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OS Curriculum Honors Application and Honors Info (PDF) |
Organizational Studies Honors Concentration
The Organizational Studies Honors Concentration
The Organizational Studies Honors Concentration is designed to enable
advanced undergraduate students to gain experience in the design, conduct,
and analysis of research on organizations and organizational behavior.
In the program, you will collaborate directly with a faculty mentor to
complete an original research project. For students with strong academic
records and an interest in research, the honors program can serve as a
capstone for your undergraduate studies, and as important preparation
for graduate studies or other future endeavors.
Organizational Studies concentrators are preparing for a wide variety
of post-graduation activities, including both careers and graduate or
professional school. The Organizational Studies Honors Concentration (OSHC)
is focused solely on research skills and activities, and you should be
certain that you have a serious interest in academic research, demonstrated
in your proposal, and the capability and desire to complete a prolonged
independent study project culminating in a major empirical research paper.
Overall Structure and Effort for Honors Concentration
During the junior year, you must apply for and be accepted into the OSHC.
The application must include a detailed research proposal, and must be
supported and signed by your faculty mentor. If admitted, you will enroll
in the OS Senior Honors Research sequence in your senior year (OS 497
& 498, 4 credits in Research and 4 credits in cluster C or electives). These are independent study courses
in which you will work on your research and thesis with your faculty mentor.
You will also meet several times at designated intervals with the OS
Honors Coordinator (and other honors concentrators) for ongoing assistance and support
throughout the project. As an OS Honors concentrator, you are also admitted
to the Honors
Program within LSA, and can receive additional support and academic
advising through that office.
If you decide to pursue an honors concentration, your honors
thesis will become the defining feature of your senior year.
Completing an honors research project requires a commitment of at least
two terms working in an independent study format, meeting on a regular
basis with a faculty mentor. This type of independent research project
typically requires an average effort of 12 hours per week for
two terms. A complete first draft of the thesis should be submitted
to the faculty mentor early in the second semester of the project (by
Feb 1). You must submit the final thesis for evaluation by a faculty panel
in early March (deadline each year is the Friday immediately after spring break). You will participate in an oral defense/discussion of your thesis in late March and will also present your work at a Monthly Organizational Studies Talk (MOST) symposium in early April. If your thesis is approved and LSA cumulative
gpa requirements are met, an Honors designation will appear on your transcript
and diploma upon graduation.
OS Honors Concentration
Timeline (PDF) (See following paragraphs for more details
on each topic)
Getting Started - Identifying your Research Interests and Possible
Faculty Mentors
Begin exploring your research interests during the first semester of your
junior year (suggestions appear below).
- Refer to your OS Concentration Pathway to help define and focus your interests.
- Speak with the OS Honors Coordinator about your interests and goals. (The Coordinator has a list of OS affiliated faculty members and their research interests, which may assist you in identifying a mentor.)
- Speak with LSA Honors Program Advisor about your interests and goals. (Honors program advisors may also have suggestions for faculty mentors in your area of interest.)
- Read more about research discussed in your concentration courses, and ask your professors and GSIs about their research interests and current projects.
- Watch for opportunities to become involved in research projects during the academic year or the summer.
- Review research talks presented at MOST and by ICOS (Interdisciplinary Committee on Organizational Studies, www.si.umich.edu/ICOS/).
- Visit departmental web pages and view faculty biographies, which will indicate their areas of past and future research interest.
Next Step - Arranging Student-Faculty Collaboration on a Specific Project
By February 1 of the junior year (earlier if studying abroad), you should identify a specific Michigan faculty member who has research interests similar to your own. Your faculty mentor must be a tenure-track faculty member at the University of Michigan (may be non-OS and even non-LSA). Once identified, you can contact that faculty member and arrange to meet to discuss collaborating on a project of mutual interest. Successful partnerships often result from projects that extend ongoing research by the faculty mentor, but an original student project is also possible. For the honors project, you and the faculty member agree to work as a team for two terms to design and complete an empirical study. You should consult with your faculty mentor and get detailed feedback on all aspects of the proposal. Then, you submit your application for the OSHC (see below).
Next Step - Formal Application to the OS Honors Concentration
To qualify for the OSHC, you must have a cumulative gpa of 3.5 or higher, and must maintain it through graduation. To apply to the OSHC, you must submit an application including a project proposal that has been approved by the faculty mentor. The proposal should be a minimum of 5 pages, and must include:
- A brief overview of the project, including the research question to be answered;
- An explanation of the research design, data collection methods or data source to be used (include IRB submission info);
- A brief discussion of the analysis plan and expected results;
- A list of relevant references to the literature;
- An initial plan of work with a timeline.
Deadline for submitting OS Honors Concentration application: March 7 of the junior year.
Applications may be obtained at the OS Program office (713 Dennison) or on the OS web site. Following submission of your OSHC application, the OS Honors Committee will review your proposal and suggest any needed revisions. The Committee will then reach a final decision on the proposal and notify you and your mentor no later than April 15th. If approved, research may start in the summer if feasible.
Program Completion
As an honors concentrator, you will complete an original research report (thesis) in collaboration with your faculty mentor. The thesis must be formatted as a standard research journal submission, and is typically 30-40 pages in length. You must submit the final thesis to your mentor and the OS program in early March (deadline each year is the Friday immediately after spring break).
Each thesis is evaluated by three readers: the faculty mentor; the OS Honors Program Coordinator; and an independent faculty reader. The independent faculty reader is chosen by you and your faculty mentor in early February, must be a tenure-track faculty member (may be non-LSA), and should be someone who has adequate knowledge of the research area to make a fair assessment of the project, but no previous connection to the project. You will orally defend and discuss your thesis to your three readers in late March, and following this defense, the readers will complete their evaluation of the thesis and assign a designation of "honors", "high honors", or "highest honors" to the project.
To receive an honors designation on the college degree, the faculty readers must approve the thesis and assign a designation, and you must have a cumulative gpa of at least 3.50 at graduation.
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