Thomas Lechler (tlechler)

Thomas Lechler

Associate Professor

School of Business

Babbio Center 636
(201) 216-5385

Education

  • PhD (1996) Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Management)

Research

Economic Value Creation through Innovation:
Project Management: Project portfolio planning under resource constraints, project value strategies and agile project management. Innovation Management: NPD project selection biases, consequences of performance feedback theory for innovation of the firm. Entrepreneurship: Growth in the early development stages of new ventures, social entrepreneurship.
Behavioral Theory of the Firm: theoretical and empirical perspectives on the PFT.

General Information

Dr. Thomas Lechler is an Associate Professor at the School of Business, Stevens Institute of Technology. His research focuses on the early development stages of new ventures and the success factors of project management to understand the dynamics and interactions between decisions, structures, and behaviors on innovation success. He has built up an international research sample of 832 projects. He has published articles in leading international and German research journals including Small Business Economics, Research Policy and others and authored four books in the fields of project management and entrepreneurship and reviews regularly for several technology and innovation management journals. He holds a Ph.D. degree from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany.

Experience

Computer Skills COBOL and PASCAL commercial programming SPSSLISREL
Languages: German: native language, English: native speaker level French: Basic skills
Teaching Graduate: Organizational Theory and Design Instruments of Project Management (Seminar)Dresden University of Technology, 1997-1998
Undergraduate: Accounting Managerial Accounting Curriculum Development
Served on curriculum oversight committee for Project Management Curriculum (from 2002)
Developed MGT610 Strategic Perspectives on Project Management (2001)
Developed a web course MGT610 Strategic Perspectives on Project Management (2002)
Developed course MGT674 Global Innovation Management (2003)
Developed course MGT663 Entrepreneurship (2003)
Developed a PhD seminar MGT716 Research Seminar (2004)
Developed executive training course in project management (2004)

Institutional Service

  • Innovation management Hiring Committee Member
  • Nomination Committee Member
  • P&T Committee Member
  • APAR Committee Member
  • Curriculum Committee Member
  • EPM Program Chair
  • Course Coordinator Chair
  • AACSB Goal Owner Chair
  • EPM Search Committee Chair
  • Entrepreneurship Search Committee Member

Appointments

2004-2006 NASA Research Fellow

Honors and Awards

1997 GPM (German Association of Project Management) Award for the best Dissertation
1999 Rent 13 Conference London: Best Paper Award
2004 Best Researcher Award, Wesley J. Howe School,
2006-2007 Stevens Alexander Crombie Humphreys Distinguished Associate Professor Teaching Award
2010 PMI Project Management Journal Paper of the Year Award: Project Management Systems: Moving a project management from an operational to a strategic discipline, Project Management Journal (2009) with Cooke-Davies, T., Crawford, L.

Professional Societies

  • PMI – Project Management Institute Member
  • AoM – Academy of Management Member