Blick auf das D4 Gebäude von außen bei Nacht.

Emphasis in Research

The Department's emphasis in research focuses on social and human sciences-based business administration, which is necessary to avoid partial cuts in general, and to guarantee an adequate development of the topics of interest for the Department of Management. This focus does not only include the classical business administration and economics perspectives, but also includes different epistemological, theoretical and methodological approaches, for example through sociology and psychology. Many planned and finished research projects at our Department, as well as current and future cooperation partners, reflect this orientation.

A multiple perspective with a focus on human, organization, and society is essential to integrate the context of the different aspects of controllability, control and intervention. These perspectives do not only appear in a range of finished research projects, but also in future research enterprises. The interlinking of human and organization - constituting a huge trend in management at the moment - is already now highlighted through the current focuses on incentive systems, career, competence management, knowledge management, commitment, organizational culture, e-learning, and gender and diversity measures. The connection between corporate business developments and the organizational level is contained in analyses on convergence and divergence of management methods in Europe. The social context of management is explicitly present in the research fields Gender and Diversity in Economics and Non-profit Management. It is, however, also a main focus in Personnel Management, Leadership, and Organizational Behavior. Within all these fields the Department of Management has produced a series of successful research projects.
The main topics of the Department of Management require cross-border cooperation between different experts and institutions. The basis for this cooperation takes place in and between the several research groups of the Department.
On this basis we have established a range of academic cross-border projects which we want to expand in the future:

  • Cooperation with individuals from other Departments at Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration (WU), and participation in cross-border research initiatives within WU.

  • Within the international scientific community through cooperation in specific, international research networks like the Cranfield Network on Human Resource Management (CRANET), and the European Management Development Partnership (EMD).

  • In international associations through active participation in strategically adequate associations like the European Group on Organization Studies (EGOS), Career and HR Division of the Academy of Management, The International Society for Third-Sector Research (ISTR), European Academy of Management (EURAM), the Global Business and Technology Association (GBATA), the Section of Professional and Economic Pedagogy, and the Study Group on Industrial Training (AGBFN).

In the future, an innovative Advisory Committee concerned with incentives and observation ("Impuls- und Reflexionsbeirat") will be set up to facilitate the incorporation of scientific research results into practice, and to guarantee their relevance for society. Representatives from businesses, and other relevant groups (lobbies, NGOs), as well as distinguished individuals will collaborate in this committee.