PhDProgram Overview
Deadlines & Rules Major Fields Financial Awards
AdmissionCurrent PhD CandidatesPhDPhD
Patricia Morgan
Administrative Secretary
(315) 443-1001
pamorgan@syr.edu
 PhD

Academic Departments - Management

Program Goal

The goal of this program is to develop both research and teaching skills, preparing its graduates for a successful academic career. Under the guidance of nationally and internationally recognized faculty, PhD students in management explore the foundations of strategic management, organizational behavior, and organizational theory. PhD students are expected to conduct rigorous research publishable in the most esteemed journals of the field. In line with this aim, many of the readings associated with doctoral coursework are in high-quality publication outlets including, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Administrative Science Quarterly, Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational Science, and Strategic Management Journal.  Each student is expected to produce a publishable research paper by the end of their second year of study.

Accepted candidates are expected to complete their studies within four years and pursue their academic careers in other academic institutions. While research is the most critical component of the doctoral studies in finding academic positions and a further successful career, candidates in our program are also trained and prepared for the teaching duty at their new institutions. Each candidate can expect the following during their time at Whitman:

  • Tuition waiver during four years.
  • A competitive annual stipend to cover living expenses.
  • An opportunity to do research with visible scholars.
  • An experience in teaching fundamental courses in management in order to prepare for an academic position.

Program Requirements

The structure of the PhD program at the Whitman School of Management is comprised of major field coursework, supporting field coursework, and research methodology courses. Students begin a summer research project after the first year.  Students will typically specify interests in Strategic Management, Organizational Behavior, or Organizational Theory, and their application essays should reflect this.


Major Field

Students take the following four seminar courses. Additional advanced graduate courses may be required, depending on the student's background.

  • SHR 855 – Organization and Management
  • SHR 855 – Strategic Management
  • SHR 855 – Organizational Theory
  • A second advanced course in one’s major area (typically Strategic Management or Organizational Behavior)


Supporting Field

A minimum of nine credit hours of PhD level coursework in a related supporting field is required. Recent graduates, with the consent and advice of their advisors, have crafted minors in supporting disciplines such as economics, accounting, sociology, and social psychology.   


Research Methods

A minimum of 12 credit hours of advanced graduate level research methods courses must be completed. These will be determined in consultation with the major advisor, but typically includes BUA 990 Research Methods (3 credits). 


Summer Research Projects

Students begin a six credit hour summer research project during the summer following their first year in the program, and complete it by the end of the second year. The project is directed by a faculty mentor, with the aim of producing a paper of publishable quality. The final project is evaluated by the faculty mentor and one other faculty member in the major area and is an essential milestone.


Recent Doctoral Student Achievements (student names in bold)

