Course for PhD student

Teaching at Doctoral level

Course : Theory in Management
Code : GSM 6190
Credit Hour : 3
Prerequisite : Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) students
Duration : 14 weeks (3 hours / week)
Class Hour : Tuesday (6.30pm-9.30pm)
Instructor : Dr. Yee Choy Leong
Office : A315, Block A, Faculty of Economics and Management
Telephone : 603-8946 7731
E-mail : yee@econ.upm.edu.my


Course objectives

By the end of this course, students will be able:

To understand what theory is
To describe what consists of theoretical contributions
To critically evaluate a research paper
To explore theories from own field of studies
To identify what other has contributed in own field of studies
To studies the development of his/her own field of studies
To discuss and debate with confidence in the academic community
To become familiar with contributions of a research such a framework, model, tool, process, typology, matrix, etc.


Synopsis

This course is designed to assist the research students at the Doctoral level to become familiar with theoretical contributions in their field, to encourage provocative question asking, to contemplate various elements with the structure of a dissertation, to confront theory, to justify theory, to falsify other theories, and to enrich the existing theories. It enables students to demonstrate their ability to critically evaluate theory in research. Students will be able to develop their research paper evaluation skills, justifying contributions in research, debate with confidence academic advancement of their field of research.

This course introduces some basic knowledge in theory development and discusses some theories in the field of management. Research is a knowledge (theory) generation process, thus PhD students are exposed to the meaning of management theory, how to make a substantial theoretical contribution, and the theory building process. This is followed by the discussion on various topics of management studies from scientific management theory to information theory. The purpose is to expose PhD students with current issues and development of management theory and its opportunities for further research. In addition, the course will also aim to introduce terms use in the scientific theory development process such as philosophy of science (positivist, phenomenology, postmodernism), paradigm, tautology, school of thought, epistemology, ontology, etc. PhD students could also learn the way to capture and present their research outputs (in terms of management concepts and theories) with different forms and format such as framework, map, model, method, process, system, procedure, tool and technique. At the end of the course, PhD students are expected to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge in making (and justifying) their own original contribution in research without reinventing the wheel.

Conduct of the course

Student-Centered Learning (SCL) and Problem-Based Learning (PBL) classroom approach are used to achieve the objectives of the course. Thus, the instructional strategy of this course will have the following characteristics:

1) The starting point for learning is a research problem (or issue),
2) The problem is one that student are apt to face currently or in the future,
3) The knowledge that students are expected to acquire during this course is organized around problems rather than the disciplines,
4) being able to use knowledge appropriately is considered as important as acquiring the knowledge,
5) Students, individually and collectively, assume a major responsibilities for their own instruction and learning, and
6) Most of the learning occurs within the context of a small group rather than lectures.

Evaluation

Weekly readings and reports 45%
Term paper (dissertation review) 15%
Examination 40%
TOTAL 100%








Weekly reading, discussions and reports

This course explores selected topics from the different field of management. The reading material is mainly extracted from reputable sources and usually those established or useful theories, concepts, or practices in management. This reading material serves as foundations for presentation and discussion in class. Students are required to read, understand meaning, examine correctness, and evaluate theoretical contributions. Learning made in this course will be determined by class participation and discussion through assigned weekly readings as well as class tasks (such as presenting the summary, highlight the amount and substances of contributions).

Throughout the 14-week lesson, students will form small groups of two to four persons. Each group will lead a discussion for one article. Each session will cover a group of articles. Other groups would have to ask questions, participate in discussion, and comment the lead-group's presentation: the ways in which the lead-group presenting the article content, as well as the clarity, accuracy, knowledge about the subject area, understanding, learning, etc. For example, if the lead-group did not cover an important aspect of the article in which you think it is important, you should highlight it in the class. At the end of the session, each group (including the lead-groups) should submit a 3-page article review report to the lecturer on the respective weekly topics.

All reports must be completed in good English. Language proficiency will be one of the major factors in evaluation. The criteria used in grading the weekly discussions and reports are:

Presentation and discussions:
- Clarity
- Accuracy
- Knowledge about subject area
- Understanding
- Learning
- Participation
- Asking questions

Reports:
- highlight the amount and substances of contributions
- able to see the link between articles
- language proficiency (e.g. no grammatical errors)


Required dissertation review for the course

Students have to prepare a dissertation review report in this course. Students will be required to read, summarize, and evaluate a dissertation. Dissertations will be used as models for students to read and learn for the course. Each student will read a dissertation of his/her own field. The reading should cover all parts of the dissertation, such as introduction, objectives, research questions, contributions, scope, literature review, findings, discussion, conclusion and implication for theories and practices, etc (except for research methodology). For example, if the students have read the section ‘literature review’, then the review report should cover the following areas: what is considered a good literature review? How do the author frame their literature reviews? How does the structure of literature review relate to the dissertation objectives and theoretical framework? What did you learn from analyzing the literature in this dissertation.

