Kendall Yamamoto is an Organizational Behavior Researcher and Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia.

Kendall’s research examines how identity, status, and social position shape collaboration and conflict within and between groups. She studies how people interpret difference, and how those interpretations shape whether difference becomes a source of challenge or opportunity. Her work investigates the organizational norms and tools that help people work across lines of difference in ways that support inclusion, learning, and effective collaboration rather than threat, avoidance, or conflict. She uses lab experiments, field experiments and interventions, and inductive qualitative research conducted in collaboration with organizations.

Her dissertation won the Academy of Management HR Division Best Dissertation Proposal Award, and her work has been published in the Academy of Management Journal. Kendall holds a Ph.D. in Management from the University of Texas at Austin and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Entrepreneurship from the University of Washington. Before graduate school, she worked in leadership development consulting.

She welcomes collaborations with organizations seeking to better understand and address challenges related to collaboration, inclusion, and organizational effectiveness. Please reach out to discuss potential opportunities.