Jeffrey Pfeffer
Encyclopedia
Jeffrey Pfeffer, Ph.D., is the Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Graduate School of Business
, Stanford University
, and is considered one of today's most influential management thinkers. He is the author of over a dozen books including The Human Equation: Building Profits by Putting People First, Managing with Power: Politics and Influence in Organizations, The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge Into Action, Hidden Value: How Great Companies Achieve Extraordinary Results with Ordinary People, Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense: Profiting from Evidence-Based Management, and What Were They Thinking? Unconventional Wisdom About Management. Pfeffer also has written a collection of 27 essays about management topics, as well as more than 120 articles. Pfeffer’s newest book, entitled Power: Why Some People Have It—And Others Don't was published and released in September 2010 . Pfeffer strives to educate and inspire leaders to seek power through evidence-based management, the knowing-doing gap, high performance culture, and unconventional wisdom.
Pfeffer has written cases on how individuals acquire power and manage their careers, including cases on Keith Ferrazzi
, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld
, and Laura Esserman. He has also written cases on companies that practice high commitment/high performance work arrangements, including Southwest Airlines
, DaVita
, the Men’s Wearhouse, Holy Cross Hospital
, SAS Institute
, and the Andean region of Kimberly-Clark
.
Pfeffer has given talks in 34 countries around the world and has taught management seminars for numerous companies and associations in the United States including Sutter Health
, the Mayo Clinic
, Kaiser Permanente
, John Hancock
, Hewlett-Packard
, and the Online Publishers Association.
(The External Control of Organizations: A Resource Dependence-Perspective), he has done theoretical and empirical research on the subjects of human resource management, power and politics in organizations, evidence-based management, the knowing-doing gap, leadership, stratification and labor markets inside organizations, the sociology of science, how and why theories become self-fulfilling, the psychological relationship between time and money, and economic evaluation. He has written more than 125 articles and book chapters.
Pfeffer has won numerous awards for his articles and books. He was elected a fellow of the Academy of Management more than 20 years ago, was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences, and has won the Richard D. Irwin award for scholarly contributions to management.
For five years, Pfeffer wrote a monthly column for the Time-Warner magazine, Business 2.0. For almost three years, he wrote a career advice column for Capital, the leading economics and business magazine in Turkey. He currently writes a bi-weekly blog for BNET/CBS Interactive as well as an occasional contribution for the online On Leadership section of The Washington Post.
Stanford Graduate School of Business
The Stanford Graduate School of Business is one of the professional schools of Stanford University, in Stanford, California and is broadly regarded as one of the best business schools in the world.The Stanford GSB offers a general management Master of Business Administration degree, the Sloan...
, Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
, and is considered one of today's most influential management thinkers. He is the author of over a dozen books including The Human Equation: Building Profits by Putting People First, Managing with Power: Politics and Influence in Organizations, The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge Into Action, Hidden Value: How Great Companies Achieve Extraordinary Results with Ordinary People, Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense: Profiting from Evidence-Based Management, and What Were They Thinking? Unconventional Wisdom About Management. Pfeffer also has written a collection of 27 essays about management topics, as well as more than 120 articles. Pfeffer’s newest book, entitled Power: Why Some People Have It—And Others Don't was published and released in September 2010 . Pfeffer strives to educate and inspire leaders to seek power through evidence-based management, the knowing-doing gap, high performance culture, and unconventional wisdom.
Teaching
Pfeffer has taught both elective and core classes in human resource management and the core course in organizational behavior. When he joined the Stanford faculty, he developed an elective on power in organizations. First called Power and Politics in Organizations, some years ago the class was retitled The Paths to Power. The elective has been consistently popular, with Pfeffer teaching two sections per year and, over the years, other colleagues teaching sections as well.Pfeffer has written cases on how individuals acquire power and manage their careers, including cases on Keith Ferrazzi
Keith Ferrazzi
Keith Ferrazzi is an American entrepreneur, author, and a former business executive. He is the co-author of the book Never Eat Alone about marketing and networking. He is CEO of Ferrazzi Greenlight, a sales and marketing consulting firm...
, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is Senior Associate Dean for Executive Programs and Lester Crown Professor in the Practice of Management at Yale School of Management where he has taught since 1999...
, and Laura Esserman. He has also written cases on companies that practice high commitment/high performance work arrangements, including Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines Co. is an American low-cost airline based in Dallas, Texas. Southwest is the largest airline in the United States, based upon domestic passengers carried,...
, DaVita
DaVita
DaVita, Inc. is one of the largest kidney care companies in the United States, with corporate headquarters in Denver, Colorado. Their offerings include in-center hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis, home hemodialysis, vascular access management, chronic kidney disease education, and renal diet...
, the Men’s Wearhouse, Holy Cross Hospital
Holy Cross Hospital
Holy Cross Hospital is a Catholic hospital located at 2701 West 68th Street, across from Marquette Park in Chicago's West Lawn neighborhood on the city's southwest side. The hospital was founded by the Sisters of Saint Casimir, who's motherhouse is nearby...
