Michal Biron

Michal Biron is an Israeli researcher in the fields of human resource management and organizational behavior.

Born in Haifa, Israel, Biron serves as the Academic Head of the University of Haifa’s Graduate School of Management MBA program with an emphasis on Strategic Human Resource Management and the MBA program for non-profit organizations. She received her Ph.D. in 2007 from the Technion’s Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management.

Biron studies the nature of peer relations and supervisor-employee relations in the workplace and the implications for individuals as well as organizations; employee health and wellbeing; withdrawal behaviors; and performance management techniques in high performing work environments. She hopes to better understand human interactions, their antecedents and consequences in work contexts through her research.

Biron’s recent research (published in the Journal of Applied Psychology; co-authored by Sharon Toker from Tel Aviv University) has focused on the value of physical exercise for breaking the vicious circle of job burnout and depression. Another recent study (published in the European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology) revealed that peers and supervisors can reduce employees’ absenteeism rates -- but the support coming from these sources has different implications. For example, supervisors can lighten employees' workload and provide stress management training. "The worker who is given this sort of support is more likely to overcome the somatic stress and continue to work productively, leaving recovery for the normal after-work hours when we recharge our batteries," explains Dr. Biron.

Sources: “Michal Biron,” Graduate School of Management, University of Haifa, accessed May 25, 2012. Rachel Feldman, “The best medicine for productivity,” University of Haifa, February 6, 2012.