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bkbaum@umich.edu
Affiliated faculty available to mentor OS students
By Kate Wheeler (Class of '05)
(originally published Winter 2004)
If you're interested in independent study, summer research opportunities, or completing an honors thesis you may be in need of a mentor. Look no further. The OS Program claims the affiliation of several faculty members among diverse fields of study. These scholars hold various research interests and conduct a range of studies. Information about each of the faculty members can be found on the OS website; however, several professors were willing to share the details of their research interests and activities, including opportunities for OS students interested in gaining research experience.
Jason Owen-Smith (Organizational Studies, Sociology)works in the areas of economic sociology, organizations, and the sociology of science and technology. His three major research projects are:
(1) Institutional/Organizational change and decision making. He is interested in how the decisions made by small groups of (particularly) professionals in organizations get transformed into standard operating procedures and rules of behavior that constrain future organizational action.
(2) Innovation and novelty. Jason is interested in the ways that novelty (particularly scientific and technical innovations) emerge from largely conservative social arrangements (notably formal organizations and institutions such as scientific peer review). His work here focuses largely on explaining rates of patenting and publishing by firms and universities, and looking at the changes that increased commercialism is causing in the university and the role of academic institutions in the economy.
(3) His newest set of projects looks at the evolution of inter-organizational networks in research-intensive industries (e.g., Biotechnology) with a focus on explaining the rise of stable groups of connected organizations and the effects of position in those groups on organizational outcomes. Jason is happy to talk with students about the possibility of working with him on either of the latter two projects.
Wayne Baker (Organizational Studies, Sociology, and Organizational Behavior/School of Business) is currently leading the Detroit Area Study, an annual survey of people living in Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb Counties. The survey examines the role of information and values in today's society, the digital divide, and social capital. He is also leading a companion survey, the Detroit Arab American Study, which is an in-depth survey of Arab Americans and Chaldeans living in the same area. Other projects include examining the role of energizing relationships in organizational networks.
Dr. Baker would be delighted to offer research opportunities to OS students.
Diane Vinokur's (School of Social Work) current organizational research, The Under One Roof Project, deals with nonprofit co-locations. Various communities have co-located several nonprofit organizations "under one roof" to gain greater efficiency, and to achieve greater effectiveness through stronger organizational identity, growth, cooperation, and synergy. The Under One Roof Project seeks to develop and disseminate information and research on nonprofit co-locations, especially regarding their benefits, challenges, best practices, and "lessons learned," to interested communities, nonprofits, and their partners and supporters.You can find further information about it at www.ssw.umich.edu\underoneroof.
Dr. Vinokur can use (and pay for) assistance from an OS student to help with finalizing the reports from a recent national conference on this topic that she helped to organize. She would need someone with very strong writing, editing, and organizational skills. She could also use assistance from someone to update the gallery of co-locations on the website and find new ones.
Copyright 2002, The Regents of the University of Michigan