ORG Programme design, strategy & research themes

Strategy, policy, and programme design

People are core to all business activities. They shape the internal organisation of companies, define organisations’ relationships with their stakeholders and society at large, and lie at the core of organisations’ potential for learning, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation. These aspects of organisational life are all crucial to successful and sustainable organisational performance. They are the object of research of the ORG research programme, with its mission to develop and test fundamental theory in applied organisational research. The programme potentially covers a vast range of issues, from the very micro level of analysis (e.g., the behaviour of individuals and teams in organisations; the genetic determinants of occupational choice) to the very macro level (e.g., the development and behaviour of networks and populations of organisations; the nation-wide consequences of organisational forms). In practice too, all these levels of analysis and associated research questions are addressed by researchers within the ORG research programme.

Previous research and self-assessments inspired a focusing of efforts and shifts in emphasis to increase the coherence and quality, and the current strategy is to primarily invest time, effort, and research funding in three key areas where the programme is expected to have the greatest potential in terms of academic excellence. An associated aim of this concentration on core themes is the cross-theme fertilisation that increases both coherence and academic standards. The first aim was the primary focus in the earlier years of the subthemes, the second aim is currently starting to be achieved more and more. To ensure that the knowledge acquired within these areas of research reaches many of the school’s key stakeholders, all three areas are closely affiliated with the BASci, IBA, MSci, MPhil, and PhD programmes within RSM and ESE, as well as increasingly with RSM executive education.

While a considerable part of the programme’s research capacity and output is now consolidated in these three areas, we have left room for talented individuals to pursue alternative research questions and methodologies, so as not to forego promising areas within the larger ORG field (e.g., research on China). Still, by focusing the majority of our resources on a more concentrated set of research problems than in the past, we are in a position to generate research of the highest quality, leading to increased international visibility and recognition for the research programme. Below, research achievements are described in detail for each of the three research themes:

1. Organisational Behaviour
2. Corporate Engagement, Sustainability, and Governance 
3. Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Theme 1: Organisational Behaviour

People may well be an organisation’s greatest asset, and effective management of human resources is a critical factor in building a sustainable competitive advantage for contemporary organisations. Not surprisingly, then, Organisational Behaviour is one of the focal points within the ORG programme. Key questions in this research are how the work can be organised and employees be managed to motivate and develop employees, to achieve synergy within and between teams and work groups, and to realise employees’ potential for learning, creativity, and innovation. The OB part of the research programme thus focuses on the micro levels of analysis in management and organisation – the behaviour of individuals and work groups.

Theme 2: Corporate Engagement, Sustainability, and Governance

The research group Corporate Engagement, Sustainability, and Governance focuses on the interaction of economic organisations with their institutional, societal, and natural environment. Both the recent financial crisis and the problems associated with climate change demonstrate that corporate, societal and environmental flourishing are indissolubly connected, and that future managers will face formidable challenges in ensuring that performance in one domain does not come at the expense of another. These developments have also resulted in research questions moving from the periphery to the core of management research, teaching and practice. A core strength of this research group is its comprehensive perspective on these issues, involving multiple levels of analysis.

Theme 3: Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management

The third “centre of gravity” of the ORG research programme – Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management – includes not just the micro level of analysis (persons, groups and firms) level of analysis but also higher levels of analysis, as evidenced by its interest in the competitiveness of regions and nation states. The EU member states, including the Netherlands, are performing worse than the US and below capacity in terms of productivity growth and competitiveness. This is sometimes called the ‘European paradox’: despite huge research efforts few viable innovative products are generated. Improving the competitiveness of countries like the Netherlands demands a transition to a more entrepreneurial and innovative society. Institutional barriers, social attitudes, organisational practices and regulatory norms created in the old society inhibit such a transition. To ensure that the new innovation-driven entrepreneurial society can flourish, substantial steps are needed. Targeted academic research is required to identify the sources of friction, to encourage entrepreneurial energy, to adopt smarter regulatory measures, and to spread innovative behaviour and practices. With its scientific but also practice oriented attitude, the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management ”centre of gravity” is involved in developing the scientific underpinning for modern approaches to economic renewal through entrepreneurship and innovation.