Saint Vincent College Faculty Blog

For centuries, humanity has grappled with deeply philosophical questions.  What is the meaning of life?  Why am I here?  Perhaps not surprisingly is that organizational behaviorists have asked similarly complex questions.  What is the purpose of work?  Why do people engage in particular tasks for the benefit of their employers?

Topics: Michael Urick, don quixote, Elaine Hollensbe, vocation of the business leader, moana, beauty and the beast, Working by Terkel, motivation

Many people who are my acquaintances (that is, we’re friends or colleagues but don’t know each other extremely well on a personal level) are sometimes surprised to find out that I consider myself to be an introvert.  They see me as someone who is a regular presenter seemingly comfortable at public speaking in class or at conferences, often attends social functions where I appear at ease when networking, and has no problem singing or playing trumpet in front of a group of people with my band.

Topics: networking, Michael Urick, mentoring, personalty traits, introverts

A paradox is something unexpected – a phenomenon that, at its surface, may seem counterintuitive or even illogical. Many theories within my discipline (organizational behavior) could be considered to be paradoxical in nature, including concepts related to leadership. In this month’s blog, I explore three paradoxes of leadership.

Topics: Michael Urick, Operational Excellence, leadership, organizational leadership, paradoxes, Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien

A long time ago (1977 to be exact), in a galaxy not so far away … Tuckman and Jensen developed a famous model of team development that has become popularized in virtually every modern organizational behavior textbook. It’s so well known for a very good reason – it makes sense as every team goes through the model’s stages of forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning.

Topics: Star Wars, pop culture, Michael Urick, teamwork, teams, Rogue One

As I mentioned in previous posts, music is a big passion in my life and I often try to look for linkages between music and my academic interests related to organizational behavior – including leadership studies.

Topics: Michael Urick, leadership, Kenny Rogers, Glenn Miller, country music, The Gambler, jazz

As I have done on many occasions, I was recently having a conversation with an HR representative of an organization that employs several Saint Vincent graduates. I asked this individual what makes some recent graduates more attractive candidates for jobs than others. His response to me was one word: experience.

Topics: internship, social media, Michael Urick, MSMOE, APICS, Academy of Management, Professional Organizations, Westmoreland Human Resource Association, Pittsburgh Human Resource Association

In a previous blog, I’ve written about the importance of mentorship and how mentors can help mentees achieve career goals. Since that blog hinted at the importance of goals, I thought that it might be useful to talk about goals more specifically in this blog.

Topics: Michael Urick, Operational Excellence, goals, achievement

Though I’ve often used popular culture to discuss concepts, many of my blogs have been very oriented to my academic passion of organizational behavior. This post is different as it’s more of a reflection regarding my favorite time of the year.

Topics: Campus Life, students, Student Life, Michael Urick, MSMOE

In a previous blog, I discussed the problems of labeling generational groups. But, labeling in the workplace (and in society) goes beyond just generational categories and can be very problematic when individuals and groups rely on labels too much. The topic of labeling was not initially what I had anticipated writing for my blog this month (I was going to talk more about using primary research in the classroom but I will save that topic for later). However, given the prevalence of labels that I’ve noticed in some recent headlines and various social media postings, I was inspired to further address labeling here. 

Topics: Michael Urick, All Is One, identity conflict, labels, uniqueness, individuality

A lot of people who meet me can quickly tell that I exhibit many Type A personality traits. I eat and speak very quickly; I like to always keep busy with something; I frequently have a difficult time relaxing – all of these behaviors are typical of the Type A label. Yet, sometimes when I feel like I’m starting to burn myself out, I need a breather. I especially feel this way in the summer – I’ve just finished teaching two evening grad classes during the summer semester and they started immediately after the spring semester ended with little break between. This, in addition to prepping a new fall class, working on a half dozen pieces of research and doing some administrative work for the Master of Science in Management: Operational Excellence program, suggests that I need a little rest. 

Topics: Michael Urick, Type A, Benedictine Pedagogy, relaxation, reflexiveness, Jungle Book