Jeffrey Gandz is Professor Emeritus (Strategic Leadership) and the former Managing Director, Program Design for the Executive Education division of the Ivey Business School at Western University.
After his early education in the UK he had an early career in sales and marketing for Riker Laboratories, Dresser Industries and Abbott Laboratories in the UK and Warner-Lambert, Cheesebrough-Pond's and Grey Advertising in Toronto. He earned an MBA and PhD at York University (Schulich School of Business) and taught in Ivey's MBA, Executive MBA and HBA programs, has been a visiting professor at the Darden School, University of Virginia as well as at Queen's, York, Penn State, L'Institute Superieur des Affaires in France and Xinghua University, Beijing. He is a former director of the MBA program and associate dean of programs at Ivey and also held the Taylor-Mingay Chair in the Global Environment of Business. In addition to his scholarly writing, He has authored over 100 case studies used in corporate and university-based business programs around the world.
He currently focuses on developing custom programs for companies in North America and Asia including, most recently, programs for Toronto Dominion Bank Financial Group, Aecon Engineering, The Globe and Mail, Rogers Communications, KPMG LLP, Petro-Canada, The Civil Service Bureau (Hong Kong), Manulife Financial, John Hancock, Magellan Aerospace, J.D. Irving Limited, HSBC (Asia), Arclin, Hutchison Ports Holdings, and Mattel Asia-Pacific.
His research interests focus on the development of leaders in organizations as well as the impact of economic, political, societal and technological change on the strategic and operational challenges facing business leaders today. He is the author of six books, many articles in both practitioner and academic magazines and journals, and over 100 case studies used in management development programs around the world. He is a frequent speaker at conferences and seminars on topics including leadership, talent development, changing organizational culture and global trends affecting business. He is also in demand as a facilitator and leader for strategic retreats and as a senior executive coach.
In addition to his teaching and research work, he has consulted on organizational design, strategy and talent development issues with many private and public sector organizations and governments. Dr Gandz is also a member of the boards of directors of Maple Leaf Foods Inc. and Canadian Medical Association Holdings.
Teaching
Custom Corporate Programs
MBA and EMBA programs
Education
Dip.M., Chartered Institute of Marketing (UK) (1968)
MBA, York
PhD, York
Recent Refereed Articles
Seijts, G. H.; Byrne, A.; Crossan, M. M.; Gandz, J., 2019, "Leader Character in Board Governance", Journal of Management and Governance, March 23(1): 227 - 258.
Abstract: Despite the critical leadership role that corporate boards play in organizations, the character of their members has been neglected in research studies. We used a multi-method data collection approach to explore whether current directors in the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors believe that leader character plays an important role in board governance, particularly with regards to how boards make decisions, recruit new members, lead their organizations, and work together to perform their fiduciary and other responsibilities. Despite the perceived importance of leader character as reported by highly experienced corporate directors, we found that leader character is not commonly attended to in board conversations as a means to purposively improve the way boards operate. We outline practical implications of our findings as well as offer a call to action for future research on character in the context of board governance with the intent to improve governance in the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors and hence to foster sustained excellence in organizations.
Abstract: Leader character is foundational to good leadership. We define character as an amalgam of virtues, values and personality traits that influence how leaders behave in various contexts. Our research identified 11 dimensions of leader character and 60-plus character elements that are illustrative of those dimensions. We integrate two frameworks, namely, John Kotter’s eight-step model of leading change and our framework of leader character dimensions and associated elements. Specifically, the objective of this paper is to illustrate which dimensions of leader character come into play at various points in the organizational change process and how their presence or absence affects the outcomes of the change process. Beyond that, we draw some inferences about how organizations might develop character among all leaders but especially those younger, less experienced leaders who will become tomorrow’s leaders of change projects.
Abstract: While the construct of character is well grounded in philosophy, ethics, and more recently psychology, it lags in acceptance and legitimacy within management research and mainstream practice. Our research seeks to remedy this through four contributions. First, we offer a framework of leader character that provides rigor through a three-phase, multi-method approach involving 1,817 leaders, and relevance by using an engaged scholarship epistemology to validate the framework with practicing leaders. This framework highlights the theoretical underpinnings of the leader character model and articulates the character dimensions and elements that operate in concert to promote effective leadership. Second, we bring leader character into mainstream management research, extending the traditional competency and interpersonal focus on leadership to embrace the foundational component of leader character. In doing this, we articulate how leader character complements and strengthens several existing theories of leadership. Third, we extend the virtues-based approach to ethical decision making to the broader domain of judgment and decision making in support of pursuing individual and organization effectiveness. Finally, we offer promising directions for future research on leader character that will also serve the larger domain of leadership research.
