Renee Rinehart Kathawalla, Ph.D., is a visiting assistant professor of management at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. She teaches classes on organizational behavior, leadership, team performance, group dynamics, and problem solving at the undergraduate, MBA, and Executive MBA levels.
Dr. Kathawalla is an expert on the unconscious dynamics and defensive behaviors that impact learning, growth, and change in groups and organizations. Her research has examined significant organizational changes in the public education and correctional settings. Currently, she is conducting research on how intrapersonal conflict – when individuals experience conscious and/or unconscious internal conflict about an issue – affects interpersonal negotiations. She is also passionate about intervention-based action science methods that support organizational learning and change efforts, as well as the critical role that effective learning and problem solving will play in the future of work. Her work has been published in the Academy of Management Review, the Academy of Management Proceedings, and Educational Administration Quarterly.
In addition to her teaching and research, Dr. Kathawalla creates and facilitates leadership development programs for emerging and mid-career professionals. She has also advised high-growth companies targeting the commercial and public sector as well as startups in the organizational development and leadership space. Prior to her academic career, she worked on the teacher evaluation policy at the Tennessee Department of Education.
Dr. Kathawalla holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University, an M.P.P. from Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development, and a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame.
Academic Appointment(s)
- Primary
- Visiting Assistant Professor, MSB - Management Area