Arrow Minster, Ph.D.

Arrow Minster is an assistant professor of management in the Lam Family College of Business. Their research, which largely uses ethnographic and other field methods, focuses on the intersection of worker power, organizational processes, and the meaning of work. It combines theoretical perspectives from industrial relations, organization studies, and sociology.

Their most recent project involved fieldwork in a unionized hospital system as the labor-management partnership implemented a new worker empowerment program. The program was designed for workers to co-lead a department-level problem-solving committee with their managers. Leaders and union representatives encouraged the committees to identify and address the issues that mattered most to lower-status frontline staff (e.g., personal care assistants, front desk admin). This project focused on understanding how, why, and under what conditions the program effectively empowered workers to achieve their desired ends.

Arrow believes that their role as an educator is to encourage students to become life-long learners and to understand that while change is difficult, it is possible. In line with this, their teaching philosophy emphasizes critical thinking, real-world application, and equitable expectations of classroom engagement. In the classroom, students critically examine the historical and systemic forces shaping contemporary business strategies and work environments. Arrow brings in texts, media, and cases from different parts of the world and historical moments, so students engage with diverse perspectives and life experiences. They also promote active learning through collaborative projects that encourage students to imagine alternative futures.

Research Interests:

• Worker voice and empowerment
• Organizational change
• Healthcare and social service workers
• Qualitative research methods

Education:

• BA in Economics, Cornell University
• MA in Economics, The New School for Social Research,
• MS in Management Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• PhD in Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology