D. Christopher Kayes, Ph.D.

Bio

D. Christopher Kayes (Ph. D. Organizational Behavior, Case Western Reserve University) is a professor of Management at The George Washington University, School of Business and Visiting Professor at The University of Hull, UK. He is the author of Destructive Goal Pursuit: The Mount Everest Disaster (Palgrave-Macmillan) as well as over 35 articles on learning and leadership including Destructive Pursuit of Idealized Goals, which was recognized as the first ever most significant contribution to the practice of management by the Academy of Management, Organizational Behavior Division. His article, The1996 Mt. Everest Climbing Disaster: The Breakdown of Learning in Teams was named best paper in 2004 in the journal Human Relations and is one of its most frequently downloaded articles. 

His second book Leadership, Loyalty and Deception: Lessons from the search for Weapons of Mass Destruction (Palgrave-Macmillan), will appear in 2008. 

His recent teaching and research efforts focus on leadership, learning, and the limits of loyalty. His current research focuses on learning (and its breakdown) under stressful situations and recovery from crisis.  Conclusions drawn from this research often point to the limits of conventional wisdom and the unintended consequences of action. His paper Experiential Learning and Its Critics: Preserving the Role of Experience in Management Learning and Education was one of three papers nominated for first Academy of Management Learning and Education Award, nominated alongside Henry Mintzberg and Jeffery Pfeiffer. In 2004, the Organizational Behavior Teaching Society named Dr. Kayes with the “New Educator” award for his promise in furthering innovation management education teaching and research.  

Dr. Kayes consults and conducts executive education world wide. 

Clients include Oracle, Ericsson Academy, The US Army, Bank of New York Mellon, National Institutes of Health, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Johns Hopkins University – Office of Development, Zagreb School of Management and Economics, Metropolitan Washington Area Council of Governments, Senior Executive Service Development Program, US Department of Defense, The Romanian Leadership Council, The Hay Group, and the District of Columbia. He is working with a team of researchers to develop practical tools to enhance learning including The Kolb Team Learning Experience published by the Hay Group.  

International Visiting positions have included: The William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan; University of Hull, UK; Zagreb School of Economics and Management; Stockholm School of Economics;; Helsinki School of Economics, Singapore Institute of Management; and Butler University.  

His personal web-site is www.theoaktongroup.com.

AWARDS

2005 Outstanding Practitioner-Oriented Paper Award, the Academy of Management-Organizational Behavior Division

2004 Best Paper, Human Relations

2004 Best Paper Finalist, Academy of Management Learning and Education

2003 New Educator Award, Organizational Behavior Teaching Society

2003, 2004, 2005 Summer Research Awards, School of Business, GWU