Joan R. Rentsch, professor of management in the College of Business Administration, was awarded a $378,187 grant from the Office of Naval Research to study decision making in virtual teams. This grant is a follow-up to a $464,872 award she received from the Office of Naval Research in 2005. Rentsch has also been appointed to a Senior Advisory Panel for the United States Army’s Organizational Effectiveness Research Unit. This six-person panel advises the Army on how to allocate its research funding.
Rentsch’s research focuses on psychological processes in organizations, with a special interest in team cognition and its measurement. In addition, she is interested in multicultural perspective-taking, workplace absence, person-environment fit, and organizational culture and behavior.
Selected Presentations & Publications
Rentsch, J. R., Mello, A. L., & Delise, L. A. (in press). Collaboration and meaning analysis in intense problem solving teams. Theoretical Issues in Ergonomic Science.
Rentsch, J. R., & Staniewicz, M. J. (forthcoming). Cognition similarity configurations in multiteam systems. In S. Zacarro, Marks, M., DeChurch, L., & Mathieu, J. (Eds.). Theories of multiteam systems.
Delise, L. A., Gorman, C. A., Brooks, A. M., Rentsch, J. R., & Steele-Johnson, D. (2009, April). Meta-analysis of the effects of team training. Poster presented at the 24th annual meeting of the Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, New Orleans, LA.
Rentsch, J.R., & Abbe, A. (2008). Multicultural perspective-taking competencies: A conceptual model and training. Paper presented to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation/Research and Technology Organisation (NATO/RTO) Human Factors and Medicine Symposium on Adaptability in Coalition Teamwork, April 22, 2008, Copenhagen, Denmark. Published in proceedings, PUB REF NBR RTO – MP- HFM-142-08.
Rentsch, J. R., Delise, L. A., & Hutchison, S. (2008). Transferring meaning and developing cognitive similarity in decision making teams: Collaboration and meaning analysis process. In M. Letsky, N. Warner, C. Smith. S. Fiore, & E. Salas (Eds.) Macrocognition in Teams Approaches (pp. 127-142). Ashgate: Burlington, VT.
Rentsch, J. R., Delise, L. A., & Hutchison, S. (2008). Cognitive similarity configurations in teams: In search of the team mindmeld. In E. Salas, G. F. Goodwin, & S. Burke (Eds.). Team Effectiveness in Complex Organizations: Cross-disciplinary Perspectives and Approaches (pp. 241-266). Psychology Press: New York.
Rentsch, J. R., Small, E. E., & Hanges, P. J. (2008). Cognitions in organizations and teams: What is the meaning of cognitive similarity? In B. Smith (Ed.), The People Make the Place: Dynamic Linkages Between Individuals and Organizations (pp. 127-155). New York, NY: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.