Paul J. Cortese Distinguished Professor of Management
Management of Organizations
World-renowned researcher, teacher & consultant on leveraging organizational culture for firm performance and leading high-performance teams
About
Jennifer Chatman is the Paul J. Cortese Distinguished Professor of Management and a faculty member in the Management of Organizations (MORS) Group at Berkeley Haas. In her research, teaching, and consulting work, she focuses on how organizations can leverage culture for strategic success and how diverse teams can optimize performance. Her award-winning research has shown, for example, how emphasizing innovation in the context of a strong culture increases firms’ financial success, how narcissistic leaders create organizational cultures lower in collaboration and integrity, and how norms to cooperate can cause members to blur differences among them, even if those differences are useful for group performance—suggesting that collaboration should be calibrated in diverse teams.
Chatman is the Co-Director of the Berkeley Culture Initiative, the Associate Dean for Learning Strategies at the Haas School of Business, an Editor for the journal Research in Organizational Behavior, and runs the Leading Strategy Execution Through Culture executive education program. She has served in many other leadership roles at Haas and UC Berkeley over the years. Chatman earned her PhD at Berkeley Haas, and her BA in Psychology from UC Berkeley.
Expertise and Research Interests
- Organizational Culture and Firm Performance
- Norms in Diverse Groups
- Leadership and the Impact of Leader Attributes on Team Performance
- Stein, D., Schatz, D., Schroeder, J., & Chatman, J.. The mistaken preference for overclaiming credit in groups. Under review.
2020 - Lu, R., Chatman, J., Goldberg, A., & Srivastava, S.. Deciphering the cultural code: Perceptual congruence, behavioral conformity, and the interpersonal transmission of culture. Under review.
2020 - Canning, E., Murphy, M., Emerson, K., Chatman, J., Dweck, C, & Kray, L.. Cultures of genius at work: Organizational mindsets predict cultural norms, trust, and commitment. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.
2020 - Chatman, J. & Choi, A. Measuring organizational culture: Converging on definitions and approaches to advance the paradigm. C. Newton & R. Knight (Eds.) Handbook of research methods for organizational culture. Edward Elgar Publishing: Cheltenham, UK..
(in press) - O’Reilly, C. & Chatman, J.. Transformational leader or narcissist? How organizations can prevent grandiose narcissists from destroying organizations and institutions. California Management Review.
(in press) - Chatman, J. & Gelfand, M.. Perspectives on national and organizational culture. Oxford Handbook of Culture and Organizations.
2020 - Chatman, J., Greer, L., Sherman, E., & Doerr, B.. Blurred lines: How the collectivism norm operates through perceived group diversity to boost or harm group performance in Himalayan mountain climbing. Organization Science.
2019 - O’Reilly, C., Doerr, B., & Chatman, J.. “See you in court”: How CEO narcissism increases firms’ vulnerability to lawsuits. The Leadership Quarterly.
2018 - Chatman, J. & O’Reilly, C.. Paradigm lost: Reinvigorating the study of organizational culture. Research in Organizational Behavior.
2016 - Goncalo, J., Chatman, J., Duguid, M., & Kennedy, J.. Creativity from constraint: How the PC norm influences creativity in mixed-sex work groups. Administrative Science Quarterly.
2015 - Chatman, J., Caldwell, D., O’Reilly, C., & Doerr, B.. Parsing organizational culture: The joint influence of culture content and strength on performance in high-technology firms. Journal of Organizational Behavior.
2014 - O’Reilly, C., Doerr, B., Caldwell, D., & Chatman, J.. Narcissistic CEOs and executive compensation. The Leadership Quarterly.
