Features
'Enjoy What You're Doing'
Organizational behaviour expert studies what works and what doesn't at school and on the job
BY REBECCA KENDALL
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Prof. Jamie Gruman learned the hard way that university success requires discipline as well as brains. Photo by Martin Schwalbe |
It's hard to imagine that someone with as much discipline as Prof. Jamie Gruman was nearly kicked out of Concordia University as an undergraduate. In fact, his thesis adviser once told his entire class that none of them would go on to graduate school.
“I was specifically told to get out of psychology because it wasn't for me,” says Gruman, who joined the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management as a specialist in organizational behaviour in July.
With a transcript riddled with incompletes and failing grades and a steady pattern of missing classes, Gruman booked an appointment with the chair of the university's psychology department to talk about his future and had a conversation that he says changed his life.
“The chair said that doing well in school requires two things — brains and discipline,” says Gruman. “That was a light going off for me because, up to that point, I never considered that maybe what I was missing was discipline and the focus to just sit down and do the things I didn't particularly want to do.”
It was a turning point for Gruman, and beginning that day he started investing a lot more time in his studies. He spent two years upgrading his marks and, despite the harsh message delivered by his thesis adviser years earlier, was accepted into the master's program at Lakehead and later earned a PhD from the University of Windsor. “I'm dogged about discipline now.”
It's a story that he openly shares with his students and one that taught him some of the life lessons that have helped him be a successful academic. Gruman, who has a paper on pedagogy that's currently under review, offers up a list of measures he used to find success as a student and believes that anyone who follows his advice will see a boost in their grades.
Gruman's recommendations, which are available online at www.uoguelph.ca/~jgruman, include overlearning the course material, coming prepared for class, visiting professors often and not studying during exam periods.
“You shouldn't try to learn new material during exams; you should be reviewing what you've already learned.”
He's so confident this approach works that he offered his students at the University of Toronto $100 if they could show they followed his advice and didn't see an improvement in their marks. “This stuff honestly works — I've never paid out once,” says Gruman, who taught business at the University of Windsor, St. Clair College and U of T, where he was nominated as a “best lecturer” this year in TVOntario's annual challenge.
He also says students should make a point of enjoying their time at university because it passes quickly. “It's important to enjoy what you're doing and to be happy doing it.”
It's the same philosophy he applies to his own life and one that pulled him back into the academic world after working as a consultant specializing in leadership development in the early part of his career.
“In that world, you're up at 5 a.m. and working like a dog all day on things that may not interest you. Consultants make good money, but they're not living well. They're tired, they're drained, they're grumpy. They drive to work in nice cars, but in my mind, that's no way to live.”
He says he quickly returned to academia because he wanted to make a difference and because he wanted a job that he really enjoyed.
“I love getting up every morning and coming to campus feeling like I'm spending time doing my favourite hobby.”
He often wishes his father had felt the same way about his job when Gruman was growing up. Instead, he remembers the many nights his dad would come home complaining about his day and his co-workers and often wondered what prevented people from enjoying their jobs.
“I began to ask: Why do so many people fail to get along, why do they fight over things that are so trivial, why do so many people dislike their work and what can be done about it?”
These questions have since fed his curiosity and driven his research, which examines a variety of topics related to individual differences in the workplace and social-organizational behaviour.
Gruman has consulted and delivered seminars for Fortune 500 corporations and not-for-profit agencies, including General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Deloitte & Touche, Hiram Walker & Sons, Accenture, the Children's Wish Foundation of Canada and the Ontario Lung Association.
His work has been published in the Journal of Basic and Applied Social Psychology and Personality and Individual Differences. In July, his paper on organizational socialization tactics and newcomer proactive behaviours was published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior. In addition, he co-edited the 2005 book Applied Social Psychology: Understanding and Addressing Social and Practical Problems.
Gruman is currently involved in a series of projects, including studies that examine emotional intelligence, psychometrics, socialization and engagement at work, people's preferences for socialization tactics, proactive behaviour by new employees, and the variances in people's ability to identify important information.
“Why can some people, like successful entrepreneurs, pick out relevant information and see trends while others can't? Can we train people to look for things they'd otherwise miss?”
He's also working on developing a new socialization scale that he hopes will address some of the weaknesses of the current model being used by organizations.
“It comes down to making work a better place for people,” he says. “We spend so much time at work, we should be enjoying it. I teach my students that, when they're managers, they need to treat people as individuals because that's how you show respect for them and capitalize on their unique talents. The better you are at getting to know your people, the better a manager you'll be. ”