Papers by management doctoral students coauthored with management faculty

  1. Arora, P. & Dharwadkar, R.  2010.  Corporate governance and corporate social responsibility: The moderating roles of organizational slack and attainment discrepancy.  Corporate Governance (forthcoming).  A previous version of the paper appeared in Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings. 
  2. Goranova, M., Dharwadkar, R., & Brandes, P.  2010.  Owners on both sides of the deal: Mergers and acquisitions and overlapping institutional ownership.   Strategic Management Journal, 31(10): 1114-1135.  A previous version of the paper appeared in Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings and received Distinguished Paper Award and Nomination for the Glueck Best Paper Award, Business Policy and Strategy Division.
  3. Dharwadkar, R., Goranova, M., Brandes, P., & Khan, R.  2008.  Institutional ownership and monitoring effectiveness:  It’s not only what you own, it’s also what else you own.  Organization Science (Special Issue: Corporate Governance), 19: 419-440.   
  4. Brandes, P., & Goranova, M., & Hall, S. (Director, Steven Hall and Partners).  2008.  Navigating shareholder influence: Gaining shareholder approval of compensation plans.  Academy of Management Perspectives, 22(1): 41-57.
  5. Das, D., Dharwadkar, R., & Brandes, P.  2008. The importance of being 'Indian': Identity centrality and work outcomes in offshored call centers in India. Human Relations, 61:1499-1530.  A previous version of the paper appeared in Academy of Management Best Paper Proceedings. 
  6. Hadani, M. with Fried Y., Grant, A., Levi, A., and Slowik, L.H. 2007. Placing the job characteristics model in context: The contributing role of time. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 28, 911-927
  7. Goranova, M. with Alessandri, T., Brandes, P., and Dharwadkar, R. Managerial Ownership and Corporate Diversification: A Longitudinal Examination. Strategic Management Journal, 28: 211-225, 2007.
  8. Brandes, P., Hadani, M., & Goranova, M.  2006.  Stock option expensing: An examination of agency and institutional theory explanations.  Journal of Business Research, 59: 595-603.
  9. Arora, P. Administrative reforms in India: Need for systems approach to problem-solving. International Public Management Review Vol. 7 Issue 2, 2006.
  10. Das, D. Brandes, P., and Dharwadkar, R. Understanding the rise and fall of stock options compensation: Taking principal-agent conflicts to the institutional (battle) field. Human Resource Management Review, 15(2), 2005.
  11. Khan, R., Dharwadkar, R., & Brandes, P.  2005.  Institutional ownership and CEO compensation:  A longitudinal examination.  Journal of Business Research, 58(8): 1078-1088.
  12. Brandes, P., Dharwadkar, R., & Wheatley, K.  2004.  Social exchange within organizations and work outcomes: The importance of local and global relationships.  Group and Organization Management, 29(3): 276-301. 


