Research

Academic Biography

Scott Sonenshein is the Henry Gardiner Symonds Professor of Management at the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University where he teaches courses in organizational behavior, leadership and change management. Prior to joining the Jones School in 2007, he taught at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan where he also received his PhD in Management and Organizations. Dr. Sonenshein also received a BA from the University of Virginia in Business Ethics and an M.Phil from the University of Cambridge in Management Studies.

Dr. Sonenshein’s research employs field methodologies (primarily involving qualitative data) to explain change processes and mechanisms, including personal change, organizational and strategic change and social change. His work usually follows an inductive approach using grounded theory and other ethnographic methods. He has contributed to a variety of theoretical perspectives that span both “micro” and “macro” aspects of change, including resourcefulness, creativity, sensemaking, identity, personal growth, prosocial competition, social influence, and decision making. He has made these contributions by locating generative field settings ranging from actors to artists, fashion to food trucks, banks to booksellers and entrepreneurs to environmentalists. Although his studies often contain an inductive surprise, his work coalesces around illuminating the skill, agency, and motivation of individuals to contribute to change (personal, organizational and social) as well as the corresponding practices that foster these outcomes.

In 2013, the Center for Positive Organizations at the University of Michigan awarded his paper on the psychological resources employees create through sensemaking to facilitate strategic change with its Biennial Best Paper Award. In 2008, The Aspen Institute recognized his research on social change by naming him a finalist for its Faculty Pioneer Award. In 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2020, he won the Jones School’s Faculty Research Excellence Award. His two best-selling books, Stretch and Joy at Work, bring his academic research to a general audience.

Dr. Sonenshein’s research has appeared in many leading journals of organizational behavior including Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal and Organization Science. Additionally, he served as an Associate Editor at the Academy of Management Journal and currently sits on its editorial board along with Academy of Management Review and Organization Science.

Dr. Sonenshein’s expertise and perspectives have been sought by a wide variety of media outlets, including The New York Times, Time Magazine, Fast Company, Harvard Business Review as well as television and radio. Please visit the media page for more information.

In the classroom, Dr. Sonenshein is known for his frequent use of experiential learning techniques which gives students the opportunity to put into immediate action newly learned theoretical concepts, mediate these ideas with their professional and personal experiences, and understand the realistic outcome of their developing work skills.

Prior to his academic career, Dr. Sonenshein worked as a strategy consultant with clients including Microsoft and AT&T. Additionally, he worked in marketing and research positions for a Kleiner Perkins backed Silicon Valley startup…from boom to bust. He also served as a charter member of Mckinsey’s External Advisory Board for its Change Implementation Practice.