To get a copy of dissertation, students are required to download dissertations from a reliable and established source such as UMI. Others sources will also be acceptable with permission of the lecturers. Students are also encouraged to choose dissertations of their potential supervisors (which is available from the UPM library). At the end of the reading of dissertation, students are expected to understand the role which theory plays in research, components/parts of dissertations, ways of making justifications of a research. The dissertation review report should comprise six parts: 1. The background issue of this research, 2. A significant research question and several secondary questions, 3. The aim and research objectives, scope, and possible deliverables, 4. Highlighting major literature (key papers, secondary papers, supporting papers), 5. Identification of research gap (significant of the research), 6. Findings, 7. Discussion and conclusion, 8. Implications to theory and practice (including how this research has met its objectives). Having examined the dissertation, students are also required to provide recommendations for further improvement.


Content

1. Generation of knowledge in research at the PhD level: Research, Thesis, and You
2. Foundation of Theory Development I: What is theory?
3. Foundation of Theory Development II: The meaning of theoretical contribution.
4. Foundation of Theory Development III: The theory building process.
5. The evolution of Scientific Management Theory: The Paradigm Shift.
6. Process School: From Management as Science to mgmt as applied science.
7. Resource-Based View: Sustainable competitive advantage.
8. Network Theory
9. Strategic Management Theory
10. Supply Chain Management
11. HRM and OB Theory.
12. Innovation Theory
13. Technology Roadmapping Theory,
14. Management Theory in Future


References

Academy of Management Journal (AMJ)
Academy of Management Review (AMR)
Administrative Science Quarterly (ASQ)
Harvard Business Review (HBR)
Strategic Management Journal (SMJ)
Journal of Operations Management (JOM)
International Journal of Production Economics (IJPE)
International Journal of Operations and Production Management (IJOPM)
European Management Journal (EMJ)
California Management Review (CMR)
The International Journal of Logistic Management (IJLM)
Journal of Supply Chain Management (JSCM)
Journal of Applied Behavioral Science (JABS)
Journal of Management (JM)
Organization Science (OS)
Management Science (MS)
Journal of Business Research (JBS)
Journal of Business Logistics (JBL)
Industrial Marketing Management (IMM)
Social Capital of Organizations
Technological Forecast & Social Change





Reading list

WEEK 1: GENERATION OF KNOWLEDGE IN RESEARCH AT THE PHD LEVEL: A RESEARCH, A DISSERTATION AND A CANDIDATE

Phillips, E.M. and Pugh, D.S. (2003) How to get a PhD: A handbook for students and their supervisors, 3rd ed. Open University Press.
Murray, R. (2004) How to survive your viva: Defending a thesis in an oral examination, Open University Press.
A sample PhD Dissertation

WEEK 2: The Foundation of Theory Development 1: What is Theory?
Christensen and Raynor. (2003) “Why Hard-nosed Executives Should Care About Management Theory?” Harvard Business Review (HBR)
Sutton and Staw (1995) What Theory is Not” Administrative Science Quarterly (ASQ).
DiMaggio (1995) “Comments on “What Theory is Not”, ASQ.
Weick (1995) “What Theory is Not, Theorising is” ASQ.


WEEK 3: The Foundation of Theory Development 2: The Meaning of TheorETICAL Contribution.
Van de Van (1989) “Nothing is Quite so Practical as a Good Theory”, Academy of Management Review (AMR).
Whetten D.A. (1989) “What Constitute a Theoretical Contribution”, AMR.
Bacharach (1989) “Organizational Theories; Some Criteria for Evaluation”, (AMR).
Kevin G. Corley and Dennis A. Gioia (2011) “Building theory about theory building: what constitutes a theoretical contribution?” AMR 36, 1, 12-32.


