Robert Duncan

Robert (Bob) B. Duncan (born 1942) earned his B.A. – Psychology/Sociology (1964) and M.A. –Sociology (1966) from Indiana University, and his Ph.D. – Organizational Behavior – Yale University (1971).

He is currently Professor Emeritus of Management & Organizations, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University where he currently teaches in the Executive MBA Program and Executive Programs.

From 1970 to 2001 he was on the faculty at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern. He was the Richard L. Thomas Professor of Leadership and Organizational Change. While at Kellogg he also served as chair of the Department of Management and Organizations, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, and was Provost at Northwestern (chief academic officer) from 1987–1991.

 He was Dean of the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University from 2002–2008 and Professor of Management from 2002 -2010. He started teaching again in 2009 at Kellogg in EMBA and Executive Programs.

While at Northwestern and Michigan State he taught courses in leadership and organizational change in both MBA and executive programs. He won numerous teaching awards at both universities.

He is the author of numerous journal articles and two books: Innovations and Organizations (with G. Zaltman and J. Holbeck, Wiley-Interscience) and Strategies for Planned Change (with G. Zaltman, Wiley-Interscience).  His research deals with strategy formulation, implementing strategic change, and creating and changing corporate culture. 

He is a Fellow of the Academy of Management and served as its president in 1983.  He has been on the editorial boards of the Academy of Management Journal, the Academy of Management Executive, Administrative Science Quarterly, and the Strategic Management Journal. He also served as a member of the Committee on Issues in Management Education, and the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors of the Association for the Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).

He is a frequent consultant to senior management and chief executive officers on strategy formulation, leading corporate culture change, organizational design, implementing strategic change, developing corporate strategic vision, and building top management teams.  Some of the organizations he has worked with include: American Bankers Association, American Medical Association, Baker & McKenzie Law Firm, Booz Allen, Clorox Company, the FBI, the Walt Disney Company, Ernst and Young, General Motors Corporation, General Electric, IBM, International Paper, Johnson & Johnson, Kellogg’s Food, Kerr McGee, Motorola, Mobil Oil Corporation, 3M Company, United Parcel Service and Zurich Insurance.

Education Ph.D., 1971, Organization Behavior, Yale University

M.A., 1966, Sociology, Organization Behavior, Joint Program Department of Sociology and School of Business, Indiana University

B.A, 1964, Sociology and Psychology, Indiana University

Academic Positions Professor of Management, e Eli Broad College of Business and The Eli Broad Graduate School of Management, Michigan State University, 2002-present

Eli and Edythe L. Broad Dean, The Eli Broad College of Business and The Eli Broad Graduate School of Management, Michigan State University, 2002-2008

Richard L. Thomas Professor of Leadership and Change, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, 1996-2001

J. L. Kellogg Distinguished Professor of Strategy and Organizations, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, 1991-1996

Provost (Chief Academic Officer), Northwestern University, 1987-1991

James Allen Distinguished Professor of Strategy and Organizations, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, 1986-1987

J. L. Kellogg Professor of Strategy and Organizational Behavior, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, 1983-1986

Earl Dean Howard Professor of Organization Behavior, Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, 1980-1983

Professor, Organization Behavior, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, 1976-2001

Associate Professor, Organization Behavior, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, 1973-1976

Assistant Professor, Organization Behavior Department, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, 1970-1973

Teaching Fellow, Department of Administrative Sciences, Yale University, 1969-1970

Teaching Associate, Department of Sociology, Indiana University, 1965-1967

Honors and Awards Beta Gamma Sigma, 1976

Sigma Xi, 1969

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