Stephen E. Humphrey
Professor
Stephen E. Humphrey is currently the Alvin H. Clemens Professor in the Smeal College of Business at Pennsylvania State University, having joined Penn State in 2008. He received his Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior and Human Resources Management (with a minor in Industrial/Organizational Psychology) from Michigan State University and his B.S. in Psychology from James Madison University. Dr. Humphrey's research focuses on the structure of work, with a primary focus on teamwork and the drivers of team success. Dr. Humphrey's research has been published in outlets such as the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Organization Science, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and the Strategic Management Journal. In addition, he co-edited The Handbook of Multilevel Theory, Measurement, and Analysis, and is a member of the Academy of Management, International Association for Conflict Management, and INGroup. https://stephenhumphrey.com
Expertise
My research has focused primarily on answering two questions: How do you make a great team? - and - How do you make a team great? These two questions capture the essence of what I am passionate about in Organizational Behavior. Considering the two research interests, my first question gets at issues of the “bottom-up” formative design of work teams. That is, if one wants to build a successful team from scratch, what are the issues that are most important? It is through this lens that I have addressed topics such as the “seeding” of teams, putting the best members into the most strategically core roles, investigating the impact of dyadic relationships in teams, configuring the reward or leadership structure, structuring the team to capitalize on different beliefs and opinions, and designing work to improve motivational and social processes. The second question deals with the “top-down” management of existing teams. That is, if we look at existing teams embedded in time, how does this temporal context affect a team's functioning? This question deals with such issues as member and role changes, changes in rewards and leadership structure, and the progression towards an endpoint. Across both questions, a critical focus has been to break apart the nested levels within teams, such that I am interested in something more than just the climate of a team. Instead, I have tried to focus my research on the “organizing” of teams, exploring the fundamental components of a team (such as job characteristics, roles, dyads, and sub-groups) to see how individuals within these situations combine together to create “teams”. In pursuing my research, I have endeavored to test my questions in field, lab, and archival populations, primarily with a quantitative focus.
Education
Ph D in Organizational Behavior/Human Resource Management, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 2004-05-01 BS in Psychology, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA, 1999-01-01
Courses Taught
B A 505 – Negotiation Theory and Skills
Development of managerial skills for distributive and integrative negotiationsat the two-party and team levels.
BA 580 – DBA Culminating Res Project
This course provides Doctorate of Business Administration students with the opportunity to identify a practice problem or clinical question and investigate the literature related to this selected area of interest. Students will develop and implement a comprehensive project to address the problem. Students will also disseminate the results in both a scholarly presentation and manuscript for publication.
BA 596 – Individual Studies
BA 597 – Special Topics
Formal courses given on a topical or special interest subject which may be offered infrequently.
BA 802 – Team Proc and Perf
Development of managerial skills and techniques for diagnosing, intervening and leading effective teams. B A 502 B A 502 Competencies for Converging Economies: Teams, Negotiations, and Ethical Leadership (2)B A 502 provides students with some basic knowledge about predictable team dynamics and how to constructively deal with issues that arise in the first year MBA teams. The course focuses on observation, diagnosis, and intervention skills for developing effective teams. Topics include diagnosing group dynamics, giving and receiving feedback to teammates, cross-cultural communication and conflict management techniques. The course provides a real-time practicum for diagnosing team issues and addressing team problems and conflicts. Students apply team process concepts and techniques as they work to complete team projects in their other core MBA classes. Students leave the course with an understanding of how to successfully lead a team and how to diagnose and correct dysfunctional team behaviors.
BA 805 – Nego Theory Skills
Development of managerial skills for distributive and integrative negotiations at the two-party and team levels. UB A 505 B A 505 Negotiation Theory and Skills (1) The ability to effectively negotiate is an essential skill for managers. Negotiations not only occur with customers or clients, but also between bosses and subordinates, among teammates and across departments. Being able to craft a successful deal, especially in difficult circumstances, requires knowledge of yourself, as well as the substantive material that you are negotiating. Effective negotiators know their own limitations as well as their strengths. They also listen well and have good analytical skills. And, they can craft agreements that garner gains for themselves as well as for other if such gains are possible. Successful negotiating is also closely allied with successful teamwork since both processes require listening, persuasion and influence skills and creativity.This course will introduce students to the difference between traditional (distributive) bargaining and interest-based (or integrative) negotiations. Students will learn the rudiments of interest-based negotiating and practice it in several negotiation simulations. They will learn how to identify their own and others' interests, to create and claim value and to craft constructive agreements for all parties. The course will concentrate on two person and small group negotiations as well as to deal with difficult opponents.
