DAVID A. THOMAS
 

1986 Ph.D., Organizational Behavior, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
1984 M. Philosophy, Organizational Behavior, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
1981 M.A., Organizational Psychology, Columbia University, New York, New York
B.A., Administrative Sciences, Yale College, New Haven, Connecticut
 

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA, WHARTON SCHOOL

1986 - 1990 Assistant Professor of Management
1986 - 1990 Atlantic Richfield Foundation Term Assistant Professor of Human Resource Management
 

HARVARD UNIVERSITY
HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL

 Appointments

2000-Present  H. Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration
1999 - 2000  Professor of Business Administration
1993 - 1999  Associate Professor of Business Administration
1990 - 1993  Assistant Professor of Business Administration
 Assignments

96/97 - 97/98 Summer Venture in Management Program (MBA Summer Program)
95/96 - 97/98  Academic Performance Committee (MBA Program)
95/96 - 97/98  Applied Personal Skills (Foundations I MBA Course)
94/95 - 96/97  Strategic Retail Management (Executive Education Course)
93/94 Strategic Human Resource Management (Executive Education Course)
92/93 - 97/98 Self-Assessment and Career Development (Second year MBA elective course)
90/91 - 94/95 Summer Venture in Management Program (MBA Summer Program)
90/91 - 91/92 First Year Organizational Behavior (First year required MBA course)

 AWARDS AND HONORS

2001 George R. Terry Award for Outstanding Management Book, Academy of Management (for Breaking Through: The Making of Minority Executives in Corporate America)
1997 Best Symposium, Academy of Management, Organization and Management Theory Division
1986 - 1990 Atlantic Richfield Foundation Term Chair, The University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School
1974 - 1978 Victor Wilson Scholar, Yale University

 FELLOWSHIPS

1981 - 1985 Graduate Fellowship, Yale University
1980 - 1981 Graduate Fellowship, Columbia University

 PUBLICATIONS

Book(s)
 

• With John J. Gabarro, Breaking Through: The Making of Minority Executives in Corporate America, Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press (1999).

Articles
 

• “The Truth About Mentoring Minorities,” Harvard Business Review, (April 2001), pp. 98-112.
• With Robin Ely, “Cultural Diversity at Work: The Effects of Diversity Perspectives on Work Group Processes and Outcomes, Administrative Science Quarterly 46: (2001), pp 229-273.
• With Monica Higgins, “Help, Mobility and Work Satisfaction in Professional Service Firms: A Portfolio Perspective on Developmental Relationships,” Journal of Organizational Behavior, (2001).
• With Karen Proudford, “Theory for Practice: Making Sense of Race Relations in Organizations,” in R. Carter (ed.), Cultural Diversity in Organizations, New York: Sage Publications (2000).
• “Beyond the Simple Demography-Power Hypothesis: How Blacks in Power Influence Whites to Mentor Blacks,” in F. Crosby, A Murrell and R. Ely (eds.), Mentoring Dilemmas: Developmental Relationships in Multicultural Organizations, New York: Lawrence Earlbaum Publisher (1999).
• “Mentoring and Diversity in Organizations: The Importance of Race and Gender in Work Relationships,” in A. Daly (ed.), Diversity in the Workplace: Issues and Perspectives, Washington, D.C.: National Association of Social Workers Press (1999).
• With Suzy Wetlaufer, “A Question of Color: A Debate on Race in the U.S. Workplace,” Harvard Business Review, September/October (1997), 118-132.
• With Robin Ely, “Making Differences Matter: A New Paradigm for Managing Diversity,” Harvard Business Review, September/October (1996), 79-90.
• With Monica Higgins, “Mentoring as an Extra-Organizational Activity,” in M. Arthur and D. Rousseau (eds.), Boundaryless Careers: Work, Mobility, and Learning in the New Organizational Era, Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press (1996).
• “Doing Diversity: Effectively Managing Identity Group Differences in Organizations,” Business Ethics Forum, 7: (1994), 23-32.
• “The Dynamics of Managing Racial Diversity in Developmental Relationships,” Administrative Science Quarterly, 38: (1993), 169-194.
• “Mentoring and Irrationality: The Role of Racial Taboos,” Human Resource Management, 28(2): (1989), 279-290.  Reprinted in L. Hirschorn and C. Barnett (eds.), The Psychodynamics of Organizations, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Temple University Press (1993).
• “The Impact of Race on Managers' Experiences of Developmental Relationships,” Journal of Organizational Behavior, 2(4): (1990), 479-492.
• “Application Work in Group Dynamics Instruction,” in J. Gillette and M. McCollum (eds.), Groups in Context: A New Perspective on Group Dynamics, Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley (1990).
• With Clayton P. Alderfer, “The Influence of Race on Career Dynamics,” in M. Arthur, D. T. Hall and B. Lawrence (eds.), Handbook of Career Theory, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press (1989).
• With Kathy E. Kram, “Promoting Career-Enhancing Relationships in Organizations: The Role of the Human Resource Professional,” in M. London and E. Mone (eds.), Career Growth and Human Resource Strategies, New York, New York: Quorum Books (1988).
• With Clayton P. Alderfer, “The Significance of Race and Ethnicity for Understanding Organizational Behavior,” in C. Cooper (ed.), International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Vol. 3, New York, New York: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. (1988).

Working Papers
 

• With Robin Ely, “Paradigms and Pitfalls: Constructions of How Demography Affects Work,” (under review at Administrative Science Quarterly).