2014
At Haas since 1993
2019 – present, Associate Dean of Learning Strategies, Berkeley Haas
2019 – present, Editor, Research in Organizational Behavior
2018 – present, Founder and Co-Director, Berkeley Haas Culture Initiative
2001 – present, Paul J. Cortese Distinguished Professor of Management
2001 – 2004, Director, Haas School of Business PhD Program
2001 – 2002, Marvin Bower Fellow, Harvard Business School
1997 – 2000, Harold Furst Professor of Management Philosophy and Values, Haas School of Business
1993 – 2001, Assistant and Associate Professor, Haas School of Business
1987 – 1993, Assistant and Associate Professor of Organization Behavior, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University
1991 – 1992, Visiting Associate Professor and Research Psychologist, Institute of Personality and Social Research and Visiting Professor, Haas School of Business
Corporate and Organizational Boards
2004 – present, Simpson Manufacturing (NYSE: SSD) Board of Directors Outside Director, and Chair of the Compensation and Leadership Committee (2009 – present)
2006 – present, Prospect Sierra School (Trustee, Chair of Compensation Working Group)
Young Presidents Organization (YPO) faculty member (2017-present)
2011 – 2014, Greater Good Science Center, University of California, Faculty Board Member
2011 – 2014, Healthcare Business Women’s Association, Advisory Board Member
2004 – present, The Trium Group, Academic Affiliate
1998 – 2006, BrassRing Systems Inc. Advisory Board Member
2001 – 2004, Thinkshed Advisory Board Member
2002 – 2006, Unicru Advisory Board Member, formerly Guru Worldwide
1999 – 2005, Ashesi University, Ghana, Africa Advisory Board Member
2003 – 2006, UC Berkeley Center for Health Research Advisory Board Member
1996 – 1998, Center for Executive Development at Haas Advisory Board Member
1995 – 1999, East Bay Outreach Program, University of California Faculty Advisor
1998 – 1999, Institute for Management Studies Advisory Board Member
- Simpson Manufacturing (NYSE: SSD) Board of Directors Outside Director (2004 – present), and Chair of the Compensation and Leadership Committee (2009 – present)
- Prospect Sierra School (Trustee, Chair of Compensation Working Group) – 2006-present
- Young Presidents Organization (YPO) faculty member (2017-present)
- Greater Good Science Center, University of California, Faculty Board Member (2011 – present)
- Healthcare Business Women’s Association, Advisory Board Member (2011 – 2014)
- The Trium Group, Academic Affiliate (2004 – present)
- Ashesi University, Ghana, Africa Advisory Board Member (1999 – 2005)
- UC Berkeley Center for Health Research Advisory Board Member (2003 – 2006)
- Center for Executive Development at Haas Advisory Board Member (1996 – 1998)
- East Bay Outreach Program, University of California Faculty Advisor (1995 – 1999)
- Editorial Boards: Academy of Management Annual Reviews Editorial Committee (2005 – 2007); Academy of Management Journal (1989 – 1993); Academy of Management Review (1997 – 1999; 2002 – 2009); Administrative Science Quarterly (1992 – 2002); Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior (2013-2016); California Management Review (1994 – present) Journal of Applied Psychology (1998 – 1999); The Leadership Quarterly (2017 to present)
- Association Memberships: Fellows of the Academy of Management (inducted 2006); Academy of Management American Psychological Association; American Psychological Society; Society for Organizational Behavior
- Executive Development (partial list): Leading High Performance Cultures (faculty director); Berkeley Executive Leader Program (former faculty director); Women’s Executive Leader Program; New Manager Boot Camp; various custom programs
- Consulting (partial list): Cisco Systems, Clorox, The Coca-Cola Company, Conoco-Phillips, Daimler (Mercedes), Draper, Richards, Kaplan Foundation, Franklin Templeton Investor Services, Gallo Winery, Genentech, Goldman Sachs, Kaiser Permanente, Mars Inc., New York Life, Novartis, OSIsoft, PG&E, Pixar, Portland Trail Blazers, Prudential, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Qualcomm, Raiders Football, Roche, Salesforce, Sandia National Laboratory, Schneider Electric, Sony, Statoil, Wolters Kluwer, United Capital, U.S. Treasury
Teaching Honors
Member of Berkeley Haas “Club 6” for high teaching scores (2019 & each year since 1993)
Named on Poets & Quants “World’s Best B-School Professor” list (2012)
Cheit Teaching Award for Teaching Excellence, Berkeley-Columbia Executive MBA Program (2007)
Cheit Teaching Award Honorable Mention, FTMBA, EWMBA & PhD programs (1994, 1996, 1997, 1998)
Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award, 2nd place, Kellogg Graduate School of Management Evening MBA program (1991)
“Outstanding Publication in Organizational Behavior,” Academy of Management
2020
For “Chatman, J. A., Greer, L. L., Sherman, E., & Doerr, B. (2019). Blurred lines: How the collectivism norm operates through perceived group diversity to boost or harm group performance in Himalayan mountain climbing. Organization Science, 30(2), 235-259.”
