Zhike Lei, PhD

Professor of Applied Behavioral Science

Director‚ Center for Applied Research

Graziadio Business School

310.506.8537

Biography

Dr. Zhike Lei is a Professor of Applied Behavior Science and the Director of the Center for Applied Research at the Pepperdine Graziadio Business School. She received her PhD in Organizational Behavior from Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr. Lei studies how organizations, work teams, and employees adapt and learn in complex, time-pressured environments. Her work on team adaptation, psychological safety, error management, and crisis management has been published in premier academic outlets, including the Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Academy of Management Learning and Education, Academy of Management Discoveries, Health Affairs, Academic Medicine, and Harvard Business Review, among others. Her research on team adaptation and positivity, in the contexts of surgical teams, aviation pilots, and frontline engineers, has been recognized by a number of Best Paper Awards from various leading academic journals. She has also won prestigious awards and grants to study patient safety, error management, and team processes, including those from the European Commission’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Peter Curtius Foundation, and the Juran Center for Leadership in Quality. Her management insights have been featured in general business journals and magazines, such as Harvard Business Manager, Wall Street Journal, and Chief Executive.

Dr. Lei has served on the Editorial Review Board (ERB) for Academy of Management Review and continues to serve on the ERB for Academy of Management Discoveries. She is a frequent invited speaker and panelist at leading universities, academic conferences, and workshops and colloquiums for executives.

As a management educator, Dr. Lei has taught executive programs and PhD, EMBA, MBA graduates across the globe. She has received the Howard A. White Award for Teaching Excellence, the highest distinction given at Pepperdine for recognizing outstanding educators. She was also the finalists for various teaching awards at other universities where she has taught.

Dr. Lei has consulted various multinational organizations across different continents and served on the patient safety committee for major health information organizations in China and the USA. Before her academic career, Dr. Lei has worked as a marketing specialist for leading advertising and marketing firms such as Dentsu and Nielson in China and for startup companies in Chicago, USA.

