Mayer, Ashford, and Sonenshein pen HBR article about creating social change from within organizations

February 20, 2019


Center for Positive Organizations (CPO) superstars David M. Mayer, Susan J. Ashford, and Scott Sonenshein (along with Madeline Ong) teamed up to author a Harvard Business Review article detailing their research recently published in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

The HBR article, “To Get Companies to Take Action on Social Issues, Emphasize Morals, Not the Business Case,” walks readers through some important concepts for employees to consider if they want to talk to their leader(s) about creating social change from within an organization.

Mayer is part of CPO’s core faculty and a professor of management and organizations at Michigan Ross. His research focuses on how organizations can create environments that promote ethical behavior and discourage wrongdoing.

Ashford is a CPO faculty associate and holds the Michael and Susan Jandernoa Professorship of Management and Organizations at Michigan Ross. Her research has long focused on the ways individuals enhance their own effectiveness and have a positive impact in organizations.

Sonenshein is a member of CPO’s research advisory board and is professor of management at Rice University. Sonenshein’s research employs field methodologies to explain the resourceful actions of employees in the context of organizational and social/ethical change.