Work Smart Series: The Science of Meetings

Joseph A. Allen, PhD, is a Professor of Industrial and Organizational (I-O) Psychology at the University of Utah. Before he completed his doctorate (PhD) in Organizational Science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) in 2010, he received his Master of Arts degree in I-O Psychology at the UNCC in 2008 and his Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the Brigham Young University in 2005. His research focuses on three major areas of inquiry including the study of workplace meetings, occupational safety and health, and organizational community engagement and outreach. He has more than 300 publications in academic and trade outlets, another 20 under review, and many works in progress for a number of journals. He has published several books including Suddenly Virtual: Making Remote Meetings Work, Suddenly Hybrid: Managing the Modern Meeting, Running Effective Meetings for Dummies, and The Burned Out Physician. He has presented over 300 papers/posters at regional and national conferences, given more than 100 invited presentations on his research, and participated in more than 150 interviews, podcasts, and press-related tasks associated with his research. His previous academic outlets include Human Relations, Human Performance, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Journal of Business Psychology, American Psychologist, Accident Analysis and Prevention, Group and Organization Management, and so on. He serves as a reviewer for various journals including the Journal of Organizational Behavior, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Journal of Creative Behavior, and Academy of Management Journal. He is an Editorial Board Member for the Journal of Business and Psychology, Group and Organization Management, and the European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology. He directs the Center for Meeting Effectiveness housed in the Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health. Dr. Allen has consulted for more than 500 non-profit and for-profit organizations. These include animal welfare organizations, human services organizations, large corporations, government entities, emergency safety, and intelligence agencies, as well as retail conglomerates, and external talent management firms. His research has attracted internal and external grant funding of more than $20 million since 2010. Dr. Allen’s recent work can be found at www.joeallen.org and he can be reached at joseph.a.allen@utah.edu.

Dr. Nale Lehmann-Willenbrock is Professor and department head of Industrial and Organizational Psychology at the University of Hamburg (since 2018), where she also leads the Center for Better Work and currently serves as Vice Dean for Research and Transfer at the Faculty of Psychology and Human Movement Science. She also serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Business and Psychology. Previously, she was Associate Professor at the University of Amsterdam and Assistant Professor at Free University Amsterdam. She holds a PhD in Psychology (2012) from TU Braunschweig, Germany.

Her research focuses on quantifying behavioral patterns at the core of dynamic team processes, leader-follower dynamics, and effective workplace meetings. To date, she has published 96 journal articles in academic outlets such as the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, and Journal of Organizational Behavior, among others; more than 50 book chapters; and more than 100 conference contributions. Her research has attracted competitive funding from research organizations as well as companies in Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States.

Together with Dr. Joe Allen, she has edited the Cambridge Handbook of Meeting Science (2015), Managing Meetings in Organizations (2020), and a special issue of Organizational Psychology Review dedicated to the science of workplace meetings (2023).