Alex Romney

Alexander C. Romney is an Assistant Professor in the Marketing and Strategy Department of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University. His research is focused on the processes of leading, learning, and finding meaning in organizational life. He is especially interested in employee voice and how employees can influence and change their organizations from the bottom up.

Dr. Romney earned his B.A. from Brigham Young University and his Ph.D. in organizational behavior from the University of Utah. He worked as a research associate at the Harvard Business School and taught at the University of Utah prior to his appointment at Utah State University. He teaches courses on leadership and teams.

Research

My research seeks to understand how the latent potential of employees can be developed and realized in organizations and is rooted in a view that individuals are agentic and purposeful and want to bring their best selves to work. The underlying motivation behind my research is a desire to understand what factors enable individuals to become and bring the very best of themselves at work. This motivation is manifest in my research on (1) employee voice, (2) leadership, (2) groups and teams, and (4) meaningful work. In exploring these distinct but related areas of research, I try to make both theoretical contributions to the management and organizational literatures and practical contributions to organizational leaders. While I rely primarily on survey-based field research to explore research questions, I also employ other methodological tools because of my belief that research questions should drive the methods that scholars use. My research has been published or is currently under review at Organization Science, Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, Business Horizons, Human Relations, and Journal of Applied Psychology.

Teaching

My teaching philosophy is rooted in the belief that learning has intrinsic value in and of itself. Beyond any instrumental benefit that may result from learning, there is significant value and meaning in the journey or process of learning. In short, I seek to facilitate deep learning that engages student’s heads, hearts, and hands. Learning that involves the head is cognitive in nature, involves new knowledge, and also connects that new knowledge to previously held knowledge. Learning of the heart is affective. It involves the feelings and values that often accompany learning. Lastly, learning of the hands involves the bodies of students; it is the application and integration of what one has learned cognitively and affectively into everyday life and behavior. When this tripartite combination of student’s heads, hearts, and hands are considered, cultivated, and engaged, what I refer to as deep learning occurs. Deep learning is a process that students and teachers create and experience in partnership with one other.