Jim Walsh

A.F. Thurnau Professor
Gerald and Esther Carey Professor of Business Administration
Professor of Management & Organizations
Professor of Strategy

Education
PHD Northwestern University 1985
MA University of Chicago 1980
MA Columbia University 1977
BA State University of New York At Albany 1975
Biography

In many ways, our lives are defined by the duties we embrace and the responsibilities we shoulder. The challenge is to integrate these duties and responsibilities, not to be pulled apart into a kind of schizophrenic existence. How are we to live a good life? Oddly enough, we are often more comfortable talking about the purpose of the firm than we are the purpose of a life. Our lives are as animated by purpose as is any firm's life. Professors might do well to ask themselves what purpose animates their research, teaching, and service commitments. For me, the idea of service orients and sustains most everything I do. Done well, I think our research, teaching, and service commitments are best motivated by a desire to leave the world a bit better than we found it.

Research, teaching, and service define my professional life. Two qualities distinguish much of my work. I am fascinated by cross-level relationships: the influences between and among individuals, organizations, and society. And yes, as romantic as it may sound, I do think we are called to leave the world a better place. The desire to better understand these cross-level relationships, done with a clear eye on bettering our world, animates most everything I do.

Broadly, the study of how organizations enhance or undermine our well-being is the study of corporate governance. My research explores the purpose, responsibility, accountability, and control of the firm (and even more generally, business itself) in society. I am particularly interested in the moral foundations of business these days. With questions of accountability front of mind, I am interested in understanding the nature of - and place for - apology, atonement, forgiveness, and reconciliation in business life.

My teaching aspiration is to help our students learn to think with imagination and clarity, and yes, to lead and follow well. With good leadership and followership rooted in a person's being, knowing and doing, I am open to all kinds of teaching approaches. I am particularly drawn to action-based learning. Ultimately, we are called to service. I have always looked for ways to serve the University of Michigan and Dartmouth College, my profession, and the world.

Our research, teaching and service commitments really can leave the leave the world a better place. Here's to those better days!

Latest Faculty News & Research
A Global Movement on Responsible Management Education: Journey, Achievements and Aspirations of PRME – A UN Global Compact Initiative
Authors
J. P. Walsh
Published Date
2021
Authors
J. P. Walsh
Source
Abingdon, United Kingdom: Routledge.
Pages
Not released
The road to love is never smooth: A look at PRME thirteen years on.
Mette Morsing
Routledge Companion to Corporate Social Responsibility.
Authors
Donaldson, T. and Walsh, J. P.
Published Date
2021
Authors
Donaldson, T. and Walsh, J. P.
Source
Abington, United Kingdom: Routledge.
Pages
not released
A theory of business.
Thomas Maak, Nicola M. Pless, Marc Orlitzky and Sukbir Sandhu
Capitalism Beyond Mutuality: Perspectives Integrating Philosophy and Social Science
Authors
Tiberius, V. and Walsh, J.P.
Published Date
2018
Authors
Tiberius, V. and Walsh, J.P.
Source
Oxford University Press
Pages
308-324
Recognizing and Embracing Our Shared Humanity
Subramanian Rangan
Performance and Progress
Authors
Walsh
Published Date
2015
Authors
Walsh
Source
Oxford University Press
Pages
134-150
Progress: Freedom, Responsibility, and Keeping [Our] Hope Alive
Subramanian Rangan
Contextualizing the attention to managers and leaders since 1890 and our infatuation with leaders since 2007: A commentary on Kniffin, Detert & Leroy (2020)
Authors
Walsh, J.P.
Published Date
2021
Authors
Walsh, J.P.
Source
Academy of Management Discoveries
Volume
6
Issue
4
Pages
1-11
A Special “Provocations and Provocateurs” Section Honoring Jim March
Authors
Gioia, D., March, J. G., Olsen, J. P., Levinthal, D., Argote, L., Walsh, J. P., Meyer, A. D., Lant, T., Mezias, S., Shapira, Z. and Greve, H.R
Published Date
2020
Authors
Gioia, D., March, J. G., Olsen, J. P., Levinthal, D., Argote, L., Walsh, J. P., Meyer, A. D., Lant, T., Mezias, S., Shapira, Z. and Greve, H.R
Source
Journal of Management Inquiry
Volume
29
Issue
2
Pages
119-127
Dialogue as renounced aggression: JMI and the case of AOM’s president’s response to EO13769
Authors
Stackman, R. W., de Holan, P. M., Argyres, N., Cabral, S., Moliterno, T. P., Stoner, J. and Walsh, J. P.
Published Date
2019
Authors
Stackman, R. W., de Holan, P. M., Argyres, N., Cabral, S., Moliterno, T. P., Stoner, J. and Walsh, J. P.
Source
Journal of Management Inquiry
Volume
28
Issue
3
Pages
28-275
From crisis to enlivenment: An AOM president responds to EO13769
Authors
Pirson, M. A., Adler, P. S., Barney, J. B., Bartunek, J. M., Patient, D. L. Phillips, N. Pitelis, C. N. and Walsh, J. P.
Published Date
2019
Authors
Pirson, M. A., Adler, P. S., Barney, J. B., Bartunek, J. M., Patient, D. L. Phillips, N. Pitelis, C. N. and Walsh, J. P.
Source
Journal of Management Inquiry
Volume
28
Issue
3
Pages
291-297
"What we talk about when we talk about inequality: An introduction to the Journal of Management Studies special issue"
Authors
Suddaby, R., Bruton, G.D. and Walsh, J.P.
Published Date
2018
Authors
Suddaby, R., Bruton, G.D. and Walsh, J.P.
Source
Journal of Management Studies
Volume
55
Issue
3
Pages
381-393
Humility and Human Frailty
Authors
Walsh, J.P.
Published Date
2018
Authors
Walsh, J.P.
Source
Academy of Management Perspectives
Volume
32
Issue
4
Pages
430-432
The rocky road from insight to understanding
Authors
Walsh, J. P., White, B. J. and Edwards, J. R
Published Date
2018
Authors
Walsh, J. P., White, B. J. and Edwards, J. R
Source
Management Research: Journal of the Iberoamerican Academy of Management
Volume
16
Issue
1
Pages
75-89
Commitments and appeals to make a better world: The Global Compact, Laudato Si and our future
Authors
Walsh, J.P. and Solarino, A.M.
Published Date
2016
Authors
Walsh, J.P. and Solarino, A.M.
Source
Journal of Corporate Citizenship
Volume
2016
Issue
64
Pages
121-124
Organization and Management Scholarship in and for Africa...and the World
Authors
Walsh, J.P.
Published Date
2015
Authors
Walsh, J.P.
Source
Academy of Management Perspectives
Volume
29
Issue
1
Pages
1-6
Toward a Theory of Business
Authors
Donaldson, T. and Walsh, J.P.
Published Date
2015
Authors
Donaldson, T. and Walsh, J.P.
Source
Research in Organizational Behavior
Volume
35
Issue
1
Pages
181-207
Review of The Roots, Rituals, and Rhetorics of Change: American Business Schools after the Second World War by Mie Augier and James G. March. Administrative Science Quarterly, 57(3): 522-527.
Authors
Walsh, J.P.
Published Date
2013
Authors
Walsh, J.P.
Source
Administrative Science Quarterly
Volume
57
Issue
3
Pages
522-527
Journal of Management Studies, a special issue entitled, Social and Economic Inequality: A Structural/Institutional Perspective
Authors
Bruton, G., Suddaby, R. and Walsh, J.P.
Published Date
2018
Authors
Bruton, G., Suddaby, R. and Walsh, J.P.
Source
Wiley