Research Impact: Doctoral Students Publish on Critical Issues for the Public Good

Just three years ago, the doctorate in organization development and change (DODC) was launched in the Schmidthorst College of Business and has quickly become the most inquired about graduate program at BGSU. The reason for this success is the program’s emphasis on professional joy through thought leadership in service of transforming organizations, revitalizing communities and developing human potential.

In the first year of the program, the students embarked upon a novel experiment to advance a topic they are passionate about by writing and submitting an article for publication. What makes this unique? It turns a typical writing assignment into a high-impact career advancing and energizing experience for each student. The results have been remarkable with over 70% getting their articles accepted into one of the leading journals in the field of organization development and change.

This fall, seven articles were published in a special section of the Organization Development Review entitled “Advancing OD Doctoral Education through Publishing.” In this issue, David Perry outlined the benefits of cross-gender mentorship, and Carla McKnight explored the use of self in human resources. The breadth of work was large; Ebony Lothery conducted a case study on IT governance, while Sara Kline examined the relationship between empathy and practices in municipal public policy. Val Kaba outlined his experience with banking practices in low-income communities. Finally, Herb Homan looked at the institutional influence over decision-making in law enforcement (See the entire issue here).

Recognizing the rigor of the initial class assignment, students value deepening their topic area of research that they are passionate about, while learning the steps in the publication process to advance their thought leadership.

One student captured the experience: “I stepped through my fear in submitting an article because it was a class assignment. I am so glad I was challenged to put myself out there. This has turned out to be one of the most exciting accomplishments of my professional career.”