Carroll School of Management faculty member Sean Martin, whose research examines the intersection of leadership, values, and organizational culture, has been named the inaugural Mancini Family Sesquicentennial Assistant Professor.
The appointment of Martin, who joined the Carroll School鈥檚 Management and Organization Department in 2014, is part of a continuing Boston College initiative to support promising early-career faculty members.
The Mancini Family Sesquicentennial Assistant Professorship was established through a generous gift from 1960 alumnus Raymond T. Mancini, who earned his graduate degree from the Carroll School and is the parent of three 51茶馆 alumni, in appreciation of the school鈥檚 commitment to excellence in research and teaching.聽
鈥淚n the past several decades since my own graduation from Boston College, I have had the great pleasure of watching two generations of my family attend 51茶馆 鈥� most in the Carroll School of Management 鈥� and launch successful careers,鈥� said Mancini. 鈥淥ne underlying constant has been the faculty who have helped guide us through our formative years as undergraduates and prepare us for the world beyond.
鈥淲e are thrilled to be able to support faculty in the Carroll School of Management in perpetuity through this professorship, and we are pleased that Sean Martin has been named the first Mancini Family Sesquicentennial Assistant Professorship. We look forward to seeing all he is able to accomplish and hearing about the many lives he will undoubtedly impact for years to come.鈥�
鈥淲e are thrilled that one of our best and brightest young faculty members, Sean Martin, has been honored as the inaugural recipient of the Mancini Family Sesquicentennial Assistant Professorship,鈥� said Andy Boynton, John and Linda Powers Family Dean of the Carroll School. 鈥淪ean is a terrific scholar and excellent teacher. He moves the field with his ideas and inspires our students with his skills in the classroom. The Mancini Family has long been amazingly supportive of Boston College in many ways. Their generous gift will allow us to empower and reward professors like Sean Martin, whose day-to-day interactions with our students helps shape their formative experiences at Boston College.鈥�
Martin has worked independently and collaboratively to develop research projects and business cases with prominent companies and organizations including McCann Worldgroup, Sesame Workshop, The Nielsen Company, Blue Cross Blue Shield and the U.S. Army. He also has worked with researchers from Cornell University, London Business School, Harvard Business School and the universities of Texas and Michigan to develop and pilot a cutting-edge leadership course on ethical decision-making.
鈥淭his is a gigantic honor, in that it represents a tremendous amount of confidence in me,鈥� said Martin, whose research has appeared in Administrative Science Quarterly, Organizational Psychology Review, and Journal of Business Ethics. 鈥淲hile I don鈥檛 trade in prestige or status, being named Mancini Family Assistant Professor is nonetheless a significant asset in terms of research. I truly appreciate this great opportunity the Mancini family鈥檚 gift has provided me.鈥�
Martin said his favorable first impressions of 51茶馆 have been strengthened over the course of his nearly three years at the Heights.
鈥�51茶馆 seeks to instill the Jesuit perspective throughout the campus,鈥� he said, 鈥渁nd I think we鈥檝e put those beliefs into action in our department. We鈥檝e built a close-knit community of faculty and students that values engagement as part of the learning experience.鈥�
In his studies of organizations, Martin has been particularly interested in how leaders鈥� values and actions influence the behavior and work lives of followers. This relationship, he said, is often built on misperceptions and faulty assumptions of leadership held by both parties.
鈥淚鈥檝e had a broad set of work experiences 颅鈥� from landscaper to business development consultant 鈥� and at every single place I noticed really good people subjected to pressure and expectations based on their idea of leadership.
鈥淯nfortunately, in business there are a lot of myths, and plenty of bad pop psychology, regarding leadership. It鈥檚 looked on as it鈥檚 a natural trait that you鈥檙e born with, when in fact leadership is a set of behaviors that can be learned.鈥�
聽Martin鈥檚 body of work includes articles in the Academy of Management Journal on two research projects related to leadership and organizational culture. One co-authored study explored how growing up wealthy or poor can relate to leader effectiveness: Its findings suggested, among other things, that higher parental income leads to higher levels of narcissism and a corresponding lack of engagement in key leadership behaviors 鈥� and lower leader effectiveness overall.聽
Another study, solely by Martin, explored how different narratives in an organization convey information to, and influence behavior of, newcomers. According to Martin and his colleagues, stories that depict senior managers or other high-level members of the organization upholding institutional values are less likely to set a positive tone for newcomers to follow than similar stories about lower-level employees. But narratives in which higher-level members 鈥� not lower-level ones 鈥� violate values tend to have a greater negative impact on newcomers鈥� behavior.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important to look at both the spoken and unspoken communication within an organization, and the role leadership plays in that communication,鈥� Martin said. 鈥淭he organization may say it values employee feedback, but does the leadership send secret, subtle 鈥� or not-so-subtle 鈥� hints that suggest otherwise? Do the bosses act defensively in the face of criticism, or respond with ridicule? Or perhaps they keep rescheduling meetings you had requested with them?
鈥淭hese are the kinds of things that teach employees that speaking up is not safe. And that鈥檚 something the organization should pay attention to, because research has consistently shown that those organizations or units with more of an employee voice are higher performing groups.鈥�
The current political situation has fueled much debate about presidential leadership, said Martin, but the question of what makes for a good leader has long fascinated academics and non-academics alike. This interest extends to popular culture, he added, pointing to the character of Michael Scott in the popular series 鈥淭he Office鈥� as a 鈥渉ilarious, remarkably ineffective鈥� boss who nonetheless retains his position and has a generally good rapport with his employees.
鈥淭hen there was Steve Jobs, whom we鈥檝e been told 鈥� perhaps somewhat apocryphally 鈥� was insulting and overbearing, and yet the qualifier is, 鈥楤ut look at his success,鈥欌�� said Martin. 鈥淭he thing about Jobs is, he had ideas that literally changed the world. Employees might put up with consistently negative behavior from a leader 鈥� but it usually takes a pretty special leader for that to happen.鈥�
Martin has a bachelor鈥檚 degree from the University of California-Santa Barbara, an MBA from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, and a doctorate from Cornell University.
-Sean Smith / University Communications