Michael Sacks

Michael Sacks has been a faculty member at the Goizueta Business School for the past twenty years after earning his Ph.D. in Organization Behavior and Sociology at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Michael recently completed a term as Emory’s Vice Provost for University Strategies where he integrated multiple school initiatives towards common university goals. He also previously served as Associate Dean and Director of Emory’s Evening MBA Program.

Michael’s teaching is centered in the area of Strategic Leadership -- aligning the leadership skills of employees with an organization’s culture in order to best execute strategy. This approach integrates traditional leadership topics with the cultural and strategic contexts in which an organization operates. As such, Michael’s teaching spreads across topics such as leadership development, organizational management, and strategic thinking.

Professor Sacks teaches extensively in Goizueta’s executive education programs, currently serving as Faculty Director for several open enrollment sessions and custom clients. Michael additionally serves as Faculty Director for Emory Healthscience's Woodruff Leadership Academy, and he coordinates multiple leadership programs across Emory’s campus. Professor Sacks has customized many executive education programs for specific business clients on such topics as Leading Organizational Change, Aligning Organization Culture with Strategy, Influence without Authority, Diversity & Inclusion, Situational Leadership, Personality and Performance, Conflict Management, Negotiations, and Strategic Thinking.

Some of Michael's current and previous clients include Microsoft, Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG), Toyota, Delta Airlines, Turner Broadcasting Services (TBS), Newell Brands, Genuine Parts Company, United Parcel Service (UPS), The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, The American Bankers Association, Alston & Bird, King & Spalding, Mailchimp, and Spanx.

The high quality of his teaching has been formally recognized via several teaching awards over the course of his career. Michael has also presented papers at international conferences and has published his research in several international outlets. Michael’s work has been supported by grants from the Dispute Resolution Research Center, the Heizer Center for Entrepreneurship, the MacArthur Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Areas of Expertise

• Leadership Development
• Organizational Culture and Firm Performance
• Organizational Change
• Strategic Alignment
• Strategic Thinking
• Negotiations and Conflict Resolution
• Executive Education

Education

• PhD in Organization Behavior and Sociology
  Northwestern University, Kellogg Graduate School of Management
• MS in Organization Behavior and Sociology
  Northwestern University, Kellogg Graduate School of Management
• BA in Sociology
  University of California, Santa Barbara

PUBLICATIONS

• Michael Alan Sacks (forthcoming), "Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs," in Cunningham, Isabella, Golson, J. Geoffrey (Ed.), The SAGE Encyclopedia of Advertising and Society, Sage Publications.
• Steve Walton and Michael Alan Sacks (forthcoming), "Perception and Process Analysis: Teaching Kristen's Cookie Company from a Behavioral Point of View," In Elliot Bendoly (Ed.) Behavioral Operations Handbook.
• Michael Alan Sacks (2014), "Six Degrees of Separation," in Wherry, Frederick F., Golson, J. Geoffrey (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Economics and Society, Sage Publications.
• How Many 'Friends' Do You Need? Teaching Students How to Network Using Social Media, with Nikki Graves, Business Communications Quarterly, 75: 80-88, 2012
• Cognitive Biases in Decision-Making, in Vicky Smith (Ed.), Sociology of Work: An Encyclopedia. Sage Publications, 2013
• Reducing Human Error in Revenue Management Decision-Making, with Elliot Bendoly, E&Y Performance, 2012
• "Concession in Negotiations," in Encyclopedia of Global Business, Sage Publications, 2008
• The Social Structure of Entrepreneurial Financing: Stratification and the Differential Liability of Newness in U.S. Venture Capital, Research in the Sociology of Organizations, 2002
• Turning Disputes into Corporate Advantage, with Andy Lewis, Financial Times, Reprinted in Mastering People Management (edited by James Pickford, Prentice Hall, 2002), November 26, 2001
• Global Institutions and Networks: Contingent Change in The Structure of World Trade Advantage, 1965-1980, with Marc Ventresca and Brian Uzzi, AAmerican Behavioral Scientist, 43 (3), 2000
• Stateness and System in the Global Structure of Trade: A Network Approach to Assessing Nation Status, Questioning Geopolitics: Political Projects in a Changing World System, edited by Georgi M. Derluguian and Scott Greer, Greenwood Press, 2000
• The Structuration of Interfirm Ties: The Case of Stick Versus Switch Decisions, Embedded Organizations: Sociological Conceptions on Organizational Evolution in Three Transitioning Economies, edited by Rueyling Tzeng, Peter Lang Publishing, 2000
• Broadening the Evaluation of Dispute Resolution: Context and Relationships Over Time, with Kara Reichert and Trexler Proffitt, Negotiation Journal, 15 (4), 1999