PhD in Management online or on-campus

Entrance Requirements

To enter the Doctor of Philosophy in Management program, a student must:

• Hold an MBA, master’s degree in a business-related field, or a master’s degree and substantial business-related work experience
• Have taken the GMAT or GRE and received an adequate score
• Have written a substantial research paper as evidence of academic writing.
  The paper may have been submitted for required course assignments or as a thesis in the student’s master’s degree program. This should be a paper written by the student alone, not a project by a team of students. This writing sample may be accepted as a substitute for scores on GMAT or GRE.
• At least two years of professional work experience in a business is preferred.

Additional requirements

Courses may include:

• Core curriculum
• MGT 601 Organizational Behavior Theory and Research
A review of the classic works in the Organizational Behavior (OB) literature, this course examines the main issues and questions addressed by OB since its inception in the late 1930s, including motivation, small group behavior, leadership, power, and organizational culture and change. Students will develop hypotheses for how expansion of consciousness influences organizational behavior. (2 credits)
• MGT 607 Assessing Human Development
Scientific measurement of individual characteristics provides a research framework for assessing individual and organization development toward higher states of consciousness. Development of the mind toward higher states of consciousness provides the natural foundation for enhancing employee performance, growth of enlightened leadership, and organization transformation toward sustainability. Topics include: the construction and use of valid and reliable assessment instruments. (2 credits)
• MGT 676 Organizational Development and Change
What are the findings of behavioral sciences regarding effective practices for the transformation of organizations and communities to achieve positive holistic outcomes more effectively? We examine selected research on topics such as understanding barriers and enablers, managing behavioral change, positive leadership, stakeholder engagement, and conflict resolution. Development of individual, organizational, and societal consciousness expresses itself in new management practices and forms of organization that enable organizations to innovatively address social and environmental needs. (4 credits)
• MGT 692 Seminar in Writing
This course prepares doctoral students to be competent in the conception, organization, writing, and presentation of scholarly works. (2 credits)
• MGT 677 Performance Management in Strategy Research
Through the study of articles in the current literature on business strategy, this course focuses on operationalization and measurement of research concepts while touching on management theories, research design, and statistical analysis methods. Topics include accounting measures, market measures, hybrid measures (risk-adjusted accounting measures and Tobin’s Q), and composite measures such as the balanced scorecard and sustainability measures. (2–4 credits) The 4-credit version includes a deeper reading of the literature.
• MGT 621 Literature Review
This course prepares students to conduct an exhaustive search of the peer-reviewed research literature in their topic area and identify potential areas of inquiry for their dissertation. The students learn to conduct effective literature searches, develop a plan for writing comprehensive, and synthesized reviews of research literature, critically review and write about the underlying theory/conceptual frameworks, identify gaps in the existing research knowledge base to lay the foundation for future research, and focus on developing a scholarly narrative supporting all points of view of the study. (4 credits)
• Research methods
• MGT 5240 Statistical Analysis for Researchers
In quantitative research, a key step is a statistical analysis to discern meaningful patterns in the study data and relationships between variables. This course provides a foundational understanding of statistical concepts and methods for data analysis and interpretation.
Topics include principles of statistical thinking for management research; numerical and graphical tools for describing and analyzing business data; the normal distribution, populations, and sampling; confidence intervals, hypothesis testing; correlation coefficients, and simple linear regression. (2–4 credits) Prerequisite: MATH 152 or the equivalent.
• MGT 628 Introduction to Multivariate Data Analysis
This course provides a conceptual introduction to the multivariate statistical methods most commonly used in management research in order to prepare students to critically read the quantitative management research literature and begin preparation of their own dissertation research proposal. Topics include: review of simple linear regression and correlation, multiple regression, logistic regression, discriminant function analysis, univariate comparison of means (analysis of variance), multivariate analysis of variance, principal components and factor analysis, path analysis and structural equation modeling, and multilevel modeling. (4 credits)
• MGT 631 Multiple Regression
This course examines contemporary procedures of applied multiple regression analysis for business data. Topics include: review of simple regression, hypothesis tests and confidence intervals, modeling nonlinear regression relationships, model specification strategies, diagnostic testing of model adequacy, robust regression, categorical explanatory variables, outliers and influential observations, path analysis, and logistic regression. (4 credits)
• MGT 635 Quantitative Research Design
This introductory course begins with the logic of causation and correlation in social science. We review the steps of scientific inquiry: literature review, theory development, operationalization and measurement of variables, data collection and analysis, interpretation, and write-up. Experimental and quasi-experimental research designs are treated specifically. Topics include: the types of validity, the “control” of extraneous influences by design or by statistical methods, and the relationship between research design and statistical testing. (4 credits)
• MGT 636 Qualitative Research Methods
Qualitative research is often used in research on complex behavioral systems and in the exploration of a new field of study. Using methods such as participant observation, unstructured interviewing, and the examination of documents, a scholar can form theories that may be later tested by quantitative methods or validated on other samples. Particular attention is given in this course to the methodology of grounded theorizing in multiple case studies and problems of data analysis, interpretation, and generalization. (4 credits)
• MGT 610 Survey Design
In this course, students learn the essential elements of developing, analyzing, and validating a survey instrument. The course will explore the options available to the researcher, examine the decisions to be made in designing a survey, and identify sources of error in survey research. The course will also establish how each aspect of a survey can affect its accuracy and credibility, and confront the practical problems of survey research, exploring the theoretical and methodological issues at stake. (2 credits)
• Additional courses
In addition to the required courses and credits listed above, 1 credit of MGT 679 Research Seminar in Management is required every semester. A student’s faculty advisory committee may require additional coursework as required for the student’s dissertation research.
• Qualifying exam and dissertation research
• MGT 690 Preparation for Qualifying Examination
This course provides the time necessary to prepare for the qualifying examination, which demonstrates research competence. It may be in the form of a research proposal, or in another form at the discretion of the program faculty. After successful completion of this examination, students advance to the status of PhD Candidate.(4 credits per block — may be repeated for credit until the qualifying examination is completed)
• MGT 700 Preparing the Dissertation Proposal
Having gained doctoral candidacy by completing the comprehensive and qualifying examinations, students prepare a proposal for a doctoral dissertation that is acceptable to their major professor and dissertation committee. (8 credits per semester — may be repeated for credit until dissertation proposal is accepted) Prerequisites: PhD candidate status and consent of the dissertation advisor
• MGT 701 Dissertation Research
Students conduct original research and prepare their dissertations. (8 credits per semester— may be repeated for credit until dissertation is completed). Prerequisites: approved dissertation proposal and permission of the dissertation committee

When the qualifying examination is successfully completed, the student is advanced to PhD Candidate status. When the dissertation proposal is accepted by the faculty, the student is advanced to PhD Researcher status. The amount of time required to complete the dissertation varies according to the research project. A public oral presentation and defense of the dissertation are required, as is acceptance of the dissertation by the dissertation committee, the Graduate School Director, and the Library Director. (See the dissertation manual.)

Current class schedule for the PhD in Management