Amy C. Edmondson is the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management and Chair of the Doctoral Programs at Harvard Business School. She is also Chair of the Committee of Higher Degrees in Business Studies at Harvard University. The Novartis Chair was established to enable the study of human interactions that lead to the creation of successful business enterprises for the betterment of society.
Edmondson joined the Harvard faculty in 1996. Her research examines leadership influences on learning, collaboration and innovation in teams and organizations, reported in over 50 articles published in academic journals, management periodicals, and books. In 2003, the Academy of Management's Organizational Behavior Division selected Professor Edmondson for the Cummings Award for outstanding achievement in early mid-career, and in 2000 selected her article, "Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams," for its annual award for the best published paper in the field. Her recent article (with Anita Tucker), "Why Hospitals Don't Learn from Failures: Organizational and Psychological Dynamics That Inhibit System Change" received the 2004 Accenture Award for a significant contribution to management practice.
Professor Edmondson teaches MBA and Executive Education courses in leadership, team decision making, and organizational learning, and a doctoral course in field research methods. She has served on 18 doctoral committees and is the author of twenty HBS teaching cases, including leadership cases on The Cleveland Clinic, General Motors Powertrain, Prudential Financial, Simmons Mattress Company, YUM brands, IDEO product design, and NASA's failed Columbia mission.
Before her academic career, Edmondson was Director of Research at Pecos River Learning Centers, where she worked closely with founder and CEO Larry Wilson to design and implement organizational change programs in a variety of Fortune 100 companies. In the early 1980s, she worked as Chief Engineer for architect/inventor Buckminster Fuller, and her book, A Fuller Explanation, clarifies Fuller's mathematical contributions for a non-technical audience.
Edmondson received her PhD in organizational behavior, AM in psychology, and AB in engineering and design, all from Harvard University.