This award recognizes one paper chosen from those published in the OB domain in a particular year.
Harvard Business School Paul Lawrence Seminar Speaker
2019
“This seminar is “intended to “bring a luminary in the field of Organizational Behavior to Harvard Business School to honor the life, scholarship, and legacy of Paul Lawrence.”
“Best Paper of the Year” Runner Up, The Leadership Quarterly
2019
For “O’Reilly, C., Chatman, J., & Doerr, B. (2018). See you in court: How CEO narcissism increases firms’ vulnerability to lawsuits. The Leadership Quarterly, 29 (3): 365-442.”
“Best Paper of the Year,” Group and Organization Management
2015
For “The Promise and Problems of Organizational Culture: CEO Personality, Culture, and Firm Performance.”
Inducted as a Fellow of the Academy of Management
2006
“Most Influential Paper Award,” 1997-2000, Academy of Management, Conflict Management Division
2005
For “Being different yet feeling similar: The influence of demographic composition and organizational culture on work processes and outcomes” published in Administrative Science Quarterly, 1998, 43 (4): 749-780.
Accenture Award
2004
For the article that “made the most important contribution to improving the practice of management,” in California Management Review for “Leading by Leveraging Culture.”
L.L. Cummings Scholar Award, Academy of Management Organizational Behavior Division
1998
Awarded for “outstanding achievement to one researcher in early mid-career.”
Administrative Science Quarterly Award for Scholarly Contribution
1997
For “the article that had the most impact on the field of organizational behavior over the past five years,” for Mixing and matching people and organizations: Selection and socialization in public accounting firms.
Schwabacher Research Award, Haas School of Business
1996
Ascendant Scholar Award, Western Academy of Management
1994
Best Paper Award, Academy of Management Organization and Management Theory Division
1991
For “Assessing the relationship between industry characteristics and organizational culture: How different can you be?”
Outstanding Paper Based on a Dissertation Award, Academy of Management Organizational Behavior Division
1989
For “Mixing and Matching People and Organizations: Selection and Socialization in Public Accounting Firms.”
Phi Beta Kappa
1980
- People who sell for multilevel marketing companies look wildly successful on Facebook, but the reality is much more complicated, Business Insider, 08/06/2019
- The new CEO of $3.9 billion Snowflake says there’s no room for ‘distractions’ like employee activism in his mission to fight Amazon and Microsoft, Business Insider, 07/24/2019
- What mountain climbing expeditions tell us about teamwork, Fast Company, 07/19/2019
- What Aspects of Company Culture Matter Most for Your Next Job, Thrive Global, 07/01/2019
- Measuring culture in leading companies, MIT Sloan, 06/24/2019
- What climbing expeditions tell us about teamwork, Stanford Business, 05/29/2019
- Uber rang in its IPO with champagne and mimosas. Then the hangover began., Washington Post, 05/17/2019
- Why people stay with the same company for decades, Financial Times, 04/29/2019
- How narcissistic CEOs put companies at risk, CNN, 11/05/2018
- 6 words and phrases you should immediately ban from your vocabulary, Inc., 11/02/2018
- Are narcissistic CEOs bad for business?, Marketplace, 10/15/2018
- What does Tesla look like without Elon Musk?, Quartz, 09/29/2018
- Research: a narcissistic CEO gets your company in trouble, MT Magazine (Dutch), 08/29/2018
- Tech workers demand CEOs stop doing business with ICE, other U.S. agencies, NPR, 07/14/2018
- Inside Uber’s effort to fix Its culture through a Harvard-inspired ‘university’, Forbes, 02/03/2018
- Executive Leadership, Full-time MBA, Evening & Weekend MBA, and Executive MBA programs
- Core Organizational Behavior, Full-time MBA, Evening & Weekend MBA, and Executive MBA programs
- Micro Organizational Behavior, PhD Program
- Executive Development, Courses on Leadership, Cultivating a Strategically Effective Culture, Power and Influence, and other custom topics
