Master Seminar University of Würzburg (summer term 2025)

Personnel practices and experiments in organizations

Introduction

Firms often introduce and modify internal policies related to personnel, such as improving incentive systems or enhancing workforce training. Other developments occur rather unintentionally, such as the influence of stereotypes on hiring or the dynamics of co-worker interactions. This seminar aims to examine key practices and policies within organizations from an economic perspective. How can economic theory and empirical research help improve organizational effectiveness?

Participants are provided with eight topics to choose from (a more detailed version with references will be provided to all registered students).

  1. The impact of workplace training on worker performance and wages
  2. Working from home
  3. Team incentives
  4. Peer effects in firms
  5. Hiring discrimination
  6. Gender gaps in leadership and promotions
  7. Incentives for managers
  8. Does management matter?

In February 2025, all registered students will be asked for their preference and students will be assigned to each of the topics.

The course gives 10 ECTS. Students will need to write a term paper, present it in the seminar, present a shorter comment on another student’s presentation, and participate in the discussion. The course language is English.

The course number in WueStudy is 326329.

Updates

Organization

Contact

The course is led by Associate Professor Jan Sauermann, IFAU Uppsala. If you have any questions, comments, or would like to talk via zoom, please do not hesitate to send an email (jan.sauermann@ifau.uu.se).

Important dates

  • Registration deadline: December, 2024 (application through Flip)
  • Kick-off seminar (virtual): April 25, 2025 (10:00-11:30) (Zoom link: see email)
  • Seminar (in person): date TBA (University of Würzburg, Room TBA)
  • Final deadline for term papers: date TBA (by email to jan.sauermann@ifau.uu.se)

Guidelines and format

Term paper

Each student needs to write and submit their own term paper. You should approach your topic with the studies provided in the syllabus but should also conduct a careful literature search on your own. Critical reading of the relevant literature, summarizing and drawing your own conclusions from studies are an integral part of your work. It is important that you critically discuss the existing literature as well as theoretical concepts and empirical strategies.

Soon after the kick-off meeting, you should get acquainted with the literature provided, explore more studies and then book a meeting to discuss the structure of your term paper.

Your term paper should follow these formal requirements:

  • Term papers need to be written in English
  • Term papers may at most be 20 pages of text. This includes any tables and figure, but excludes table of contents, assurance, and references.
  • Font: Times New Roman (or similar); Line spacing: 1,5; Font size: 12pt
  • Please use in-text citations (such as “as shown by Mayer (2008)” or “text here (Mayer, 2008).”) instead of citations in footnotes. Most of the assigned papers follow this style.
  • Please provide an assurance on the last page including your signatura. The text can be found in this document

Presentation

Each student needs to present his/her term paper. The presentation needs to be done in English. In the case that two students are assigned to the same topic, both students should together present their thesis in a joint presentation. Each presentation is supposed to be no longer than 15 minutes (if two students are sharing a topic both students have 25 minutes at their disposal).

  • There is no need to submit the slides before or after the seminar
  • Students can use handouts but this is no requirement

Comment

Each student needs to comment on other term paper. There is no need to submit comments in written form. Slides can be useful for presenting the comment (but are not required). The comments are only about 5 minutes so there is not much time. The idea of the comment is to first give a (very) short summary and then to add own ideas, critical questions or additional input for example from your own topic. Comments should be critical yet polite. Optimally, the comments together with the term paper presentation can stimulate a discussion in which all students can participate.

Discussion

After the term paper presentation and comment, the floor is open for all to ask questions or add own thoughts to the topic. Fair and constructive comments and contributions are a public good for the entire group.

Frequently asked questions

  • Can students choose the same topic? Yes, up to two students can work on the same topic. Each student has to write their own term paper but presentations should be done together.
  • Can I cite references that are written not in English? Yes, you can!
  • Can I cite non-academic literature or reports? Yes, you can. But make sure to assess the quality of the underlying material - but this holds for anything you cite, including academic papers. Some studies are more reliable than others.
  • Do I need to write down a research question or formulate hypotheses? You can but don’t have to. But it can help to state at some point in the introduction sentences like “The aim of this paper is to …” or similar.
Back to top