Organisation and Management
The Organisation & Management (O&M) department, headed by prof. Eva Knies, conducts research on the organisation and management of public issues (in the public and private sectors). The department is engaged in organisational research, organisational sociology research, management and organisational psychology research, both conceptual and empirical, as well as theoretical and applied.
The O&M researchers focus on public organisations and public themes in public and private organisations, such as diversity, inclusion and exclusion, people at a distance from the labour market, corruption and doping in sports. The O&M researchers apply various perspectives, ranging from an interpretative to a positivist, institutional, experimental and activist approach. Emphasis is placed on both learning to understand social issues and contributing to resolving social issues. Public (central government and local authorities) and semi-public service organisations (healthcare institutions, schools, sports associations and sports umbrella organisations) constitute the focus of our research.
HRM, Organisation Studies, Sport & Society
This department has three chairs: Strategic Human Resource Management, Organisation Studies, and Sport & Society. Collaboration and cross-fertilisation take place across a wide range of disciplines between the O&M chairs, and between the latter and the PGM chairs. They also work closely with other Utrecht University research groups and Eindhoven University of Technology.
An example is the Sport & Society focus area with Calibrating Inclusive Sporting Encounters, a research project focusing on the crucial role of organisation networks and primary health care professionals in helping people in vulnerable positions to engage in sport, conducted by dr. Maikel Waardenburg and prof. Maarten van Bottenburg.
Another example is the HRM chair that is closely involved in the Future of Work hub under the Utrecht University strategic research theme Institutions for Open Societies (VENI research project Capturing the nature of public value creation conducted by prof. Eva Knies).
National and international collaboration
The O&M department participates in various interdisciplinary collaborations, primarily under the strategic theme Institutions for Open Societies in the Future of Work hub and the Gender & Diversity hub, under the strategic theme Dynamics of Youth, and under the focus areas Sport & Society and Professional Performance with sport management, sport policy and strategic human resource management research.
Not only academics work together within these collaborations, we also conduct a considerable amount of research together with or commissioned by civil society actors, such as the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB), the NOC*NSF Olympic Committee, the University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU), the municipality of Utrecht, Rabobank, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Secondary Education Council (VO-raad).
More information on O&M research can be found on the pages of the chairs: