Management

Effective management of complex, modern organizations requires an understanding of individual behavior, interpersonal and small group behavior and organizational structures and processes. The Ph.D. Program in Management provides research and training opportunities for all three levels of analysis. Our faculty have strong disciplinary roots in cognitive psychology and behavioral decision theory, social psychology, sociology and economics. Currently, our research and Ph.D. training focus mainly on three topics.

Judgment and Decision Making. The Fuqua School of Business is one of the leading centers for research on judgment and decision making. Members of the Management faculty have played leading roles in the fields of behavioral decision theory, decision analysis and group decision support systems. Current work in this area includes research on constructive processes in judgment and choice, the impact of uncertainty on judgment and choice, models of risk preferences and risk taking, the role of emotion in judgment and decision making, the role of memory and categorization processes in social judgments and decisions, information processing in group decisions, the application of behavioral decision models to traditional managerial topics such as goal setting, and the development of decision aids and information technology that will improve decision making processes in organizational and policy making settings.

Organizational Relationships and Interpersonal Processes. Our faculty are engaged in studies of organizational justice, trust in organizations, social perception and stereotyping, negotiation and conflict resolution. A common theme in our work in this area is an interest in understanding the social psychology of linkages within and between organizations, especially linkages that endure over time. Several of our faculty are engaged in research that examines how these processes play out across different cultural and ethnic contexts. Our "relationships" faculty includes several scholars who are prominent in social psychology as well as in management studies.

Organizational Forms. A central concern of management scholarship is the study of organizational design, strategy and the management of technology, innovation and change. Our faculty are particularly interested in the emergence of new organizational forms brought about from developments in information and communication technology, global interdependence of markets and economies, changing social and political climates, strategic reorientations and globalization of the business enterprise. We are studying changes in organizational structure, franchise relationships, professional collaboration, corporate governance, work task design and management of risk, learning and innovation. Our research is centered in the field of organizational science, with strong linkages to the disciplines of sociology, psychology, economics and information systems.