MGMT 420 – Neg Conflict Mgmt
An exploration of the sources of interpersonal conflict and strategies of resolution in the managerial context.
MGMT 420 – Negotiation and Conflict Management
An exploration of the sources of interpersonal conflict and strategies of resolution in the managerial context.
MGMT 521 – COMPLEX NEGOT
The purpose of this course is to understand the theory and practice of negotiation in a variety of settings, with specific emphasis on multiparty contexts. A basic premise of the course is that while a manager needs analytical skills to discover optimal solutions to problems, a broad array of negotiation skills and an understanding of multiparty dynamics are needed in order for these solutions to be accepted and implemented. The course will allow students to develop these skills experientially and to understand negotiation in useful analytical frameworks. This course will give students an overview of the unique challenges and intricacies associated with multiparty negotiation, providing an opportunity to understand and develop applied skills regarding (a) the formulation of strategy and tactics before, during, and after a negotiation, and (b) third-party intervention in multiparty negotiation. Students will learn the structural and social characteristics of multiparty negotiation and develop techniques for managing its complexity.
MGMT 521 – Complex Negotiations
Develop concepts and strategies for analyzing and conducting multiparty negotiations.
MGMT 528 – Seminar in Organizational Behavior
Current theoretical and research issues applicable to the study of individual and group behavior within organizational settings.
MGMT 590 – Colloquium
Continuing seminars which consist of a series of individual lectures by faculty, students, or outside speakers.
MGMT 591 – Ord
Experience in designing research for organizational science, to maximize the validity of eventual conclusions; methodological choices, constraints, and compromises (tradoffs).
MGMT 596 – Individual Studies
Creative projects, including nonthesis research, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses.
MGMT 597A – Performance Consulting (A)
This course covers selected topics in Management. Students will explore topics such as leadership, negotiation strategies, work-life balance, leading teams, power and influence, and managing a business network. The topics may change from year to year. The
MGMT 597A – Topics in Managing (A)
This course covers selected topics in Management. Students will explore topics such as leadership, negotiation strategies, work-life balance, leading teams, power and influence, and managaing a business network. The topics may change from year to year. Th
MGMT 600 – Thesis Research
MGMT 601 – Ph.D Dis Full-Time
NO DESCRIPTION.
MGMT 601 – PH.D. DISSERTATION FULL-TIME
NO DESCRIPTION.
Selected Publications
Schouten M. E., Kabra A., Humphrey S. E. "Expertise Evaluation: A dimensional framework for broad-based theory building" Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 2026-06-01
Watson M. K., Winchester C., Luciano M., Humphrey S. E. "Categorizing the Complexity: A Scoping Review of Structures Within Organizations" Journal of Management, vol. 51, 2025-01-01
Fletcher K. A., Summers J. K., Bedwell-Torres W. L., Humphrey S. E., Thomas S. E., Ramsay P. S. "Initial Development of Perceptions of Ability and Intent Factors of (Un)Trustworthiness in Short-Term Teams" Journal of Organizational Behavior, vol. 45, 2024-09-01
Carter K., Hetrick A., Chen M., Humphrey S. E., Morgeson F. P., Hoffman B. "The cultural context of work: How national culture impacts work design" Journal of Management, vol. 50, 2024-01-01
Zavyalova A., Bundy J., Humphrey S. E. "A Relational Theory of Reputational Stability and Change" Organization Science, vol. 33, 2022-10-01
Min S., Humphrey S. E., Aime F., Quade M. J., Petrenko O., Fu S. "Dealing with New Members: Team Members' Reactions to Newcomer's Attractiveness and Sex" Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 107, 2022-07-01
Yuan Y., Humphrey S. E., Van Knippenberg D. "From Individual Creativity to Team Creativity: A Meta-Analytic Test of Additive and Disjunctive Aggregation Models and the Moderating Role of Task and Industry Context" Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 2022-05-01
Humphrey S. E., Macy R., Wang C. "Teaching Entrepreneurial Negotiation" Negotiation Journal, vol. 38, 2022-04-01
