Ada Demb

"Daring the Doctorate: The Journey at Mid-Career" reflects my deep appreciation of the circumstances of mid-career doctoral students. The reality these folks face derives not only from their role as doctoral students, but also from their roles as partners, spouses, parents and, often, working professionals. The depth of their passion and strain of the time pressures and personal responsibilities differentiates their journeys dramatically from their younger peers.

Understanding the reasons people behave the way they do in organizations has been a passion of mine since graduate school. While context isn't everything, it explains a lot.

For example, if the CEO of an company announces a new approach to managing products and people, but fails to change the reward structure, folks are unlikely to change their behavior. Take a research university that starts a publicity campaign to tell faculty and students about the importance of teaching in hopes of encouraging faculty spend more time on courses. If budget allocations are still made on the basis of research grants won or promotion criteria focus on publications, faculty will continue as they always have -- giving priority to research and publication. One such university gave annual awards for research and teaching. The research award was $20,000 grant and 1% increase in salary. The teaching award was $3,000 and no salary increase. The message was really clear until about a decade later, when the teaching award was "upgraded" to match the research award.

This focus on human behavior lead me to write about human interaction with information technology ("Computer Systems for Human Systems," and a dozen articles), and later to my research and book about corporate boards ("The Corporate Board: Confronting the Paradoxes").

I look forward to hearing from readers -- students and faculty alike-- whether and how the book resonates with your experience.