Scott Sonenshein

Organizational Behavior Area Coordinator
Henry Gardiner Symonds Professor of Management – Organizational Behavior

Departments

Faculty

Office

Virani Hall 380

Contact 713-348-3182 scotts@rice.edu

Scott Sonenshein is the Henry Gardiner Symonds Professor of Management at Rice University and bestselling author of Stretch: Unlock the Power of Less – And Achieve More Than You Ever Imagined and co-author (with Marie Kondo) of Joy at Work: Organizing Your Professional Life.

Prior to joining Rice Business, he taught at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan where he also received his Ph.D. in Management and Organizations. Sonenshein also received a B.A. from the University of Virginia in Business Ethics and an M.Phil. from the University of Cambridge in Management Studies.

His research employs field methodologies (primarily involving qualitative data) to explain the resourceful actions of employees to foster organizational, social and personal change. His work usually follows an inductive approach using grounded theory and other ethnographic methods. Sonenshein has contributed to a variety of theoretical perspectives that span both “micro” and “macro” topics, including resilience, creativity, and sensemaking. Although his studies often contain an inductive surprise, his work coalesces around illuminating the skill, agency, and motivation of individuals as well as the corresponding practices that foster these outcomes.

Sonenshein’s research has appeared in many leading journals of organizational behavior including Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal and Organization Science. Additionally, he served as an associate editor at the Academy of Management Journal and currently sits on its editorial board along with Academy of Management Review.

Sonenshein has written for the New York Times, Time Magazine, Fast Company and Harvard Business Review. He has been interviewed on national and local television, NPR stations throughout the country, and has been featured in most major newspapers.

Please visit his website to learn more: ScottSonenshein.com