Linda Duxbury is a professor at the Sprott School of Business, Carleton University. She received a master’s degree in chemical engineering and a PhD in management sciences from the University of Waterloo. Within the past decade she has completed major studies on balancing work and family in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors, HR and work-family issues in the small business sector, management support (what it is and why it matters), career development in the public sector and in the high tech sector and generational differences in work values. Duxbury has also conducted research which evaluates the organizational and individual impacts of e-mail, portable offices, cellular telephones, Blackberrys, telework, flexible work arrangements, shift work and change management, and is studying what makes a "supportive" manager. She recently completed a major a follow-up study on work-life balance in which 32,800 Canadian employees participated.
Duxbury has published widely in both the academic and practitioner literatures in the areas of work-family conflict, change management, supportive work environments, stress, telework, the use and impact of office technology, managing the new workforce and supportive management. She has also given over 300 plenary talks on these issues to both public- and private-sector audiences.
Within the business school at Carleton, Duxbury teaches graduate courses in managing change and organizational behaviour. She is an accomplished trainer and speaker in the area of supportive work environments, work-life balance, managing the new workforce, recruitment and retention, change management, gender and communication and the communication process.
Duxbury held the Imperial Life Chair in Women and Management from 1992 to 1996 and was director of Carleton Centre for Research on Education on Women and Work from 1996 to 1999. In 1999, she was appointed to the Fryer Commission on Labour-Management Relations in the Federal Government. In 2000, she was awarded the Public Service Citation from the Association of Public Service Executives for her work on supportive work environments. In 2002, she was awarded the Canadian Workplace Wellness Pioneer Award for her “pioneering efforts, creativity, innovation and leadership” in the field of organizational health. In 2002-03, she won the Carleton University Student’s Association 2002-2003 Teaching Excellence Award for her “ability to convey enthusiasm, responsibility in teaching practices, approachability and communication skills.” In 2003-04, she was awarded the Canadian Pension and Benefits National Speaker Award. In 2003-04, she won the Sprott MBA Student Society Best Teacher Award for her “ability to effectively convey complex concepts and theories to her students, challenge, empower and stimulate her students intellectually, mentor her students and create a fun, open and friendly class atmosphere.” In 2004, she was asked to deliver the Don Woods Lecture at Queen’s University. In 2005, she accepted the Smartlink Fellowship and gave 12 talks on issues associated with managing a changing workforce in Australia. In 2007, she was awarded a Community Policing Award by the Ottawa Police Services for her leadership on the Ottawa Police Outreach Recruitment Advisory Board. In that same year, she was awarded the Toastmasters International Communication and Leadership Award by District 61 for her “outstanding personal contribution to our community as a powerful communicator and a dedicated leader.”