Klaus Weber
Thomas G. Ayers Chair in Energy Resource Management
Professor of Management & Organizations
Director, Social Impact and Sustainability Program
Klaus Weber is an Professor of Management & Organizations, and currently serves faculty director for Sustainability and Social Impact at Kellogg. He is also affiliated with the Department of Sociology and the Northwestern Trienens Institute for Sustainability and Energy.
His research concerns the dynamics of organizational and institutional sustainability transitions; the interactions between social movements, corporations, and markets; and economic globalization. He specializes in cultural and institutional forms of analysis and methodologies.
Klaus' research has been widely published in journals such as Administrative Science Quarterly, American Sociological Review, Organization Science, Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, Harvard Business Review and many others. His work has won best paper awards at the American Sociological Association, Administrative Science Quarterly, and the SYNTEC Conseil en Management. He was a senior editor at Organization Science and has guest edited volumes for Organization Studies and Organization Science.
Klaus teaches courses on environmental sustainability in Kellogg's MBA program and Northwestern Trienens' MS Energy & Sustainability; and doctoral seminars on organization theory, cultural analysis, and research methods.
He received his PhD from the University of Michigan and joined the Kellogg faculty in 2003.
- Cultural and institutional theory
- environmental sustainability
- social movements and organizations
- globalization and development.
- MBA: Environmental Sustainability
- Power & Influence
- Cross-Cultural Management. PhD: Organization Theory
- Economic Sociology
- Cultural Theory
- Text Analysis
- Research Methods.
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PhD, 2003, Organization and Management, University of Michigan
MS, 1995, Industrial Relations, London School of Economics
BA, 1994, European Studies and Business, ESB Reutlingen & Middlesex University -
Professor, Management and Organization, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2018-present
Associate Professor, Management and Organizations, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2010-2018
Assistant Professor, Management and Organizations, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, 2003-2010 -
Research Committee Service Award, OMT Division, Academy of Management, 2018
Faculty Fellow, Yale Center for Cultural Sociology, 2014 -
ASQ Award for Scholarly Contribution, Administrative Science Quarterly, 2014
Faculty Award for Diversity, Northwestern Graduate School, 2014
Best Article Award, Prix Acad, 2009
Clifford Geertz Best Article Prize, American Sociological Association, Section on Culture, 2009
Sidney J. Levy Teaching Award, Kellogg Graduate School of Management, 2007-2008, 2005-2006
Renis Likert Prize for Best Paper from Dissertation in Organization Studies, University of Michigan, 2005
Barry M. Richman Best Dissertation Award, International Management Division, Academy of Management, 2004
Finalist, INFORMS/Organization Science Dissertation Competition, INFORMS/Organization Science, 2002
Behavior in Organizational Systems (MORS-525-1)
Theory construction, with effort at verification, drawing on empirical studies. Macro-level analysis of internal organizational system problems such as goals, structure, roles, power, authority, communications, and controls.
Special Topics in Management and Organizations: Macro (MORS-521-2)
The course covers classic and recent research topics in macro-oriented areas of Management and Organizations. Topics are drawn from sociology, organizational theory, and macro-organizational research methods.
Creating Value Through Sustainability: Managing the Corporate Transformation (SSIM-938-0)
This course is centrally concerned with to create companies that contribute to sustainability while generating economic value in competitive markets. It is based on three premises: First, that sustainability for most companies is no longer just a matter of compliance or social responsibility but is becoming a material imperative for the future viability of the business. This is because sustainability-related natural resource dynamics, regulatory changes, shifts in consumer and investor preferences, and technological innovation are driving disruptive change and transformations in many industries, including energy, mobility, real estate, food and financial services. The second premise is that 'real' sustainability is still difficult and that standard ways of approaching business decisions fall short on delivering effective solutions to issues like climate change or environmental justice. While win-win-win scenarios between economic prosperity, environmental quality, and social equity do exist, they are neither easy to recognize nor easy to execute, unless we integrate sustainability into management and decision processes. The third and last premise is that the key challenge for most companies is executing a strategy for changing their processes, products and business models while maintaining a high level of financial performance. For example, how should a CPG company achieve carbon neutrality targets and eliminate plastic waste? What are entrepreneurial opportunities in plant based meat substitution? How can an airline or property developer decarbonize their business? The course introduces a set of advanced practices and frameworks for holistically integrating sustainability into business decisions. This means on the one hand, learning the fundamental principles of sustainability and how they relate to economic value creation, identifying drivers and impediments for making sustainability material to value creation, and charting different pathways for effective sustainability transformations. It means on the other hand learning to use key tools for assessing in a systematic way the environmental and social impacts of existing business models. The course provides a thorough foundation for students that seek to specialize in sustainability in their work, and for students that need a holistic overview that allows them to integrate sustainability in a non-specialist role. The pedagogical format combines the introduction of conceptual frameworks, experiential exercises, case analyses and guest speakers.
Sustainability Lab (SSIM-636-0)
This course integrates business objectives with the principles and practices of environmental sustainability, in the context of a "live" sustainability project with a client organization. Throughout the quarter, teams of 3-5 students work on projects with an enterprise that has requested Kellogg's help in addressing an issue related to sustainability. Each team works on its project throughout the quarter with the guidance of the faculty advisor and the client sponsor and presents the result to the client management in the end. The work and meeting schedule of each team is agreed with the faculty advisor and does not need to be during scheduled class time. The course also includes a small lecture based component that provides a crash course of sustainability management topics relevant to the projects. The class is suitable for students who want to pursue a career in sustainability, and for those who are interested in exposure to sustainability aspects of any business. No background in sustainability is needed. Enrollment is by application for specific projects. This course may not be dropped once the student has been matched with a project or sponsor.