Recent management doctoral student presentations

  1. Byron, K., Zingoni, M., & Peterson, S. J. The relation of employees' self-rated and coworker-rated social skill to job performance. 2010 Academy of Management Annual Meetings, August 2010, Montreal, Canada.
  2. Deb, P., & Dharwadkar, R. “Cutting the Gordian knot: Ownership, underpricing, and their implications for liquidity in IPO firms”, 2010 Academy of Management Annual Meetings, August 2010, Montreal, Canada.
  3. Lebrón, M.J. Strategic sabotage and firm performance: Top management team and middle management power influence. 2010 Academy of Management Annual Meetings, August 2010, Montreal, Canada.
  4. Byron, K., Zingoni, M., & Peterson, S. J. Believing you’re socially skilled even when others don’t think so. Twenty-Fifth Annual Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference, April 2010, Atlanta, Georgia.
  5. Zingoni, M., Byron, K., & Peterson, S. J. A meta-analytic investigation of self-rated social skill. Twenty-Fifth Annual Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference, April 2010, Atlanta, Georgia.
  6. Das, D. & Brandes, P.  Differential outcomes of dual identification – A case of the Indian call center industry.  Symposium for the Academy of Management Meetings, 2010.
  7. Byron, K., Mullins, F. I., & Fried, Y. It's a matter of respect: A model of the dimensions, process, and consequences of workplace civility. 2009 Academy of Management Annual Meetings, August 2009, Chicago, Illinois.
  8. Laurence, G.A. (with Fried, Y., Sliwinski, M., and Slowik, L. M.) ‘My space’: Personalization in the context of workspace characteristics, privacy, and employee reactions. 2009 Academy of Management Annual Meetings, August 2009, Chicago, Illinois.
  9. Laurence, G.A. (with Byron, K.) I am similar to and different from you: How workspace personalization signals identity. 2009 Academy of Management Annual Meetings, August 2009, Chicago, Illinois.
  10. Lebrón, M.J. “A Schumpeterian typology for green entrepreneurship innovation.” 2009 Academy of Management Annual Meetings, August 2009, Chicago, Illinois.
  11. Lebrón, M.J. & Arora, P. “Corporate sustainability antecedents: Governance, board monitoring and environmental regulation.” 2009 Academy of Management Annual Meetings, August 2009, Chicago, Illinois.
  12. Deb, P., Wiklund, J., & Dharwadkar, R., & McKelvie, A. “CEO ownership and founder status as antecedents of entrepreneurial orientation: A contingency based approach”, 2009 Academy of Management Annual Meetings, August 2009, Chicago, Illinois.
  13. Byron, K., Mullins, F.I, & Fried, Y. It’s a matter of respect: A model of workplace civility. Twenty-Fourth Annual Society of Industrial and Organizational Psychology Conference, April 2009, New Orleans, Louisiana.
  14. Laurence, G.A. Immigrant song redux: Disadvantage, cultural cross-vergence, and impacts on immigrant entrepreneurship. 2008 Academy of Management Annual Meetings,  August 2008
  15. Arora, P., & Laurence, G.A.  (with Haynie, J. M.) Counterfactual thinking and entrepreneurial self efficacy: A contingency model.  Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference, 2008
  16. Dharwadkar, R., Brandes, P., & Mullins, F.  Corporate governance and development-oriented human resource management: The implications of governance mechanisms’ valuation potential and temporal orientation. 2008 Academy of Management Meetings, August 2008.
  17. Goranova, M., Dharwadkar, R., & Brandes, P.  Owners on both sides of the deal: Mergers and acquisitions and overlapping ownership. 2008 Academy of Management Meetings, August 2008.
  18. Dharwadkar, R., Goranova, M., Brandes, P., & Khan, R.  Institutional ownership and monitoring effectiveness: It’s not just what you own, but what else you own.  Invited.  Conference on Corporate Governance at Northwestern University, 2007. 
  19. Das, D., Dharwadkar, R., & Brandes, P.  The importance of being 'something': Identity centrality and work outcomes in offshored call centers in India.  Best International Paper award from the OB Division of the Academy of Management, 2007 Academy of Management Meetings, August 2007, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 
  20. Das, D. (with A. Levi, Slowik, L., and Cerdin, J.L. Persistence in a career goal hierarchy across time as a function of advancement probability, locus of control, and future orientation: an exploratory study. 2005 Academy of Management Meetings, August 2005.
  21. Das, D. (with Fried, Y. & Dharwadkar, R.). "When do they leave? Exploring some triggering moderators in the commitment turnover relationship." 2005 Academy of Management Meetings, August 2005.
  22. Goranova, M. (with Khan, R., Dharwadkar, R., & Brandes, P.). It's not just how much you own: it's who else you own. 2005 Academy of Management Meetings, August 2005
  23. Hadani, M. (with Brandes, P.). Riding the stock option roller coaster: How closely do employee attitudes and behavior track with stock options' value? 2005 Academy of Management Annual Meetings, 2005
  24. Hadani, M. (with Dharwadkar, R.). The levels and tactics of corporate political activity: ownership considerations in an institutional context. 2004 Academy of Management Meetings, August 2004.
  25. Hadani, M. &  Goranova, M. (with Brandes, P.). Disclosing the price of a free lunch: agency & institutional explanations for stock option expensing. 2004 Academy of Management Meetings, 2004.
  26. Goranova, M. (with Reed, K. and Senjem, J.).  Is profitability linked to social networks in new hollywood film ventures?  2003 Academy of Management Meetings, August 2003.
  27. Hadani, M. (with Brandes, P. and Senjem). Do non-executive stock options really produce positive work outcomes?  2003 Academy of Management Meetings, August 2003.
  28. Khan, R. (with Alessandri, T.). The interaction between industry- and firm-level risk: conflict between agency theory and behavioral theory.  2003 Academy of Management Meetings, August 2003.


