Originally published in the inaugural edition of Carroll Capital, the print publication of the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. .
Inside a large conference room in Fulton Hall, Curtis Chan鈥攁n assistant professor in the Carroll School鈥檚 Management and Organization Department鈥攊s introducing an aspect of his research that he calls 鈥渢ask segregation.鈥� This is when a group of workers is disproportionately assigned a specific task, which can erode the quality of a job and, as a result, create workplace inequality. His case in point: 鈥淓veryone鈥檚 favorite organization鈥攖he TSA,鈥� Chan says wryly, referring to the Transportation Security Administration. His audience laughs, and Chan proceeds to examine how women TSA workers shoulder the larger burden of the dreaded pat-down task at airport security checkpoints, leading to various forms of 鈥渨ithin-job inequality.鈥�
Curtis Chan, assistant professor of Management and Organization
On this day in April, Fulton 515 is bustling with professors from across Carroll School departments. Crowding tables in the rectangular room and sitting in extra chairs lining the walls, Chan鈥檚 colleagues pitch questions to him, at times evoking a doctoral dissertation defense. The occasion for听this brisk exchange is the Bartunek Faculty Research Forum, which brings large swaths of the faculty together three times a year, lunch provided (Chinese food, always).
The 75-minute forum is emblematic of the school鈥檚 research culture, which has a distinctly communal flavor. One thinks of scholars laboring in solitude, or conferring with colleagues in their own fields or subspecialties, transmitting thoughts that only they can comprehend, like members of a fraternal society performing their secret handshakes. That鈥檚 part of academic life. At the Carroll School, though, professors 鈥済o beyond the code words,鈥� because they鈥檙e speaking with a broader community of scholars, says Professor Jean Bartunek, the forum鈥檚 namesake.
This is not a natural occurrence. Asked about the research culture when she arrived at the Carroll School in the late 1970s, Bartunek, who is the Robert A. and Evelyn J. Ferris Professor of Management and Organization, said, 鈥淭here wasn鈥檛 much at all.鈥� There was little research of the kind done by Carroll School faculty today鈥攐riginal findings published in top academic journals鈥攁nd hardly a widespread culture of conversation around research. She says changes began in the 1980s and accelerated when Andy Boynton became dean in 2005.
Other highlights of the school鈥檚 community-oriented research culture include what are dubbed 鈥淩esearch Conversations.鈥� These听are seminars hosted by Carroll School departments a few times a week on average, featuring guest presenters from other institutions鈥攚ith the entire Carroll School faculty invited. 鈥淧eople here care about research and listen to their colleagues, and give their feedback,鈥� says Haub Family Professor Ronnie Sadka, Finance Department chair and senior associate dean for faculty. 鈥淎nd they move the needle forward.鈥�
“People here care about research and listen to their colleagues, and give their feedback.”
At the April 11 Bartunek forum attended by around 60 faculty members, Chan explains why female TSA agents are disproportionately allotted the pat-down task (basically, regulations require that female agents perform the task on female passengers, and there aren鈥檛 enough of them for all those passengers). This means that TSA women are inordinately exposed to a physically and emotionally exhausting task that passengers loathe, which can bring higher turnover and 鈥渕anagerial sanctions for taking recuperative time off,鈥� he and a coauthor have written in Administrative Science Quarterly. The faculty question Chan further on how he extrapolates findings from his qualitative, interview-based research, which prompts close questioning about methodology.
In another context, Chan notes that a research focus on workplace inequality reflects 鈥滘蝌街辈� values, which are about dignity and care for the person.鈥� And no one challenges the proposition.
