Minoring in Management and Organizations

These are the requirements for a doctoral minor for students from other departments: 

PhD students at the University of Arizona who are not in the Management and Organizations (M&O) program, but wish to minor in M&O, must take 3 complete PhD courses that are not Master’s level courses (i.e., courses in the MBA program or master’s programs cannot be used as part of the minor requirement). Additionally, you will also have to take a methods course in our department prior to enrolling (this is in addition to the 3 PhD courses). Finally, a M&O PhD minor requires the completion of a comprehensive style exam or a research paper, both of which are chaired by a tenure-track faculty member of the M&O department. Importantly, this faculty advisor must be identified before any coursework begins to ensure that the student has the support of a faculty member in the department. Approval to begin the M&O minor must be obtained from the M&O PhD program directors after the minor advisor has been selected. 

Please note that the structure of courses in the M&O department varies from most departments on campus, in that one “complete” PhD course involves taking a sequence of 8-week courses offered back-to-back within the same semester. For example, students taking Human Resources Management would sign up for MGMT 621 (Human Resources Management I) and MGMT 622 (Human Resources Management II), both of which are worth 2.0 credit hours. This means that a “complete” course in our program that would count towards the M&O minor is worth 4.0 credit hours, versus the 3.0 credit hours of other 16-week courses. 

In summary, the M&O Minor requires the following hurdles, in the following sequence: 

• Identification of a faculty advisor: This must be a faculty who holds a tenure-track position in the M&O department. An advisor must be identified prior to beginning any minor coursework, after which the M&O PhD directors should be notified. 

• Completion of one (1) methods course (worth 4.0 credit hours): Students earning doctoral degrees that are not in psychology, sociology, or a similar field of social science must complete either 653/654 (Field Research Methods I and Field Research Methods II), or MGMT 601/602(Experimental Research Methods I and Experimental Research Methods II) prior to enrolling in any of the doctoral-level content courses. Major degree programs (specifically the research methods and statistics training) will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis to determine applicability if students believe they have met this requirement in their primary department. 

• Completion of three (3) PhD-level courses (worth 12.0 credit hours, or 4.0 credit hours per complete course): Students must enroll in three PhD-level courses that are not part of the MBA or master’s programs at Eller. They should enroll in the two 8-week consecutive courses that comprise the “complete” course (see above for example). 
• Completion of a research paper or comprehensive exam chaired by the minor faculty advisor:
• Students in the minor program have the following options: 
  • For the research paper: Students must write an empirical or conceptual review paper on a topic approved by their faculty advisor. For empirical papers, this should include the collection of data in order to fully test the central ideas. For a conceptual review paper, this option does not include data, but should still clearly articulate a clear theoretical contribution to the study of M&O. 

  • For the comprehensive exam: Students must partake in an open-note integrative comprehensive exam. Students will be provided 3 questions, of which 2 will be answered. This will also involve an oral defense of the responses provided assuming that the written answers “pass” the student’s committee (often comprised of the faculty who taught the courses the student completed).   

*Students are advised to check with the graduate advisor before enrolling in courses. Not all 500 level courses are acceptable doctoral level courses. 

Minor Information for Current Management PhD Students

• 12 units (typically four courses)
• Field and courses chosen with advice and consent of the Graduate Advisor
• Structure of the program determined by the minor advisor
• Written exam or paper usually required following completion of coursework
• Field should compliment the major and enrich theoretical and methodological skills

Common Minors for Management PhD Students

• Methods
• Psychology
• Sociology
• Economics