Two New Projects Will Explore the Challenges of Workplace Relationships and Digital Technologies

Two faculty members have been each awarded a Telfer School of Management Research grant (SMRG) for projects that will address important topics around workplace relationships and digital technologies. Keep reading to find out more about the relevance, goals, and future applications of their specific research projects.

The Give and Take of Negotiation Relationships

Successful negotiations rely on building productive relationships with colleagues, clients, and business partners. Effective negotiation skills are invaluable, whether we use those skills to decide where to meet a colleague for coffee or to choose the right strategy to navigate a project. However, despite the importance and frequency of negotiations in the workplace, researchers lack a systematic understanding of the interpersonal relationships between negotiating parties. Can social exchange help to explain the dynamic nature of negotiations in the workplace?

Assistant Professor A. J. Corner will develop and test a new scale for measuring the quality of social exchanges at different stages of the negotiation process.

Seizing FinTech Opportunities in Converging Industries

The Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, blockchain and other disruptive digital technologies are revolutionizing businesses. This digital transformation has had a great toll on traditional businesses like local newspapers, music retailers, and analog photographers. To survive this technological craze, businesses must be able to blend new technologies with their traditional structure. Start-ups and incumbent firms will have to work together to produce new business models. Their partnerships are allowing these new ventures to explore cutting-edge opportunities.

Associate Professor Wadid Lamine will study how disruptive digital technologies affect traditional industries and how start-ups and incumbent firms are driven to co-develop new business models in response to emerging digital technologies.

Who will benefit from these new projects?

“This project will provide valuable insights for academics and practitioners, leading to a better understanding of relationship-building at different stages of the negotiation process and driving improved negotiation outcomes based on high-quality relationships.”

A.J. Corner

“New business models are needed to tackle the radical demands of an increasingly digital world. In this movement towards a globalized digital economy, this project will contribute to our understanding of how start-ups and incumbent firms can converge and prosper from broader and more diverse business opportunities. This will support their survival and success.”

Wadid Lamine