Research

Chet Labedz is an Assistant Professor of Management at the school of business of Central Connecticut State University in New Britain. His teaching experience includes courses in management systems thinking, human resources management, strategic management (capstone), management planning (capstone), organizational behavior, small business management, and leadership (at the MBA level). In his industry career, he organized extensive management development programs and counseled leaders regarding successful organizational transformation. Please click here for general information regarding his instructional responsibilities.

Chet’s research interests include strategic human resources management, organizational transformation, lean organizational change, and the use of computer modeling. In his dissertation, Chet developed a simulation of unintended workforce consequences emerging from a firm’s decision to control a major element of its total rewards costs. Working with longitudinal data provided by this mid-sized U.S. subsidiary of a European company, his study combined system dynamics and agent modeling techniques in predicting adverse developments in other, seemingly-unrelated, areas of HR over a ten-year horizon.

Please click the highlighted texts to access PDF versions of representative research or his curriculum vitae.

Mental Models (FIG 1)

mentalmap1

Skills Enhancement (FIG 2)

skills

HR STRATEGY AND MODELING

A Simulation Approach to Evaluating Unintended Consequences Emerging from Reductions in Total Rewards Offerings. Doctoral dissertation, Richard P. Nielsen, chair; Monique Valcour, Kathleen Carley (Carnegie Mellon) and Deborah Nightingale (MIT), members. Defended successfully, November 15, 2006.
Implementing a Multi-level Model for Anticipating Employee Choices through a System Dynamics Simulation Platform. Co-authored paper, with George Stalker, Ph.D. Presented at the 2008 World Congress on Social Simulation.
“Very like a whale”: The strategy models of HR professionals. Co-authored paper, with Jegoo Lee, Ph.D. (cand.) Under review: Human Relations journal.
(See FIG 1)
Addressing Methodological Issues in Simulating a Human Resources Problem across Multiple Levels of Interest. Co-authored paper, with George Stalker, Ph.D. Proceedings of the 2005 conference of the international System Dynamics Society. [PDF]
A “Right Workforce” Model of Strategic Human Resource Management. Presented at the 2004 annual meeting of the Academy of Management.
(See FIG 2)
Determinants of the Mental Models of HR Strategists. 2nd year empirical research project: Stephen P. Borgatti, chair. Presented at the 2003 meeting of the Academy of Management.

(FIG 3)
LEADtimebars

ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION

Lean Enterprise Change case study (Rockwell Collins). Co-authored case study, with George Roth, Ph.D., for the lean aerospace initiative at MIT, 2006.
Letterkenny Army Depot: Finance Innovations Support Lean Six Sigma Success. Co-authored case study, with Roger K. Harvey, D.B.A., for the lean aerospace initiative at MIT and the U.S. Army science board, 2006. [PDF]
(See FIG 3)
Letterkenny Army Depot: the Army Teaches Business a Lesson in Lean Six Sigma. Co-authored case study, with Roger K. Harvey, D.B.A., for the lean aerospace initiative at MIT and the U.S. Army science board, 2006.
“The Good is Oft Interred with their Bones”: Policy Paradox and Unintended Consequences. 2nd year paper: Richard P. Nielsen. Drawing on environmental impact analyses, proposes the requirement for “potential dynamic issues statements” to improve decision-making and learning in the legislative arena. Challenges explanation and justification provided by Stone (Norton, 1997).
“Doubling Back on an Organizational Track”. 1st year paper: Jean M. Bartunek. Proposes a redistribution-of-power based explanation for the inability of a firm to undo its renounced organizational transformation efforts. Extends Greenwood and Hinings (Org. Studies, 1988).