PhD

The doctoral program at Olin combines organizational behavior and strategy, two overlapping fields of research that both apply social science to understand the management of organizations.

"The OB and strategy group is all about interdisciplinary and collaborative research--across business disciplines and with other departments such as political science. PhD students are active participants in this research."

Jackson Nickerson
Frahm Family Professor of
Organization and Strategy

Organizational behavior examines how individuals and groups affect and are affected by organizations and the people in them.

Strategic management examines how organizations create and capture value, which arises from differing strategies, organizational designs, and environmental conditions.

Doctoral students at Olin work closely with faculty members in both fields to gain practical experience in the design and execution of research projects and in the communication of research findings within these two areas.

Olin has brought together a critical mass of young scholars with interests in teams, conflict management, and leadership. We can provide excellent opportunities for motivated graduate students to get involved in active research programs."

William P. Bottom
Joyce and Howard Wood Distinguished Professor of Organizational Behavior

Olin has a diverse and highly productive faculty in Organizational Behavior and Strategy. whose research has appeared in a wide range of leading organization and strategy journals including:

Administrative Science Quarterly

Academy of Management Journal

Academy of Management Review

Organization Science

Management Science

Strategic Management Journal

During the past three years alone, the total number of articles published by Olin faculty in leading journals places us among the 15 most-productive business schools worldwide; among the top 5 when one accounts for faculty size. (Analysis conducted using UT-Dallas online tool)

"The junior faculty organized a research workshop for the organizational behavior researchers to review work in progress with each other. About once every 2-4 weeks someone circulates a working paper which we read in advance. Then we met to discuss how it could be improved before it's submitted to a journal.

Often, a visiting speaker gives a related talk and then participated in our discussion session. This has been an invaluable resource for learning how research is done and improved, and how to review work critically yet constructively."

Alexandra Mislin, PhD 2006
Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior
The University of New York - Buffalo

While productivity is certainly one of Olin's goals, we focus even more on doing research that is impactful, relevant and successful in advancing both the science and practice of management. Olin faculty members develop and apply cutting-edge theory and methods from economics, psychology, and sociology in addition to management in order to address meaningful organizational problems.

Recent research projects have examined:

How teams of experts learn and develop new innovations
Performance benefits of team production
How leaders gain the trust of their subordinates, and how they can rebuild it once it has been lost
Performance impacts of organizational design choices
Research and development pipelines in the pharmaceutical industry
Changing nature of the employment contract
Methods of negotiation and conflict resolution

"We have developed a strategy group with strength in organizational economics and the economics of strategy. Few schools in the country can match our depth in these areas."

Todd R. Zenger
The Robert and Barbara Frick Professor of Business Strategy

Olin faculty have published this research in a wide range of leading journals including Administrative Science Quarterly; Academy of Management Journal; Academy of Management Review; American Journal of Political Science; Management Science; Journal of Applied Psychology; Journal of Conflict Resolution; Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization; Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization; Journal of Organizational Behavior; Journal of Political Economy; Leadership Quarterly; Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes; Organization Science; Research in Organizational Behavior; Strategic Management Journal; and Work and Occupations.

Please feel free to contact any faculty member in Organization and Strategy with questions you may have about the program.

"I had a unique opportunity to be part of Olin's PhD program in the field of Organization and Strategy. My interactions with Professors Todd Zenger and Jackson Nickerson provided me with a strong training not only on the specifics of my field, but also on how to write and position research papers."

Sérgio Giovanetti Lazzarini, PhD 2002
Professor of Organization and Strategy,
Ibmec São Paulo

Current OB and Strategy Students
Boumgarden, Peter
Campagna, Rachel
Kong, Dejun (Tony)
Yen, Chieh-Chung
Zhao, Peng

Illustrations of Collaborative Research by Olin PhDs

Hsieh, Chih-Mao
with S. Lazzarini and J. Nickerson, "Outsourcing and the variability of product performance: Data from international courier services."

Ma, Li
with J. Nickerson, "Envy, Social Comparison Costs in Organizations, and Managerial Levers to Mitigate These Costs."

with J. McLean Parks, "Power corrupts … or does it? The influence of power and gender on acceptability of negotiation tactics."

Mislin, Alexandra with W. P. Bottom, J. Holloway, G. Miller, & A. Whitford (2005). "Building a Pathway to Cooperation: Negotiation and Social Exchange between Principal and Agent." Accepted for publication at Administrative Science Quarterly

Faculty Members^*

Markus Baer
Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior
PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Organizational behavior, individual creativity and innovation, team, organizational level of analysis

William P. Bottom
Joyce and Howard Wood Distinguished Professor of Organizational Behavior
PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Organizational behavior, behavioral decision theory, negotiation

J. Stuart Bunderson
Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior
2003-2004 Marcile and James Reid Professor
PhD, University of Minnesota
Organizational behavior and theory, knowledge management coordination of specialized expertise

Kurt T. Dirks
Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior
PhD, University of Minnesota
Organizational behavior, trust in work relationships, feelings of ownership in the workplace, teams

Daniel Elfenbein
Assistant Professor of Organization and Strategy
PhD, Harvard University
Business Policy and Strategy, Entrepreneurship, Microeconomics/Industrial Organization, Organizational Economics, Management Strategy, Technology Management

Anne Marie Knott
Associate Professor of Strategy
PhD, University of California, Los Angeles
Strategy: Innovation, R&D, entrepreneurship, managerial value

Chris Long
Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior
PhD, Duke University
Organization fairness, organizational trust, organizational control within both traditional organizations and new organizational forms

Glenn MacDonald
Senior Associate Dean and John M. Olin
Distinguished Professor of Economics and Strategy
PhD, University of Rochester
Business Policy and Strategy; Diversity;
Microeconomics/Industrial Organization; Organizational Economics; Human Resource Management/Industrial Relations; Management Strategy; Negotiation; Organizational Change and Development; Technology Management

Jackson A. Nickerson
Professor of Organization and Strategy
PhD, University of California-Berkeley
Business strategy, organizational theory, new institutional economics, intellectual capital management, technology licensing

Judi McLean Parks
Reuben C. and Anne Carpenter Taylor Professor of Organizational Behavior
PhD, University of Iowa
Organizational behavior, conflict management and dispute resolution, psychological contracts and workplace justice

J. Lamar Pierce
Assistant Professor of Strategy
PhD, University of California, Berkeley
Business strategy and public policy, fraud and corruption, ethics, incentives

Raymond T. Sparrowe
2005-2006 Marcile and James Reid Professor and Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior
PhD, University of Illinois at Chicago
Leadership, informal relationships in organizations, group processes and outcomes

Jeroen Swinkels
August A. Busch, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Managerial Economics and Strategy
PhD, Princeton University
Competitive strategy, game theory, auctions and bidding

Todd R. Zenger
The Robert and Barbara Frick Professor of Business Strategy
PhD, University of California-Los Angeles
Economic theories of the firm, compensation, organizational design, business strategy, managing technology

* See the faculty directory for visiting professors and adjunct faculty.

See OB Working Papers