Research
Awards
Presentations

Russell, D., C., Russell, and Z. Lei (2022). Development and testing of a tool to measure the organizational safety climate abroad US navy ships. Journal of Safety Research, 80, 293-301.
Carroll, J., M. Christianson, M. Frese, Z. Lei*, E. Naveh and T. Vogus (2021). Errors in organizations: Emerging patterns and new lenses. Academy of Management Discoveries, 7(4), 451-460. (*Equal contribution of all authors who are listed in alphabetical order)
Holtom, B., Z. Lei, C. Reeves, and T. Darabi (2021). Are you trying to retain the right employees? Harvard Business Review (online, Oct 21, 2021)
Schmutz, J. B., Z. Lei, and W. Eppich (2021). Reflection on the fly: Development of the Team Reflection Behavioral Observation System (TuRBO) for acute care teams. Academic Medicine, 96(9):1337-1345.
Holtom, B., C. Reeves, Z. Lei and T. Darabi (2020). Reluctant stayers: Constructing a profile and examining the consequences. Journal of Managerial Issues, 32(4): 402-420. (Featured in the New York Times “Dealbook” on December 11, 2020)
Hagen, J., Z. Lei, and A. Shahal (2020). What aircraft crews know about managing high-pressure situations. Harvard Business Review (“The Best of HBR Summer 2020” collection), 36-39.
Naveh, E. and Z. Lei (2019). An integrative approach to errors in organizations. Foundations and Trends® in Technology, Information and Operations Management. 12 (4): 349-433.
Lei, Z. and E. Naveh (2019). Patient safety and other priorities. Health Affairs. 38: 4 (Letters to the editor).
Lei, Z. and E. Naveh (2019). Stuck between two lives: The paradox of eliminating and welcoming errors. American Journal of Medical Quality, 34(1): 92–93.
Carroll, J., M. Christianson, M. Frese, Z. Lei*, E. Naveh and T. Vogus (2018). Errors in organizations: Exploring new frontiers, and developing new opportunities for theory, research and impact. The Academy of Management Discoveries, 4(3), 388–395 (*Equal contribution of all authors).
Schmutz, J. B., Z. Lei, W. Eppich, and T. Manser (2018)*. Reflection in the heat of the moment: The role of in-action team reflexivity in healthcare emergency teams. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 39, 749–765. (*Runner-up for the Best Paper Award of 2018 from the journal)
Lei, Z. (2018). Fast, slow, and pause: Understanding error reporting via a temporal lens. Hagen, J. Ed. HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN? - Managing Errors in Organizations. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, UK.
Lei, Z. (2018). Unpacking the structure of team interaction patterns. In E. Brauner, M. Boos, & M. Kolbe (Eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Group Interaction Analysis. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Lehmann-Willenbrock, N., M. Chiu, Z. Lei, and S. Kauffeld (2017)*. Understanding positivity within dynamic team interactions: A statistical discourse analysis. Group & Organization Management, 42(1): 39–78. (*Awarded for the “Best Paper 2017” from the journal)
Lei, Z., E. Naveh, and Z. Novikov (2016). Errors in organizations: An integrative review via level of analysis, temporal, and priority lenses. Journal of Management, 42: 1315–1343.
Lei, Z. , M. Waller, J. Hagen, and S. Kaplan (2016)*. Team adaptiveness in dynamic contexts: Contextualizing the roles of interaction patterns and in-process planning. Group & Organization Management, 41: 491–525. (*Awarded for the “Best Paper 2016” from the journal)
Lei, Z. and Lehmann-Willenbrock, N. (2015). Affect in meetings: An interpersonal construct in dynamic interaction processes. In J. A. Allen, N. Lehmann-Willenbrock & S. G. Rogelberg (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of meeting science. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Edmondson, A. C. and Z. Lei (2014). Psychological safety: The history, renaissance, and future of an interpersonal construct. The Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 1: 23–43.
Waller, M., Z. Lei, and R. Pratten (2014). Focusing on teams in crisis management education: An integration and simulation-based approach. The Academy of Management Learning and Education, 13(2): 208–221.
Hagen, J. and Z. Lei, (2012). Confronting errors: In private, with your loved ones (Original title: “Am Liebsten unter vier Augen”). Harvard Business Manager, 6: 8–11.
Hofmann, D. A., Z. Lei, and A. Grant (2009). Seeking help in the shadow of doubt: The sensemaking processes underlying how nurses decide who to ask for advice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94(5): 1261–1274.

Pepperdine Cross-School Collaborative Research Grant, 2021-2023
Pepperdine Howard A. White Award for Teaching Excellence, 2021
Harris Manchester College Summer Research Institute Fellow, University of Oxford, Summer, 2019
Julian Virtue Professorship Award, Pepperdine University, 2017–2019
Research Excellence Fund, Pepperdine University, 2016–2017
Excellence Horizon 2020 - Research and Innovation Framework Program (with Naveh, E. and Glover, W.), the European Commission’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE), 2016–2018
Research grant, Peter Curtius -201Stiftung, Germany, 2011–2012
Finalist of the MBA Faculty Teaching Award, ESMT, Germany, 2010, 2012
Research grant, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (with David A. Hofmann), USA, 2004–2005
Juran Dissertation Fellowship Award, Juran Center for Leadership in Quality, Carlson School of Business, the University of Minnesota, USA, 2004

