Program Description

The Management doctoral program at the Michael F. Price College of Business allows students to focus in one of the following areas:  strategic management, organizational behavior, human resource management, entrepreneurship, and organizational theory.  In developing expertise in your chosen area of study, the program leverages the knowledge and abilities of research faculty in related graduate programs at the University of Oklahoma (e.g., Marketing and Supply Chain Management, Management Information Systems, Industrial and Organizational Psychology). Students in the program are expected to develop a solid understanding of management theory across the areas of strategic management, organizational behavior/human resource management, entrepreneurship, and organizational theory as they increase their knowledge within a specific area of interest. In addition, students in the program receive rigorous training in basic and advanced statistics and research methodologies.

Curriculum

Program Requirements

The requirements for the Management doctoral degree involve doctoral coursework, a research-readiness requirement, a General Examination, and the successful completion of a dissertation. Most adequately-prepared doctoral candidates should be able to complete these requirements in a four-year time period, especially if they have already earned an MBA degree. Students without an MBA degree can satisfy foundational knowledge in the areas of Accounting, Finance, Marketing, Management, and Economics in a number of ways.

Graduate College requirements require 90 hours past the Bachelor's degree for the Ph.D. of which a maximum of 30 hours can be enrollment to pursue the dissertation.

Coursework

The doctoral program typically involves 45 hours of course work:

• 15 hours of statistics and research methods courses
• 12 hours of PhD seminars in Management
• 9 hours of an additional area of concentration (e.g., Strategic Management/Entrepreneurship, Organizational Behavior/Human Resource Management)
• 9 hours of elective courses

Sample Programs of Study

A sample program of study for a student studying Management with a concentration in Strategic Management/Entrepreneurship might look as follows:

                                   
A sample program of study for a student studying Management with a concentration in Organizational Behavior/Human Resource Management might look as follows:

Required Second-Year Research Paper

Each doctoral student must engage in an independent research project during the second summer of the student’s program of study.  The second-year paper should make a theory-based empirical contribution to the literature in the student’s field.  An additional objective of this requirement is for students to publish their paper in a top-tier journal, although the paper does not have to be published for the student to receive a satisfactory evaluation on this requirement.  A faculty member will supervise the research; however, the idea for the study, its design, and the empirical analyses are the responsibility of the student.  At the conclusion of the research, each student will prepare a manuscript for submission to the Divisional Ph.D. Committee and for presentation at a Divisional research seminar in the fall (this will usually take place during the first semester of the third year of the student’s program of study).

General Examination

After completing coursework and the research readiness requirement but prior to beginning the dissertation, each Management doctoral student must successfully pass a written exam covering their (1) major, concentration and elective coursework, (2) understanding of the Management research literature as represented in the doctoral course work and as approved by the Management Division's Standing Divisional Doctoral Advisory Committee, and (3) capability to create and justify a research design given an assigned phenomenon to be investigated.

Dissertation

Upon successful completion of the General Examination, a Doctoral Advisory Committee is constituted to oversee the formulation, completion and evaluation of each Management doctoral candidate's dissertation.