Department Web Site: http://bschool.washington.edu/departments/mo/
Course Requirements for Majors
A Typical Course Schedule
Requirements for a Management Minor
Faculty and their Research Interests

General Information

The doctoral program in Management offers students an opportunity to pursue advanced study with a diverse group of world-renowned management faculty. Management is an interdisciplinary area, combining the study of organizations with areas such as sociology, economics, and psychology. The study of management involves examination of macro- and micro-level factors that affect organization effectiveness and efficiency.

The Ph.D. curriculum in management consists of two major tracks. The first track is “Strategic Management,” which is concerned with explaining why some firms succeed while others fail. This track is primarily sociology- and/or economics- based. It relies heavily on empirical research methods using archival and survey data.. The second track is “Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management” (OB/HRM) which is concerned with explaining individual behavior and motivating individuals in the organizational context. This second track is primarily psychology-based and relies heavily on field survey of organization employees or laboratory experiment of human subjects. The management Ph.D. program is designed to prepare students to conduct and publish research in top-tier journals and to take academic positions at leading research-based universities in the United States and abroad.

Admission Requirements

Applicants must have completed an undergraduate degree at an accredited university. An admission committee of faculty members reviews all completed applications. While the committee considers all relevant factors in its recommendations, important factors include past academic performance, GMAT scores, and essays. The GRE exam can be substituted for the GMAT but the GMAT is strongly preferred. In some cases we may request a personal interview.

Recommended Preparation Prior to Entry

Students entering the PhD Program as Management majors should be comfortable with the basic concepts of calculus and statistics before they arrive on campus. It is strongly recommended that all new Management majors carefully review this material during the summer before entering the program.

Management Area Faculty Coordinator

Prof. Greg Bigley, Management Area Faculty Coordinator, would be glad to answer your questions. You can contact him by phone (206-685-7686 or by email (gbigley@u.washington.edu).

Until students establish a Supervisory Committee by the end of Spring Quarter of their first year the Management Doctoral Area Coordinator advises students. The Supervisory Committee assists the student in choosing appropriate courses, approves the course of studies, and monitors the student’s progress.

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Course Requirements for Majors

The program consists of a core of five dedicated doctoral seminars, a minor in research methods, and at least one other minor in a disciplinary area. Recommended disciplinary areas include economics, psychology, and sociology.

I. Strategic Management Track

The following courses are required for all strategic management majors. The number of credits for each course is indicated in parentheses after the course number.

Additionally, one course chosen from the doctoral seminars in OB/HRM track is required for all Strategic Management track students.

II. OB/HRM Track

The following courses are required for all OB/HRM majors. The number of credits for each course is indicated in parenthesis after the course number.

Additionally, one course chosen from the doctoral seminars in the Strategy track is required for all OB/HRM track students.

Research Methods Minor Area Requirements

Students are required to have two to three areas as minors. For an area to qualify as a minor at least 12 credits of coursework are required. Students in management must select “Research Methods” as one of their minor areas.

The research methods minor require that students complete at least five courses from those listed below. The number of credits for each course is indicated in parenthesis after each course number.

Additionally, students should complete courses from the following:

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Other Minor Area Requirements

A second or third minor area will depend on the student’s interest. For example, many Strategic Management track students choose either economics or sociology and most OB/HRM students choose either psychology or economics as a second minor. In some cases, students can have a four-area program.

Economics Minor – The economics minor must include four of the following courses. The number of credits for each course is indicated in parenthesis after each course number.

Sociology Minor – Students who minor in sociology must have 9 credits (or three courses) in sociological theory and 6 credits (or two courses) in sociological research methods and statistics. Substitution of approved courses by “in-kind” courses is subject to approval of the Supervisory Committee Chair.

Sociological Theory (9 credits or three courses)

Research Methods and Statistics (6 credits or two courses)

A Typical Course Schedule

I. Strategic Management Track

First Year

Second Year

II. OB/HRM Track

First Year

Second Year

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Requirements for a Management Minor

I. Strategic Management Track

Three of the following courses are required to be considered a Strategic Management Track minor.

II. OB/HRM Track

Four of the following courses are required to be considered an OB/HRM Track minor.

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Written Area or Qualifying Examination

Area examinations (also known as the prelims) for second year students will be held in August or early September of each year. This written exam will be scheduled over two days/three days. The focus of the first and second days will be on the student’s chosen track (Strategy or OB/HRM). The third day will focus on research methods and on the student’s chosen minor. In no instance will a student be allowed to remain in the program if he or she has not completed all area exams by September 30 th following the end of the third year in the program.

General Examination

Students who successfully complete the area exam can begin working on a dissertation proposal. If the Chair of the Supervisory Committee believes that a student’s dissertation proposal is well defined, he or she then permits the student to take the General Examination. The General Examination also referred to the “proposal defense” exam, is administered orally. The chair of the Supervisory Committee will decide the scope of this exam. In most cases, the student is required to defend his/her proposal, but in some cases the scope of this exam may broader. After the successful completion of this exam the student enters “Candidacy.” This should be completed by June of the third year.