Nawathe, P., Z. Lei., and T. Cohen (2022). “ERTS” Framework: Event Reporting Translated to Simulation- bedside to bench. To be presented at the International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare annual conference, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Lei, Z. (2021). The temporality of the profitability-people dilemma during crisis. Presented at the Academy of Management (AOM) annual conference (live session at the virtual conference). (*presentation included in the AOM showcase session)
Naveh, E. and Z. Lei (2021). On the OM approach to errors: A body of knowledge on errors. Presented at the annual Production and Operations Management Society (POMS) conference (virtual).
Lei, Z. (2020). A balancing act of error management at the top: Challenges and opportunities. Presented at the Academy of Management (AOM) annual conference (live session at the virtual conference).
Naveh, E. and Z. Lei (2019). On the OM approach to errors: Learning from organizational research. Presented at the Decision Sciences Institute (DSI) Annual Conference, New Orleans, LA, USA.
Novikov, Z., E. Naveh, and Z. Lei (2019). Frontiers of team and teaming research: Discovering new directions and opportunities. Presented at the Academy of Management (AOM) annual meeting, Boston, MA, USA.
Naveh, E. and Z. Lei (2019). On the OM approach to errors: What can we learn from an organizational research? Presented at the Production and Operations Management Society (POMS) annual meeting, Washington D.C., USA.
Schmutz, J. B., Z. Lei, and W. Eppich (2019). Reflection on the fly: In-action team reflexivity in healthcare emergency teams. Presented at the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology (SIOP) annual meeting, Washington D.C., USA.
Lei, Z. and E. Naveh (2018). Frontiers in the error research: Discovering new directions and opportunities. Presented at the Academy of Management (AOM) annual meeting, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Carroll, J., M. Christianson, M. Frese, Z. Lei, E. Naveh and T. Vogus (2018) *. Errors in organizations: New research evidence, frontiers, opportunities for impact. Presented at the Academy of Management (AOM) annual meeting, Chicago, Illinois, USA. (*Academy of Management Discoveries Showcase Session)
Schmutz, J. B., Z. Lei, and W. Eppich (2018). Reducing uncertainty through shared reflection in action: Development of the Team Reflexivity Behaviour Observation System (TuRBO). Presented at the Academy of Management (AOM) annual meeting, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Novikov, Z., E. Naveh, and Z. Lei (2018). The error dilemma in teams: Team configuration of goal orientations, information elaboration, and team errors. Presented at the Academy of Management (AOM) annual meeting, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Holtom, B., C. Reeves, Z. Lei and T. Darabi (2018). Predicting the profile of enthusiastic and reluctant stayers and understanding the consequences. Presented at the Academy of Management (AOM) annual meeting, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Novikov, Z., E. Naveh, and Z. Lei (2018). Team configuration of goal orientations, information elaboration, and team errors. Presented at the conference Creating Uncertainty in Ascona, Switzerland.
Novikov, Z., E. Naveh, and Z. Lei (2018). Avoiding errors while learning from them: A team configuration approach to the error paradox. Presented at the Israel Organizational Behavior Conference, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Lei, Z. and Naveh, E. (2017). Looking back on looking forward: New directions for error free move of technical idea to market. IEEETEMSCON proceedings- The 1st Annual International Conference of the IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Society, Santa Clara Convention Center, Silicon Valley (Santa Clara), California, USA.
Lei, Z. (2017). The Paradox of Eliminating and Welcoming Errors in Organizations. Presented at the Academy of Management (AOM) annual meeting, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Lei, Z., and N. Lehmann-Willenbrock (2017). Contagious Peers: Peer Affective Influence and Creative Problem Solving in Teams. Presented at the Academy of Management (AOM) annual meeting, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Waller, M., S. Kaplan, and Z. Lei (2017). Explicit Coordination in Teams Facing Critical Events. Presented at the Academy of Management (AOM) annual meeting, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Lei, Z., E. Naveh, and Z. Novikov (2017). An integrative review of errors in organizations: Tensions and new directions for future research. Presented at the POMS (Production and Operations Management Society) International Conference, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Novikov, Z., E. Naveh, and Z. Lei (2017). Individual differences and team errors: Is there a better team configuration? Presented at the POMS (Production and Operations Management Society) International Conference, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Schmutz, J. B., Z. Lei, W. Eppich, and T. Manser (2017). Reflection in the heat of the moment: temporal approach to team reflexivity in healthcare emergency teams. Presented at the Interdisciplinary Group Research (INGroup) Conference, St Louis, Missouri, USA.
Lei, Z. *and E. Naveh (2016). Paradoxes of errors in organizations. Presented at the Academy of Management (AOM) annual meeting, Anaheim, California (*paper included in an AOM Showcase session), USA.
Lei, Z. * and H. Van Dijk (2016). A sensemaking model of error management in teams. Presented at the Academy of Management (AOM) annual meeting, Anaheim, California (* paper included in an AOM Showcase session), USA.
Lei, Z. and E. Naveh (2016). Errors in organizations: Integration and challenges. Presented at the Academy of Management (AOM) annual meeting, Anaheim, California, USA.