Anna Mayo, PhD

Anna Loomis McCandless Assistant Professor of Organizational BehaviorCarnegie Mellon UniversityHeinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy

Research Interests

Organizational Teamwork & CoordinationDynamic OrganizingHealthcare TeamsCollective Intelligence

Overview

My research explores what characterizes and supports effective teamwork and collective intelligence in modern organizations. For decades, organizations have used teams as a fundamental building block for getting work done. But new technologies, greater levels of specialization, and volatile environments are leading organizations to adopt new team practices. In organizations and cross-organization partnerships, teams now often form quickly to tackle specific projects and then disband just as fast. People also tend to spread their time across multiple teams or projects concurrently, and a given team’s members may change over time due to scheduling conflicts or shifting project needs. These dynamic ways of organizing teams create the potential for more-agile work, but they can undermine important individual and team outcomes. And team members don't have the stable relationships that historically guided collaboration, and members are often pulled in different directions due to their involvement in various teams. Keeping track of who is (or who should be) part of a specific team is a constant challenge. These trends are prevalent across industries including professional services, healthcare, manufacturing, construction, education, and research. They are also likely to persist, raising questions about how to effectively support teamwork in these settings.
I use a mixed-methods approach -- I collect data both in the laboratory and in the field, using experiments, surveys, archival data, and qualitative methods. I also study teams across a variety of field settings, including hospital teams, retail banking sales teams, and cross-organization teams. My research has been published in leading management and health care journals including Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Annals, Academy of Management Discoveries, Organization Science, New England Journal of Medicine, Health Care Management Review, and BMJ Leader.
Prior to joining CMU's Heinz College in 2022 I worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow then Assistant Professor at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. Prior to entering academia, I worked in the nonprofit human services sector for the National Assembly Human Services.
For additional details, see my Research and Publications page and my full CV.

Education

PhD, Organizational Behavior & Theory, Carnegie Mellon UniversityMS, Organizational Behavior & Theory, Carnegie Mellon UniversityBA, Psychology, Denison University

Affiliations

Collaboration and Conflict Research LabCollective Intelligence LabCenter for Innovative Leadership, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School

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