David A. Thomas

David A. Thomas

Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus

Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus

+1 (617) 495-6327
 
David A. Thomas
Contact Information
(617) 495-6327
Featured Work Publications Awards & Honors
Winner of the 2020 Axiom Business Book Award Gold Medal in the Women and Minorities in Business category for Race, Work, and Leadership: New Perspectives on the Black Experience (Harvard Business Review Press, 2019) with Laura Morgan Roberts and Anthony J. Mayo.
Won with Robin J. Ely the 2007 Administrative Science Quarterly Award for Scholarly Contribution for their paper, "Cultural Diversity at Work: The Effects of Diversity Perspectives on Work Group Processes and Outcomes" (Administrative Science Quarterly, June 2001). The award was established in 1995 to recognize authors of papers published in ASQ that have made exceptional contributions to the field of organization studies and is given annually for the most significant paper published in ASQ five years earlier.

David Thomas is H. Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.  His research addresses issues related to executive development, cultural diversity in organizations, leadership and organizational change.  He recently served as a professor of management at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, where he served as dean from 2011 to 2016.

During his tenure as dean, he created a culture committed to creating transformational educational experiences that prepare students to become principled and globally minded leaders poised to serve both business and society.

He joined Georgetown McDonough in 2011 following a two-decade career at Harvard Business School.  While there Thomas enhanced academic and professional opportunities for the school’s undergraduate and graduate students, including a curriculum redesign and expansion of career management activities for MBA students and the addition of the Global Business Experience and an Office of Professional Development for undergraduates. He also increased the diversity of faculty and staff, launched new research initiatives and increased research funding, grew Executive Education program revenues by 400 percent, and grew the school’s endowment and increased philanthropic giving, ending the school’s capital campaign $30 million above its $100 million fundraising goal.

Partnering with the Washington, D.C., community while at Georgetown McDonough, Thomas was a member of the Federal City Council, and in 2014, the Washington Business Journal recognized him as a top Minority Business Leader.

Thomas received a bachelor’s degree, as well as masters and doctoral degrees in Organizational Behavior, from Yale University. He also holds a master’s in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University. He currently is a member of the Board of Governors for the American Red Cross, the Board of Directors of DTE Energy, and the Estoril Conferences Advisory Board. He also is an industry advisor for Brightwood Capital Advisors.

 


Featured Work
Breaking Through: The Making of Minority Executives in Corporate America

 

In one of the first in-depth studies to focus on minorities who have made it to the top, Breaking Through examines the crucial connection between corporate culture and the advancement of people of color. American companies may tout their equal opportunity initiatives, but with 95% of all executive-level positions in the United States held by white males, most of these programs clearly fall far short of their goals when it comes to diversifying upper management. Yet, even in the face of such overwhelming odds, some minority executives do break through to the highest leadership ranks. What can we learn from these success stories? The often surprising conclusions drawn by authors Thomas and Gabarro represent important milestones both for the study of organizational practice and for minorities planning their own course of professional achievement. Here are the determining factors--both individual and organizational--that correspond to the advancement of minority executives to the highest levels.

Books
Journal Articles
Book Chapters
  • Ramarajan, Lakshmi, and David A. Thomas. "A Positive Approach to Studying Diversity in Organizations." Chap. 41 in The Oxford Handbook of Positive Organizational Scholarship, edited by Kim S. Cameron and Gretchen M. Spreitzer, 552–565. Oxford University Press, 2011. View Details
  • Thomas, D. A., and Karen Proudford. "Theory for Practice: Making Sense of Race Relations in Organizations." In Addressing Cultural Issues in Organizations: Beyond the Corporate Context, edited by R. Carter. Sage Publications, 1999. View Details
  • Thomas, D. A. "Mentoring and Diversity in Organizations: The Importance of Race and Gender in Work Relationships." In Diversity in the Workplace: Issues and Perspectives, edited by A. Daly. NASW Press, National Association of Social Workers, 1999. View Details
  • Thomas, D. A. "Beyond the Simple Demography-Power Hypothesis: How Blacks in Power Influence Whites to Mentors Blacks." In Mentoring Dilemmas: Developmental Relationships within Multicultural Organizations, edited by A. Murrell, F. Crosby, and R. Ely. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1999. View Details
  • Thomas, D., and M. C. Higgins. "Mentoring and the Boundaryless Career: Lessons from the Minority Experience." In Boundaryless Careers: A New Employment Principle for a New Organizational Era, edited by M. B. Arthur and D. M. Rousseau. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. View Details
  • Thomas, D. A. "A Workshop Design for Teaching Diversity." In Teaching Diversity and the Management School Curriculum, edited by B. Ferdmon. American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business, 1994. View Details
  • Thomas, D. A. "Mentoring and Irrationality: The Role of Racial Taboos." In The Psychodynamics of Organizations, edited by L. Hirschorn and C. K. Barnett. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1993. View Details
  • Thomas, D. A. "Application Work in Group Dynamics Instruction." In Groups in Context: A New Perspective on Group Dynamics, edited by J. Gillette and M. McCollum. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1990. View Details
  • Thomas, D. A., and Clayton P. Alderfer. "The Influence of Race on Career Dynamics." In Handbook of Career Theory, edited by M. Arthur, D. T. Hall, and B. Lawrence. Cambridge University Press, 1989. View Details
  • Thomas, D. A., and Kathy E. Kram. "Promoting Career-Enhancing Relationships in Organization: The Role of the Human Resource Professional." In Career Growth and Human Resource Strategies, edited by M. London and E. Mone. Quorum Books, 1988. View Details
  • Thomas, D. A., and Clayton P. Alderfer. "The Significance of Race and Ethnicity for Understanding Organizational Behavior." In Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. 3 vols. Edited by C. Cooper. John Wiley & Sons, 1988. View Details
Working Papers
Cases and Teaching Materials
Presentations
  • Hill, Andrew, and David Thomas. "Firm Performance, Top Management and Minority Hiring: African‐American Coaches in the NFL, 1970‐2007." Paper presented at the Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Montreal, QC, August 01, 2010. View Details
Awards & Honors
Winner of the 2020 Axiom Business Book Award Gold Medal in the Women and Minorities in Business category for Race, Work, and Leadership: New Perspectives on the Black Experience (Harvard Business Review Press, 2019) with Laura Morgan Roberts and Anthony J. Mayo.
Won with Robin J. Ely the 2007 Administrative Science Quarterly Award for Scholarly Contribution for their paper, "Cultural Diversity at Work: The Effects of Diversity Perspectives on Work Group Processes and Outcomes" (Administrative Science Quarterly, June 2001). The award was established in 1995 to recognize authors of papers published in ASQ that have made exceptional contributions to the field of organization studies and is given annually for the most significant paper published in ASQ five years earlier.
Areas of Interest

Areas of Interest

 More

Additional Topics

Industries

 Less