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Fields of Study: Management & Organization
Organizational Behavior/Human Resource Management (OB/HR)
The field of Organizational Behavior/Human Resource Management (OB/HR) deals
with the behavior of individuals and groups within organizations, and investigates
the enhancement of the effectiveness of an organization’s human resources in order
to gain competitive advantage and achieve organizational goals. Specific topics
of OB study include personality/dispositions, emotion and affect, motivation, social
concept and identity, decision making and cognition, justice and trust, organization
and work attachment, leadership, groups and teams, and organizational culture and
climate. Also, studies in HR encompass job analysis, recruitment, selection, training
and development, performance appraisal, compensation, quality of work life, workforce
diversity, and strategic human resource management.
Program Requirements
Major Specification (18 credits)
Students are required to take nine substantive courses (2 credits each), including
one OB foundation course to be offered every Winter semester (students are supposed
to take it during winter of their 1st year), and 7 additional 2-credit seminars
in various OB/HR content areas, such as Motivation, Leadership, Teams, Conflict
Management, Decision Making, Training and Performance Management, Strategic Human
Resource Management, Emotions, or other topics offered based on faculty expertise.
Limited to two credits (in substitution for one of the above courses, with departmental
permission), students may also take Students Presentations Series (SPS; 1 credit),
Career and Professionalization Seminar Series (CAPSS; 1 credit), or a new content
course (2 credits). Students are required to attend and participate in the SPS and
CAPSS sessions – even with no course credit – each semester during the program –
as these sessions will focus on developing critical research and career-related
knowledge, skills, and attitudes.
Minor Specification (12 credits)
Subject to approval by the Ph.D. Faculty Representative, students may choose
a set of courses for their minor (12 credits total) that significantly enhances
their ability to make scientific contributions to their major field and that will
improve their placement prospects. These courses could be from within M&O, other
departments within Smith, or outside of Smith. We strongly advise that these courses
be a “deep dive” into a particular area. This does not necessarily mean that the
courses must be all within one department, but the choice should not be overly broad
(i.e., a set of courses that have little apparent connection). Students can elect
(with departmental permission), to take a different minor, such as information technology
(IT), I/O or social psychology, economics, etc. The courses that make up the minor
must be a Ph.D. level research-oriented course—rather than MBA or master’s level.
This option can often encompass a selection of courses both inside and outside the
department. For example, many students in OB/HR take one or more courses in the
Psychology Department, but other options, such as information technology, strategy,
sociology, or economics are also possible.
Research Methodology (Research Tools) Requirement (15 credits)
Students are required to take the following research methods courses:
- Two research foundation courses (2 credits each) that cover basic topics from
micro (OB/HR) and macro (Strategy/Entrepreneurship) views; to be offered every Fall
semester for 1st year students
- One of the following two statistics course sequences during 1st year (6-8
credits)
- Two courses from the Psychology Department: PSYC 601(Quantitative Methods 1)
and PSYC 602(Quantitative Methods 2)
- Two courses from the Education Measurement and Statistics Department: EDMS 646
(Quantitative Methods 2/ANOVA), or EDMS 651(Applied Multiple Regression Analysis)
- At least three out of six short courses of advanced methods topics (1 credit
each); students are supposed to take the at least three credits prior to the end
of the 2nd year in the program. Courses will cover such topics as factor analysis
and structural equation modeling, mediated and moderated regression, social network
analysis, multilevel modeling, and other advanced topics.
- Remaining credits can be taken either from the six 1-credit modules or elsewhere
on campus—e.g., EDMS 657(Factor Analysis), EDMS 722 (Structural Equation Modeling)
or EDMS 771 (Multivariate Statistics)
First Year Research Paper Requirement
- By August 31 at the end of the summer term of the first year, students must submit
a satisfactory theoretical paper.
Second Year Research Paper Requirement
- By August 31 at the end of the summer term of the second year, students must
submit a satisfactory paper based on empirical research.
For academic issues, contact:
Dr. Hui Liao
Associate Professor of Management and Organization
Email: hliao@rhsmith.umd.edu
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