Workshop: Practical Problematizing: From Gap Spotting to Finding Your "Why"

Practical Problematizing: From Gap Spotting to Finding Your "Why"

With Prof Stephen Courtright

Abstract:

Problematization has been offered as a stronger alternative to gap spotting in management research. However, it often remains academically insular, focused primarily on challenging assumptions within the literature itself rather than anchored in real-world problems. In this talk, I introduce practical problematizing—i.e., the process of identifying and challenging assumptions in existing literature in response to consequential problems faced by practitioners—with the goal of advancing knowledge that meaningfully informs and improves the practice of management. I contrast this approach with traditional gap spotting and problematization, outline a set of steps for doing it, and illustrate the process through four of my published studies. In doing so, I hope to offer a more purpose-driven pathway for conducting research, particularly for scholars for whom extrinsic incentives for productivity are less salient.

About the speaker:

Stephen Courtright is a Professor of Management, a Presidential Impact Fellow, and holder of the Flip and Susan Flippen Endowed Chair at Mays Business School. He earned his BS in Accounting from Brigham Young University–Idaho in 2006 and his Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Iowa in 2012. Following an earlier stint at Texas A&M from 2012 to 2020, Dr. Courtright spent five years at the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business, where he held the Henry B. Tippie Professorship of Management, founded the Tippie Leadership Collaborative, and served as Director of Executive Education. He returned to Texas A&M in 2025 to help launch the Flippen Leadership Institute and serve as its inaugural director, shaping programs, events, and research initiatives aimed at developing leaders of character in business and beyond.

Dr. Courtright’s research explores why some leaders inspire, empower, and unite while others control, divide, and harm, and how self-regulation, burnout, organizational practices, family relationships, and faith influence those choices. His work has been published in leading journals, earned international awards, and been cited in nearly 10,000 other research studies. He has been interviewed by NPR, The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and Forbes, and has written for Harvard Business Review, Deseret News, and Diplomatic Courier.