• Meet Baylor’s nationally recognized expert on workplace ethics

    Portrait photo of Dr. Matt Quade

    Got questions about ethical situations that arise in the workplace?

    Matt Quade has answers.

    Dr. Quade, an assistant professor of management in Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business since 2014, is an active researcher and national leader in the study of workplace ethics.

    For instance: What is the impact of a manager who focuses too closely on the bottom line? Quade’s research answers that question.

    In fact, that’s the specific subject of Quade’s most recent research. Originally published in the journal Human Relations, Quade uncovered specific information about a paradox: Too much attention to the bottom line can actually lead to a deterioration in the bottom line. More than 866 people surveyed in the study (half of the respondents were supervisors, with the other half employees) provided insights into why that’s the case. Most notably, the study found that supervisors with a bottom-line focus suffer relationally, leading employees to sometimes withhold their best performance. Quade’s research also found that, even when employees are laser-focused on the bottom line, negative performance is still evident when the boss is likewise bottom-line driven.

    Beyond bottom-line management, Quade’s research has examined the ways feelings of ethical superiority among employees impact the workplace, and why unethical behavior is tolerated by productive employees. Another study found that ethics aren’t enough, if other areas of leadership are lacking.

    Like many of his Hankamer colleagues, Quade’s research has found a home in national publications, such as the Harvard Business Review, Inverse, Business Wire and Consumer Affairs — places where the intersection of ethics and the workplace meet the people who can best apply his findings.

    Sic ’em, Dr. Quade!