Deborah H. Gruenfeld

Deborah H. Gruenfeld is an American social psychologist whose work examines the way people are transformed by the organizations and social structures in which they work. She is the author of numerous papers on the psychology of power and group behavior. She is the Joseph McDonald Professor of Organizational Behavior at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and is also a co-director of the Executive Program for Women Leaders at the same institution,[1][2] and is a board member of Stanford’s Center for the Advancement of Women’s Leadership.[3] She was the inaugural chairholder of the Moghadam Family Professorship in 2008.[3] She is a board member of the LeanIn Foundation.[3]

Work

Gruenfeld was a graduate student of Robert S. Wyer and the late Joseph E. McGrath at the University of Illinois. Her doctoral research on status and integrative complexity in decision-making groups, in part examining U.S. Supreme Court decisions, were awarded prizes by the American Psychological Association and the Society of Experimental Social Psychology.[4][5][6] Her analysis of U.S. Supreme Court decisions took into consideration both the justices' status in their group as well as their ideological preferences, demonstrating that as justices gained power on the court or entered into majority coalitions their written opinions tended to become less complex and nuanced.[1][7][8][9] Gruenfeld's research is featured in scholarly journals and referenced in lay publications, including The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, O: The Oprah Magazine, The Washington Post, and the Chicago Tribune.[10]

Theory of Power

Together with Dacher Keltner and Cameron Anderson, both of the University of California, Berkeley; Gruenfeld has developed a theory of power that aims to present an integrative account of the effects of power on human behaviour, suggesting that the acquisition of power has a disinhibiting effect regarding the social consequences of exercising it.[7][11][12] The course was the inspiration for Acting With Power: Why We Are More Powerful Than We Believe, Gruenfeld's 2020 book. Gruenfeld describes misconceptions around power, which she defines as a "central organizing force" in society, affording connection as well as control, and as "a resource that exists for the protection of groups."[13]

Lawsuit

In 2015, Poets & Quants, a blog that covers MBA programs around the world, made public a wrongful termination suit filed by Gruenfeld's estranged husband, James A. Phills, who had been another professor at the business school. Phills alleged his firing was driven by the affair that Gruenfeld was having with the dean of the business school, Garth Saloner, apparently with the knowledge of the Stanford's Provost, John Etchemendy.[14] The matter led to resignation of Saloner in 2015[15] and was covered by The New York Times,[16] The Wall Street Journal,[17] and Bloomberg.[18] On August 1, 2017, a Santa Clara Superior Court judge rejected this suit, deciding that Phills had failed to prove he'd been discriminated against, harassed, or wrongfully terminated.[19][20]

Personal

In an interview by Dennis Relojo-Howell, Gruenfeld shares that she is an art person; always looking for artistic works to alleviate stress.[21]

References
  1. "Deborah H. Gruenfeld". Stanford Graduate School of Business.
  2. "Executive Program for Women Leaders". Stanford Graduate School of Business.
  3. Investing in Faculty: the Moghadam Family Professorship Stanford Graduate School of Business, April 15, 2008.
  4. Gruenfeld, Deborah H. Status and integrative complexity in decision-making groups : evidence from the U.S. Supreme Court and a laboratory experiment. Unpublished. OCLC 30607645.
  5. "Richard Moreland Dissertation of the Year Award". American Psychological Association.
  6. "Dissertation Award Recipients". Society of Experimental Social Psychology. Archived from the original on 2014-12-05. Retrieved 2014-12-01.
  7. Lehrer, Jonah (14 August 2010). "The Power Trip". The Wall Street Journal. Contrary to the Machiavellian cliché, nice people are more likely to rise to power. Then something strange happens: Authority atrophies the very talents that got them there.
  8. Gruenfeld, Deborah H (1995). "Decision Making Status, Ideology, and Integrative Complexity on the U.S. Supreme Court: Rethinking the Politics of Political Decision Making". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 68 (1): 5–20. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.68.1.5.
  9. Gruenfeld, Deborah H; Preston, Jared (2000). "Upending the Status Quo: Cognitive Complexity in Supreme Court Justices Who Overturn Legal Precedent". Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 26 (8): 1013–1022. doi:10.1177/01461672002610010. S2CID 145261451.
  10. Higher Education Deborah Gruenfeld Penguin Random House. Access date: 22 June 2023.
  11. Robertson, Ian H. (March 2013). "How power affects the brain". British Psychological Society.
  12. Keltner, Dacher; Gruenfeld, Deborah H; Anderson, Cameron (2003). "Power, Approach and Inhibition" (PDF). Psychological Review. 110 (2): 265–284. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.203.2748. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.110.2.265. PMID 12747524. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-11-30. Retrieved 2014-12-03.
  13. Acting With Power: Why We Are More Powerful Than We Believe April 2020. ISBN 9781101903971
  14. Baron, Ethan (September 14, 2015). "Stanford Confidential: Sex, Lies And Loathing At The World's No. 1 B-School". Poets and Quants. Retrieved 2015-10-31.
  15. "Garth Saloner to step down as dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Business". Stanford University. Retrieved 2015-10-31.
  16. David Streitfeld for the New York Times. Oct 20, 2015 At Stanford, Relationship Reveals Accusations of Discrimination
  17. Lindsay Gellman for the Wall Street Journal. October 1, 2015 At Silicon Valley’s Favorite Business School, Allegations of a Tough Workplace
  18. Peter Waldman for Bloomberg Businessweek October 7, 2015 A Sex Scandal Rocks Stanford’s Business School: Management problems at a shrine to management
  19. Streitfeld, David (2017-08-02). "Harassment Suit Against a Stanford Dean Is Rejected". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
  20. "Stanford and ex-dean of its elite business school cleared in harassment case". The Mercury News. 2017-08-03. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
  21. Relojo-Howell, Dennis (21 May 2020). "Professor Deborah Gruenfeld: How to Have Power and Influence". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-03-09. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
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