Lecturers Page Dr. Yizhaq Benbenisty

Dr. Yizhaq Benbenisty


Dr. Yizhaq (Itsik) Benbenisty is an organizational psychologist and civil–military scholar with over twenty years’ experience in leadership research and development. He is currently a teaching fellow at the University of Haifa and Sapir College, following a post-doctoral fellowship in the Department of Information Systems, University of Haifa. He holds a PhD (2019) that explored leaders’ sense-giving strategies under paradoxical policies, an MA in Cognitive Psychology, and a BA in Behavioral Sciences from Ben-Gurion University.


From 2004 to 2019 he served as a senior organizational consultant in the Israel Defense Forces, combining field and research roles that included heading military psychology studies and designing large-scale leadership programmes. In 2020 he founded B.I. Group, a consultancy specializing in leadership, entrepreneurship, and organizational climate, and since 2021 he has also been a research associate at the IDF Command and Staff College.


Dr. Benbenisty’s work appears in leading journals such as the Journal of Organizational Behavior, Military Psychology, and the Journal of Strategic Studies, as well as in edited volumes on military leadership. His expertise spans qualitative and quantitative methods, advanced statistics, survey design, group facilitation, and large-scale project management, making him a sought-after lecturer and advisor. He speaks Hebrew and English fluently. 

Areas of interest and Teaching

Areas of interest

  • Sensemaking
  • Sensegiving
  • Systems Thinking
  • Motivation
  • Meaning based ledership
  • Military psychologyu

Teaching

Hebrew lective year: תשפה

Research

Awards

Publications

  1. Benbenisty, Y., & Luria, G. (2021). A time to act and a time for restraint: Everyday sense-giving in the context of paradox. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 42(8), 1005–1022. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.2537 Wiley Online Library

  2. Benbenisty, Y., & Luria, G. (2021). The restrained unit: A case study on everyday sense-giving to a use-of-force policy calling for restraint. Military Psychology, 33(4), 264–276. https://doi.org/10.1080/08995605.2021.1906076 PMC

  3. Ben-Shalom, U., & Benbenisty, Y. (2019). ‘A time of war’: Contextual and organizational dimensions in the construction of combat motivation in the IDF. Journal of Strategic Studies, 42(3–4), 371–394. https://doi.org/10.1080/01402390.2017.1360772 Taylor & Francis Online

  4. Ben-Shalom, U., & Benbenisty, Y. (2016). Coping styles and combat motivation during operations: An IDF case study. Armed Forces & Society, 42(4), 655–674. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X16632316 SAGE Journals

  5. Ben-Shalom, U., & Benbenisty, Y. (2015). Characteristics of sense-making in combat: Preliminary research in the IDF Ground Forces. Social Issues in Israel, 20, 108–130.

  6. Benbenisty, Y., Hadar, I., Luria, G., & Spoletini, P. (2021). Privacy as first-class requirements in software development: A socio-technical approach. In Proceedings of the 36th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Automated Software Engineering (pp. 1363–1367). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/ASE51524.2021.9678872 researchgate.net

Presentations

Year Conference Location Presentation Title Role
2024 17th Biennial Conference of ERGOMAS Stockholm, Sweden Warfare's Psychological Front: Lessons from the IDF's Extended Conflict Post 7 Oct Speaker
2022 Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Leadership Symposium Mykonos, Greece How do leaders engage in sense-giving to explain a complex context? A case study for everyday sense-giving Speaker
2020 IOBC Conference Tel-Aviv, Israel A time to act and a time for restraint: Linking sense-giving strategies to paradoxical policy with authentic leadership and organizational outcomes Speaker
2018 3rd Interdisciplinary Perspectives in Leadership Symposium Chania, Greece Authentic leadership in a paradoxical environment – The use of sense-giving to explain contradictions Speaker
2016 Emonet X Rome, Italy Climate for restraint: Emergence and emotional responses Speaker
2015 13th Biennial Conference of ERGOMAS Ra’anana, Israel Managing sense-making: Sense-breaking and sense-giving in military units during policing missions Speaker
2013 Kineret Conference for Civil/Military Researches Kineret College, Israel Climate of restraint in the use of force in units performing policing missions Speaker
2006 3rd International Military Psychology Conference “War and the Mind” Ramat HaSharon, Israel Combat motivation during Operation Cast Lead Speaker

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