Overview
The doctoral program in Organizational Behaviour is designed to train students for an academic career with an emphasis on research. The field of OB focuses on understanding the behaviour of individuals, groups and organizations. This field uses theory and methods from a wide variety of disciplines including psychology, sociology, political science, anthropology, statistics and economics.
The research of our faculty and doctoral students reflects a wide range of interests, including: leadership, personnel selection, gender and diversity in the workplace, discrimination and prejudice, expatriate management, goal-setting, group learning and team processes, errors, high performance work systems, and organizational mindfulness.
Doctoral students take the full spectrum of PhD Foundation courses and Organizational Behaviour Special Field offerings. Courses offered by other non-business programs such as economics, psychology, statistics and sociology may be taken to augment the student’s knowledge of both methods and substantive areas. Other aspects of the program are tailored to fit the student’s own research, teaching and professional interests.
Areas of Research Focus
- Leadership
- Personnel selection
- Gender and diversity in the workplace
- Discrimination and prejudice
- Expatriate management
- Goal-setting
- Group learning and team processes
- Errors
- High performance work systems
- Organizational mindfulness
Post-graduate Opportunities
The doctoral program in Organizational Behaviour is designed for those interested in pursuing academic careers in organizational behavior at top business schools. Typical courses in the first two years are listed below.
Program Requirements
Students have program requirements, put into place by the PhD office, and discipline requirements, which are governed by the student’s respective area group. On a case by case basis, some students may be able to waive out of particular required courses or substitute others. Such a course of action must be approved by the PhD director
All PhD students must complete the following requirements.
- Attend “stats boot camp” (end of August at start of Year 1).
- Pass Bus 9702 Multivariate Analysis in Year 1.
- Pass Bus 9704 Research Methods in Year 1.
- Pass Bus 9712 Special Topics in Statistics before end of Year 2.
*The content of this course varies by year. Students are encouraged to take the course twice. - Earn 80% or more on Bus 9723 Summer Research Paper before start of Year 2 - Direct Entry Admissions only (i.e. admitted with only an undergraduate degree)
- Pass at least two PhD-level courses outside of Ivey before the end of Year 2 or before taking comprehensive exams, whichever is first. It is strongly recommended that at least one of these courses is an econometrics course.
- Shadow an Ivey professor for an entire undergraduate or MBA course. The associated professor must agree to make this a learning experience for the student (e.g. have conversations about pedagogy, be available for questions about curriculum etc.) and to provide written confirmation to the PhD office of attendance; OR
- Complete at least 20 hours of courses, workshops etc. at Western’s Teaching Centre.
*In consultation with the student, the respective PhD coordinator shall determine which option better suits the student's needs.
Discipline Requirements
All to be completed before the comprehensive exam:
- Bus 9806 Individual & the Organization
- Bus 9816 Group Behaviour & Cross-Level Research
- Bus 9826 Organizational Theory
*If further development is identified in any area, students may be required to take additional courses as requested by the student’s supervisor or the PhD coordinator. PhD students do not formally name their supervisor until they have passed their comprehensive exams. A doctoral student becomes a doctoral candidate only upon passing comps.
Milestones
This exam will be completed within 22 months of entering the program (normally written between June 1 and July 15 of Year 2). If the student fails this exam, he or she has up to one year to retake the exam. A second failure will result in being withdrawn from the program.
A student will chose a supervisor within one month of passing the comprehensive exam and will communicate the choice in writing to both the PhD coordinator and the PhD office, copying the supervisor.
Between passing comps and sitting the Thesis Proposal Exam (below), the student must form a Thesis Supervisory Committee (commonly referred to as the Proposal Committee). This committee consists of a supervisor and at least two additional faculty members who may or may not be in the student's program. Each must have SGPS membership and a majority of this committee must be composed of faculty who have doctoral-level membership with SGPS. The members of this committee must be confirmed by Dec. 31 of Year 3 (or no more than 6 months from passing comps, whichever is first). This committee “assists in the development of the candidate's research plan and thesis proposal, provides advice and criticism on the planning and writing of the thesis…” (more)
This exam is sometimes referred to as the proposal defense. Students must pass this exam within by August 31 of year 3.
This is effectively the last hurdle for PhD students that is commonly referred to as the thesis defence. Students have six years to finish their degree.
