Barbara S. Lawrence

Professor

Phone: (310) 825-1252

barbara.lawrence@anderson.ucla.edu

Biography

Barbara S. Lawrence has been a member of the faculty since 1983 and teaches in the MBA, Doctoral, Fully-Employed MBA, Executive MBA and Executive programs.  Dr. Lawrence teaches management, organizational behavior, research methods, organizational change, group dynamics, and career development.

Dr. Lawrence's current research examines organizational reference groups, the evolution of organizational norms, internal labor markets and their influence on employees' expectations and implicit work contracts, and the impact of population age change on occupations. Her work on careers includes the Handbook of Career Theory, Cambridge University Press (with Michael Arthur & Tim Hall).  She received the 1998 Outstanding Publication in Organizational Behavior Award from the Academy of Management and a Citation of Excellence from Anbar Electronic Intelligence, UK. In 1999 her work with co-authors in Spain and the United States received the Best Paper Award of the First International Conference of the Iberoamerican Academy of Management. In 2009 she received the Everett Cherington Hughes award for her contributions to interdisciplinary research on careers.  Her research has been funded by corporate, academic, and government agencies, including the National Institutes of Health.

Professor Lawrence is a member of the Academy of Management, American Psychological Association, American Sociological Association, INFORMS, and the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. She is a Past-President of the Careers Division.  She served as Senior Editor for Organization Science for nine years, as Co-Editor of special issues for the Academy of Management Review and the Journal of Organizational Behavior, and on the editorial boards of The Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, and Organization Science.

Education

Ph.D. Management, Sloan School of Management, 1983, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
M.A. College Student Personnel, 1973, University of Maryland
B.M. Performance, 1972, Oberlin College Conservatory of Music

Interests

Organizational Reference Groups, Social Norms, Organizational Demography, Careers, Critical Thinking
  • Barbara S. Lawrence. (2011). Who is They? Inquiries into how individuals construe social context (Everett Cherrington Hughes Award Lecture). Human Relations, 64(6): 749-774. [ Link ]
  • Barbara S. Lawrence and Michael J. Zyphur. (2011). Identifying organizational faultlines with latent class cluster analysis. Organizational Research Methods, 14(1): 32-57. [ Link ]
  • Barbara S. Lawrence. (2010). Careers, social context and interdisciplinary thinking. Human Relations, 64(1): 59-84. [ Link ]
  • Donald E. Gibson and Barbara S. Lawrence. (2010). Women's and men's career referents: How gender composition and comparison level shape career expectations. Organization Science, 21(6): 1159-1175. [ Link ]
  • Barbara S. Lawrence and Pamela S. Tolbert. (2007). Organizational demography and individual careers: Structure, norms, and outcomes. In Gunz, Hugh, and Maury Peiperl (Eds.), Handbook of Career Studies, Sage, 399-421. [ Link ]
  • Barbara S. Lawrence. (2006). Organizational reference groups: A missing perspective on social context. Organization Science, 17: 80-100. [ Link ]
  • Barbara S. Lawrence. (2004). Levels of analysis and the qualitative study of quantitative data. Multi-Level Issues in Organizational Behavior and Processes, 3: 231-250. [ Link ]
  • Pablo Cardona, Barbara S. Lawrence, and Peter Bentler. (2004). The influence of social and work exchange relationships on organizational citizenship behavior. Group and Organization Management, 29: 219-247. [ Link ]
  • Barbara S. Lawrence. (2004). How old you are may depend on where you work. Next Generation Business Handbook, 57: 986-1006. [ Link ]
  • Barbara S. Lawrence & Michael Zyphur. (January, 2009). Neighborhoods: A tacit structure connecting individuals and organizations. [ Download ] [ Show Abstract ]
    We propose and inductively explore neighborhoods, a tacit social structure connecting individuals and organizations. Neighborhoods are clusters of individuals' organizational reference groups, in which the people each individual knows are demographically-similar to the people other individuals know. Because of their internal similarity, neighborhoods circumscribe the social information individuals receive and thus plausibly generate shared perceptions and meaning. Using latent class cluster analysis on data from a large organization, we induce five neighborhoods. While individuals' own attributes are related to those of others in their neighborhood, their attributes frequently differ from those in their neighborhood. Neighborhoods discriminate between individuals' career-related perceptions and social network attributes.
  • Sushil Bikhchandani, Barbara Lawrence, Francis Longstaff & Carol Scott. (September 21, 2006). Report of the Gender Equity Committee. The Anderson School at UCLA, [ Download ] [ Show Abstract ]
    During 2005-06, the Committee conducted a study of the gender equity climate at the Anderson School with the goal of understanding and improving the teaching and research environment for faculty. Data from the school and AACSB were acquired to compare business schools and identify trends. Formal interviews were conducted with fourteen current ladder faculty: all seven women and seven men matched as well as possible. These interviews were supplemented by information obtained through discussions with an additional five women and five men, both current and former faculty.
  • Barbara S. Lawrence & Michael J. Zyphur. (January 2012). Neighborhoods: A Multiple Attribute Social Structure Connecting Individuals and Organizations. [ Download ] [ Show Abstract ]
    We propose and inductively explore neighborhoods, a tacit social structure connecting individuals and organizations. Neighborhoods are clusters of individuals' organizational reference groups, in which the people each individual knows are demographically-similar to the people other individuals know. Because of their internal similarity, neighborhoods circumscribe the social information individuals receive and thus plausibly generate shared perceptions and meaning. Using latent class cluster analysis on data from a large organization, we induce five neighborhoods. While individuals' own attributes are related to their neighborhood, they frequently differ from those in their neighborhood. Neighborhoods discriminate between individuals' career-related perceptions and social network attributes.

Selected Publications
Barbara S. Lawrence. (1997). The black box of organizational demography. Organization Science, 8: 1-22 [ Link ]

Barbara S. Lawrence. (1996). Interest and indifference: The role of age in the organizational sciences. Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management, 14: 1-60 [ Link ]

Barbara S. Lawrence. (1996). Organizational Age Norms: Why is it so difficult to know one when you see one?  The Gerontologist, 35: 209-220 [ Link ]

Barbara S. Lawrence. (1990). At the crossroads: A multiple-level explanation of individual attainment. Organization Science, 1: 65-86 [ Link ]

Todd R. Zenger & Barbara S. Lawrence. (1989). Organizational demography: The differential effects of age and tenure distributions on technical communication. Academy of Management Journal, 32: 353-376 [ Link ]

Barbara S. Lawrence. (1988). New wrinkles in the theory of age: Demography, norms, and performance ratings. Academy of Management Journal, 31: 309-337 [ Link ]

Barbara S. Lawrence. (1984). Historical perspective: Using the past to study the present. Academy of Management Review, 9: 307-312 [ Link ]

Barbara S. Lawrence. (1984). Age grading: The implicit organizational timetable. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 5: 23-35 [ Link ]

Video: Barbara Lawrence

  • Barbara Lawrence
    TIME: 7 min. 42 sec.
    Age Matters: Smart Organizations Develop Employees Throughout Their Careers
    Barbara Lawrence, Professor of Management and Organizations