, SAS Institute
SAS Institute
SAS Institute Inc. , headquartered in Cary, North Carolina, USA, has been a major producer of software since it was founded in 1976 by Anthony Barr, James Goodnight, John Sall and Jane Helwig...
, and the Andean region of Kimberly-Clark
Kimberly-Clark
Kimberly-Clark Corporation is an American corporation that produces mostly paper-based consumer products. Kimberly-Clark brand name products include "Kleenex" facial tissue, "Kotex" feminine hygiene products, "Cottonelle", Scott and Andrex toilet paper, Wypall utility wipes, "KimWipes"...
.
Pfeffer has given talks in 34 countries around the world and has taught management seminars for numerous companies and associations in the United States including Sutter Health
Sutter Health
Sutter Health is a not-for-profit health system in Northern California, headquartered in Sacramento. Serving patients and their families in more than 100 Northern California cities and towns, Sutter Health doctors, hospitals and other health care service providers join resources and share expertise...
, the Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is a not-for-profit medical practice and medical research group specializing in treating difficult patients . Patients are referred to Mayo Clinic from across the U.S. and the world, and it is known for innovative and effective treatments. Mayo Clinic is known for being at the top of...
, Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is an integrated managed care consortium, based in Oakland, California, United States, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield...
, John Hancock
John Hancock
John Hancock was a merchant, statesman, and prominent Patriot of the American Revolution. He served as president of the Second Continental Congress and was the first and third Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts...
, Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
, and the Online Publishers Association.
Research
Pfeffer’s research interests are very broad. Although he is probably most famous in academic circles for developing resource dependence theoryResource dependence theory
Resource Dependence Theory is the study of how the external resources of organizations affects the behavior of the organization. The procurement of external resources is an important tenet of both the strategic and tactical management of any company...
(The External Control of Organizations: A Resource Dependence-Perspective), he has done theoretical and empirical research on the subjects of human resource management, power and politics in organizations, evidence-based management, the knowing-doing gap, leadership, stratification and labor markets inside organizations, the sociology of science, how and why theories become self-fulfilling, the psychological relationship between time and money, and economic evaluation. He has written more than 125 articles and book chapters.
Pfeffer has won numerous awards for his articles and books. He was elected a fellow of the Academy of Management more than 20 years ago, was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences, and has won the Richard D. Irwin award for scholarly contributions to management.
Other activities
Pfeffer has served on the boards of several human capital management companies including Resumix, Unicru, and Workstream. He also served on the board of publicly-traded Sonosite (SONO) for ten years and on the boards of private high-technology companies Actify and Audible Magic. He is currently on the board of directors of two nonprofits: the San Francisco Playhouse and Quantum Leap Healthcare.For five years, Pfeffer wrote a monthly column for the Time-Warner magazine, Business 2.0. For almost three years, he wrote a career advice column for Capital, the leading economics and business magazine in Turkey. He currently writes a bi-weekly blog for BNET/CBS Interactive as well as an occasional contribution for the online On Leadership section of The Washington Post.
Publications
- Pfeffer, Jeffrey & Salancik, Gerald R.: The External Control of Organizations: A Resource Dependence Perspective (Harper & Row, 1978)
- Pfeffer, Jeffrey: Organizational Design (A H M Publications, 1975)
- Pfeffer, Jeffrey: Power in Organizations (HarperCollins, 1981)
- Pfeffer, Jeffrey: Organizations and Organization Theory (HarperCollins, 1982)
- Pfeffer, Jeffrey: Managing with Power: Politics and Influence in Organizations (Harvard Business School Press, 1992)
- Pfeffer, Jeffrey: Competitive Advantage Through People: Unleashing the Power of the Work Force (Reed Business Information, 1994)
- Pfeffer, Jeffrey: New Directions for Organization Theory: Problems and Prospects (Oxford University Press USA, 1997)
- Pfeffer, Jeffrey: The Human Equation: Building Profits by Putting People First (Harvard Business School Press, 1998)
- Pfeffer, Jeffrey & Sutton, Robert I.Robert I. SuttonRobert I. Sutton is Professor of Management science at the Stanford Engineering School and researcher in the field of Evidence-based management....
: The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action (Harvard Business School Press, 2000) - O'Reilly, Charles A. III & Pfeffer, Jeffrey: Hidden Value: How Great Companies Achieve Extraordinary Results with Ordinary People (Harvard Business School Press, 2000)
- Pfeffer, Jeffrey & Sutton, Robert I.Robert I. SuttonRobert I. Sutton is Professor of Management science at the Stanford Engineering School and researcher in the field of Evidence-based management....
: Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths, and Total Nonsense: Profiting from Evidence-Based Management (Harvard Business School Press, 2006) - Pfeffer, Jeffrey: What Were They Thinking: Unconventional Wisdom About Management (Harvard Business School Press, 2007)