FOCUS ON FACULTY:
Faculty Spotlight: Deborah O'Neil, Senior Lecturer
Q. Please tell us a bit about the career path that led you to become a Senior Lecturer in the Organizational Behavior Department at Weatherhead, and what you enjoy most about teaching Mandel Center and Weatherhead students?
I am currently an adjunct faculty member at the Mandel Center and a full time faculty member in the Dept. of Management in the College of Business Administration at Bowling Green State University. From 2003-2006, I was a full time faculty member in the Organizational Behavior Department at the Weatherhead School after completing my Ph.D. there. I spent a decade in the corporate world doing management, leadership and organization development at Citicorp in New York City. During that time I enrolled in an graduate program in Organization Development at American University. By the end of the 2 year program I knew I wanted to pursue a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior in order to teach, conduct research, and consult on issues of organization, leadership and career development. A number of my AU professors suggested I explore the Weatherhead OB program and that’s how I ended up at Case.
I love teaching Mandel students because of their passion and enthusiasm for making the world a better place. They are eager to learn about leadership and how to develop their leadership skills in service of helping others to be their best. They represent the best and the brightest of the next
generation of nonprofit leaders and it is a joy and a privilege to work with them. I have stayed in touch with many of my former Mandel students; it is always a pleasure to hear from them and see the wonderful things they are doing in the world.
Q. What are some of your research interests? Do you have any research that you are currently working on?
My research is focused mainly on career and leadership development and gender issues in organizations. My work has appeared in such publications as Journal of Managerial Psychology, Career Development International, and Journal of Management Education. I currently have a publication in press at the Journal of Business Ethics, entitled "Women’s Careers at the Start of the 21st Century: Patterns and Paradoxes." This article offers a perspective on the current state of the research on women’s careers and highlights the disconnections between organizational practice and scholarly research.
I am presently working on multiple research projects. To mention just a few, one is investigating the impact of physician leadership development in healthcare, another is examining the careers of female physicians, and a third is focused on understanding the impact of emotional intelligence and gender on organizational performance and potential ratings of senior leaders.
Q. Who is someone whose research you admire or that has had an impact on your own work?
My mentor and friend, Professor Diana Bilimoria at Weatherhead, has been very influential in my development as a scholar. I first began working with Diana as a doctoral student and we have continued to work together over the last number of years, resulting in numerous joint publications. I admire her passion for inquiry and her rigorous approach to research. I also admire the work of another mentor and friend, Professor Richard Boyatzis, and was inspired by him to work with the concept of emotional intelligence in my research, teaching and consulting practices.
Q. You also provide consulting services to a number of organizations. Please tell us a bit about that and why you enjoy it.
In addition to my teaching and research I serve as an organizational consultant and management educator for private, public and non-profit organizations. My most recent executive coaching and consulting practice has focused on leadership and emotional competency development. A sample list of organizations with which I’ve worked includes The Cleveland Clinic, Goldman Sachs, McKinsey & Company, KeyCorp, Roadway Express, Alcoa, the Cleveland Municipal School District and the YWCA. I am also proud to have been one of the executive coaches for the Academic Careers in Engineering & Science (ACES) grant at Case. ACES is part of the National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE program to develop a national science and engineering workforce that includes the full participation of women at all levels of faculty and academic leadership. In that capacity I worked with faculty, department chairs and deans toward the goal of achieving gender equity in the sciences.
I love the opportunity to work with a variety of companies and nonprofits because it keeps me connected to the organizational world and continuously informs my teaching and my research. I like applying my expertise and experience to assist individuals in creating better lives and organizations in achieving their goals and being successful.
Q. What is something about you that your students may be surprised to learn?
I never expected to end up in the business world; I thought I would be a journalist or teach American Literature somewhere at a small college in New England. A series of serendipitous events lead me from the woods of Maine to the island of Manhattan and eventually to Ohio. At each step the idea of a career dedicated to helping individuals and organizations achieve their best potential became clearer. I feel truly blessed to do what I do for a living!
Q. What other interests, hobbies, etc do you try to make time for?
I love traveling to new places and meeting new people, gardening, poetry, listening to all kinds of music, and spending as much time as possible by the ocean.