Joint Program Overview
The doctoral program in Management and Sociology combines the Kellogg School’s Management and Organization department’s expertise in business organizations with the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences sociology department’s strengths in economic, comparative-historical and cultural sociology. The joint program attracts students who want to study business organizations using a sociological perspective on markets, institutions, firms or stratification, or who wish to apply management and strategic theory to core problems in sociology such as social movements, the production of culture, entrepreneurship, social networks, gender and race inequality in organizations, globalization or other topics that bridge management, strategy and economic sociology.

The joint program’s research and career advantages build on the possibilities that come with applying disciplinary training to the new intellectual space between management and sociological theory. The formal degree synthesizes competencies of both programs, creates formal connections that facilitate a student’s access to faculty and department resources in a way that would be difficult through an informal sampling of courses; and furnishes students with an expanded choice of career and research options in professional schools and schools of arts and sciences.

Faculty from both departments actively participate in the joint program. Each student's program is set up collaboratively with faculty advisors from the two departments. The joint doctoral program is designed as a four- to five-year program. Students take 15 required courses in sociology, organization behavior, and related fields. Depending on the student's background, course work may be waived or substituted with permission.

Program of Study
The joint program develops students' theoretical knowledge and methodological skills for careers as successful and productive researchers. Students actively engage in research projects throughout their entire graduate program. In addition, there is a required set of courses to help students build their theoretical knowledge base.

The First Year
Students choose a faculty adviser and work on research under his or her supervision. Faculty advisers provide students with the opportunities to get involved in research and help them choose their elective courses. In addition to their coursework, students are expected to work on research projects with their advisers and, possibly, with other faculty. They also may initiate their own research projects, but this is not expected in the first year. First-year students take courses in the fall, winter and spring quarters.

In August of the first year, students take preliminary exams that cover the content of the core curriculum in management. The format of the exams is open-book and open-notes; answers are written. The exam tests students’ knowledge of organization behavior theory and sociological theories of organizations, as well as the ability to develop testable research ideas. The preliminary exam is taken with the MORS students in your cohort. There is no preliminary exam in the sociology department.

The Second Year
In September/October of the second year students make a 30-minute oral presentation to the MORS department in which they report on the research they conducted with a faculty member during their first year. In the second year, students conduct an independent research project supervised by a faculty adviser. A draft paper reporting the findings of the research is due by June 1, at the end of the second year. The final version is due Aug. 1. It must be read and formally approved by the student¹s faculty adviser and two additional department faculty members. The committee must include members of both the MORS department and the department of sociology. The topic must cover an issue germane to management and sociology. In addition to these second-year research activities, students continue to participate in the General Research Seminar (GRS), complete course requirements and develop expertise in their own areas of interest.

Students also maintain involvement in faculty and other research projects. The second year offers students the opportunity to begin serving as course assistants for the core Management and Organizations course, Leadership and Organizations. This provides students with valuable exposure to the material in the core Management and Organizations master’s class. It also allows students to observe teaching techniques and to develop courseware useful upon graduation. Students may also take Sociology 570 as preparation to TA for undergraduate sociology classes.

The Third Year
Early in the third year students present a formal talk in the GRS, typically highlighting the final version of their second-year paper. Third-year students are expected to continue to actively participate in the GRS.

Students must complete a third-year special field paper requirement that involves working with one or two selected faculty members, defining a topic, assembling a bibliography, and then writing a 30-35 page review essay surveying the literature on that topic (these are typically modeled after Annual Review of Sociology articles). Many students enroll in SOC 499 as they work on this paper. Also, students begin to develop a dissertation project. This planning involves intensive reading in relevant literatures, investigating options for collecting data and developing a research design, all under the guidance of a faculty adviser who will be the dissertation chair. Students continue to work on other research projects during this time. It is expected that the dissertation proposal will be defended by the end of their third year. The oral qualifying exam is supervised by a committee of five faculty: two from sociology, two from MORS, and one non-sociology and non-MORS faculty member. The oral defense is open to attendance by other students and faculty. The committee determines whether the student is ready for candidacy and to proceed with the project.

Many students find it useful to join one or more of the sociology graduate workshops, which support more advanced work on topics related to the sociology of culture, comparative/historical sociology, social inequality, ethnography and urban sociology.

Students often intern with a faculty member during their third year to prepare for potential teaching opportunities in the master¹s program at the Kellogg School.

The Fourth Year
Students spend the fourth and sometimes fifth year conducting their dissertation research. A student receives the PhD upon successful completion of all coursework and department requirements.

As the senior students in the department, fourth- and fifth-year students play a leadership role in the GRS. Students give a seminar in which they present a practice job talk and a practice conference presentation. Students often teach one to two master’s-level courses at the Kellogg School during this time (unless they have an outside source of funding). This opportunity provides invaluable independent teaching experience. Alternatively, they may also obtain valuable experience helping to teach undergraduate classes in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences.

Course Requirements for Students
To complete the doctoral program, the following courses must be taken:

1. Eight content seminars: MORS 425-1, MORS 425-2, SOC 406-1 or SOC 406-2 or SOC 406-3; 5 other economic sociology or sociology of organizations classes, which include MORS 424-1 and MORS 424-2 as possible content seminars.

2. Two method seminars: MORS 427 (field methods) or SOC 403-1 (field methods), and SOC 405 (research methods).

3. Four statistics courses: Basic descriptive and inferential statistics, linear and non-linear regression, event history analysis, time series modeling, or other quantitative methods course depending on their research needs.

4. General Research Seminar and Proseminar in the Discipline: Students are required to participate in these seminars.

5. Seminar in College Teaching: This seminar, or its equivalent, is required to TA for undergraduate sociology classes.

The Kellogg School and the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences have a strong commitment to the recruitment, admission, training and placement of women and minority scholars. Applications to the joint program must be submitted through the Graduate School and coordinated with the Kellogg School's Doctoral Program Office. If you have any questions about the Kellogg School's doctoral programs, please contact Susan Jackman, the coordinator for the Doctoral Program.

For additional information on the Joint Program, please visit The Graduate School's Web site.