WEEK 4: The Foundation of Development 3: The Theory Building Process.
Christensen, C.M. and Sandahl, D. (2001) “The Process of Building Theory”, Working Paper 02-016 Division of Research, Harvard Business School (HBS).
Eisenhardt, K.M. and Graebner, M.E., (2007) “Theory building from cases: Opportunities and challenges” AMJ 50, 1, 25-32.
Christensen C. M. and Carlile, P.R. (2009) “Course research: Using the case method to build and teach management theory”, Academy of Management Learning & Education 8, 2, 240-251.
Davenport, T.H. (2009) “How to design smart business experiments” Harvard Business Review 87, 2, 68-76.

Additional readings:

- Carlile P.R. and Christensen C. (2005) “The Cycles of Theory Building in Management Research”, Version 6.0, January 6, 2005.
- Jason a. Colquitt and cindy p. Zapata-phelan (2007) trends in theory building and theory testing: a five-decade study of the academy of management journal, AMJ, 50, 6. 1281-1303

WEEK 5: Management theory
The evolution of Scientific Management Theory: The Paradigm Shift
Perow, (1973) “The Short and Glorious History of Organisational Theory”,
Chorn, (1991) “Organisations: A New Paradigm “, Mgmt Decisions.
Weiss, (2000) Taking Science out of Organisation Science: How Would Postmodernism Reconstruct the Analysis of Organisations?” Org Sc.
Goodrick, (2002) From Management as a Vocation to Management as a Scientific Activity: An Institutional Account of a Paradigm Shift”, Journal of Mgmt (JM).
Womack et al, 1991 “The Machine That Changed the World”. (Summary of a book).
Hamel, G. (2009) “Moon shots for management” Harvard Business Review 87, 2, 91-98.
Michael A. Pirson and Paul R. Lawrence (2010) “Humanism in Business – Towards a Paradigm Shift?” Journal of Business Ethics 93, 553-565.



WEEK 6: Process School: From Management as Science to mngt. as applied science.
a. Platts, (1993) “A Process Approach to Researching Manufacturing Strategy”, IJOPM.
b. Stuart et al, (2002) “Effective Case Research in Operations Management: A Process Perspective”, JOM.
c. Gregory (1995) “Technology Management; a Process Approach” Proc Instn Mech Engrs Vol 209.
d. Anneloes M. L. Raes, Mariëlle G. Heijltjes, Ursula Glunk, and Robert A. Roe (2011) “The interface of the top management team and middle managers: a process model”, AMR 36, 1, 102-126.


WEEK 7: RESOURCE-BASED VIEW: SUSTAINABLE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE.
a. Richard l. Priem and john e. Butler (2001) “Is the resource-based "view" a useful Perspective for strategic management Research?” AMR 26, 1, 22-40.
b. Jay b. Barney (2001) “Is the resource-based "view" a useful Perspective for strategic management Research? Yes” AMR 26, 1, 41-56.
c. Richard l. Priem and john e. Butler (2001) “Tautology in the resource-based view and the implications of externally determined resource value: further comments” AMR 26, 1, 57-66.
d. Prithwiraj Nath, Subramanian Nachiappan, Ramakrishnan Ramanathan, (2010) “The impact of marketing capability, operations capability and diversification strategy on performance: A resource-based view” Industrial Marketing Management, 39, 317-329.


WEEK 8: NETWORK THEORY
a. Shi and Gregory, (1998) “International Manufacturing Networks – To Develop Global Competitive Capabilities”, JOM.
b. Martinez et al, (2001) “Virtual Enterprises – Organization, Evolution and Control”, IJPE.
c. Gadde et al.,(2003)“Strategizing in Industrial Networks”, Ind Mkt Mngt (IMM).
d. Debbie Harrison and Frans Prenkert, (2009) “Network strategising trajectories within a planned strategy process” Industrial Marketing Management 38, 662-670.


WEEK 9: STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT THEORY
a. Wright, (1987) “A Refinement of Porter’s Strategies”, SMJ.
b. Porter, (1994) “Towards a Dynamic Theory of Strategy”, Harvard Business School Press.
c. Porter, (2001) “Strategy and the Internet”, HBR.
d. Mir and Watson, (2000) “Strategic Management and the Philosophy of Science: The Case for a Constructivist Methodology”, SMJ.
e. Burke, A., van Stel, A. and Thurik, R. (2010) “Blue ocean vs. five forces” HBR Vol. 88, Iss. 5, 28.
f. Venkat Ramaswamy and Francis Gouillart (2010) “Building the co-creative enterprise” HBR, Oct 2010, 100-109.


