Professor Lynne Vincent Helps Transform Management Major to Reflect Challenges of Today’s Workplace

A year after being appointed chair of the Department of Management at the Whitman School, Associate Professor of Management Lynne Vincent has taken on the challenge of ensuring that the major is a reflection of how the needs of the job market are changing to ensure that Whitman students are prepared to excel in their business careers.

“I am so grateful for my colleagues,” Vincent says. “Since I stepped into this role, there has been nothing but encouragement, kindness and excitement. Everyone has been so incredibly supportive, as together we’ve transformed the management major by changing the structure and adding four new courses, allowing students more flexibility and customization.”

The changes allow students to focus on either strategy and complexities of an organizational action if they like industry shifts or the human element of management, such as organizational behaviors or human resources. New courses cover negotiations, technology and innovations strategies, women in business, and corporate development strategies. According to Vincent, the department will continue to pilot additional courses and incorporate innovative ideas to share relevant information as it impacts the field. 

Inserting Creativity and Technology in the Classroom

Vincent, herself, has infused some high-impact experiential learning into her classes, one of which is piloting a set of workplace simulations in her class, MGT 248: Managing and Leading People in Organizations. The course includes virtual reality (VR) to help students learn some necessary soft skills like conflict management, solid communication, and both critical and ethical thinking.

“VR is not a complete substitute for an in-person encounter, but it is a very good practice, and student feedback is that it feels very real,” she says, noting that the exercises were programmed to simulate tense situations, such as an employee being angry about not getting a promotion.

“This has been a wonderful way for students to practice how they might handle these challenging situations and understand that in business, conflict is unavoidable. It helps them prepare for these situations while they are only dealing with an angry avatar and learn how to transform conflict into value.”

Making Headlines

A member of the faculty since 2015 who earned a Ph.D. from Cornell University, Vincent is bringing value to the Whitman School through her research, which examines the moral and social implications of creativity with a twist that looks at the potential dark side and unexpected consequences, as well as how others in the workplace think of and respond to creativity. She also specializes in ethics in organizations, organizational behavior and labor relations.

Currently, she is looking at the interactions between perception of conflict and creativity evaluations, entitlement in creativity and how someone’s belief that they deserve more can actually result in that person being more willing to endorse another’s creative ideas.

Vincent recently co-authored “Entitled Management Endorse Costly Creative Ideas,” which was nominated for best paper by the Managerial and Organizational Cognition division of the Academy of Management (AOM). In July,  she traveled to Copenhagen to present the paper at the AOM’s 85th annual meeting.

Her work has also appeared in such publications as the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Management, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology and General and Psychological Science.

In addition, Vincent has represented the Whitman School as an expert in a number of interviews with local and national media, particularly related to recent labor strikes.

Vincent is pleased to be a part of a dedicated faculty who have transformed the management major to the benefit of Whitman students.

“I see the management major as a career maker,” Vincent says. “It gives you the ability to take your job and make it a career— how you are going to think about long-term organizational strategy, train and develop employees, and create a work culture to support your organizational skills. Every student should consider a management major because they will benefit from the information and experiences no matter what area of business they decide to pursue.

By Caroline K. Reff