News and activities
SER Thesis competition 2012
Are you a master student at a university, or have you recently graduated?
Did your master thesis deal with a socio-economic subject or was it related to one of the other working areas of the SER?
If so, you qualify to take part in the SER’s competition for the best thesis - in Dutch or English. The winner not only receives a prize of € 2,000, but is also offered a unique and dynamic look behind the scenes of the Social and Economic Council: he or she will be invited to join Alexander Rinnooy Kan for a day in the working life of the SER President. A prize of € 500 will be awarded to each of the other nominated theses. All nominees will be invited to the award ceremony, during which the winner may address the full Council on the subject of his or her thesis.
Click here to find all you need to know about the thesis competition. The information is in Dutch, but please note that you don’t need to be fluent in Dutch in order to take part: you can also participate by submitting your thesis in English.
Cooperation FSW/Organization Sciences and FH Münster Research Centre “Science Marketing”
In the past year a cooperation between FSW/Organization Sciences (Org) and the FH Münster Research Centre “Science Marketing” (FHM-Science Marketing) emerged. It started with the invitation of the FHM-Science Marketing to participate in a European project on university-business cooperation. This project ended and the (first) results were presented at University-Business Thematic Forum of the European Commission on 21 and 22 November in Enschede, The Netherlands.
The data collected in this study and in other studies by the FHM-Science Marketing will be at the root of a number of Ph.D. studies in which both FSW/Org and FHM-Science Marketing cooperate. Presently two Ph.D. trajectories are starting under joint supervision. The objective of FHM-Science Marketing is to develop, test and provide new models, instruments and proceedings for research commercialisation that enable universities to market their research more effectively. FSW/Org pursues a similar objective subprogramme “Crossing Borders” in its research programme “Organizations & Processes of Organizing in Society”.
More information:
FH Münster Research Centre “Science Marketing”: prof. dr. Thomas Baaken
FSW/Organization Sciences: dr. Peter van der Sijde
Organization Sciences VU organizes Organizational Discourse
From Wednesday 18th July to Friday 20th July, 2012 the 10th International conference on Organizational Discourse will be organized by the department of Organization Sciences. The Discourse conference is organized under the auspices of the International Centre for Research in Organizational Discourse, Strategy and Change (ICRODSC) and our department. The VU has become an official member of ICRODSC. This international research centre acts as umbrella for a number of discourse-related research activities and initiatives and provides links between researchers from leading international management schools who share an interest in developing and applying discourse methods in the study of organizations. The Centre links international researchers who share an interest in developing and applying discourse methods in the study of organizations. It brings together researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds, provides a critical mass in research expertise, facilitates cross-disciplinary research, provides a banner for new research initiatives, provides contacts and support for doctoral students, and provides resources for workshops, studies, and other activities. For further details see: http://www.managementmarketing.unimelb.edu.au/icrodsc/index.html.
Thesis Market beginning of graduation
Last week, on Tuesday 11 October and Thursday 13 October, the Thesis Market took place. Read here the experiences of Jamila Abendanon, COM student:
The invite for the thesis market raised a lot of questions and fears. Of course I was curious, but it I had to present my thesis idea to teachers. It was coming really close. I did not know what to expect from a market filled with teachers, students and also theses. When I came there I still did not know what I had to do. I took the courage to walk into a room of a teacher, introduced myself and the most pleasant conversation begun. It was really nice being able to meet a lot of potential thesis supervisors, and to listen to them telling about their own research. It was one of the best opportunities to meet your ‘perfect’ supervisor. You had the ability to test the match between you and your supervisor not only on the basis of the subject of your thesis, but also on the personal level. The market gave me a little of ‘The Voice of Holland feeling’. Your subject has to fall into the interest and research of your supervisor, but with a good idea you are almost wanted by every supervisor. Everyone who missed this market really missed a great and unique opportunity for a positive start of their master thesis.
Frank de Bakker elected for IABS
Frank de Bakker has been elected as a representative at large of the International Association for Business and Society (IABS). IABS is a learned society devoted to research and teaching about the relationships between business, government and society. IABS has over 300 members that hail from more than more than 20 countries; in addition to academics from more than 100 universities, members also include employees of corporations and non-profit organizations.
April 2010: COM promotion month
April of this year will be promotion month for our department!
Both Hanneke Duijnhoven and Theo Kamsma will publicly defend their PhD thesis: Hanneke on April 21th and Theo on 28th; see below for more details.
In view of this it is with great pleasure that we invite you for two special lunch-meetings of the COM PhD-club on Friday April 16th in Metropolitan room Z.113 (Hanneke) and Friday April 23rd in W&N building room G.076 (Theo).
At these meetings Hanneke (16th in Metropolitan) and Theo (23rd in W&N building) will present their PhD thesis. This lunch meetings offer you a unique opportunity to get an extended and first hand overview of the insights put forward in these PhD theses.
