C. Chet Miller

Professor - C.T. Bauer Professor of Organizational Studies

C. Chet Miller

Bio

Since working as a shift manager and subsequently completing his graduate studies, Professor Miller has taught full-time at Baylor University, Wake Forest University, and the University of Houston. At Baylor, he served as Director of the Center for Executive Education. At Wake Forest, he served as Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and as Academic Director for the Executive MBA Program. Professor Miller is an active member of the Academy of Management and the Strategic Management Society. Awards and honors include: Outstanding Young Researcher Award (Baylor University); Best Paper Awards (Academy of Management Review and Academy of Management Annals); and teaching awards from Wake Forest University, the University of Houston, and Duke University (he has been a guest instructor at Duke).

Professor Miller has worked with a number of managers and executives. Through management development programs, he has contributed to the advancement of individuals from such organizations as ABB, Bank of America, Krispy Kreme, La Farge, Red Hat, State Farm Insurance, and the United States Postal Service. His focus has been leadership, strategic visioning, and high-involvement approaches to managing people.

Professor Miller's published research focuses on cognitive diversity among senior leaders, organizational structures and control systems, strategic decision processes, and organizations in pursuit of the seemingly impossible. His work has appeared in Harvard Business Review, Organization Science, Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Management, Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Executive, Academy of Management Annals, Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, and Advances in Strategic Management.

Research Interests

  • Antecedents and Effects of Organizations Pursuing the Seemingly Impossible
  • Antecedents and Effects of Cognitive Diversity among a Firm's Senior Leaders
  • Adapatability and Performance Implications of Organizational Control Systems

Areas of Expertise

  • Organizational Design and Control
  • Organizational Adaptation and Change
  • Technology and Innovation
  • Leadership
  • Negotiating