Chen A., Trevino L. K., Humphrey S. E. "Ethical Champions, Emotions, Framing, and Team Ethical Decision Making" Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 105, 2020-03-01
Knight A. p., Humphrey S. E. "Dyadic Data Analysis" The handbook for multilevel theory, measurement, and analysis, 2019-01-01
Karam E. P., Hu J., Davison R. B., Juravich M., Nahrgang J. D., Humphrey S. E., DeRue D. S. "Illuminating the “face” of justice: A meta-analytic examination of leadership and organizational justice" Journal of Management Studies, 2019-01-01
Humphrey S. E., LeBreton J. "The handbook for multilevel theory, measurement, and analysis" 2019-01-01
Bhawani S., Leicht R., Taylor J., Humphrey S. E. "Organizational routine-matching in delivery of capital projects" Construction Project Management - Selected Papers from the Construction Research Congress 2018, 2018-01-01
Humphrey S. E., Aime F., Cushenberry L., Hill A., Fairchild J. "Team conflict dynamics: Implications of a multi-level longitudinal view of conflict for team performance" Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, vol. 142, 2017-09-01
Hambrick D. C., Humphrey S. E., Gupta A. "When Does Executive Group Heterogeneity Matter Most (and Least)? Identifying The Structural Origins of Interdependence in Top Management Teams" Strategic Management Journal, 2015-03-01
Humphrey S. E., Aime F. "Team microdynamics: Towards an organizing approach to teamwork" Academy of Management Annals, vol. 8, 2014-05-01
Aime F., Humphrey S. E., DeRue D. S., Paul J. "The riddle of heterarchy: Power transitions in cross-functional teams" Academy of Management Journal, 2014-04-01
Wagner III J. A., Humphrey S. E., Meyer C. J., Hollenbeck J. R. "Individualism-collectivism and team member performance: Another look." Journal of Organizational Behavior, vol. 33, 2012-08-01
Conlon D. E., Tinsley C. H., Humphrey S. E., Ellis A. P. "Is it sometimes better to receive than to give? Preferences for receiver roles over proposer roles in consumer behavior ultimatums" Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, vol. 119, 2012-08-01
Summers J. K., Humphrey S. E., Ferris G. R. "Team member change, flux in coordination, and performance: Effects of strategic core roles, information transfer, and cognitive ability" Academy of Management Journal, vol. 55, 2012-04-01
Morgeson F. P., Humphrey S. E., Reeder M. C. "Team Selection" The Oxford Handbook of Personnel Assessment and Selection, 2012-01-01
Zinko R. A., Ferris G. R., Humphrey S. E., Meyer C. J., Aime F. "The nature of personal reputation in organizations: Two complementary studies aimed at construct and criterion-related validity" Journal of Organizational and Occupational Psychology, vol. 85, 2012-01-01
Humphrey S. E., Hollenbeck J. R., Meyer C. J., Ilgen D. R. "Personality configurations in self-managed teams: A natural experiment on the effects of maximizing and minimizing variance in traits" Journal of Applied Social Psychology, vol. 41, 2011-08-01
Humphrey S. E. "What does a great meta-analysis look like?" Organizational Psychology Review, vol. 1, 2011-04-01
Jensen J. M., Conlon D. E., Humphrey S. E., Moon H. "The consequences of completion: How level of completion influences information concealment by decision makers" Journal of Applied Social Psychology, vol. 41, 2011-02-01
Hollenbeck J. R., Ellis A. P., Humphrey S. E., Garza A., Ilgen D. R. "Asymmetry in structural adaptation: The differential impact of centralizing versus decentralizing team decision-making structures" Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, vol. 114, 2011-01-01
DeRue D. S., Nahrgang J. D., Wellman N., Humphrey S. E. "Trait and behavioral theories of leadership: A meta-analytic test of their relative validity" Personnel Psychology, vol. 64, 2011-01-01
Harrison D., Humphrey S. E. "Designing for diversity or diversity for design? Tasks, interdependence, and within-unit differences at work" Journal of Organizational Behavior, vol. 31, 2010-02-01
Aime F., Meyer C. J., Humphrey S. E. "Legitimacy of group rewards: Analyzing legitimacy as a condition for the effectiveness of group incentive designs." Journal of Business Research, vol. 63, 2010-01-01
Humphrey S. E., Moregson F., Mannor M. "Developing a Theory of the Strategic Core of Teams: A Role Composition Model of Team Performance" Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 94, 2009-01-01
