Core Course
PM1100 – Theoretical Foundations of Management Research
Course Unit Code: PM1100
Type Of Unit: Core
Level of Course Unit: Doctoral
Year of Study: First year
Semester: Fall
Number of ECTS Credits: 10
Mode of Delivery
Face to Face
Prerequisites
At least three MBA/MSc courses in their chosen functional area of research
Course Objectives
The course is designed as a primer and aims at providing PhD students with a robust theoretical understanding of organizations, organizing, management, and the fundamentals of organizational behavior. It will offer an overview of contemporary theories about organizations, their management and organizing processes, intraorganizational relations, organization-environment relations, and the role of organizations in society. PhD students will acquire knowledge about organization and management theories they will have to apply in their future research. After a successful completion of the course, the PhD students are enabled to select theories relevant for their specific research focus. Furthermore, they are enabled to decide which theories they may elaborate in more in depth through specialized textbooks, readings, or courses.
The immediate outcome is a framework that would help a scholar-in-training to understand the intellectual forces that shape management research regardless of its specific focus on human resources management or operations management or financial management or marketing management etc. This course is designed to complement more specialized and depth-oriented field seminars that introduce the students to the substantive literature in the areas of their choice leading to dissertation research.
Learning Outcomes
On completion of the course the students are expected to have:
- Fully comprehend the epistemology of management, notions of scientific inquiry, theory, models and their role in the study of management
- Master the major approaches to theory building, hypothesis testing, and ways of understanding phenomena, particularly as they apply to work and organizational settings
- Explore the different schools of management thought and learn the meaning of management as revealed in each school of thought
- Analyse the commonalities and differences in the meaning of management in each school of thought and work toward a developing a theory of management that is abstract, fundamental, and integrative
- Survey the literature in their chosen field o management, and critically evaluate the field and then derive a theory of management relevant to that field
- Critique the theory and derive theoretical propositions that would flesh out that theory as to be employed as the theoretical foundations of the students doctoral research .
Course Content
- Introduction to organization & management theories
- Macro theories of organization & management
- Micro theories of organization & management
- Theories of international management
- Theories of entrepreneurship and innovation
- Theories of managerial cognition, learning and adaptation
- Theories in the chosen field of doctoral research
Course Features
Lectures; in-class discussions and debates; in-class exercises; presentations.
The course requires extensive reading (see Course Schedule section). The readings will be made available to students in advance of the classes electronically. Class meetings will involve group discussions of the assigned readings, punctuated with lectures and/or presentations. Each student will be responsible for summarizing and leading discussion on one or more assigned readings in class.
Research paper: the student will research the notion of management and critique the theories of management that energize the selected field, and propose a theory of management that would shape that field in the future. The field can be financial management, human resources management, organizational behaviour, strategic management, operations management, marketing management, any functional field. It will lead to a survey of the literature in that field, a critical evaluation of the field and then derivation of a theory of management relevant to that field, a critique of that theory and some theoretical propositions that would flesh out that theory. Another variant of this model is to develop a theory of best practice in their chosen fields.
Readings
Scherer, Andreas Georg. Chapter 2, Critical Theory and its Contributions to Critical Management Studies. The Oxford Handbook of Critical Management Studies.
Hausman, D.M. (1989). Economic methodology in a nutshell. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 3, 2, 115-127.
Shafritz, J. M., Ott, J. S., & Jang, Y. S. (2015). Classics of organization theory. Cengage Learning
Kerlinger, F.N. (1979). Behavioral research: A conceptual approach. New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston. Chapters 1-5
Locke, E.A. (2007). The case for inductive theory building. Journal of Management, Vol. 33, No. 6, December 2007, pp. 867-890.
Bacharach, S.B. (1989). Organizational theories: Some criteria for evaluation. Academy of Management Review, 14, p.496-515.
Campbell, J. P. (1990). The role of theory in industrial and organizational psychology. In M.D. Dunnette and L.M. Hough (Eds.), Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (2nd ed.), Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc.
DiMaggio, P.J. Comments on What theory is not. Administrative Science quarterly, 40, 3, 391-397.
Dubin, R. (1976). Theory building in applied areas. In M. Dunnette (Ed.), Handbook of Industrial-Organizational Psychology. New York: McNally.
Klein, K.J., Dansereau, F., & Hall, R.J. (1994). Level issues in theory development, data-collection, and analysis. Academy of Management Review, 19, 2, 195-229;
Sutton, R.I. & Staw, B.M. (1995). What theory is not. Administrative Science quarterly, 40, 3, 371-384.
Weick, K. (1995). What theory is not, Theorizing is. Administrative Science quarterly, 40, 3, 385-390.
Miner, J.B. (2003). The Rated Importance, Scientific Validity, and Practical Usefulness of Organizational Behavior Theories: A Quantitative Review, Academy of Management Learning and Education, 2(3), 250-268
Hambrick, D.C. (2007). The field of management’s devotion to theory: Too much of a good thing. Academy of Management Journal, 50, 6, 1346-52
Koontz, H. (1996). The management theory jungle. In Matteson, M. & Ivancevich, J.M. (Eds.) Management and Organizational Behavior Classics (6th ed.), p. 18-34. Irwin: Toronto
Pfeffer, J. (1996). The ambiguity of leadership. In Matteson, M. & Ivancevich, J.M. (Eds.) Management and Organizational Behavior Classics (6th ed.), p. 301-313. Irwin: Toronto
Taylor, F.W. (1996). What is scientific management? In Matteson, M. & Ivancevich, J.M. (Eds.) Management and Organizational Behavior Classics (6th ed.), p. 3-6. Irwin: Toronto
Scott, W.G. (1996). Organization theory: An overview and an appraisal. In Matteson, M. & Ivancevich, J.M. (Eds.) Management and Organizational Behavior Classics (6th ed.), p. 134-155. Irwin: Toronto.
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