Donald C. Hambrick
Professor
Department Management and Organization
Office Address 414 Business Building
Phone Number
814-863-0917
Email Address
dch14@psu.edu
Donald C. Hambrick
![Color portrait of Donald C. Hambrick](http://media.smeal.psu.edu/content_php/directory/photos/dch14-web.jpg)
Professor
Department Management and Organization
Office Address 414 Business Building
Phone Number
814-863-0917
Email Address
dch14@psu.edu
Don Hambrick is Evan Pugh University Professor and the Smeal Chaired Professor of Management, Smeal College of Business. He is also Bronfman Professor Emeritus, Graduate School of Business, Columbia University. An internationally recognized management scholar, Don is the author of numerous articles and books on strategy formulation, strategy implementation, executive psychology, executive staffing and incentives, the composition and processes of top management teams, and corporate governance. His book, Navigating Change: How CEOs, Top Teams, and Boards Steer Transformation, presents leading-edge thinking for executives who are embarking on corporate change initiatives. Another book, Strategic Leadership: Theory and Research on Executives, Top Management Teams, and Boards, is extensively used by scholars of executive leadership. Don is an acknowledged leader in his field, having served as President of the prestigious Academy of Management, on the board of directors of the Strategic Management Society, and on the editorial boards of almost all the major scholarly journals in his field.
Expertise
Current research focuses on executive psychology, top management team dynamics, and history and evolution of the field of strategic management.
Education
Ph D, Organizational Strategy and Policy, The Pennsylvania State University, 1979
MBA, Marketing and Planning/Control, Harvard University, 1972
BS, Finance, The University of Colorado Boulder, 1968
Courses Taught
MGMT 535 – Upper Echelons (3)
To learn to evaluate and conduct research on top executives and their influence on organizational strategy, structure and performance.
MGMT 831 – Strat Impl and Chg (2)
This course addresses the managerial challenge of strategy implementation, particularly by examining the organizational elements that must be drawn into line to support a strategy, as well as the immense difficulties of changing an organization. As such, the course relies on two overarching frameworks. The first is a model of organizational alignment; the second is a model for managing the change process. The course will emphasize application and practice, primarily by the use of cases. Students will be asked, class after class, to take the position of a senior manager or an adviser to a manager, and develop answers to questions like these: What's the real problem here? How are the elements of the problem interconnected? What should be done? How, specifically, should we go about it? Strategy Implementation and Organizational Change will be relevant for a broad array of students, including those hoping to be managers, consultants, investors, and entrepreneurs. Because the course focuses on changing entire organizations (rather than small parts of organizations), we will be primarily taking the point of view of senior managers. However, our frameworks and tools, and the skills students will develop, will be useful early in their careers, as they face the need to manage change in their own subunits, as well as the need to comprehend and contribute to firm-wide changes.
MGMT 601 – Ph.D Dis Full-Time
NO DESCRIPTION.
MGMT 596 – Individual Studies (Variable)
Creative projects, including nonthesis research, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.
MGMT 600 – Thesis Research (Variable)
MGMT 531 – Strat Impl and Chg (2)
This course addresses the managerial challenge of strategy implementation, particularly by examining the organizational elements that must be drawn into line to support a strategy, as well as the immense difficulties of changing an organization. As such, the course relies on two overarching frameworks. The first is a model of organizational alignment; the second is a model for managing the change process. The course will emphasize application and practice, primarily by the use of cases. Students will be asked, class after class, to take the position of a senior manager or an adviser to a manager, and develop answers to questions like these: WhatÀs the real problem here? How are the elements of the problem interconnected? What should be done? How, specifically, should we go about it? Strategy Implementation and Organizational Change will be relevant for a broad array of students, including those hoping to be managers, consultants, investors, and entrepreneurs. Because the course focuses on changing entire organizations (rather than small parts of organizations), we will be primarily taking the point of view of senior managers. However, our frameworks and tools, and the skills students will develop, will be useful early in their careers, as they face the need to manage change in their own subunits, as well as the need to comprehend and contribute to firm-wide changes.
MGMT 578 – Sem Corp Stratgy (3)
Current theoretical and research issues applicable to the study of corporate strategy formulation and implementation.
Selected Publications
Minor revision requested on February 1, 2024.
Editorships
Honors and Awards
Scholarly Rigor and Relevance Award, INSEAD and Organizational Development and Change Division, Academy of Management, (Aug 31, 2023)
Strategic Management Society's 2021 C.K. Prahalad Award for Scholarly Impact on Practice, Strategic Management Society, (May 31, 2021)
MBA Best All-Around Professor Teaching Award, Smeal College of Business, (Apr 30, 2020)
MBA Best Consulting Professor Teaching Award, Smeal College of Business, (Apr 30, 2020)
Honorary Doctorate (Doctor honoris causa), University of Passau, (Jun 30, 2019)
Best Paper Award (Lovelace, J., J. Bundy, T.G. Pollock, D.C. Hambrick, "The Push and Pull of Attaining CEO Celebrity"), SMS, Strategic Leadership and Governance Interest Group, (Sep 30, 2018)
EMBA Teaching Award, Smeal College of Business, (Apr 30, 2018)
MBA Teaching Award, Smeal College of Business, (Apr 30, 2017)
MBA Teaching Award, Smeal College of Business, (Apr 30, 2016)
AMJ Outstanding Reviewer Award, Academy of Management Journal, (Aug 31, 2015)
MBA Teaching Award, Smeal College of Business, (Apr 30, 2015)
2014 Best Paper Award (Gerstner, W-C., A. König, A. Enders, and D.C. Hambrick, “CEO Narcissism, Audience Engagement, and Organizational Adoption of Technological Discontinuities,” Administrative Science Quarterly, June 2013)., German Academic Association for Business Research, Verband der Hochschullehrer für Betriebswirtschaftslehre e.V., (May 31, 2014)
Most Interesting MBA Instructor, Smeal College of Business, (Apr 30, 2014)
Honorary Doctorate (Doctor honoris causa), Erasmus University Rotterdam, (Nov 30, 2013)
Honorary Doctorate (Doctor honoris causa), University of Antwerp, (Apr 30, 2013)
MBA Excellence in Teaching, Smeal College of Business, (Apr 30, 2012)
Academy of Management, Business Policy and Strategy Division, Best Paper, (Aug 31, 2010)
Evan Pugh Professor, (Jul 31, 2010)
MBA Excellence in Teaching Award, Smeal College of Business, (Apr 30, 2010)
Honorary Doctorate (Doctor honoris causa), University of Paris - Paris Pantheon (Sorbonne), (Jan 31, 2010)
Distinguished Educator Award (career achievement), Academy of Management, (Aug 31, 2009)
Distinguished Scholar Award (career achievement), Academy of Management, (Aug 31, 2008)
MBA Excellence in Teaching Award, Smeal College of Business, (Apr 30, 2008)
Outstanding Publication in Organizational Behavior (Chatterjee, A. and D.C. Hambrick, “It’s All About Me: Narcissistic CEOs and Their Effects on Company Strategy and Performance,” Administrative Science Quarterly, September 2007)., Organizational Behavior Division of the Academy of Management, (Aug 31, 2007)