A. Alexandra Michel
Hoffman Hall 619
Marshall School of Business, MOR
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0808
Tel: 213.740.3360
amichel@marshall.usc.edu
EDUCATION
The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Ph.D. in Management, August 2003.
Dissertation: “How organizations think and why it matters”
University of Western Ontario, Canada;
Honors B.A. Psychology & Economics, May 1992 (4.0/4.0 GPA).
ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE
Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California.
Assistant Professor, September 2003 - present.
PUBLICATIONS
Michel, A.A. & S.E.F. Wortham (2008) “Bullish on uncertainty: How organizational cultures change participants.” Ethnographic book manuscript. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Michel, A.A. (2007). A distributed cognition perspective on newcomers’ change processes: The management of cognitive uncertainty in two investment banks. Administrative Science Quarterly, 52: 507-557.
Michel, A.A. & S.E.F. Wortham (2007). Listening beyond the self: How schools and other organizations create direct involvement. Learning Inquiry, 1(2): 89-97.
Michel, A.A. & K.A. Jehn (2005). About the “I” in the EI construct: A more social approach to intelligence and its performance implications. In V. Druskat, F. Sala, & G. Mount (Eds.), Linking Emotional Intelligence and Performance at Work: Current Research Evidence with Individuals and Groups (pp. 185-222) San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Michel, A.A. (2004). “Rummaging in words”. Theory & Psychology, 14(4): 562-568.
Michel, A.A. & K.A. Jehn (2003). The dark side of identification: Overcoming identification-induced performance impediments. In E. Mannix, J. Polzer, & M. Neale (Eds.), Research on Managing Groups and Teams: Identity Issues in Groups (Volume 5, pp. 189-219). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
Michel, A.A. & S.E.F. Wortham (2002). Clearing away the self. Theory & Psychology, 12(5), 625-650.
WORK IN PROGRESS
Michel, A.A. “Theories as practice, subjectivity, and scholarly reflexivity: How organizations enact cognitive theories and why it matters.”
Michel, A.A. “Embodiment as a paradigm for the study of self, culture, and cognition.”
Michel, A.A. and M. Feldman “Biophilia: How organizations can make people care about environmental sustainability.”
PRESENTATIONS
Michel, A.A. (2008). Bullish on uncertainty: How Wall Street investment banks transform participants and why it matters. Presentation to the Harvard Business School Strategy Unit.
Michel, A.A. and S.E.F. Wortham (2008). Theories in the wild: Traditional cognitive and socio-cultural theories as practice. Presentation at the ISCAR conference, San Diego, CA.
Michel, A.A. (2008). The agency of academic theories: Traditional and sideways cultures in theories-as-practice. Presentation at the meeting of the Academy of Management, Anaheim, CA.
Wortham, S.E.F. and A.A. Michel (2008). Listening as attention to heterogeneous resources. Presentation at the AERA conference, New York, NY.
Michel, A.A. & S.E.F. Wortham (2005). Direct involvement: How thinking takes place in organizations. Presentation at the ISCAR conference, Sevilla, Spain.
Michel, A.A. & K.A. Jehn (2005). About the ‘I’ in the EI construct. Presentation at themeeting of the Academy of Management, Oahu.
Michel, A.A. & S.E.F. Wortham (2005). “Contact with the world” An almost phenomenological approach to cognition and emotion. Presentation at the meeting of the Society for Psychological Anthropology, San Diego, CA.
Michel, A.A. (2005). The limits of shared cognition: How identification makes the subjective objective. European Conference on Identities, University of Leiden, Netherlands.
Michel, A.A. (2005). On how to be ethical without trying: Lessons from Wall Street. Presentation at UCLA Templeton Lecture Series on Ethics, Los Angeles, CA.
Michel, A.A. & S.E.F. Wortham (2003). What embodiment reveals about culture and self that semiotics conceals. Meeting of the Society for Psychological Anthropology, San Diego, CA.
Michel, A.A. (2002). More than meets the “I”: Emotion and intuition as alternative self-theories and their consequences for group performance. Academy of Sciences Conference, New York, NY.
Michel, A.A. (2002). “How can you tell the dancer from the dance?”: Embodiment, culture, and agency. Annual Meeting of American Anthropological Association, New Orleans, Louisiana.
Michel, A.A. & K.A. Jehn (2001). The dark side of identification: Overcoming identification-induced distortion. Annual Conference on Managing Groups and Teams, Ithaca, NY.
Michel, A.A. & S.E.F. Wortham (2001). A phenomenological perspective on culture: “Contact with the world at the very heart of the being of consciousness”. Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Washington, DC.
Michel, A.A. (2000). Beyond the thinker in thought: Attributes and determinants of collective mind. Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Toronto, Canada.
Michel, A.A. (2000). Antecedents and consequences of different types of conflict. Annual Meeting of the International Association for Conflict Management.
Michel, A.A. & I. MacMillan (1997). Is rent insulation possible? Conference on Entrepreneurship. Montreal, Canada.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
The University of Southern California, Marshall School
Organizational Behavior, undergraduate required for Business Scholars (capstone course) (BUAD 304).
Managerial Perspectives, graduate required course (GBS 522 a and b).
Professional Service Firms, undergraduate and graduate elective course (BUAD 499, MOR 599).
Seminar in Organizational Behavior, doctoral course (MOR 601).
The Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania
Guest faculty, Chief Learning Officer Leadership Program.
Lecturer, Management 101.
MEMBERSHIP IN PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Academy of Management
American Anthropological Association
American Education Research Association
American Psychological Association
International Society for Theoretical Psychology
COMMUNITY SERVICE
Ad-hoc reviewer: Administrative Science Quarterly, Organization Science
Member of MOR Department Ethics Committee
Member of MOR Knowledge Management Committee
Member of MOR Doctoral Committee
Chair, Session on “Embodiment and Language” at Neurobiology of “The Good Life”, Conference at UCLA, April 2004
GRANTS, HONORS, AND AWARDS
“Top Gun” Award for Excellence in Research, Teaching and Service (2007/8), Management and Organization Department, University of Southern California
Grant, Undergraduate Research Proposal, University of Southern California ($9,000)
Grant, Undergraduate Research Proposal, University of Southern California ($9,800).
Grant, Wharton Center for Leadership, University of Pennsylvania ($5,000).
Fellowship, Snider Entrepreneurial Center at Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania ($8,000).
The Chancellor’s Prize, UWO, for best student graduating from Social Science Honors Program.
W.J. McClelland Award, UWO, for most outstanding Senior Honors Thesis. Presented Honors Thesis at Annual Meeting of American Psychological Society.
R.B. Liddy Gold Medal, UWO, for highest average in fourth year psychology.
F.W. Burd Scholarship, UWO, for highest average in third year psychology.
John McKiel Memorial Prize, UWO, for highest average in first year psychology.
Huron Corporation Scholarship, UWO, (every year) for highest overall average.
Dean’s Honor List, UWO, (every year).
David Anderson Prize, UWO, for excellence in administering behavior modification.
WORK EXPERIENCE
Goldman, Sachs & CO., Training and Development (1995-1996), New York, USA.
Goldman, Sachs & CO., Mergers and Acquisitions (1992-1994), New York, USA.
Citibank, Customer Service Representative (Summer 1991), Paris, France.
Robert Bosch GmbH, Marketing (Summer 1990), Stuttgart, Germany.
Nixdorf Computer AG, Communications (Summer 1989), Paderborn, Germany.
Dresdner Bank AG, Certified Commercial Banker (1986-1988), Duesseldorf, Germany.
LANGUAGES: English, French, German, Latin.