Dr. A.R. (Elango) Elangovan

About

Dr. Elangovan has been a professor of Organizational Behaviour at the Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria since 1992.  His research, teaching and consulting interests are in the areas of authenticity in leadership, meaningfulness in work, stages of organizational growth, organizational analysis, trust, wellbeing, wisdom, conflict management, and negotiations.  He served as the Associate Dean from 2008-2011 and has been the Director of GSB International since 2003.  He was the Special Advisor to the President for Strategic Planning from October 2021 till August 2022, and was appointed as Associate Vice President, Global Engagement for the university in September 2022.

In February 2012, Professor Elangovan was recognized with Canada’s most prestigious teaching award – the 3M National Teaching Fellowship.  In May 2013 he was named a University of Victoria Distinguished Professor.  This distinction is the highest academic honour UVic can bestow on a faculty member and is awarded to those who have achieved great distinction in the areas of both teaching and scholarly research, and who have made a substantial contribution to the university and wider communities.  In 1999, he was awarded the University of Victoria Alumni Award for Teaching Excellence (now called the Harry Hickman Award).  In addition, he has received numerous awards at the Gustavson School of Business for his research, teaching, and service contributions.  

The primary focus of Dr. Elangovan’s research is on “understanding why and how some people have deeply fulfilling and optimal work lives and what others can learn from their experiences”.  His objective is to develop an overarching framework to guide individuals and organizations in creating the conditions necessary for employees to flourish and have meaningful work lives.  Towards this end, he founded the OWL Project (the Optimal Work Life Project) to bring together researchers, senior leaders, and professionals worldwide to help people have a work-life imbued with a deep sense of meaning and well-being (www.theowlproject.ca). Professor Elangovan’s scholarly work can be seen in the top management journals, and he also serves as a reviewer for numerous organizational journals and grant agencies. 

Professor Elangovan is also involved in providing executive and management development training and consulting services for private and public sector organizations in Canada, Europe, and Asia.  Dr. Elangovan served on the Board of Directors of OA Solutions, an IT company with operations in Victoria, Vancouver and Edmonton from 2008 till 2011, on the Advisory Group for the Auditor-General of B.C. from 2010-2016, and on the Mayor’s (Victoria) Technology Council from 2010-2014.  He was also a co-founder and Director of Utilium Corporation, a UVic-based venture with a mandate to facilitate the transfer of management knowledge from research-based institutions to industry and practicing managers.  Since December 2022 he has been on the Advisory Group for the Auditor General of Vancouver, and in January 2023 he was appointed as Chair of the International Advisory Board for the Linz Business School at Johannes Kepler University (Austria).