PhD Organizational Behavior Courses
OB 601. Organizational Ecology
Analysis of current theoretical developments in organizational ecology, including the emergence of categories and forms, structure and change in the niche, resource partitioning, and organizational change. Prerequisites: Enrollment in a PhD program. Cross listed: Sociology 366A
OB 630. Social Norms
This course covers research and theory on the origins and function of social norms. Topics include the estimation of public opinion, the function of norms as ideals and standards of judgment, and the impact of norms on collective and individual behavior. In addition to acquainting students with the various forms and functions of social norms the course will provide students with experience in identifying and formulating tractable research questions.
OB 670. Designing Organizational Research
This course provides a survey of design approaches for non-laboratory research within and among organizations. Students review research strategies, design, issues of measurement, archival and survey data collection and methods, dynamic models used to study continuous and discrete outcomes, and network data collection and methods, among other topics. Although the course includes aspects of statistical analysis as well as design, it is not a course in statistical analysis. (not offered in 2007-08)
OB 671. Social Psychology of Organizations
Analysis of current theoretical developments in organizational ecology, including the emergence of categories and forms, structure and change in the niche, resource partitioning, and organizational change. Prerequisites: Enrollment in a PhD program. Cross listed: Sociology 366A.
OB 672. Organization and Environment
This seminar considers the leading sociological approaches to analyzing relations of organizations and environments, with a special emphasis on dynamics. Attention is given to theoretical formulations, research designs, and results of empirical studies. Prerequisite: Enrollment in a PhD program. Also listed as Sociology 362.
OB 673. Perspectives on the Social Psychology of Organizations
This seminar focuses on topics relevant to organizational behavior, drawing on both social psychological and sociological research. We discuss how theories and methods change as levels of analysis change, with most focus at the organizational, "meso" (intermediate between micro and macro) level of analysis. Topics vary from year to year, but may include: organizational learning or routines; power; emotions in organizations; diversity and demography; organizational identity and legitimacy; culture; contagion and diffusion. Papers and discussion focus on theory development processes, and writing journal articles.
OB 674. Perspectives on Organization and Environment
This course examines the interaction between organizations and their environments. It is given every year by a different faculty member. What follows is the description of the course for the academic year 2007-2008. This course covers research and theory on the origins and function of social norms. Topics include the estimation of public opinion, the function of norms as ideals and standards of judgment, and the impact of norms on collective and individual behavior. In addition to acquainting students with the various forms and functions of social norms the course will provide students with experience in identifying and formulating tractable research questions.
OB 675. Micro Research Methods
The purpose of this course is to develop students’ skill at designing, executing, interpreting, and describing micro-organizational and social psychological research. The course takes a practical focus on questions such as how to identify and formulate a tractable research question, how to decide on an appropriate research design and strategy; how to operationalize independent and dependent variables, and how to build a research paper. (not offered in 2007-08)
OB 676. Social and Political Process in Organizations
This seminar focuses on cognition, attitudes, and behavior in organizations, drawing on social psychological and sociological research at the "meso" (intermediate between micro and macro) level of analysis. Topics vary from year to year, but usually include organizational learning and decision making; power and conflict; emotions in organizations; mobility, and stratification; gender inequality and discrimination; networks; organizational justice and legitimacy; cultural perspectives on organizations, and related topics. Prerequisites: Enrollment in a PhD Program. Cannot be audited or taken pass/fail.
OB 677. Perspectives on Justice
This year-long seminar focuses on the topic of social justice. The course reviews research across a range of disciplines on perceptions of equity, status, privilege, and discrimination. We will explore processes that shape individuals’ perceptions of inequity, how perceptions of inequity affect behavior, and how social identity affects the link between perceptions of inequity and behavior.
OB 678. Workshop in Behavioral Research
This year-long course takes a hands-on approach to learning about behavioral research. It will cover the entire process of behavioral research from idea and hypothesis generation to study design, analysis, and publication. The topical content will be customized to the specific interests of the enrolled students, but generally will be concerned with questions about behavioral phenomena in organizational contexts.
OB 682. Application of Hierarchical Linear Models in Behavioral and Social Research
The fundamental phenomenon of interest in educational research is the growth in knowledge and skills of individual students. Two facts –that children’s growth is typically the object of inquiry and that such growth occurs in organizational settings–correspond to two of the most troublesome and persistent methodological problems in the social sciences: the measurement of change and the assessment of multi-level effects (also referred to as the unit of analysis problem). Although these two methodological problems have distinct, long-standing, and non-overlapping literatures, these problems, in fact, share a common cause – the inadequacy of traditional statistical techniques for the modeling of hierarchy.
OB 683. Models of Social Dynamics
The course provides an introduction to several important theoretical and formal models in sociology, psychology, and organization theory. The purpose is, in part, to provide an overview of commonly used models. More important, participants will learn to read, criticize, and formulate models for their own research questions. The focus is on model development, deriving implications from models, comparing models, and on testing models. Topics include: Growth models, first passage models, Markov chain models, diffusion models, random walk and null models, models of decision processes, models of risk taking, models of learning.
OB 686. Seminar on Behavioral Organization Theory
This course focuses on organizational decision making from the perspective of bounded rationality. Students examine a variety of ways in which individual choice behavior is imperfectly rational, and the consequences for institutional behavior and policy outcomes. Implications for both public and private organizations are considered. Contrasts are drawn between models of bounded rationality and of full rationality; consequently some familiarity with theories of rational choice is desirable. Although the motivation for this cognitive approach to decision making is primarily empirical, the orientation of this course is primarily theoretical. After reviewing some of the principal empirical findings of (e.g.) Tversky and Kahneman, among others, the focus is on theories of organizational choice that build on those empirical findings. Many (not all) of the theories are expressed as mathematical or simulation models. Students are expected to have either a taste for, or at least a tolerance of, formal reasoning. (not offered in 2007-08)