Cases and Teaching Notes
 

• Yvette Hyater-Adams and Terry Larsen at CoreStates Financial Corp., Harvard Business School case 401-023.
• Bob Fifer, Harvard Business School teaching note 498-063.
• Bob Fifer, Harvard Business School case 495-013.
• Craig Parks (A) and (B), Harvard Business School teaching note 498-062.
• Craig Parks (A), Harvard Business School case 497-013.
• Craig Parks (B), Harvard Business School case 497-014.
• Developmental Relationships, Harvard Business School teaching note 498-071.
• Elizabeth Fisher (A), (B), (C), Harvard Business School teaching note 498-065.
• Elizabeth Fisher (A), Harvard Business School case 494-002.
• Elizabeth Fisher (B), Harvard Business School case 494-003.
• Elizabeth Fisher (C), Harvard Business School case 494-004.
• Instructor's Guide to Self-Assessment and Career Development, Harvard Business School teaching note 498-072.
• International Use of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Harvard Business School note 498-038.
• The Job Search Workshop, Harvard Business School teaching note 498-070.
• Personality Types: The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Harvard Business School teaching note 498-069.
• Star Distributors, Inc. (A) and (B), Harvard Business School teaching note 496-004.
• Star Distributors, Inc. (A), Harvard Business School case 493-015.
• Star Distributors, Inc. (B), Harvard Business School case 493-016.
• Sumiko Ito, Harvard Business School teaching note 498-064.
• Sumiko Ito, Harvard Business School case 493-011.

 PRESENTATIONS

Papers presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meetings:

• “Beyond the Simple Demography-Power Hypothesis: Incongruent Embeddedness and the Formation of Cross-Race Developmental Relationships,” Boston, Massachusetts, August 1997.
• “Grounded Theory as a Tool for Intervening in Racial Conflict,” Cincinnati, Ohio, August 1996.
• “Mentoring as an Extra-Organizational Activity: A Lesson from the Minority Experience,” Vancouver, British Columbia, August 1995.
• “Careers in Context: Fostering Psychological Success in Transforming Organizations,” Vancouver, British Columbia, August 1995.
• “Diversified Mentoring: Developing Transformational Work Relationships for the Next Millennium,” Vancouver, British Columbia, August 1995.
• “Legitimating Diversity Research: What Are We Doing Here?” Las Vegas, Nevada, August 1992.
• “African-American Professionals' Responses to Assimilative Pressure,” Miami, Florida, August 1991.
• “Critical Issues for Research on Race Relations in Organizations,” Anaheim, California, August 1988.

“Breaking Glass: A Study of Minority Executive Development,” presented at:

• University of Virginia, Darden School of Business, March 1997.
• Rutgers University, Department of Psychology, March 1997.
• University of California at Los Angeles, The Anderson School of Business, April 1996.
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloane School of Management, September 1996.
• Boston University, Graduate School of Management, November 1996.

“Paradigms and Pitfalls: Constructions of How Demography Effects Work,” Yale University, School of Management, New Haven, Connecticut, December 1996.
“Three Paradigms for Managing Diversity: Linking Diversity and Organizational Effectiveness,” The Alliance of Organizational Systems Designers, Washington, D.C., June 1995.
“Managing Diversity at the Crossroads: Observations from the Edge,” Career Development Services, Inc., Rochester, New York, November 1994.
“Managing Racial Diversity in Professional Relationships,” Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Organization Studies Group, Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 1993.
“Diversity, Development, and Mentoring in Organizations,” Center for Creative Leadership, Greensboro, North Carolina, December 1992.
“Developing Executives for Leadership: Mentoring and Sponsorship,” Harvard University, Graduate School of Education, Superintendents Program, Cambridge, Massachusetts, November 1992.
With Anne Donnellon and Russell Eisenstat, “Making Boundaries Permeable: Learning to Teach About Differences,” Organizational Behavior Teaching Conference, Bellingham, Washington, June 1991.
“Teaching Faculty to Utilize Diversity in the Classroom,” American Association of Law Schools Deans' Conference, Washington, D.C., March 1991.
“Identity Group Relations in the Legal Profession: Managing Diversity,” University of Pennsylvania Law School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, January 1991.
“Race Relations and the Workplace,” Harvard University, The John F. Kennedy School of Government, Cambridge, Massachusetts, April 1989.
“Managing Diversity in the Workplace,” The University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, October 1988.
“The Influence of Identity Group Membership on the Organizational Role: The Management of AIDS Service Organizations,” National AIDS Network Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana, October 1988.
“A Clinical Perspective on Race Relations Research and Organizational Behavior,” Drexel University, The Symposium for Research on Black Career Experiences, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 1987.

 PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES

Professional Associations:

• Academy of Management
• International Society for the Psychoanalytic Study of Organizations
• National Training Laboratories

Reviewer:

• Academy of Management Journal
• Administrative Science Quarterly
• Journal of Applied Behavioral Sciences
• Journal of Organizational Behavior
• Organization Studies

Professional Community Service:

• Trustee, Shady Hill School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1996 - Present.
• Member, The Board of Directors, WGBH Community Advisory Board, Cambridge, Massachusetts,  1993 – 1996.
• Faculty, Academy of Management, Organizational Behavior Division, Junior Faculty Development Workshop, 1995.
• Member, The Editorial Board, Journal of African American Politics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1992 – 1995.

LANGUAGES
Conversational in French.
 

CORPORATE DIRECTORSHIPS
Director and Executive Committee member, Cambridge Trust Company, 2001-present.
Member, The Board of Directors, The Partnership, Boston, Massachusetts, 1997 - Present.