Doctoral degree conferral to Theo Kamsma
On 28 April 2010 at 15.45h in the Aula of VU University Amsterdam Theo Kamsma publicly defended his thesis "The Jewish Diasporascape in the Straits. An Ethnographic Study of Jewish Businesses Across Borders". The talk was held in Dutch.The Straits is the waterway region that divides Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, with adjacent port cities like the Straits Settlements, Penang, Melaka and Singapore and on the Indonesian side, Jakarta and Surabaya. Jewish presence in this region is highly contested. By means of three in–depth business case studies; the diamond trade, the fashion business and the speciality coffee retail business, it is investigated how Jewish entrepreneurs build and operate their networks. Despite, or maybe because of the many popular ideas concerning Jews and their businesses networks, these networks have remained largely understudied. With the introduction of the concept of a Jewish Diasporascape, this study avoids the obvious dangerous pitfall of reductionism studying Jewish networks. This study calls for allowing complexities and the appliance of a multi-disciplinary and critical realist approach. And, at the same time it provides a thorough insight in the routes and anchorages of a small Diaspora community.
Doctoral degree conferral to Hanneke Duijnhoven
On 21 April 2010 at 11.45h in the Aula of VU University Amsterdam Hanneke Duijnhoven publicly defended her thesis "For Security Reasons. Narratives about Security Practices and Organizational Change in the Dutch and Spanish Railway Sector". The talk was held in Dutch.Her research is an interpretive ethnographic study about security practices and organizational change in the Dutch and Spanish railway sector.
After the terrorist attacks in Madrid (2004) and London (2005), the issue of security is at the top of the political agenda. Public debates with regard to security and risks have created a sense of urgency that has rapidly spread across the world in this first decade of the millennium. ‘For Security Reasons’ tells the stories of the work practices of employees in the railway sector, in light of the heightened sense of urgency. Set against the background of local cultural and societal discourses with regard to security in Spain and the Netherlands, the book consists of a collection of narratives about daily life at the railways, focussing on the dangers, joys and tensions of work in this sector. Anyone who has ever travelled by train will recognize the situations that are vividly portrayed, and yet the research of Hanneke Duijnhoven offers us a unique view on the many different ways in which people working in the Dutch and Spanish railway sector make sense of security issues.
Workshop Social Network Analysis: Theory and Practice
From October 25 untill October 28 we will provide a comprehensive four-day workshop for PhDs, post-docs and other interested participants on social network theory and methods. The workshop offers the opportunity to intensely immerse in network studies, with the chance to gain hands-on experience with social network software.
Please register for the workshop before 15 September 2010 by sending an e-mail to snaworkshop2010@vu.nl.
More information on PDF format.
Talk by Professor Jaap de Heer 11 December 2008
‘Organizing under pressure’. Strategy and change as expressions of the ‘politics of culture’.
This talk will take a closer look at organizations that for any number of reasons have come under pressure, resulting in threats to important organizational values and uncertainty about how to move forward. The central focus is on organizing in situations that are typically labelled as stagnation, malaise or crisis, and that force choices about downsizing, liquidating or revitalizing an organization in the midst of difficult circumstances.
These choices tend to play out alongside considerations such as loss of legitimacy, job loss, severe scarcity and the inability, for whatever reason, to achieve objectives. At stake in situations like these are the roles and interests of managers and staff, and the once basic assumptions that no longer seem valid. It becomes clear that few of the old connecting factors remain by which reality can be characterized or shaped in the customary way.
Situations of this type engender a vast amount of unease. Staff and managers suffer from stress, fear in some cases and uncertainty in many. They want to end the stressful situation and they seek ways to deal with it or escape it. Characteristic processes that are used to construct reality in these types of situations find their expression in various forms, including in choices, strategy planning and change initiatives. The interactive processes that come into play are defined as the ‘politics of culture’, casting into sharp relief the clash between actors about ideas, interpretations, values and interests as part of the process of creating a sense of meaning.
Doctoral degree conferred on John ter Horst
On 10 October 2008, John ter Horst gave a successful public defence of his doctoral dissertation entitled Weaving into Cambodia; Trade and Identity in the (post-)Colonial Cambodian Weaving Industry, in the VU University Amsterdam Aula.
Travel grant for Maria José Freitas dos Santos
Maria José Freitas dos Santos, who is pursuing her PhD under the supervision of Prof. Dvora Yanow, has been awarded a Mobility Fund travel grant totalling €500 in order to attend the ECPR Summer School in Ljubljana from 30 July until 16 August 2008.
Doctoral degree conferred on Henk van den Heuvel
On 4 June 2008, Henk van den Heuvel gave a successful public defence of his doctoral dissertation entitled Between optimism and opportunism; Deconstructing African management Discourse in South Africa, in the VU University Amsterdam Aula.
Dissertation Henk van den Heuvel
On this occasion a symposium under the title Afrocentric management perspectives and universities in (South) Africa: particularism versus universalism? was organized in cooperation with SAVUSA/CIS on the same day. The symposium aimed to stimulate a dialogue between academics and practitioners about the differences (and similarities) between ‘Afrocentric’ and ‘Eurocentric’ perspectives and how these work out in daily management practices in Higher Education institutions in southern Africa.
The debate on Afrocentrism was considered from an academic perspective and on the basis of personal experiences with a focus on universities in South Africa and southern Africa. Does an ‘African management’ approach for instance provide ‘African solutions to African problems’ or is it rather related to other issues? What are the implications for management, knowledge production and international co-operation between universities in the North and in the South?