Recent completed dissertations by management doctoral students

  1. “Workaholism and expansion and contraction oriented job crafting: The moderating effects of individual and contextual factors” by Gregory A. Laurence (2010)
  2. “On both sides of the deal: How does overlapping institutional ownership affect mergers and acquisitions” by Maria Goranova (2007)
  3. “Globalization and the theater of work: Exploring identity dynamics in Indian international call centers by Diya Das (2007)
  4. "Governance mechanisms and corporate political activity: Ownership considerations in a non-market context" by Michael Hadani (2006)
  5. "The effects of heterogenous and discontinuous ownership and options compensation on managerial behavior: An extension of agency theory" by Raihan Khan (2004)
  6. "Implementing an innovation strategy: The effects of strategic leadership compensation, governance, and composition" by Kathleen Wheatley (2001)
  7. "People as a competitive edge: Examining the empirical relationship between human resource flexibility and firm performance" by Mousumi Bhattacharya (2000)
  8. "The role of social capital and structural arrangements in explaining intercompetitor behavior" by Anat BarNir (1998)


Book chapters

  1. Das, D. & Dharwadkar, R.  2008.  Cultural mimicry and hybridity: On the work of identity in international call centers in India.  In S. Banerjee, V. Chio, & R. Mir.(Eds.), Organizations, Markets, and Imperial Formations: Towards an Anthropology of Globalization.  Edward Elgar. 
  2. Fried, Y., Levi, A.S., & Laurence, G. 2008. Motivation and job design in the new world of work.  In C. Copper & S. Cartwright (Eds), The Oxford Handbook of Personnel Psychology. Oxford University Press.
  3. Fried, Y., Levi, A.S., & Laurence, G.  2007. The job characteristics model and
    LMX-MMX leadership. In J.B. Graen (Ed), LMX Leadership: The Series, Volume 5: 157-197. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.
  4. Fried, Y., Snider, C., Hadani, M. & Levi, A. 2006. Job design.  In S.G. Rogelberg (Ed.) The Encyclopedia of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Vol 1: 392-395. Thousand Oaks, CA:  Sage Publishing.
  5. Das, D. , Hadani, M., & Brandes, P. Organizational cynicism: A field examination using global and social exchange relationships and workplace outcomes." In G. Graen & J. Graen (Eds.), Sharing Network Leadership. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing, 2006.
  6. Brandes, P. & Das, D.  2006.  Locating behavioral cynicism at work: Construct issues and performance implications.  In P. Perrewe & D. Ganster (Eds.), Research in Occupational Stress and Well Being, vol. 5: 233-266.  Amsterdam, The Netherlands: Elsevier. 
  7. Lebrón, M. 2004.  Leading for change. In S. Hurd & R. Stein (Eds.), Building and Sustaining Learning Communities: 110-120. Bolton, MA: Anker Publishing.


Recent grants awarded to management doctoral students.

  1. Mariana J. Lebrón: Whitman 2010 Summer Research Award; “Strategic sabotage and firm performance: Top management team and middle management power influence.”
  2. Palash Deb: Whitman 2010 Research Award; “The influence of patent signals on investor reactions in IPO firms.”
  3. Palash Deb: Whitman 2009 Research Award; “Cutting the Gordian Knot: Ownership, Underpricing, and their implications for liquidity in IPO firms.”
  4. Gregory A. Laurence: Whitman 2008 Summer Research Award; “Workspace personalization, perceived privacy, and employee outcomes: An extension and test of theory.”
  5. Frank Mullins: Whitman 2007 Summer Research Award; “Human capital, commitment-based HR practices, and the absorptive capacity of the firm.”
  6. Diya Das: Whitman 2007 Summer Research Award; “Globalization and the theater of work: Exploring identity dynamics in Indian international call centers.”
  7. Maria Goranova: Whitman 2007 Summer Research Award; “On both sides of the deal: overlapping institutional ownership and mergers and acquisitions.” 


Recommended Readings

  • Writing for Scholarly Publication by Anne Huff (Sage Publications)
  • Approaches to Social Research by Royce Singleton & Bruce Straits (Oxford University Press)
  • A Guide to Econometrics by Peter Kennedy (MIT Press)
  • The Craft of Research by Wayne Booth, Joseph Williams, and Gregory Colomb (University of Chicago Press)

For more information on faculty members, please consult the Whitman School of Management website.