Publications

  • Publications Since Joining U of Houston in Fall 2010:
  • See, Kelly E., Anisman-Razin, Moran, Miller C. Chet, & Sitkin Sim B. 2022. Stretch goals as a method for leveraging opportunities created by uncertainty: The courage to say "yes" and "no" to seemingly impossible challenges. In Oxford Handbook of Uncertainty Management in Work Organizations (G. Grote & M. Griffin, Eds.). Oxford University Press, forthcoming.
  • Miller, C. Chet, Chiu, Shih-chi, Wesley, Curtis L., Vera, Dusya M., & Avery, Derek R. 2022. Cognitive Diversity at the Strategic Apex: Assessing Evidence on the Value of Different Perspectives and Ideas among Senior Leaders. Academy of Management Annals, 16: 806-852.
  • Miller C. Chet, & McKee, Rob. 2021. Decision comprehensiveness and the outcomes of firms: Reinterpreting and extending a recent meta-analysis. Strategic Organization, 19: 441-448.
  • Cardinal, Laura B., Sitkin, Sim B., Long, Chris P., & Miller C. Chet. 2019. The genesis of control configurations during organizational founding. Advances in Strategic Management, 40: 83-114.
  • Howard-Grenville, Jennifer, Davis, Gerry F., Dyllick, Thomas, Miller, C. Chet, Thau, Stefan, & Tsui, Anne S. 2019. Sustainable development for a better world: Contributions of leadership, management, and organizations. Academy of Management Discoveries, 5: 355-366 (Essay in "From the Editors" Series).
  • McKee, Rob A., Lubojacky, Connor, & Miller C. Chet. 2019. Issues and trends in research methods: How we learn affects what we learn about crises, risks, and emergency responses. In Routledge Companion to Risk, Crisis, and Emergency Management (R. Gephardt, C. Miller, & K. Swedberg Helgesson, Eds.), 127-145. Oxford, U.K.: Taylor and Francis.
  • Sitkin, Sim B., Miller, C. Chet, & See, Kelly E. 2019. Risks of addressing vs. ignoring our biggest societal problems: When and how moon shots make sense. In Routledge Companion to Risk, Crisis, and Emergency Management (R. Gephardt, C. Miller, & K. Swedberg Helgesson, Eds.), 481-485. Oxford, U.K.: Taylor and Francis.
  • Cardinal, Laura B., Kreutzer, Marcus, & Miller C. Chet. 2019. Organizational Control. In Oxford Bibliographies in Management (R. Griffin, Ed.), DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780199846740-0176. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Samba, Codou, van Knippenberg, Daan, & Miller C. Chet. 2018. The impact of strategic dissent on organizational outcomes: A meta-analytic integration. Strategic Management Journal, 39: 379-402.
  • Sitkin, Sim B., Miller C. Chet, & See, Kelly E. 2017. The stretch goal paradox: Audacious targets are widely misunderstood – and widely misused. Harvard Business Review, 95(1): 36-44.
  • Cardinal, Laura B., Kreutzer, Marcus, & Miller C. Chet. 2017. An aspirational view of organizational control research: Re-invigorating empirical work to better meet the challenges of 21st century organizations. Academy of Management Annals, 11: 559-592 (Best Paper Award).
  • Miller, C. Chet, & Bamberger, Peter. 2016. Exploring emergent and poorly understood phenomena in the strangest of places: The footprint of discovery in replications, meta-analyses, and null findings. Academy of Management Discoveries, 2(4): 1-7. (Essay in "From the Editors" Series)
  • Meschi, Pierre-Xavier, Metais, Emmanuel, & Miller C. Chet. 2015. Leader longevity, cognitive inertia, and performance in organizations with stretch goals: Evidence from La Royale and its ambition to gain naval supremacy from 1689 to 1783. Advances in Strategic Management, 32: 467-504.
  • Miller, C. Chet, & Van de Ven, Andrew H. 2015. Peer review, root canals, and other amazing life events. Academy of Management Discoveries, 1 (2): 1-7. (Essay in "From the Editors" Series)
  • Cardinal, Laura B., Miller C. Chet, Kreutzer, Marcus, & TenBrink, Candace. 2015. Strategic planning and firm performance: Towards a better understanding of a controversial relationship. In The Psychology of Planning in Organizations (M. Frese & M. Mumford, Eds.), 260-288. New York: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
  • Van de Ven, Andrew H., Soon, Ang, Arino, Africa, Bamberger, Peter, LeBaron, Curtis, Miller, Chet, & Milliken, Francis. 2015. Welcome to the Academy of Management Discoveries (AMD). Academy of Management Discoveries, 1 (1): 1-4 (Brief Essay in "From the Editor" Series).
  • McKee, Rob, & Miller C. Chet. 2015. Institutionalizing Bayesianism within the Organizational Sciences: A practical guide featuring comments from eminent scholars in the field. Journal of Management, 41: 471-490.
  • Miller, C. Chet. 2014. Sensemaking and entrepreneurship. In Wiley Encyclopedia of Management: Entrepreneurship Volume (3rd edition) (D. Kuratko & M. Morris, Eds.), Oxford: Blackwell. (Brief Essay)
  • Miller, C. Chet, Washburn, Nathan T., & Glick, William H. 2013. The myth of firm performance. Organization Science, 24: 948-964.
  • Sitkin, Sim B., See, Kelly E., Miller, C. Chet, Lawless, Michael W., & Carton, Andrew M. 2011. The paradox of stretch goals: Organizations in pursuit of the seemingly impossible. Academy of Management Review, 36: 544-566 (Best Paper Award).
  • Cardinal, Laura B., Miller, C. Chet, & Palich, Leslie E. 2011. Breaking the cycle of iteration: Forensic failures of international diversification and firm performance research. Global Strategy Journal, 1: 175-186. (Invited Essay)

Books

  • Gephart, Robert P., Miller C. Chet, & Helgesson, Karin S. 2019. Routledge Companion to Risk, Crisis, and Emergency Management. Oxford, U.K.: Taylor and Francis.
  • Hitt, Michael A., Miller, C. Chet, Colella, Adrienne J., & Triana, Maria 2017. Organizational Behavior: A Strategic Approach (5th edition). Hoboken, U.S.: John Wiley & Sons. Various editions of the book have been translated into multiple languages and produced in multiple formats. Authors declined invitation to create a 6th edition.

Academic Associations & Editorial Boards

  • Editorial Board - Academy of Management Discoveries
  • Editorial Board - Academy of Management Journal
  • Editorial Board - Organization Science
  • Editorial Board - Strategic Management Journal
  • Active Member - Academy of Management
  • Active Member - Strategic Management Society

Activities & Interests

  • Hiking
  • Sailing
  • Snow Shoeing
  • Reading
  • Supporting Drum Corps International

Contact Info

Phone:
713-743-2601 
Email:
chet.miller@bauer.uh.edu
Room:
MH 325E
Website:
No Web Site Currently

Courses

  • Doctoral - Organization Theory
  • Masters - Effective Negotiating
  • Masters - Leadership Development
  • Masters - Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation

Education

University of Texas (BA)
University of Texas (PhD)