He’s studied how the presence of LGBTQ and LGBTQ-friendly businesses in cities and counties contributed to greater acceptance in society and helped to pass anti-discrimination ordinances. From the survey, he hopes to deduce how LGBTQ people feel about how affinity groups and resources in the workplace impact their experiences of work.

“The advantage of this survey is that it asks questions to individuals about identity, and this information is not accessible in Census-based data,” says Negro. “The survey will also allow us to explore employment outcomes when marginalized groups become less stigmatized than they have been in the past.”

He’s joined by Melissa Williams, associate professor of organization and management at Goizueta, who studies gender and diversity in the workplace, and PhD candidate Gabrielle Lopiano. The group has worked together on the survey methodology.

In addition to gleaning deeper insights, the survey has been modified to gather information about travel and COVID-19. The survey is also shorter, taking only 15 minutes from start to finish. Responses will be collected from June to October, in alignment with PRIDE Month and LGBTQ History Month.

This article by Kelundra Smith was originally featured on the Emory News Center.

Giacomo Negro is Professor of Organization & Management; Goizueta Term Chair, Organization & Management; Professor of Sociology (by courtesy). Read more about PhD candidate Gabrielle Lopiano here.

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As a teenager growing up in Phoenix, Arizona, Melissa Williams can remember wanting to understand why people do what they do. She was constantly observing others and wondering, “Why did that person say one thing when they really meant something else?” In high school, she remembers questioning students’ social allegiances, seating preferences and status while watching them in the cafeteria.

Fast forward to today, and the Goizueta associate professor of organization & management continues to think that way. “You can think of a big company as a high school writ large,” she said. “Some of the same dynamics are still playing out, and I’m still interested in them.”

Since she came to Goizueta in 2011, after completing her PhD in psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, and a post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford, she’s been investigating the intersection of conscious and unconscious behaviors and the ways social identities like race and gender influence actions. That’s in addition to teaching undergraduates about organizational behavior.

Recently she’s been studying “how people see the face we present to the world—literally—and how that’s related to career outcomes.” This research has attempted to find out why minorities drop out of STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) majors in greater numbers. “About half of the people who start out in STEM switch majors before graduation,” she said. “It’s a much higher rate for under-represented groups.”

She found that African American and Latino students who had a more typical appearance—darker skin—were less likely to persist in STEM majors. In follow-up research, she discovered stereotypes that assumed minorities with darker skin have less STEM ability. She hypothesizes that darker-skinned minorities receive messages suggesting they don’t belong, and they come to believe that STEM careers are not for them.

She thinks it’s likely these stereotypes persist in the workplace, so she’s focusing further research there.

Williams says the corporate world is particularly interested in this topic because over time, diversity, especially in leadership roles, has become a priority.

Likewise, companies are interested in gender diversity, and her research into women in the workplace is addressing questions around parity in leadership roles and pay. “The C-suite might be the final frontier,” she said. “There remains a gap in whether we see women as capable of leading the whole enterprise.” She’s working on uncovering the obstacles to achieving gender diversity across the hierarchy.

For both areas of research, Williams says companies are taking the issues seriously and are committed to a fair, equitable workplace. “I see a lot of momentum and a sincere desire for change, and that does give me hope. It’s where we need to start.”

Her passion for her work is so strong that even on a self-described perfect day, she’d find time to analyze a data set or make progress on writing a paper. She’d also get some extra sleep, go for a run or hike, see a play or visit a museum and top off the day by going out to eat. Many of these are pursuits she has little time for in her roles as a mother of two teenagers, a wife and the owner of a retired greyhound named Maple.

Williams says one of the best parts about her job is getting to answer the questions that help people and organizations have an impact on society. “These are the big questions everyone is trying to solve, and we get to play a part in that. Goizueta is a hotbed for all that exciting, high-impact research.” — Mary Ann DeMuth

The post Coffee with… Melissa Williams appeared first on EmoryBusiness.com.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This piece was originally published in 

… We found that women weren’t penalized for assertiveness that was expressed through nonverbal means—such as through expansive bodily stances or physical proximity. Likewise, they weren’t penalized for using paraverbal cues, such as speaking loudly or interrupting.

This new finding opens up possibilities for women, who may feel they face a Catch-22 in their professional roles: being effective leaders without being penalized for being effective leaders. It certainly isn’t ideal—or fair—but by using these alternative expressions of leadership, women can sidestep the prejudices that make it hard to keep the respect and admiration of their team.

Significantly, in our analysis, assertive behavior didn’t lead women to be seen as less competent than men. Rather, the costs were limited to interpersonal qualities, such as likability or warmth. But of course, in business, being liked can be just as critical to success as being respected. “Difficult” people are unlikely to be invited to join projects, teams or boards. So, for women leaders, being disliked for being assertive can carry real career costs, not just social ones. 

Nonverbal behaviors clearly enhance influence. People are more likely to follow the lead of a person who maintains eye contact with them while he or she speaks, compared with a person who doesn’t.

About the Expert

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