Insight on Higher Performance: Daphna Motro '17 PhD (Management)

Insight on Higher Performance: Daphna Motro '17 PhD (Management)

March 30, 2017

Six Questions with Daphna Motro '17 PhD (Management)

Daphna Motro

Daphna Motro is currently a student in the Department of Management and Organizations earning her PhD in Management. She is from Northern Virginia and obtained her bachelor's degree at the University of Virginia. Check out her responses below!

Why did you choose the University of Arizona to pursue your doctoral degree?

I chose the UA to get my doctoral degree because of the faculty I planned to work with. They all had great CVs and did research on interesting topics, such as gender differences in the workplace. For example, my advisor and I found that people react very differently to men crying versus women crying, which can have a significant effect on our perceptions of their performance and leadership capabilities.

Why did you choose this field of study?

Daphna Motro

I enjoy that I can apply concepts from psychology into real-world settings. I fell in love with psychology as an undergrad and I wanted to see how human behavior operates in the workplace, since people spend so much of their time at work. The field of organizational behavior fits my interests really well, since it integrates a lot of psychology research into what goes on in companies between managers and employees.

What professional experience has contributed to your doctoral studies?

I interned at the Fairfax County Health Department, where I shadowed a food inspector and was able to see how county health regulations affect restaurants and managerial behavior. I have also done consulting work for outside companies where I collected and analyzed data for them on a topic they’re interested in, such as hiring techniques.

From that experience, as well as your academic studies, what's the big takeaway for management?

My experience has taught me that people are much more complicated than they can seem on the surface. Everyone has a different story and different ways of processing information. As a manager you can’t treat every employee the exact same way. While it may be difficult, a successful manager has to develop different strategies that help each individual employee, since each one is so different. While it is no doubt challenging, the specialized attention will lead to much higher performance.

What does your work/life balance look like?

I work from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays and about four to five hours on Saturday and Sunday. I enjoy it. The other hours are spend working out (I love boxing) and being with friends.

What are the next steps you plan to take towards your career?

I landed a job as a management professor at Hofstra University in Long Island. I’ll be doing research and teaching, and I’m very excited! 

Header photo courtesy Pixabay.