Abstract: This article examines one of the critical causes of misconduct that has persisted in the global financial services industry despite the warning flags raised from the financial crisis of 2008-09 and the very public shaming of major financial institutions that have violated various regulatory regimes. The authors argue that many acts of misconduct are consequences of failure of judgement owing to weaknesses in leader character. By so doing, the article pivots away from the prevailing popular wisdom that such acts of misconduct are consequences of the moral or ethical shortcomings of 'bad' people. Rather, it takes the view that these acts of misconduct are usually the result of poor judgements made by people with underdeveloped character dimensions working in organisational cultures that allow or encourage them. The authors contend that lawyers could and should play an important role in preventing such misconduct, if they had a better understanding of the effect that character has on executive decisions.
Abstract: Introduction: In a recent commencement address at the Ivey Business School, Domenic Barton, the head of McKinsey & Co.’s global consulting practice, said: When we think about leadership we focus too much on what leaders do and we don’t spend enough time on who leaders are the character of leaders. Similarly, in a speech to Ivey students, Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England, said that to restore trust in banks and in the broader financial system, global financial institutions need to rediscover their values Employees need a sense of broader purpose, grounded in strong connections to their clients and their communities. Few among the hundreds of C-suite leaders and board directors with whom we have discussed this topic in focus groups sessions, conferences, and executive development programs over the last five years, would disagree with them. While leaders readily agree that character matters, they also report that they seldom refer to it, talk about it, or use it in recruiting, selecting, promoting or developing leaders although it does surface more often when it comes to firing them Based on our research, we attribute the gap between the perceived importance and the actual use of character to three things. First, there is a great deal of ambiguity about what is meant by the word character, which of its dimensions are most important in organizational leadership, how character can be assessed, and what can be done to develop character in today's and tomorrow's leaders. Second, leaders tell us that what they need is a contemporary, practice-focused vocabulary with which to address character. This vocabulary must be expressed in the language used today in their organizations. Third, there are few reliable and valid tools available for the systematic assessment of character. Practitioners tell us they need these tools if they are to move from thinking and talking about character development to actually doing something about it. In this article, we propose an operational definition of character, outline a set of plain-language dimensions of character that we believe to be relevant to organizational leadership, present results from a survey relating these dimensions to leader performance and outcomes, and describe the practical implications for leader character development in organizations.
Abstract: Our objective is to encourage and enable leadership character development in business education. Building on a model of character strengths and their link to virtues, values, and ethical decision making, we describe an approach to develop leadership character at the individual, group, and organizational levels. We contrast this approach to existing practices that have focused on teaching functional content over character and address how business educators can enable leadership character development through their own behaviors, relationships, and structures. Most important, we provide concrete suggestions on how to integrate a focus on character development into existing business programs, both in terms of individual courses as well as the overall curriculum. We highlight that the development of leadership character must extend beyond student engagement in a course since it takes a village to develop character.
Abstract: This article reveals the managerial lessons to be learned in the stories of four teams in crisis: the Mann Gulch firefighters, Apollo 13 mission control, the iInto Thin Airi Everest climbers, and Maple Leaf Foods Inc., a Canadian-based food processing company. The experiences of these teams teach us three things: that successful instant teams are created, not born that dissent does not necessarily mean conflict, but can signal a healthy, empowering, perceptive team environment and that no team, no matter how brilliant its individual team members, can tackle a genuine crisis if they have not prepared themselves to become effective team members before the team is needed or formed. We pinpoint the values and behaviors that help instant teams be successful, which we call 'one-teaming.' We provide practical examples of how mangers can instill one-teaming in their firms.
Gandz, J.; Bird, F. G., 1996, "The Ethics of Empowerment", Journal of Business Ethics, January 15(4): 383 - 392.
Abstract: Driven by competitive pressure, organizations are empowering employees to use their judgment, creativity, and ideas in pursuit of enhanced organizational performance and both employee and shareholder satisfaction. This empowerment offers both benefits and potential harm. This article explores the benefits and harm associated with role, reward, process and governance empowerment and makes recommendations for minimizing the harm while maximizing the benefits.
