About

Samuel Culbert is a professor of management and organizations at UCLA Anderson School of Management. He holds a B.S. in industrial engineering from Northwestern University and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from UCLA. His expertise encompasses boss/subordinate relationships, teamwork, corporate culture, workplace milieus, corporate communications, leadership, mentality, personal development, strategizing for operational effectiveness, and top management collaboration. Culbert's background combines systems engineering and clinical psychology, with additional expertise in group dynamics and a consultant’s license to inquire about people's true thoughts. His research reveals insights into managerial actions and organizational culture, emphasizing the importance of trusting relationships for high performance. He is known for his muckraking approach, critically examining corporate communication practices, especially the prevalence of bullsh*t over straight talk, and advocating for more honest and effective workplace interactions. He has authored several influential books, including 'Beyond Bullsh*t: Straight-Talk at Work,' which discusses the conditions necessary for honest communication in organizations, and 'Good People, Bad Managers,' which explores how work culture can corrupt good intentions. Culbert's work has led to significant shifts in management practices, notably challenging traditional performance reviews, and has been recognized with awards such as the McKinsey Award for best article in Harvard Business Review. His consulting, teaching, and writing activities are aimed at improving work effectiveness and organizational honesty.

Research topics

• Psychology
• Social psychology
• Sociology
• Public relations
• Computer science

Selected publications

• A Muckraker Battles Alienation in Organization Studies

  The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science · 2016-03-25 · 4 citations

  articleSenior author

  For years Samuel Culbert has been providing penetrating analysis of how modern organizations are mismanaged, and the dysfunctional assumptions managers make. Presented are two papers describing his phenomenological investigatory approach. The first places his methodology in a broad intellectual framework, and describes it’s avoidance of social science strictures. The second is an autobiographical account of the experiential and intellectual paths that led to Culbert’s choice of methodology, and the reasoning that guides his use of it. It presents a detailed account of how he collects data, analyzes it, goes about validating his conclusions, and trying out remedies suggested by the theoretical frameworks he constructs.

  PublisherDOI

• Index

  Stanford University Press eBooks · 2008-03-17

  paratext1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Beyond Bullsh*t: Straight-Talk at Work

  Medical Entomology and Zoology · 2008-01-01 · 6 citations

  book1st authorCorresponding

  Straight-talk at work! Grumblings in offices everywhere suggest that we crave more, but don't get often enough of it. Beyond Bullsh*t reveals the dynamics of bullsh*t and why it has become the corporate etiquette of choice. It also explains how telling it straight contributes to personal well-being and business success. After decades of research and consulting, Samuel A. Culbert convinced that straight-talk at work is possible. But it requires more than luck and willing people. Straight-talk the product of thoughtful, caring relationships, built upon trust and commitment. There's no greater contribution to operational effectiveness and success than conversations in which people with conflicting viewpoints discuss their differences forthrightly. Readers will be engaged and delighted as the text demystifies the obstacles to getting beyond bullsh*t and guides them in developing straight-talk relationships. Further details are available at www.straighttalkatwork.com.

  Publisher

• Beyond Bullsh*t

  Stanford University Press eBooks · 2008-03-17 · 9 citations

  book1st authorCorresponding

  Straight-talk at work! Grumblings in offices everywhere suggest that we crave more, but don't get often enough of it. Beyond Bullsh*t reveals the dynamics of bullsh*t and why it has become the corporate etiquette of choice. It also explains how telling it straight contributes to personal well-being and business success. After decades of research and consulting, Samuel A. Culbert is convinced that straight-talk at work is possible. But it requires more than luck and willing people. Straight-talk is the product of thoughtful, caring relationships, built upon trust and commitment. There's no greater contribution to operational effectiveness and success than conversations in which people with conflicting viewpoints discuss their differences forthrightly. Readers will be engaged and delighted as the text demystifies the obstacles to getting beyond bullsh*t and guides them in developing straight-talk relationships. Further details are available at www.straighttalkatwork.com.

  PublisherDOI

• Biography of Robert Tannenbaum—In Memorial

  The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science · 2003-12-01 · 2 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Don't Kill the Bosses! Escaping the Hierarchy Trap

  Academy of Management Review · 2003-04-01 · 4 citations

  article

  The article reviews the book “Don't Kill the Bosses! Escaping the Hierarchy Trap,” by Samuel A. Culbert and John B. Ullmen.

  PublisherDOI

• The Artifact of Mind Insight

  1996-01-04

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract To this point we’ve described how the progressive new models re­ quire you to influence an increasing number of people, in directions that you see as critical to the effective functioning and productivity of the overall corporate team, without the capacity to control them. Now it’s time to probe the Artifact of Mind insight for how it can be used to help you accomplish this. It’s the critical insight for teaching you the psychology that will enable you to implement what you’re being asked to do. The new models require a new mentality, and that means thinking about people differently.

  PublisherDOI

• How the Artifact of Mind Insight Instructs Us to Act

  1996-01-04

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Throughout this book we’ve been describing cases that demonstrate there’s something different and unconventional, perhaps a bit counterintuitive, that goes into our thinking about organizations and the circumstances in which people find themselves while trying to perform competently at work. We have been attributing our perspective to the directions we receive from our knowledge of the Artifact of Mind insight. Now we’d like to state precisely the prominent managerial lessons that we hoped would come to your mind as you read the case stories applying this insight along with us. To accomplish this, we need to tell you one more story.

  PublisherDOI

• Giving Advice and Feedback Are Inherently Political Activities

  1996-01-04

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract The tack we’ve taken has been primarily psychological. Now it’s time to emphasize the political. This is another area where people have to develop skill and sensitivity before they can operate any model, especially a modern one, successfully. But just like psychology, it’s a specter that most have been doing their best to avoid. It’s almost as if people treat organizational politics as a low-grade virus infection, hoping that if they ignore it and think positively it will go away.

  PublisherDOI

• Breakthrough Learning

  1996-01-04 · 2 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract For the last five years we’ve been keeping track of Category IV activities and, in particular, the conditions under which people achieve breakthrough results. We’ve observed people at work and analyzed their conversations. We’ve interviewed people who we heard had broken through self-limiting orientations that, for years, they had resisted changing. And we’ve conducted research in which we’ve asked people to anonymously fill out questionnaires in which we ask them to describe a “breakthrough lesson” and the circumstances that were present when it occurred in search of “milestone” conditions. Describing these milestone conditions required for break­ through learning and specifying how you can mobilize them are the topics of this and the next three chapters.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• John J. McDonough

  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

  5 shared

• James V. Clark

  5 shared

• JOANN CULBERT

  St. Elizabeth's Medical Center

  4 shared

• Jerry K. Fisher

  4 shared

• H. Kenneth Bobele

  2 shared

• Dina Lavoie

  HEC Montréal

  2 shared

• Warren H. Schmidt

  1 shared

• David N. Berg

  Yale University

  1 shared

Awards & honors

• McKinsey Award for best article in Harvard Business Review