At the Broad College, we devote ourselves to expanding business research on a global scale. Our faculty are award-winning teachers and researchers, editors and reviewers of top journals and former executives applying workplace lessons in the classroom and helping to solve the world’s problems.
John Hollenbeck
To build upon our achievements and enhance our work going forward, the Broad College has created a new position focused on research efforts. John Hollenbeck, Eli Broad Professor of Management and University Distinguished Professor, will be the inaugural associate dean for research, effective August 2021. Hollenbeck will assume his responsibilities from Robert Wiseman, who has overseen research as the college’s senior associate dean since 2015.
“In this role, I’ll be able to expand our research efforts beyond the current focus on non-funded disciplinary research. Disciplinary research is core to what we all do most of the time, and our faculty have proven that they do not need funding to be successful. But still, there is added value in thinking about how one might be able to expand the scope of what they do if they were awarded a large sum of research funding or the opportunity to work with someone who is tackling similar problems from a different perspective with a different approach,” Hollenbeck said.
“I think it can recharge our thinking sometimes if we step outside our comfort zone by interacting across disciplinary boundaries, and I know for a fact that having access to one’s own set of research funds is very empowering.”
With over 35 years at MSU, Hollenbeck has personally been a part of the university’s growth and transformation over the decades and is poised to lead. He is a renowned, award-winning scholar in the realm of team dynamics and work motivation who has published more than 100 articles and book chapters on these topics. Throughout his career, he has taken on numerous research projects funded by the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. National Science Foundation.
His new position will be a dual role. Hollenbeck will also continue to serve as the director of the Broad College’s Institute for Business Research, which he has done since the institute was created in 2015. In that time, Hollenbeck has doubled the college’s awarded research funding, and he plans to continue this momentum.
Beyond IBR, however, Hollenbeck noted that “with the associate dean title, I’ll have better access to other research deans across campus, which is important for expanding our interdisciplinary research efforts. I’ll be able to attend MSU’s Council of Research Deans meetings and explain what we do at the Broad College to an audience that, for various reasons, does not always associate the school of business with research.”
IBR research manager Cindy Majeske added, “The world’s most complex problems need diverse teams and creative solutions. John is uniquely qualified for this role because it’s about bringing team members together, and that’s his expertise.”
In his new role, Hollenbeck is looking forward to helping faculty embrace new opportunities and collaborations while also bolstering Broad’s status for producing impactful research — both within and beyond MSU.
“A priority for me is to increase the prominence of Broad faculty so that other colleges, universities and organizations will want to work with us,” Hollenbeck said. “For instance, I want to leverage our research to get support from alumni to fund young researchers and assistant professors who typically have a harder time receiving external funding. I also want to explore a scholar-in-residence program to leverage new learning and expertise from renowned academics.
“Ultimately, I want faculty to be excited about doing funded interdisciplinary research because it can change what we do and help us gain a new perspective to address real-world problems.”
Hollenbeck’s distinguished career as a prolific scholar, an impactful teacher, an engaged citizen and a consummate colleague, paired with his commitment to the academy, make him an exceptional fit for this new role. Under his leadership, the college will push ahead on its path to be a top-of-mind business school with excellence in academic research.
