Managerial and Organizational Behavior

Managerial and organizational behavior (MOB) focuses on how people use information and make decisions and how they interact with one another in dyads, groups, and organizations. Studies in this area draw on theory and research from cognitive and social psychology, economics, and other related fields.

MOB applies these disciplines to the study of human behavior relevant to a range of different managerial contexts. Examples include:

• Cognitive processes of judgment and decision making
• Psychological aspects of economic behavior
• Learning, reasoning, and problem solving by individuals, groups, and organizations
• Processes of negotiations
• Power and influence
• Teamwork and group processes
• Organizational decision making

Students may design their research based on their intellectual interests in business and other areas, as well as on their career intentions. MOB students take courses in other departments such as psychology, sociology, public policy, and economics, depending on what is most relevant to their research.

The Managerial and Organizational Behavior program also offers the Joint Program in Business and Psychology, which is run jointly by the MOB dissertation area at Chicago Booth and the Department of Psychology in the Division of the Social Sciences at the University of Chicago.

For more details about the PhD Program in managerial and organizational behavior at Chicago Booth, see General Examination Requirements - By Area in the PhD Program Guidebook (PDF).

To learn more about the research being done by current PhD students, please view a listing of proposals and defenses across dissertation areas.

For managerial and organizational behavior faculty, please access our faculty directory to sort by academic area.