Teaching

All events, including exams, will take place exclusively in person. All information on the individual courses can be found in LSF and is updated on a regular basis.

Please note that a registration via LSF for all examinations is mandatory, both for written exams and seminars!

Further information on master plan exams can be found on the websites of the ISC.

Bachelor

• Pflichtseminar: Leadership and Organization
• Executive Leadership - Styles and Personalities
• Key Topics in Leadership
• Seminar: Management of Non-Profit Organizations

Master

• Lecture and Tutorial: Baisc Topics in Leadership, HR, and International
• Seminar: Leadership and Innovation
• Projektkurs: Leadership and Organization

There are no additional prerequisites to apply for a master thesis. However, we expect a high scientific standard.

Procedure

• Start: at any time during the semester
• Topics: freely choosable from those listed below
• Proposals for own topics should fit to our research focus and summarize the following on max. one page: (1) description of the topic incl. research idea, (2) research motivation, (3) methods/data collection possibilities (e.g., qualitative or quantitative).
• We are open to supervising theses in collaboration with companies, but cannot guarantee that we will be able to supervise the suggested topics.
• Application: 3-4 weeks before the desired start date with the following documents and information: (1) grade sheet ("Kontoauszug"), (2) preferred start date, (3) examination regulations, and (4) topic preferences (2-3 topics from the list "Topics for Theses") to Max Reinwald (reinwald@lmu.de)
• Duration: 22 weeks
• No official colloquium

Topics

Our current research focus centers around the following main topics:

• Leading PEOPLE: Leadership & Teamwork, Leveraging Diversity, Trust & Intercultural Collaboration, Multi-Teaming & New Forms of Collaboration
• Leading INNOVATION: Innovation & Team Agility, Digital Innovation, Open Innovation & Crowdsourcing, Leading Innovation Projects, Sustainable Innovation
• Leading ORGANIZATIONS: Organizational Agility & Strategy Execution, Change Management & Organizational Transformation, Inter-Organizational Collaboration, Dispersed/Virtual Organizations, Organizational Change & Temporality

You can find specific topics that we currently offer below.

Formalia

For information on formatting, please check the ILO Style Guide.

Our style guide (PDF, 661 KB) offers you insights into:

• how to structure your text and which formatting requirements we have;
• which citation style you should use; and
• how the declaration of honour should look like.

You will also find a template for the title page of your paper.

We will need following information from you in advance:

• Statement of purpose: Where do you want to apply (incl. address of the organization) and why? For this purpose, why would you be a suitable candidate? Why do you want a letter of recommendation from our Institute in particular? In how far can we contribute to your application?
• List of courses taken at our Institute incl. grades and names of the respective lecturers/thesis-advisor.
• Current transcript incl. failed courses, if applicable your graduation certificate.
• Current curriculum vitae, if applicable job references.
• Recommendation standards: Different organizations request a variety of distinct formalities and formatting requirements for letters of recommendation. It is your responsibility to inform us about these and provide us with all relevant information. Please also note the relevant deadlines and inform us in a timely manner.

Please read the above listed prerequisites for obtaining a letter of recommendation from our Institute. If you meet all of them, please send all required documents and relevant information to the respective assistant or supervisor of your thesis. We will check your eligibility and subsequently contact you in order to discuss the next steps.

Please ensure sufficient time for this process, as the completion of the letter of recommendation may take a few weeks.

How Strategic Change Unfolds - A Qualitative Study

• Student will be integrated into a current ILO research project on organizational change at an organization in Munich. ILO provides data and background knowledge for student. Student transcribes semi-structured interviews and analyzes the qualitative data.
• Student can set own research focus depending on interest and data.
• Potential themes: How is the change towards more diversity in the organization unfolding? What is the current reaction to the prospect of becoming more diverse within the organization? What are current topics that are of importance to organizational members?
• Type: Qualitative study

The Interplay of Change Context and Process and Their Influence on Responses to Organizational Change

• There is a phletora of research on change process factors such as communication, participation, or support, and their influence on employee responses to organizational change.
• However, context-related factors seem to be under-investigated. How do they influence the relation between change process and responses to change?
• Student has the opportunity to adapt or further develop the research focus based on own interest.
• Type: Quantitative study

Please Mark! - Developing Appropriate Items for Organizational Change Research

• There is a plethora of research on organizational change as well as process factors such as communication, participation and support
• However, existing measurement scales and items seem to vary in their focus as well as perspective regarding "description" and "evaluation"
• Which measurement scales and items exist? How can they be categorized and assessed?
• The student has the opportunity to adapt or further develop the research focus based on own interest.
• Type: Literature review

Network Dynamics and Knowledge Exchange in Online Communities

• Investigate how knowledge exchange unfolds along network ties in online communities
• Collect and analyze quantitative data in close collaboration with the supervisor
• Student has opportunity to develop own research within the broader topic
• Type: Quantitative study

Human interactions: An online experiment with real-time video collaboration

• Investigate dynamics of human interaction in laboratory online experiment
• Student has the opportunity to develop their own research within broader topic of human interaction (e.g., information elaboration, idea generation, etc.)
• The thesis involves setting up and conducting an online experiment with real-time video collaboration using qualtrics and open-source solution SurvConf (see Brodsky, Lee & Leonard, 2022 for technical instructions)
• Type: Quantitative study

Setting Boundaries at Work - When to Say "No" and Its Consequences

• Conduct interviews, and transcribe and analyze the data to develop an understanding of how and why employees set personal boundaries at work (e.g., saying "no" to inappropriate or non-achievable requests from colleagues; in terms of when and for how long to work)
• Student has the opportunity to adapt or further develop the research focus based on own interests
• Student will be actively involved in the data collection process (i.e., identifying interviewees and conducting the interviews among others)
• Type: Qualitative study

Evaluating good leadership - A network approach

• Review literature on evaluation of leadership quality using network-based measures
• Construct a network-based approach to collect and analyze network data for leadership characteristics
• Develop implications for theory and practice
• Type: Conceptual paper

Political Orientations at Work: When and how do political attitudes surface at work?

• Review the literature on political orientations at the workplace and what is know about the influence of political differences between colleagues on the interactions
• Acquire and conduct interviews with employees how they experience political differences at work, how political differences are construed, and how they influence interactions
• Study which events make political differences in interactione salient
• Type: Qualitative study