In the Loop: The HDO Blog
Why Is Working at Home So Hard?
June 10, 2020
Dr. Clay Spinuzzi
Professor for HDO and Rhetoric & Writing at UT Austin
On March 13, the day before spring break was to begin, the University of Texas announced that it was canceling class. By March 17, UT had announced that all remaining spring classes would transition online. Students—and faculty—were shocked, and we had to do a lot of work to figure out how to gracefully transition these classes. Some classes were easier than others—I imagine my writing classes were much easier to teach online than, say, dance classes or pottery classes. But that doesn’t mean the transition was easy.
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Don’t Panic! Timeless Principles for Leading Through a Crisis
June 1, 2020
Dr. Ken Wisian
Don’t Panic! These words, from the science fiction classic, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” are a good starting point for thinking through a crisis. The world is in the midst of a once-in-a-century cataclysm that threatens public health and undermines governmental and economic stability. People at all levels of society have suddenly found themselves on unfamiliar ground and scrambling to chart a course from day to day and moment to moment.
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Team(work?): The Pros and Cons of Working in Teams
March 17, 2020
Dr. Mary Rose, HDO Professor
Most of us can probably think of examples in which working with others led to great insights and helped our motivation. But we can probably also recall some counter-examples, in which we felt as if other people got in the way of clear thinking, made us inefficient, or we felt unfairly saddled with the work of others who were not performing.
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HDO Spotlight: Jeremi Suri
November 5, 2019
Miles Husid, HDO Marketing Coordinator
In this edition of the HDO Spotlight, Dr. Jeremi Suri discusses his upcoming commencement address for our Master’s Class of 2019 graduation ceremony in December..
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UT Austin Graduate Students Present Research-Based Solutions to Organizational Challenges
October 24, 2019
Miles Husid, HDO Marketing Coordinator
- Is the idea of “corporate culture” a farce?
- How should organizations prepare for generational differences in approaches to leadership?
- What are the connections between marketing efforts, customer satisfaction, and subscription ticket sales?
- When is dissent in an organization productive?
These intriguing questions and many others have been addressed at previous editions of Practical Applications of the Humanities for Modern Organizations.
You are invited to join us for the 2019 edition of this event, which features exciting research by Master’s degree candidates in the Human Dimensions of Organizations (HDO) program at UT Austin.
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Health Care and the Humanities
July 17, 2014
Lewis Miller, HDO Marketing Coordinator
When it comes down to it, health care is fundamentally about dealing with people.
At its core, the field is built on relationships: doctor-patient; nurse-patient; doctor-nurse, nurse-aid, etc. These relationships are arguably as important as the reams of technical expertise and loads of mechanical prowess that are required to carry out procedures, treatments, and tests. If any one of these relationships breaks down, the level of care patients receive can suffer.
The humanities help us understand and relate to people – a crucial factor in building and maintaining relationships and, thus, in providing effective health care. An inability of medical practitioners to understand and relate to patients in modern health care is one of the primary issues the emerging interdisciplinary field of medical humanities is trying to address.
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