R. David Lebel

R. David Lebel serves as Associate Professor of Business Administration and Director of the Berg Center for Ethics & Leadership at the University of Pittsburgh's Katz School of Business, specializing in organizational behavior with emphasis on workplace communication, emotional regulation, and employee proactivity.

His academic credentials include:

• PhD in Organizational Behavior, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania
• MS in Management, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania
• BS in Economics, Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania

Lebel's research examines critical workplace dynamics through three interconnected lenses:

• Communication at Work: Comparative analysis of virtual versus in-person meeting efficacy and their organizational ripple effects
• Emotions at Work: Evidence-based strategies for managing negative emotions to optimize performance and psychological well-being
• Proactive Employee Behavior: Investigating motivational triggers for idea generation, innovation, and initiative-taking in constrained environments

His scholarly output reveals consistent patterns linking prosocial motivation to resilience against discouraging supervision and highlighting paradoxical burnout risks from financial-precarity-driven proactivity.

Lebel's distinguished recognition encompasses:

• Nine Katz School of Business Excellence in Teaching Awards
• EMBA-Healthcare Class 2022 Outstanding Faculty of the Year
• Dual Doris & Douglas Bernstein Teaching Excellence Awards (2016-2017, 2019-2020)
• Katz Research Award (2015-2016)
• BNY Mellon CSR Fellowship with multi-year research grant

As an award-winning educator, he develops curricula for organizational behavior, change management, and workplace communication courses while leading ethics initiatives through the Berg Center. His pre-academic experience includes Deloitte management consulting for public sector clients and supply chain analysis for a $15B enterprise, informing his practitioner-oriented research approach.

The Berg Center for Ethics & Leadership operates under his directorship as a hub for developing ethical decision-making frameworks and leadership competencies across organizational contexts.