
Professor of Management
Contact Information
Email: krockman@gmu.edu
Phone: (703) 993-4988
Mail Stop: 1ED
Office Location: 9900 Main Street, Suite 252 and Enterprise Hall, Suite 214
Office Hours: By appointment
Personal Websites
Biography
Dr. Rockmann is a Professor of Management at the George Mason University Costello College of Business, where his research involves studying working relationships in organizations, including how relationships are generated, maintained, and dissolve. He is particularly interested in how organizations cultivate relationships given the increasing use of remote work. He teaches and consults in the areas of relational leadership, cultivating high quality relationships, training middle and top-level managers, and negotiation and conflict management. His research has been covered by Harvard Business Review, Time, The New York Times, NPR, Forbes, and the Financial Times. He is the lead author of Negotiation: Moving from Conflict to Agreement (Sage, 2021).
Research Interests
- Interpersonal Relationships
- Relational Systems and Leadership
- Remote and Hybrid Work
- Personal Trauma and Interpersonal Effects
- Identity / Identification
Education
- BS - Business, University of Illinois (1999)
- PhD - Organizational Behavior, University of Illinois (2004)
Research and Awards
Awards
- Costello College of Business Teaching Excellence Award (2025)
- Southern Management Association Best Overall Paper Award. “Longing for the past: The dual effects of daily nostalgia on employee performance” (with J. Methot & E. Rosado-Solomon)
- Seed Grant Proposal Preparation Award - $10,000 (2022)
- George Mason University School of Business Dean’s Scholar (2017 – 2020; 2020 – 2023)
Research
- Bartel, C. & Rockmann, K.W. (2023). The Disease of Indifference: How Relational Systems Provide the Attentional Infrastructure for Organizational Resilience. Strategic Organization, forthcoming.
- George, M., Wittman, S., & Rockmann, K.W. (2021). Transitioning the study of role transitions: Four challenges for management researchers. Academy of Management Annals. 16 (1): 102-133.
- Cooper, D.*, Rockmann, K.W.*, Moteabbed, S., & Thatcher, S.M.B. (2020). Integrator or gremlin? Identity partnerships and team newcomer socialization. Academy of Management Review, 46(1): 128-146. *denotes each author contributed equally.
- Rockmann, K.W. & Northcraft, G.B. (2018). The dilemma portfolio: A strategy to advance the study of social dilemmas in organizations. Academy of Management Annals. 12(2): 494-509
- Rockmann, K.W., & Ballinger, G.B. (2017). Intrinsic Motivation and Organizational Identification Among On- Demand Workers. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102: 1305-1316.
- Burris, E., Rockmann, K.W., & Kimmons, Y. (2017) The Value of Voice (to Managers): Employee Identification and the Content of Voice. Academy of Management Journal, 60: 2099-2125.
- Rockmann, K.W., & Pratt, M.G. (2015). Contagious offsite work and the lonely office: The unintended consequences of distributed work. Academy of Management Discoveries, 1: 150-164.
Teaching Interests
- Organizational behavior
- Negotiations
Courses Taught
- HNRS 260 - Thriving in Organizations: Organizations form the backbone of society and as such employ almost every worker. In this practicum course, students will be visiting several organizations to become thoughtful observers of culture and processes, all with the goal of cultivating success and helping students thrive in their future organizational lives.
Media Clippings
- March 20, 2025 - Rutgers Today
Report Builds on Lessons of the COVID-19 Lockdown to Offer Tips on Channeling Workplace Nostalgia - January 29, 2025 - U.S. News & World Report
The Complexities of the Return-to-Office Mandate - October 25, 2024 - Fast Company
Ultimate guide to surviving a bad boss - August 15, 2024 - Fast Company
How to set boundaries with a toxic boss - June 21, 2024 - Bloomberg
How to Do a Four-Day Workweek That Actually Works - January 8, 2024 - PolitiFact.com
Nikki Haley exaggerates rate of federal telework - November 9, 2023 - Harvard Business Review
3 Strategies to Promote Healthy Working Relationships - October 4, 2023 - AACSB Insights
Revitalizing Academic Writing Through Storytelling - May 26, 2023 - U.S. News & World Report
McCarthy’s Turn at the Plate - June 17, 2022 - BBC
Is Remote Work worse for Wellbeing than People Think? - March 7, 2022 - AACSB
It's Time for Academics to Write Differently - December 1, 2021 - Financial Times
Are Remote Workers Really Plugged into Company Culture? - April 28, 2021 - Forbes
Employees Are Working An Extra Day In Unpaid Overtime Each Week - April 8, 2021 - Authority Magazine
Kevin Rockmann of George Mason University School of Business: Five Things You Need to Know To Successfully Manage a Remote Team - February 11, 2021 - The Economic Times
Get Ready for the WFH Appraisal Season: Smart Tips for Managers to Assess Employee Performance - December 21, 2020 - The New York Times
How to Manage Performance Evaluations in the Work-From-Home Era - August 13, 2020 - TechTarget
Pivot to Remote Performance Management: 10 Tips - February 2, 2020 - Business Insider
WeWork is the Perfect Example of Why Employees Should Not Expect Our Workplaces to Meet Every Physical, Social, and Spiritual Need - January 12, 2016 - Here and Now
More Remote Workers Means Lonelier Colleagues In The Office - January 11, 2016 - The Cheat Sheet
Work-from-Home: Is There a Hidden Downside? - October 29, 2015 - FCW
How telework breeds loneliness for the office-dwellers left behind - October 5, 2015 - Quartz
Turns out there’s a downside for companies that allow working from home, too - December 21, 2012 - Daily Mail
Trust your gut this Christmas: How buying your presents at the last minute may actually HELP you choose the perfect gift