Dissertation

After passing the general exam, students complete the proposed research and write the dissertation guided by a Reading Committee. At this point, a student may reconstitute his/her Supervisory Committee and must select his/her Reading Committee that is usually a subsection of the Supervisory Committee. In practice, the Chair of the student’s Supervisory Committee usually becomes the Chair of the Reading Committee.

Final Examination

The student’s Supervisory Committee administers the final defense of a student’s dissertation. With the successful completion of the dissertation defense and submission of the dissertation to the Graduate School a student will have completed all the requirements for a Ph.D.

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Management and Organization Faculty and their Research Interests

Jeffrey Barden
Assistant Professor, Ph.D. Duke
206-221-4719, jbarden@u.washington.edu
Inter-organizational relationships & strategy, international management.

Greg Bigley
Associate Professor and Charlent M. & Arthur Buerk Fellow, Ph.D. California, Irvine
206-685-7686, gbigley@u.washington.edu
Leadership, motivation, and trust within high-reliability/performance organizations.

Warren Boeker
Professor and Olesen/Batelle Chair in Entrepreneurship and Department Chair, Ph.D. California, Berkeley
206-543-8731, wboeker@u.washington.edu
Strategic change, organization theory and governance, entrepreneurship, management of technology and innovation.

Xiao-Ping Chen
Associate Professor and Evert McCabe Fellow, Ph.D. Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
206-543-2265, xpchen@u.washington.edu
Cooperation in organizations, cross-cultural management, leadership, organizational citizenship behavior, employee turnover.

Christina Fong
Assistant Professor, Ph.D. Stanford
206-543-4878, ctfong@u.washington.edu
Emotions in the workplace, creativity and innovation, and social psychology of organizations.

Morela Hernandez
Assistant Professor, Ph.D. Duke
206-221-5140, morela@u.washington.edu
Stewardship, leadership, intergenerational behavior, business ethics, trust, neegotiation, culture, and workforce diversity.

Charles W.L. Hill
Hughes M. Blake Professor, Ph.D. Manchester
206-543-4867, chill@u.washington.edu
Corporate strategy, competition and competitive strategy, international business.

Vandra L. Huber
Professor, D.B.A. Indiana
206-543-5365, vandra@u.washington.edu
Compensation, employee stock ownership plans, incentives, gain-sharing, pay-at-risk plans, performance management and productivity enhancement, negotiations, training and development, behavioral decision theory.

Michael Johnson
Assistant Professor, Ph.D. Michigan State
206-616-2756, mdj3@u.washington.edu
Group and teams, work identities and identification, personality and other individual differences.

Thomas M. Jones
Boeing Endowed Professor, Ph.D. California, Berkeley
206-543-6380, rebozo@u.washington.edu
Stakeholder theory, ethical decision-making models, business and society paradigms, corporate governance and boards of directors, corporate social responsibility and performance, shareholder litigation.

Philip K. Kienast
Associate Professor, Ph.D. Michigan State
206-543-7141, kienast@u.washington.edu
Negotiations and dispute resolution.

Suresh Kotha
Professor and Olesen/Batelle Chair in Entrepreneurship, Ph.D. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
206-543-4466, skotha@u.washington.edu
Strategic management and global competition, entrepreneurship and corporate entrepreneurship, management of technology, Internet business models, and e-commerce.

Thomas W. Lee
Professor, Evert McCabe Fellow, and Associate Dean for Academic and Faculty Affairs, Ph.D. Oregon
206-543-4389, orcas@u.washington.edu
Organizational behavior, human resource management, research methods, industrial and organizational psychology, employee turnover and organizational commitment.

Terence R. Mitchell
E.E. Carlson Distinguished Professor in Business Administration and Director of PhD Program, Ph.D. Illinois
206-543-4367, trm@u.washington.edu
Motivation, leadership and accountability, decision making.

Corey Phelps
Assistant Professor, Ph.D. New York
206-543-6579, cphelps@u.washington.edu
Competitive strategy; technological change and evolution; technology and innovation management; Interfirm alliances and networks; Social capital and social networks; Entrepreneurship in emerging high-tech industries.

Scott J. Reynolds
Assistant Professor, Ph.D. Minnesota
206-543-4452, heyscott@u.washington.edu
Identification of ethical issues, Decision-making predispositions and biases, organizational justice, stakeholder management, international ethics, ethics programs.

Borje O. Saxberg
Professor, Ph.D. Illinois
206-543-4470, borjeo@u.washington.edu
Organization change, creativity and innovation, management of professional manpower, values of bureaucracy, worker self-management.

Sonali K. Shah
Assistant Professor, Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
206-685-2252, skshah@u.washington.edu
Technological innovation, entrepreneurship, technology strategy, community-based innovation, open source, disruptive innovation, users, innovation, knowledge, intellectural property, motivation, organization design, product development, self-organizing systems, technology management industries.

H. Kevin Steensma
Professor and Helen Moore Gerhardt Faculty Fellow in Management, Ph.D. Indiana
206-543-4897, steensma@u.washington.edu
Technology strategy, strategic alliances, international strategy, modular organizational forms.

Mina Yoo
Assistant Professor, Ph.D. Michigan
206-543-8338, minayoo@u.washington.edu
Entrepreneurship, social networks, power and politics, organizational demography and culture.

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