Professor Roberto M. Fernandez, M.I.T. Sloan School of Management

Roberto M. Fernandez is the William F. Pounds Professor of Behavioral and Policy Sciences at MIT Sloan, where he currently serves as the Director of the School’s Behavioral and Policy Sciences Department, which includes the School’s leadership, strategy and entrepreneurship programs. In addition, he is Co-Director of MIT Sloan’s new PhD program in economic sociology. His executive teaching duties include the management of innovation, change management, management of human resources, negotiations, networks, and power and politics in organizations. In addition, Professor Fernandez is the chief professor in charge of MIT Sloan’s required MBA course on Organizational Processes. He has traveled extensively, managing MBA student trips to Brazil, Iceland and South Africa, and has done executive education in Singapore, Hong Kong, and the UAE.

Prior to joining MIT in 2000, he was Professor or Organizational Behavior at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business (1994-2000). There he served as the Area Coordinator, in charge of the school’s Organizational Behavior faculty. Prior to Stanford, he was Associate Professor of Sociology and Urban Affairs at Northwestern University (1989-1994). His first academic job was as an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Arizona (1984-1989). His academic degrees are from first rank universities, including an undergraduate degree from Harvard University (BA, 1978, Magna Cum Laude in sociology) and advanced degrees from the University of Chicago (MA, 1980; PhD, 1985), both in sociology.

Professor Fernandez has extensive experience doing field research in organizations, including an exhaustive five-year case study of a plant retooling and relocation. He is continuing his research on networks and hiring by studying financial services, market research, manufacturing, and retail sales jobs. His current research focuses on the organizational processes surrounding the hiring of new talent using data collected in 14 organizations. He is the author of over 40 articles and research papers in the published in the top academic journals in his field. A noted expert in organizational sociology, he is the recipient of numerous academic honors and awards.

Click here for a sample “Leading & Managing Change” program outline led by Professor Fernandez.