Faculty & Staff

ELIZABETH C. KURUCZ
Assistant Professor

• PhD Organizational Behaviour, Schulich School of Business,
  York University
  
• MIR, Centre for Industrial Relations, University of Toronto
  
• Hons BA, Anthropology, McMaster University

Dr. Elizabeth Kurucz is Assistant Professor of Organizational Behaviour and Sustainable Commerce in the Department of Business, College of Management and Economics at the University of Guelph.  Elizabeth holds an undergraduate degree in Anthropology from McMaster University and a Master of Industrial Relations from the University of Toronto, along with a PhD in Organizational Behaviour from the Schulich School of Business, York University.  Her research focuses on mindsets regarding sustainability and how individuals’ interpretations of sustainability either facilitate or inhibit organizational effectiveness in this domain.

 
Elizabeth has conducted research in government, business and civil society organizations spanning a range of sectors, and has published several recent book chapters and articles on human resources management, sustainable business and corporate responsibility.  She is an exceptional facilitator, teacher and mentor to students.

SCHOLARSHIP

Elizabeth’s research and writing focuses on organizational change toward more sustainable business practices through exploring a complexity perspective of organizations as it relates to sustainability.  She is particularly interested in the social construction of sustainability, the role of leaders as reflective practitioners for change, transformational learning and sustainability and the potential for multi-sectoral collaboration to catalyze societal learning for sustainability. Elizabeth's work has been published in both academic journals and books and she regularly presents at academic and practitioner conferences across North America and Europe.

SAMPLE PUBLICATIONS

• Colbert, Barry A. and Elizabeth C. Kurucz. 2010. Human Resource Management and Complexity. The Sage Handbook of Complexity. Accepted and forthcoming Jan 2011.
• Marcus, Joel, Elizabeth C. Kurucz and Barry Colbert. 2009. Conceptions of the Business, Society, Nature Interface: Implications for Business and Society Scholarship. Business & Society. 49(3)-402-438.
• Kurucz, Elizabeth C., B.A. Colbert and D.C. Wheeler, 2008.  The Business Case for Corporate Social Responsibility.  In A. Crane, A. McWilliams, D. Matten, J. Moon, D. Seigel (Eds.) The Oxford Handbook on Corporate Social Responsibility.  Oxford University Press: Oxford, pp. 83-112.
• Colbert, Barry A. and Elizabeth C. Kurucz, 2007.  Three Conceptions of Triple Bottom Line Business Sustainability and the Role for HRM.  Human Resource Planning, 30(1): 21-29.
• Colbert, Barry. A., E.C. Kurucz and D.C. Wheeler. 2007.  Building the Sustainable Organization through Adaptive, Creative Coherence in the HR System.  In R. Burke and C. Cooper (Eds.), Building More Effective Organizations. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
  

SAMPLE PRESENTATIONS

Conference Papers:

• Marcus, Joel, Elizabeth C. Kurucz & Barry A. Colbert.  The Societal Case for Sustainability: Business Principles for Building the Integral Commons. The International Association for Business and Society (IABS), Aspen, CO, June 2009.
• Kurucz, Elizabeth C. “Free Agent and Integral Component: The Impact of the Externalization of the Workforce on Organizational Culture.”  Academy of Management Annual Meeting, New Orleans, Louisiana, August 2004. 
• Kurucz, Elizabeth C., Barry A.Colbert and David C. Wheeler, 2002.  "Sustainability and Organizational Identity: Is it Really in Our Bones?  Exploring the Relevance of Organizational Identity as a Frame for Understanding Sustainability” Greening of Industry Network Annual Conference: Corporate Governance for Sustainability, Göteborg, Sweden.
• Colbert, Barry A., Elizabeth C. Kurucz and David C. Wheeler. 2002. “Leadership for Sustainability: A Pilot Study to Build Sustainable Canada.” Greening of Industry Network Annual Conference: Corporate Governance for Sustainability, Göteborg, Sweden.
• Kurucz, Elizabeth C. 2000. "Interdiscursivity and 'Playing the Game but not Crossing the Line':  Autopoietic Systems and the Process of Organizational Identity in an Environmental Education Centre", Organizational Discourse:  Word-views, Work-views and World-views, King's College, University of London, England.

Conference Presentations:

• Kurucz, Elizabeth C. “Engaging Employees at Multiple Levels in the Organizations through Sustainability Conversations”.  Presented in plenary at the Business Council for Sustainability Meeting: The Conference Board of Canada.  Montreal, September 9, 2009
• Kurucz, Elizabeth and Barry Colbert.  Building Sustainable Organizations, Communities, and the Public Service through ‘Sustainability Conversations’.  Presented at Stakeholder Consultations for Government: Managing Public Consultations and Strengthening Stakeholder Relationships.  Ottawa, April, 2007.
• Kurucz, Elizabeth C., Barry A. Colbert and David C. Wheeler. “Why the Business Case for Sustainability Is Not Enough” PDW Session, Academy of Management Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA.  August, 2006. (Organizer)
• Kurucz, Elizabeth C. “Stakeholder Engagement for Sustainability, Innovation and Competitiveness” with David Wheeler, Ann Svendsen and Bob Boutilier.  Academy of Management Annual Conference, Denver, Colorado, August 2002. (Co-Presenter)

 

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Room 226, J.D. MacLachlan Building
(519) 824-4120, ext. 53915
ekurucz@uoguelph.ca

TEACHING

Since 1998 Elizabeth’s teaching at York University, McMaster University, Dalhousie University and the Ontario College of Art and Design has focused primarily in the area of organizational behaviour, strategy and sustainability.  She has designed and delivered courses for BComm, BBA, IBBA, MBA, MES, MEPP, EMDES, MA and PhD students and senior and middle managers across private, not-for-profit, and government organizations. Elizabeth’s teaching style is a facilitative, learner-centred approach that endeavours to link academic theory with real world issues in order to enable students to develop as reflective practitioners and leaders in their current and future organizational roles.

SERVICE

Elizabeth is faculty advisor for the Net Impact Undergraduate Chapter at the University of Guelph, which serves to link undergraduate business students with an interest in business and sustainability to other students and practitioners in this field.  She is also faculty advisor for the new Students Offering Support Chapter that raises money to raise roofs through raising marks during their ‘Exam-AID’ group review sessions, taught and coordinated by student volunteers for university and high school students. Each year, the money raised will be spent creating sustainable education projects in developing nations on annual outreach trips.  She is deeply involved with building the new PhD in Management program at CME and is also focused on embedding sustainability in the core curriculum of the Department of Business.  Over the past decade, Elizabeth has created linkages between her research and teaching, and managers and employees aspiring to more sustainable practices.  Using a service-learning model, she looks for opportunities to build capacity in organizations while facilitating student learning and provoking insights in the academic field of business and sustainability. 

Professional Experience

Prior to pursuing an academic career, Elizabeth worked for several years in the field of Outdoor Education and also as a consultant in the Human Capital Solutions Group at KPMG, specializing in competency profile development.  She has led several research and stakeholder consultation projects, including a study of social capital building in the Western Canadian energy sector, a stakeholder benefits assessment for the Randle Reef environmental remediation project in Hamilton Harbour, and ‘Sustainable Canada’, a study of the potential for branding Canada for sustainability that involved 14 companies across 8 industrial sectors.  

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