Management and Organizations

Ph.D. Program in Management & Organizations

More Information

Iowa's Ph.D. program in management and organizations (M&O) emphasizes individuals and teams as integral components in successful 21st-century organizations. M&O faculty are leaders in the areas of micro-organizational behavior (OB) and human resource management (HRM), gaining worldwide recognition for impactful research and leading the top journals in our field. Among are faculty are some of the "most published authors" in the two leading industrial-organizational psychology journals, the Journal of Applied Psychology and Personnel Psychology.

The faculty and doctoral students at Iowa partner to create a steady output of research published in top journals, win awards at the national and international level, and write books that become the foundation for Ph.D. curricula across the globe. The faculty includes top scholars in the areas of personality, meta-analysis, teams, person-environment fit, learning and knowledge transfer, leadership, expatriate management, employee-organization relationships, compensation, selection, employment testing, and human resource strategies. Each faculty member has a strong commitment to teaching and mentoring Ph.D. students.

Our newly revised Ph.D. curriculum provides students the opportunity to work one-on-one with some of the best people in the field of management and industrial-organizational psychology. We provide time within the curricula for mentored research, funds for doctoral student travel and research projects, and socialization experiences to prepare students for successful careers in academia.

Currently, there are approximately 14 students enrolled in the Ph.D. program. They hail from places such as Iowa, Colorado, Michigan, Oklahoma, Virginia, West Virginia, South Korea, and China. Many of our students have families and are attracted to Iowa City as a great place to raise children or allow their spouse to pursue additional education. Our program attracts an outstanding group of applicants each year from industry as well as undergraduate and MBA programs in management and psychology. Out of a typical pool of more than 100 applicants, we select 2-4 individuals who show the greatest potential for productive collaborations with faculty. Several of our students have won competitive University of Iowa fellowships that provide living stipends with no teaching responsibilities.

Course Work

Course work centers around three primary areas to provide students with a comprehensive view of the field and a diverse toolkit of research methods. Key courses in these areas are as follows:

Human Resource Management
  • Training and Careers 
  • Recruitment & Staffing in Organizations
  • Performance Management

Organizational Behavior

  • Group Processes & Conflict
  • Leadership
  • Motivation and Attitudes
  • Behavioral Decision Making

Research Methods

  • Measurement
  • Meta-Analysis
  • Experimental Design
  • Field Research
  • Qualitative Research Methods