Ralph Christensen, former Hallmark Cards, Inc., executive, will open the Marriott School of Management’s annual Organizational Behavior Conference March 27-28. Christensen will speak about “The Power of Human Resource Management in Leading Change.”
The opening session is free to the public. All other conference sessions require registration. The focus of the conference is changing organizations. Some of the presentation topics include “Organizational Development in Entrepreneurial Firms and Family Owned Businesses,” “Building a High Performance Culture,” and “In the Trenches of the Talent War.”
“We’re very excited about this conference because of its unique format for collaboration among practitioners and academics,” says Kate Kirkham, director of the Marriott School Master of Organizational Behavior program.
More than 20 scholars and practitioners — including David Kinard, director of organizational effectiveness for Eli Lilly & Co.; Brad Black, vice president of client development for The Gallup Organization; and Kathy Buckner, vice president of consulting services for BT. Novations — will share organizational behavior insights and experience.
Christensen, who now heads his own human resources consulting firm, will be honored with the 2003 William G. Dyer Distinguished Alumni Award at a conference banquet Thursday evening.
In addition to the main conference, a pre-conference seminar will be held March 26. The pre-conference will focus on project management as an organizational discipline. Seminar participants will explore the possibility of an advanced BYU learning program that integrates individual project management knowledge and organizational alignment capability. The pre-conference seminar is open to the first 25 alumni to register.
Organizational Behavior Conference registration is open to the public. Registration fees are waived for full-time Marriott School students.
The Marriott School is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. The school has nationally recognized programs in accounting, business management, public management, information systems, organizational behavior and entrepreneurship. The school’s mission is to prepare men and women of faith, character and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Approximately 3,000 students are enrolled in the Marriott School’s graduate and undergraduate programs.
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Writer: April Ebbert