Hi and welcome to my website.  Here you'll find a brief summary of my courses and research.  Feel free to email me if I can help you in any way. Thanks for stopping by.

Courses
COB 300A: Integrated Functional Systems - Management
MGT 450: Management and Creativity

MBA 600: Organizational Behavior (MBA)

(UA) MGT 300: Principles of Management: Organizational Theory and Behavior
(UA) MGT 301: Human Resource Management
(UA) MGT 320: Leadership

Education
Ph.D. - The University of Alabama - Management; Specialization in Organizational Behavior
M.A. - The University of Alabama - Human Resource Management
B.A. - The Baptist College of Florida - Theology; Minor in Psychology 

Professional Certification
Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) - Human Resource Certification Institute

Research and Professional Interests
A wide range of HR research has shown that one of the primary drivers of turnover in organizations is poor relations with managers and that effective relationships between managers and employees positively impact subordinate performance, satisfaction, commitment.  Additionally, intra-organizational relationships serve as the building blocks for the development of social capital, a unique and valuable resource for organizations in the quest for sustainable competitive advantage.  My research has focused on how rapport theory (drawn from sociolinguistics and counseling research) could be very useful for informing and training front-line managers in improving their communications to and relationships with employees.  Rapport management is a tool that can help us understand how leaders effectively or ineffectively maintain relationships through their use of language. 

     My continuing research programs will assess leader characteristics (such as emotional intelligence and political skill) related to the use of rapport management behaviors. The identification of specific leader characteristics related to a leader's rapport management behaviors will provide valuable information for both the selection and development of leaders in organizations. The second program of research related to rapport management will focus on understanding how rapport management behaviors at the individual level can contribute to overall organizational performance through the development of social capital. 

I also have additional research projects designed to study management curricula at AACSB-accredited business schools, psychological safety in work teams, the impact of individual values in the workplace, as well as a teaching and learning project to understand how to improve critical thinking skills in the classroom.

Key Publications
White, C.D., Campbell, K. & Durant, R. (2007). Necessary evils, (in)justice, and rapport management.Journal of Business Communication, 44, 1-26.

Kacmar, K.M., Zivnuska, S., White, C.D. (2007). Control and exchange:  The impact of work environment on the work effort of low relationship quality employees. Leadership Quarterly, 18, 69-84.

Campbell, K.S., White, C.D., & Johnson, D. (2003). Leader-member relations as a function of rapport management. Journal of Business Communication, 40, 170-194.

Service Activities on Campus

Some of my additional activities around campus include: serving on a campus wide committee to develop a leadership minor, working with Dr. Stark to develop the leadership development program for the iMBA program, teaching in the InfoSec MBA program, judging the business plan competition and advising an honors project.

Professional Experience 
Human Resource Partner (Generalist) - The University of Alabama
Human Resource Specialist/Compensation Analyst - The University of Alabama
Human Resource Specialist - Sears