ABERDEEN, S.D. — Dr. Amber Henderson, associate professor of management in Northern State University’s School of Business, has published new research examining how leaders can shape organizational systems to help knowledge and learning endure over time.
Henderson’s research, published in the Journal of Strategic Innovation and Sustainability, explores leadership beyond interpersonal influence or leadership style. Instead, it considers how leaders shape the systems through which organizations make decisions, share information, evaluate performance and reflect on their experiences.
“Organizations spend significant time and resources attracting and developing the right people,” Henderson said. “My research shifts the leadership conversation toward what happens next: whether the organization itself is designed to learn from the knowledge and experience those people bring.”
Because the research is conceptual, Henderson’s work proposes a framework rather than reporting findings from an empirical study. The framework identifies four interconnected areas — decision, information, accountability and reflection architectures — that may influence an organization’s ability to create, integrate and revise knowledge over time.
The research grew from questions Henderson encountered throughout her professional career, including previous work in the public utility and banking sectors. Despite differences between organizations, Henderson became interested in how knowledge moves through an organization and what allows that knowledge to remain even after individual employees leave.
She further developed the framework through her research and teaching at Northern State University and had the opportunity to present portions of the work virtually at the 26th International Conference on Knowledge, Culture, and Change in Organizations. Scholarly discussion and feedback from the conference helped Henderson refine the framework before publication.
“This publication is especially meaningful to me because it brings together a line of inquiry I have been developing through both my research and teaching at Northern,” Henderson said. “Leadership research tells us a great deal about how leaders influence people, but much less about how they shape the organizational systems that allow learning to endure over time. I hope this framework offers a useful way to think about that relationship while also reinforcing the connection between the research we produce and the ideas we challenge students to explore at Northern.”
That connection between research and teaching is particularly evident in Dynamics of Innovation, a core course in Northern State University’s Master of Science in Strategic Innovation and Leadership program. Students examine the individual, team and organizational conditions that influence innovation. Henderson’s research extends that discussion by considering how leaders can build organizational systems that allow learning to become embedded within an organization and contribute to its ability to adapt and innovate.
“Research is essential to the work of our faculty because it keeps teaching relevant, advances knowledge and models curiosity for our students,” said Dr. Kristi Bockorny, Dacotah Bank Dean of Northern State University’s School of Business. “When faculty pursue meaningful scholarship, they strengthen the classroom and create discoveries that benefit the students, university community and discipline.”
Bockorny said Henderson’s research is closely connected to her work with Northern State University students.
“Dr. Henderson’s research reflects her strong commitment to advancing scholarship in leadership, organizational design and innovation, areas directly related to the courses she teaches,” Bockorny said.
Henderson joined Northern State University in fall 2015 and serves as faculty coordinator for the Master of Science in Strategic Innovation and Leadership program. Her research interests include leadership, cross-cultural leadership, organizational commitment, entrepreneurship and group decision-making.
Henderson earned a Doctor of Business Administration in management from Anderson University, a Master of Business Administration from the University of Mary and a bachelor’s degree in business administration with an economics emphasis from the University of Jamestown.
Her next step is to empirically test the relationships proposed in the framework to determine how they operate in practice.
For more information, contact Chad Hatzenbuhler, director of communications and marketing, at chad.hatzenbuhler@northern.edu or 605-626-2046.