Understanding Management
Richard L. Daft, Ph.D., is the Brownlee O. Currey, Jr., Professor of Management in the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University. Professor Daft specializes in the study of organization theory and leadership. He is a fellow of the Academy of Management and has served on the editorial boards of Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, and Journal of Management Education. Professor Daft has authored or coauthored 13 books, including The Executive and the Elephant: A Leader's Guide to Building Inner Excellence (Jossey-Bass, 2010), Organization Theory and Design (South-Western, 2010), The Leadership Experience (South-Western, 2011), and What to Study: Generating and Developing Research Questions (Sage, 1982). He published Fusion Leadership: Unlocking the Subtle Forces That Change People and Organizations (Berrett-Koehler, 2000) with Robert Lengel. He also has authored dozens of scholarly articles, papers, and chapters. His work has been published in Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Management, Accounting Organizations and Society, Management Science, MIS Quarterly, California Management Review, and Organizational Behavior Teaching Review. Professor Daft also is an active teacher and consultant. He has taught management, leadership, organizational change, organizational theory, and organizational behavior. He has been involved in management development and consulting for many companies and government organizations, including the American Bankers Association, Bridgestone, Bell Canada, the Transportation Research Board, Nortel, TVA, Pratt & Whitney, State Farm Insurance, Tenneco, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Army, J. C. Bradford & Co., Central Parking System, Entergy, Bristol-Myers Squibb, First American National Bank, and the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.Dorothy Marcic, EdD, MPH, is a former faculty member at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Marcic is also a former Fulbright Scholar at the University of Economics in Prague and the Czech Management Center, where she taught courses and did research in leadership, organizational behavior, and cross-cultural management. She teaches courses at the Monterrey Institute of International Studies and at the University of Economics in Prague and has taught courses and given presentations at the Helsinki School of Economics, Slovenia Management Center, College of Trade in Bulgaria, City University of Slovakia, Landegg Institute in Switzerland, the Swedish Management Association, Technion University in Israel, and the London School of Economics. She has served on the boards of the Organizational Teaching Society, the Health Administration Section of the American Public Health Association, and the Journal of Applied Business Research. Dr. Marcic has authored 12 books, including Organizational Behavior: Experiences and Cases, (South-Western Publishing, 6th Edition, 2001), Management International (West Publishing, 1984), Women and Men in Organizations (George Washington University, 1984), and Managing with the Wisdom of Love: Uncovering the Virtue in People and Organizations (Jossey-Bass, 1997), which was rated one of the top ten business books of 1997 by Management General. In addition, she has had dozens of articles printed in publications such as Journal of Management Development, International Quarterly of Community Health Education, Psychological Reports, and Executive Development. Professor Marcic has conducted hundreds of seminars on various business topics and consulted for executives at AT&T; Bell Labs, the governor and cabinet of North Dakota, the United States Air Force, Slovak Management Association, Eurotel Czech Ministry of Finance, the Cattaraugus Center, USAA Insurance, State Farm Insurance, and the Salt River-Pima Indian Tribe in Arizona.