Beersma B., Hollenbeck J., Conlon D. E., Humphrey S. E., Moon H., Ilgen D. R. "Role negotiation in self-managed teams: The effects of history and composition on coordination and performance" Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, vol. 108, 2009-01-01
Homan A., Hollenbeck J., Humphrey S. E., van Knippenberg D., Ilgen D. R., Van Kleef G. A. "Facing differences with an open mind: Openess to experience, salience of intra-group differences, and performance of diverse work groups." Academy of Management Journal, vol. 51, 2008-12-01
Moon H., Marinova S. V., Hollenbeck J. R., Humphrey S. E. "Beneath the surface: Uncovering the relationship between extraversion and organizational citizenship behavior through a facet approach" International Journal of Selection and Assessment, vol. 16, 2008-01-01
Morgeson F., Humphrey S. E. "Job and team design: Toward a more integrative conceptualization of work design" Research in personnel and human resource management, vol. 27, 2008-01-01
Humphrey S. E., Nahrgang J. D., Morgeson F. P. "Integrating motivational, social, and contextual work design features: A meta-analytic summary and theoretical extension of the work design literature" Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 16, 2007-01-01
Humphrey S. E., Hollenbeck J. R., Meyer C. J., Ilgen D. R. "Trait configurations in self-managed teams: A conceptual examination of the use of seeding to maximize and minimize trait variance in teams" Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 92, 2007-01-01
Johnson M. D., Hollenbeck J. R., Humphrey S. E., Ilgen D. R., Jundt D. K., Meyer C. J. "Cutthroat cooperation: Asymmetrical adaptation of team reward structures." Academy of Management Journal, vol. 49, 2006-01-01
Ellis A. J., Humphrey S. E., Conlon D. E., Tinsley C. H. "Improving customer reactions to brokered ultimatums: The benefits of prior experience and explanations" Journal of Applied Social Psychology, vol. 36, 2006-01-01
Morgeson F. P., Humphrey S. E. "The work design questionnaire (WDQ): Developing and validating a comprehensive measure for assessing job design and the nature of work" Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 91, 2006-01-01
Wagner J. A., Meyer C. J., Humphrey S. E., Hollenbeck J. R. "Effects of utilitarian and ontological individualism-collectivism on multitask performance in teams" Best Paper Proceedings, 64th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, 2005-01-01
Moon H., Hollenbeck J. R., Humphrey S. E., Ilgen D. R., West B. J., Ellis A. P., Porter C. O. "Asymmetric adaptability: Dynamic team structures as one-way streets" Asymmetric adaptability: Dynamic team structures as one-way streets. Academy, vol. 47, 2004-01-01
Humphrey S. E., Moon H., Conlon D. E., Hoffman D. A. "Decision making and behavioral fluidity: How focus on completion and emphasis on safety changes over the course of projects" Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, vol. 93, 2004-01-01
Humphrey S. E., Hollenbeck J. R., Ilgen D. R., Moon H. "The changing shape of large scale programs of research: MSU-DDD as an illustrative example" Scaled Worlds: Development, Validation and Applications, 2004-01-01
Humphrey S. E., Ellis A. J., Conlon D. E., Tinsley C. H. "Understanding customer reactions to brokered ultimatums: Applying negotiation and justice theory" Journal of Applied Psychology, vol. 89, 2004-01-01
Beersma B., Hollenbeck J. R., Humphrey S. E., Moon H., Conlon D. E., ilgen d. r. "Cooperation, Competition, and Team Performance: Towards a Contingency Approach" Academy of Management Journal, vol. 46, 2003-01-01
Moon H., Conlon D. E., Humphrey S. E., Quigley N., Devers C. E., Nowakowski J. M. "Group structure and incrementalism in organizational decision-making" Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, vol. 92, 2003-01-01
Moon H., Hollenbeck J. R., Humphrey S. E., Maue B. "The tripartite model of neuroticism and the suppression of depression and anxiety within an escalation of commitment dilemma" Journal of Personality, vol. 71, 2003-01-01
Humphrey S. E., Hollenbeck J. R., Meyer C. J., Ilgen D. R. "Hierarchical team decision making" Research in Personnel and Human Resource Management, 2002-01-01
Humphrey S. E., Kahn A. S. "Fraternities, athletic teams, and rape: Importance of identification with a risky group" Journal of Interpersonal Violence, vol. 15, 2000-01-01