Received my Doctorate

It seems that the Grenoble site has been updated with our program – not a 100% sure of this, as they have several programs, but the contacts are the same, and the information seems to parallel my program (English speaking program, etc).

http://www.grenoble-em.com/461grenoble-business-school-grenoble-ecole-de-management-dba-program-2.aspx

The website outlines the residency requirements, tuition, thesis requirements etc. – lots of good info.

I picked the program as I was looking for a minimal residence doctorate that would help me in teaching in the US with a FT TT position and English speaking.

Now for the good stuff ….. my thesis was a focus on organizational behavior in two phases – specifically – why do certain technical teams (aerospace engineers) perform with higher productivity than other teams.

Of course, a thorough literature review kicked my research off – looking for gaps and contradictions to existing literature. The primary research studied a successful team, with both qualitative and quantitative techniques – in depth interviews, statistical analysis, and social network analysis – with a result of a set of findings of why that team was successful. With this set of results, I now entered the second phase of the research. I repeated the entire methodology for a second team that was less successful and had a set findings. The last portion of the research compared these two sets of findings, for the deltas most applicable to the key reasons that the teams were successful / less successful. Finally, a discussion back to the literature based on these findings and the literature review conducted previously. Of course, there were other chapters, like further areas for research, and (being a DBA) management implications, etc.

If there are any people out there with parallel research out there, PM me. I am publishing and going to conferences about the above….. knowledge management, organizational behavior, etc.

 

Han,
Congratulations.
And as my grandaughter would say "You Go Girl"

 

Congrats!!

Congratulations!!!

And thank you again for the information that you gave me when I was in the process of applying... I got in and right now am on my way (working on literature review right now).

I am with the Tongji group. Just like you said, I enjoy the experience so far.

 

Congratulations! I hope to be coming up right behind you!

 

Congrats!!!

 

Too snippy from me. Sorry.

Still hoping to hear from Han re: personal experiences and perspectives.

 

Hi Rich,

I posted an update above..... if there is anything else that is of interest, let me know!! Still in disbelief that it is over......

 

Just a comment or two...

I'm wondering if I'm up against some form of a cultural thing...

Is it just me or are websites like Grenoble's and UNISA's relatively hard to use?

I don't know how many times I've been tempted to hire a good international university and discovered the morass of regulations and counter-intuitive button placement (for two examples) so unstraightforward as to be in and of themselves a roadblock to using their services.

Grenoble's site is fine but it seems to be laid out in such a way that all but the most careful mouse clicks take me to French pages. UNISA's site is okay as well but understanding the rules of getting in, payment plan/scheme, and method for proving competency is more difficult than not.

I'm just commenting so that if these walls have ears, they will know that a potnetially valuable marketing opportunity is being lost due to unnecessary complexity/bad layout.

My comment. Sorry it couldn't be more positive.
Jacob

 

Indeed. Thanks.

One question: Did you find the dissertation requirements different than those expected of doctoral candidates in the U.S.? Larger, sure, but what were the differences that made up the larger side? While it might be hard to compare--you did one and I'm asking you to compare it to another--but if you can elaborate, I'd appreciate it.

As for finishing, it's like making parole, eh?

 

I am not completely familiar with the set up of the US programs, but here is my perspective of what I have read of different dissertations.

I particularly found difficult the kick off of the program with an approved literature review. I wanted to dive into the primary research first, then visit the literature. I now realize the need for this structure and though difficult to start the program off with this, it really prepared me for the entire research project and the side of academic literature that needed to be read, understood, and critiqued. Looking back, it was a great way to start things off – if you get through it, the “fun stuff” starts. I know, I must be a little off to think researching is fun…. lol!

The length was difficult, but I went from writing in large chunks (~50 pages) to smaller units of work, as the quality diminished when I tried to write too much in one sitting. There are gates throughout the program that the committee reviews your work, which was helpful to keep on track.

I don’t see a lot of differences in the actual product – meaning – lots of researching, reading, writing, and a solid thesis that one can publish from in years to come.

 

Han, what was the expected and actual length of the final thesis? Words? Pages?

 

I think the requirement is 70-80k. Mine was about 73k I think - about 300+ pages.

 

Congratulations, Han! What was the title of your dissertation?

Dave