Gretchen Spreitzer

Gretchen Spreitzer is the Keith E. and Valerie J. Alessi Professor of Business Administration and Professor of Management and Organizations at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan. She serves as Associate Dean for Executive and Corporate Relations, overseeing strategic partnerships and program development.

Her research focuses on employee empowerment, leadership development, and organizational change, with a recent emphasis on positive deviance and fostering thriving in workplaces. Notable contributions include co-authoring How to Be a Positive Leader (2014) and foundational work on the Scholarship of Positive Organizing. Spreitzer’s work spans organizational behavior, leadership theory, and workplace design, emphasizing collaborative spaces like coworking environments and their impact on employee identity and community.

Educated at the University of Michigan (PhD, 1992) and Miami University (BS, 1987), she has authored over 100 scholarly articles and book chapters. Her research highlights how positive leadership strategies and workplace environments enhance employee well-being and organizational resilience. She collaborates with interdisciplinary teams to explore topics like sleep’s role in workplace ethics and the interplay between meetings, individual work, and energy management.

Key themes in her articles include thriving metrics, coworking spaces’ psychological benefits, and the role of mindfulness in prosocial behavior. She has advised on leadership development programs and contributed to frameworks for sustainable performance through employee energy optimization.