Program and courses Organization and Management Studies
Combine the latest insights and approaches from organization science, sociology, psychology, and business management. Learn to diagnose organizational problems and how to formulate research-based solutions to those problems. Apart from practical teamwork with frequent group assignments, you also learn through serious gaming.
Program structure
This one-year program consists of 60 credits (ECTS):
- 6 content courses (33 ECTS)
- 1 Master’s Seminar in Organization and Management Studies (3 ECTS)
- Master’s thesis (24 ECTS)
The program starts at the end of August.
Program content
Block 1: August - October
- Organizing Strategy and Entrepreneurship
Focus on organizations and their strategies, and develop a serious game based on a question brought in by a client organization.
Types of instruction: lectures, coaching, serious gaming sessions - Evidence Based Interventions
Develop behavioral, process and technological interventions based on cases and meta-analytic evidence from empirical studies.
Types of instruction: lectures, workshops, group assignments - Complexity within Organizations
While working in small teams, you analyze complex problems in real contemporary cases and present possible interventions.
Types of instruction: lectures, workshops - Societal Developments and Institutions
Analyze how societal developments affect industries and organizations.
Types of instruction: lectures, group assignments, group presentations, practitioner's report
Block 2: October - January
- Organizational Dynamics
Develop an intervention on teams in organizations and present it to the client organization you are studying. You will also host an intervention.
Types of instruction: workshops, group assignment - Interorganizational Relationships
Analyze real-life (organizational) network data to solve a case and present it to a consultancy firm.
Types of instruction: lectures, workshops, network assignment - Societal Developments and Institutions
Analyze how societal developments affect industries and organizations.
Types of instruction: lectures, group assignments, group presentations, practitioner's report - Master's Seminar Organization and Management Studies
Prepare for your Master's thesis by producing an Individual Research Proposal (IRP) on one of the pre-selected themes related to research programs of the department.
Block 3 and 4: January - June (Master's thesis)
During the second half of the Master's program, you will write your Master's thesis, supervised by a member of the department, and supported by your fellow students in Thesis Circles.
Thesis Circles
During the Master's thesis project, you will be assigned to a Thesis Circle consisting of a small group of students with similar research themes, supervised by one or more knowledgeable member(s) of the department. In this circle, individual research results are presented and discussed, and you give and receive feedback to and from your fellow students.
Examples of Thesis Circles are*:
- Gaming/simulation and open strategy
- Teams in organizations: what really makes them work?
- Intrafirm networks and innovation
- Dynamic composition of top management teams
- Complex collaboration and serious gaming
- Social hierarchy and teams
- Problems of organizing between organizations
- Organizing regional resilience
- Multiple-team membership in organizations
- Private equity and organizational issues.
* The themes are subject to change
Watch a trial lecture
You will find a detailed description of the courses and required literature in our course catalog.
Please note: programs are subject to change. We advise you to look up the current program in OSIRIS Student at the start of the year.
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Career Guidance
- You have the opportunity to do an Extended Master to deepen your knowledge and skills. The Extended Master's Program Organization and Management Studies is a 1.5-years program (90 ECTS) in which you’ll combine scientific research during the Master's thesis trajectory with in-depth work experience in an organization. This extensive experience will boost your position in the job market.
- Practical teamwork and real life cases are a key part of the program. In courses such as Organizing Strategy & Entrepreneurship, clients pose questions on how to intervene in complex problems, such as the United Nations Development Programme, which struggled with a 'systems thinking' aproach in some of its projects.
Short overview of Organization and Management Studies
You are trained to become an organizational analyst who is capable of critically identifying and analyzing organizational problems, and develop evidence and research-based interventions that guide adaptation processes in organizations.
- In this small-scale and interactive Master's program taught by leading scientists and experts in the field, practical teamwork is of great importance. You will give and receive feedback to and from fellow students in Thesis Circles, and you will participate in frequent group assignments in real-life settings.
- Deepen your knowledge and skills by doing an Extended Master's (18 months). This adds a one-year internship to your regular program with a wide range of companies to choose from. In the first semester, you will follow the courses of the regular Master's program.
- The Organizing for Global Social Challenges track gives you a different perspective on sustainable development based on the theories and methods pertinent to the Global Management of Social Issues discipline. This specialization focuses on the role of organizations in addressing global social challenges.
- In the Organizing and Managing Digital Transformation track you examine how digital technologies impact core organizational processes and reshape relationships between and within organizations. You will study how organizations respond, adjust, and navigate technological transformations from multiple perspectives.
- Throughout the program, you will put learned concepts into first-hand practical experience by using serious gaming.
Interested in the MSc Organization and Management Studies?
Check your eligibility and the deadlines for application