MGMT645

041151

The primary purpose of this seminar is for students to become familiar with the foundations of Organization Theory. We first scrutinize what (organization) theory is and how it can be built before we move on to discuss specific strands of Organization Theory that are currently influential in management research.

This course adopts a multi-level understanding of Organization Theory, following a larger movement in the field of Organization Theory that conceptualizes organizations as multi-level entities. Although you will find that many of the readings emphasize the firm level, others explicitly address micro-, meso-, and/or cross-level processes.

In most sessions, we discuss both theoretical and empirical research, and we cover both classical and recent works.

Although this course has been designed with the needs of students in the Management and Organizations Department in mind, this course is appropriate for any doctoral student interested in understanding organizations. When developing this course, I did not assume that students would have any background in management theory, and students from other disciplines such as sociology, communication, and political science should feel welcome in the class.

GRD - Regular Grades A, B, C, D, E

Graduate

CE - CL (Cross Listed)