Institute for Work and Employment Research

PhD in Industrial Relations and Human Resources

Degree Requirements

Industrial Relations requires basic courses given for BPS PhD students and the IR classes listed below. A Second Year Paper is also required and it is expected to be completed around the same time as General Exams, but timing is flexible.

General BPS Courses include:
Microeconomics at the master’s level
15.341 Individuals, Groups and Organizations
15.342 Organizations and Environments
15.347 Doctoral Seminar in Research Methods I
15.348 Doctoral Seminar in Research Methods II
15.075 Applied Statistics (or equivalent)

Also, Industrial Relations students may substitute certain Harvard courses, after consultation with faculty advisors.

Required Subjects include:
15.671J Labor Economics I
15.672J Labor Economics II
15.676 Industrial Relations Theory (Kochan)
15.677J Public Policy and Human Resources (Osterman)
15.674J Labor and Politics (Locke)

Note that some courses are offered only every other year.

General Exams consist of:

1. A reading list composed by the student and reviewed for suitability by her/his faculty advisors; followed by
2. Usually four to six questions written by the faculty, from which three to five questions are chosen by the student to write answers.
3. The oral examination follows grading of the answers, usually within two to three weeks.

Thesis:
A thesis proposal is required prior to the actual work on the dissertation.  The faculty may require the student to give a public seminar on the thesis topic.  The actual dissertation committee should consist of at least one Sloan IWER faculty, the remaining committee members (normally two but occasionally more have been used) are flexible and may be chosen after consultation with the IWER faculty.