Frank Salter - Non-diversity Research

Non-diversity Research

Although perhaps best known for his diversity research, Salter has contributed a significant body of work on non-diversity issues, including studies of dominance, workplace relations, and the relationship of these issues to emotions and human biology. Salter believes that bio-behavioral analysis has relevance to the challenges faced by managers and policy makers; therefore Salter’s findings can be directly applicable to the fields of business and economics as well as politics. Salter began consulting immediately upon receiving his doctoral degree in 1990 - in Brisbane and Sydney, Australia - analyzing and providing training about the causes and nature of employee stress which was resulting in a loss of morale at work and absenteeism due to illness. In one organization Salter identified asymmetric conflict between managers as a stress factor, linking workplace emotions, biological response, and productivity. Subsequently, Salter stopped consulting in order to continue academic research in Germany. During this time, Salter’s research has gone well beyond hierarchy and is thus applicable to a wider range of issues.

For example, in his foreword to the 2008 paperback edition of Emotions in Command, Salter notes that the book is not only an academic treatise: "The book is more applicable to training managers and organizational analysts than it is in proving that humans are an evolved species."(p. xxvii). Therefore, the content of this book can be used for practical training for individuals in business management and analysis, economics, and politics.

It is important to point out that Salter's hierarchy research continued in parallel with his diversity studies. For example, in 2007, Salter published a major observational study of dominance behavior at the entrance to a Munich nightclub. The majority of Salter's academic work has dealt with non-diversity research.