WEEK 10: SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT THEORY
a. Hines et al, (1998) “Value Stream Management”, IJLM.
b. Chen and Paul Raj, (2004) “Towards a Theory of Supply Chain Management: The Constructs and Measurements”, JOM
c. Yee and Platts (2006) “A Framework and Tool for Supply Network Strategy Operationalisation”, IJPE.
d. Katrina Lintukangas, SatuPeltola, and Veli-MattiVirolainen (2009) “Some issues of supply management integration” Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management 15, 240-248.


WEEK 11: HRM and OB THEORY.
a. Lepak and Snell, (1999)The Human Resource Architecture: Towards a Theory
of Human Capital Allocation and Development”, AMR.
b. Gary Johns (2006) “The essential impact of context on organizational behaviour” AMJ 31, 2, 386-408.
c. Erickson T.J. (2009) “Gen Y in the workforce” HBR Vol 87, Iss 2, 43-49.
d. Robert E. Ployhart and Thomas P. Moliterno (2011) “Emergence of the human capital resource: a multilevel model” AMJ 36, 1, 127-150.
e. Alex Bitektine (2011) “Toward a theory of social judgments of organizations: the case of legitimacy, reputation, and status” AMJ 36, 1, 151-179.

WEEK 12: INNOVATION THEORY.
a. Kaufman et al, (2000) “Collaboration and Technological Linkages: A Strategic Supplier Typology”, SMJ.
b. Mothe and Quelin, (2000) “Creating Competencies Through Collaboration : The Case of Eureka R & D Consortia”, EMJ..
c. Fernando F. Suarez and Gianvito Lanzolla (2007) “The role of environmental dynamics in building a first mover advantage theory” AMJ 32, 2, 377-392..
d. Ritala, P., and Pia, H-L., (2009) “What’s in it for me? Creating and appropriating value in innovation-related coopetition” Technovation, 29, 819-828.


WEEK 13: TECHNOLOGY ROADMAPPING THEORY – Applied research

a. Phaal et al, (2004) “Technology Road Mapping – A Planning Framework for
Evolution and Revolution”, Technological Forecast & Social Change.
b. Report on the interview with Graham Chrisnall, “Finding a strategic direction for technology at GNK”. Published in Pure Insight March 2008. Robert Phaal and David Probert.
c. Robert Phaal and David Probert, “Technology roadmapping: facilitating collaborative research strategy”, Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge, Research Report, 10 December 2009.
d. Report on Automotive Australia 2020 project.

WEEK 14: MANAGEMENT THEORY IN FUTURE.
a. Sara L. Rynes (2007) “Afterword: to the next 50 years” AMJ 50, 6, 1379-1383.
b. Thomas G. Cummings (2007) “Quest for an engaged academy” AMR 32, 2, 355-360.
c. Michael I. Reed (2009) “The theory/practice gap: a problem for research in business schools?” Journal of Management Development 28, 8, 685-693.
d. McAfee, A.P. (2009) “Shattering the myths about enterprise 2.0” Harvard Business Review Nov. 2009, Vol. 87, Iss. 11, 1-6.
e. Peter A. Bamberger and Michael G. Pratt (2010) From the Editors: Moving forward by looking back: reclaiming unconventional research contexts and samples in organizational scholarship, AMJ, 53, 4. 665-671.
f. Gerardo Okhuysen and Jean-Philippe Bonardi (2011) “Editors’ comments: the challenges of building theory by combining lenses” AMR 36, 1, 6-11.

.

Additional readings:

1. Witzel, Morgan (2009) Management history: Text and Cases. Routledge, London.
2. Czarniawska, Barbara (2006) Organization theory (Volume I & II): Current trends and disciplinary reflection [edited] Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, UK.Wren,
3. Daniel A. (2005) The history of management thought, 5th ed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. USA.
4. Robertson, Paul L. (1999) Authority and control in modern industry: theoretical and empirical perspective. Routledge, London.
5. Shafritz Jay M. and Ott, J. Steven (1992) Classics of organization theory, 3rd ed. [edited] Wadsworth Publishing Company, California, USA.
6. Paterson T.T. (1969) Management theory. Business Publication Limited, London.
7. Dessler, Gary (1992) Organization theory: Integrating structure and behaviour, 2nd ed. Prentice-Hall International Editions, New York.
8. Birkinshaw, Julian (2006) Strategic management (Volume I & II) [edited] Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, UK.
9. Monthoux, Pierre Guillet de (1993) The moral philosophy of management from Quesnay to Keynes. M.E. Sharpe, New York.