Faculty Spotlight: Dr. Laura Rees
Get to know Dr. Laura Rees, a professor at the College of Business who teaches organizational behavior.
Dr. Laura Rees is a faculty member in Oregon State University’s College of Business whose work centers on how emotions and automatic behaviors shape performance and well-being at work. With a Ph.D. in organizational behavior from the University of Michigan and previous faculty roles at Queen’s University (Canada) and the University of Missouri–Kansas City, she studies both momentary emotional reactions — especially in negotiation and decision-making—and longer-term influences like habits, attitudes and authenticity. Her research spans negotiation, decision accuracy, cooperation and interpersonal dynamics. She has been published in leading journals such as the Academy of Management Review, Journal of Applied Psychology and the Journal of Business Ethics. She teaches courses on negotiations, leadership, ethics, and organizational behavior; develops negotiation cases and workshops; and is currently co-creating two podcast series on applying cutting-edge scholarship in negotiation and conflict management.
Rees' anger research published in The Conversation
Anger is a flow of emotion like water through a hose − at work, it helps to know when to turn it up or down and how to direct it.
Dr. Laura Rees' article, published by The Conversation, argues that anger is neither good or bad — it’s data. She compares it to water through a hose: What matters is how you direct it. By noticing the physical “anger alarm,” turning inward, naming the unmet need and responding with intention, anger can fuel clarity and constructive action instead of conflict.
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