Jean M. Bartunek

Jean M. Bartunek (born October 25, 1944) is an American management scientist whose research interests include organizational change, academic-practitioner relationships, and dialectical and paradoxical processes. She is the Robert A. and Evelyn J. Ferris Chair and Professor of Management and Organization at the Carroll School of Management, Boston College, and a past president of the Academy of Management.

Education and career Bartunek was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and is a member of the Society of the Sacred Heart (RSCJ). She received a B.A. cum laude from Maryville University (St. Louis) in 1966, an M.A. in social and organizational psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1974, and a Ph.D. in social and organizational psychology from the same institution in 1976. Her work on these topics has focused on dialectical processes, including tensions and paradoxes, and how processes may be handled.

Editorial and professional service Bartunek has served as associate editor of several leading journals: the Journal of Applied Behavioral Science (2005-2018), Academy of Management Learning & Education (2012-2014), and Academy of Management Review (2015-2018; 2023). She has co-edited special research forums and topic forums for the Academy of Management Journal, the Academy of Management Review, and the British Journal of Management. She chaired the advisory committee for the Academy of Management Journal (2004-2007), and was a member of the advisory committee for the Academy of Management Discoveries (2013-2017). From 2008 to 2010 she was a visiting international fellow of the Advanced Institute of Management Research (UK).

In 2024 she received the Distinguished International Scholar Award from the Irish Academy of Management. In 2025 she won the Organization Development and Change Thought Leader award, from the International Society of Organization Development Consultants.