Robert L. Nixon
Title: Associate Professor, Dept. of Management and Organization
Specialty: Organizational behavior, and structure of organizations and their ability to compete in the environment. (NOTE: prefers to be a resource only.)
Contact Information:
USF College of Business Administration
BSN 3403
Phone: (813) 974-1775
E-mail this USF Collaborative Partner
Details:
Topics of expertise:
Organizational behavior, and structure of organizations and their ability to compete in the environment. (NOTE: prefers to be a resource only.)
Educational and professional background:
Nixon received his Bachelor’s in Health Education from Delaware State, his Master’s in Health Education from Ithaca College, and his M.B.A. and Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior and Organization Theory from Cornell University.
What was your USF Collaborative grant and what did you learn from it?
“I worked with Richard Briscoe of USF on church strength in the community.”
What have you done since the grant?
“I recently worked on the idea of Tampa Bay Black Business Investment in the Community through another community grant. Through my involvement in the USF Collaborative for Children, Families and Communities, I became president and board member of the Children’s Board of Hillsborough County.”
News you can use:
“I helped the Children’s Board with organizational development, structure and a business plan while a board member.”
What do you think is the biggest issue in your field right now?
“The big issue is that research and theory is culture-bound, and it needs to be cross-cultural, especially since the world is smaller now. How do we lose kids in the system? We need better information systems to make them functional for local use.”
What have you learned from your research that you wish every professional knew?
“I learned more of practical application of theory we teach in the classroom by interaction with non-profit operations. It’s very different from the order, structure, and management of resources found in for-profit businesses.”
What have you learned from your research that you wish every student knew?
“Students should be involved in research and apply the knowledge they learn and learn daily routines of businesses, both profit and non-profit. It would be meaningful for students to learn about organizations from the bottom up.”
What research and what questions remain to be looked at?
“How do we measure investments in services for a community and its neighborhoods from a business behavior point of view, that is, financially and programmatically? Also, we need to look at how will privatization and being more self-reliant affect agencies in the future, and their ability to deal with privatization?”