Abstract: An organization can turn shared values into competitive advantage. However, values-measurement profiles need to be developed that are relevant to the modern corporation. A study examined the significance and dynamics of shared values by conducting 45 interviews with senior executives and management consultants who specialize in executive selection. With only one exception, all respondents spoke with genuine enthusiasm and maintained that shared values were a very significant issue. A relevant list of shared values was developed by asking the respondents to express their views about shared values in their own words. The analysis suggested that 24 value dimensions aggregate into 4 distinct groups: 1. task-oriented values, 2. relationship-oriented values, 3. change-related values, and 4. status quo values. If an organization hopes to see a set of shared values manifest itself in increased capability and effectiveness, those values must be discussed. Management must also ensure that its shared value set is appropriate for the people in the organization.
Abstract: Advances in maximizing human assets are being impeded because human resource (HR) professionals lack a meaningful vocabulary with which to discuss values. Lists or taxonomies of values currently in the literature are not framed in the common language of contemporary business. An alternative list of values is presented that is derived from interviews with representatives from the business community, including senior HR managers and executive recruitment professionals. The interviews generated a total of 358 value items. Using root concepts from Roget's Thesaurus, the items aggregated into 21 value dimensions. Three additional value dimensions were added to the list after subsequent presentations to groups of managers. The proposed list and future taxonomy will facilitate the integration of strategic business and HR functions. It has potential for application within the traditional HR practices of staffing, training and development, appraisal and compensation, and organization design and communication.
Abstract: With an increase in the number of women in the workforce, there has been a proportionate rise in the number of dual career couples. It is likely that many of our business students will be involved in a dual career lifestyle. The challenge of balancing career, marriage and possibly parenting is therefore an important issue to address. Katz (1984-1985), for example, has developed role conflict exercises that focus on how to manage and maintain the dual career lifestyle successfully. A related trend is that career opportunities may entice the husband or the wife to different geographic locations. Thus, the dilemmas facing dual career families are compounded by geographic separation and the disruption of family life (Polegato & Barras, 1984). To address the dual career family dilemma we wrote a case, based on a real situation, which featured Janis Jerome, a 40 year old mother of three children. She was trying to decide whether she should take a high paying, challenging job with a consulting firm - which also involved moving to another city and trying to maintain a “long distance”; marriage - or stay in a less challenging, lower paying job with limited prospects for advancement. The objective of the case was to examine the “fit” between characteristics of an individual (needs, expectations, values, abilities, aptitudes), characteristics of a job (challenge, variety, social interaction) and personal circumstances (lifestyle, family) as influences on performance and satisfaction.
Abstract: A study was conducted of 4 strike situations in Canada, following which teachers and school boards attempted to engineer changes to their pre-strike relationships. The data were collected through interviews with a wide variety of teachers, federation officials, administrators, and trustees from 4 areas: 1. the Alford Board of Education, 2. the Birch Lake Board of Education, 3. the Gilbert's Cove Roman Catholic Separate School Board, and 4. the Drummond County Board of Education. The 4 case studies provide additional empirical support for the propositions developed by Kochan and Dyer (1976). The studies indicate the importance of the recognition of the need for change that emanates from felt external and internal pressures, including the perception of some balance of power. The cases also emphasize the need to manage the politics of change while these benefits are sought and to recognize and publicize the tangible gains as they materialize.
Gandz, J.; Hayes, N., 1988, "Teaching Business Ethics", Journal of Business Ethics, January 7: 657 - 669.
Abstract: Business ethics should be taught in business schools as an integrated part of core curricula in MBA programs with a dual focus on both analytical frameworks and their applications to the business disciplines. To overcome the reluctance of many faculty to handle ethical issues, a critical mass of faculty must develop suitable materials, educate their peers in its use, and take the lead by introducing it in their own courses and on senior management programs.
Abstract: This study investigates the perceived politicization of organizational processes and their attitudes and beliefs about workplace politics. Perceived politicization is related to characteristics of respondents' jobs, their employing organizations, and demographic variables. It is proposed that perceived politicization may be one dimension of overall job satisfaction.
Abstract: Marketing research managers who regularly participate in the development of research projects, present them to management for approval, and make recommendations based on the results are faced with new constraints today. The depressed economy of the 1970's has caused many companies to re-examine their policies on marketing research expenditures. The trimming of excess items from budgets, tighter financial controls, hiring restrictions, and the inflate cost of additional staff all contribute to a reappraisal and general belt-tightening'. The need to justify expenditures in terms of their impact on the bottom line' has moved from good business practice to an imperative. The selling' of proposed projects to management, many of whom have a limited appreciation for marketing research, has become more difficult and therefore requires better planning and presentation skills.
