Kenneth J. Mawritz Jr.

Kenneth J. Mawritz Jr. is an assistant teaching professor of management at Lehigh University’s College of Business. He teaches courses in organizational behavior, leadership, and ethics at the graduate and undergraduate levels. In 2022, Dr. Mawritz received the Lehigh University College of Business Teaching Excellence Award.   

Ken’s focal research interest is the study of intra-team rivalry – defined as two actors having repeated competition, resulting in closely decided contests, enhanced psychological engagement, and value of competitive outcomes for the actor. He has found that intra-team rivalry results from individuals engaging in social comparison (i.e., evaluating one’s ability or performance through comparison with others) and when people experience feelings of individual cohesion (i.e., wanting to be accepted by group members and remain in the group).

Additionally, Ken has shown that when individuals experience feelings of intra-team rivalry, increases in the following were observed; individual performance, individual deviance (i.e., behavior that threatens the well-being of a team member), and motivation. Subsequently, team performance improves.    

Ken holds a B.S. in sports management and a business minor from Indiana University of Pennsylvania where he was a student-athlete as a decathlete on the track team. He has an M.B.A. with a focus on leadership from Drexel University. Ken received his doctorate in organizational behavior from Temple University. Prior to joining Lehigh, Ken served as an adjunct professor in the College of Business at Drexel University, Rutgers University, La Salle University, and West Chester University where he taught courses in organizational behavior, leadership, ethics, strategy, and designing innovative organizations at the graduate and undergraduate levels.   

Prior to academia, he worked in management for Fortune 100 and 500 organizations. Throughout his management and consulting career, he worked with organizations in the following industries: aerospace engineering, national defense, health care, retail, higher education, luxury jewelry, and cosmetics. 

 

Education

• Indiana University of Pennsylvania, B.S.
• Drexel University, M.B.A.
• Temple University, DrBA

Research Interests

• Intra-team rivalry
• Social comparison
• Leadership
• Team performance
• Motivation
• Deviance

• Case – Mawritz, K. “Madeleine’s Labyrinth.”  The Dispute Resolution Research Center (DRRC) at Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. (December 2021)
• Article – Mawritz, K. “The Catch-22 of Intra-Team Rivalry.” ilLUminate: Lehigh Business Thought Leadership. (January 2020)
• Mawritz, K. (2018, September). "Intra-team rivalry on performance teams: An investigation into individual and team performance and employee deviance." Paper presented at the Engaged Management Scholarship Conference, Philadelphia, PA.