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2020/2021

Masters Dissertation

Code: 43388 ECTS Credits: 15
Degree Type Year Semester
4311312 Management, Organization and Business Economics OB 0 2
The proposed teaching and assessment methodology that appear in the guide may be subject to changes as a result of the restrictions to face-to-face class attendance imposed by the health authorities.

Contact

Name:
Pere Ortín Ángel
Email:
Pere.Ortin@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
english (eng)

Prerequisites

The Master Thesis will be started and developed after cocnluding succesfully the rest of the Master's Module, usually at the end of May.

 

The Master Thesis has to be supervised by at least one faculty member of the Master. At the end of May, when classes are over, possible supervisors will suggest possible dissertations. Students will have to say which is their first, second and third preferred projects. The allocation of projects to students will take into account their academic records and preferences.

Only those students previously allocated to a research proposal elaborated jointly with a firm (Industrial Master Thesis) will be exempted from this allocation process, as in this case the election of the candidate is done jointly with the firm. In these cases there will be two supervisors, one member of the MMOBE staff and one member of staff from the firm.

Objectives and Contextualisation

The Master Thesis is an original piece of research in which the student demonstrate the capabilities developed during the previous courses of the master, and the ability to meet deadlines.  The students start working on it in June and it must be concluded at the end of August (we will inform about the exact dates).  The Master Thesis has to be publicly defended in Palma de Mallorca during the first week of September. The language of the Master is English, so the report and the presentations will have to be done in this language.

Competences

  • Develop a critical and a constructive attitude to one's work and that of others.
  • Develop an ethical, social and environmental commitment.
  • Display knowledge of the important research topics and of current academic debate around the theme of business economics and organisational economics.
  • Explain and motivate the analyses, interpret the results and present all these clearly and concisely in English.
  • Identify the relevant sources of information and their content for subsequent analysis.
  • Leadership and decision-taking capability.
  • Master the technical and IT tools needed to carry out applied studies.
  • Present research results to various audiences using the different media available.
  • Propose and develop an independent original research project, interpreting the results at an advanced level.
  • Recognise, compile and handle the appropriate documentary sources for carrying out organisational economic research.
  • Relate the contributions from different disciplines that can originate new approaches to business economics.
  • Use the different research methodologies, in the different areas of business economics and related fields, to construct the relational and interpretative explanations that can lead to a profound understanding of the business phenomenon.
  • Work in multidisciplinary international teams.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Develop a critical and a constructive attitude to one's work and that of others.
  2. Develop an ethical, social and environmental commitment.
  3. Explain and motivate the analyses, interpret the results and present all these clearly and concisely in English.
  4. Further investigate the interrelationships between different study areas focusing on business.
  5. Identify the relevant sources of information and their content for subsequent analysis.
  6. Leadership and decision-taking capability.
  7. Master the technical and IT tools needed to carry out applied studies.
  8. Present research results to various audiences using the different media available.
  9. Propose and develop an independent original research project, interpreting the results at an advanced level.
  10. Recognise, compile and handle the appropriate documentary sources for conducting organizational economic research.
  11. Show mastery of the research techniques that help to understand the business phenomenon.
  12. Show mastery of the research topics that are currently of importance in the field of business economics and organizations.
  13. Work in multidisciplinary international teams.

Content

The Master Thesis has to be an original piece of research written in English.

The Master Thesis will have a structure as similar as possible to an academic paper.

Here are some orientative (supervisor has to close it) recommendations:

Extension: Main text 25-35 pages (double space, Times New Roman size 12). It can be included Appendixes. The text has to be readable without reading those appendixes.

Structure of the main text:

  1. Introduction: Objectives of the Master thesis, importance of the topic, contribution to the literature and a brief summary of results.
  2. Theoretical framework: Summary of the existing literature and gad that this research covers.
  3. Methodology: Methodology used to fill this gap.
  4. Results: Summary of main results.
  5. .Conclusions: Main conclusions and limitations of the research.

Tables and graphs. The Tables and Graphs have to be numerated by order of appearance. Each one has to be titled. Their source has to be cited.

References: At the end  of the Master Thesis has to appear a list of references. Those references has to be cited in the main text. Use an established citation procedure in the literature, for example the Chicago Manual of Style.

Methodology

Students have to develop the research project finally allocated under the supervision of the professor/s who made the proposal.

In a first meeting with the supervisor/s (face to face or electronically) they will establish, among other things, a calendar of meetings.

The purpose of these meetings is to guide the student in their research and supervise the execution of the Master Thesis.

A summary of the Master Thesis has to be presented and defended publicly.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Supervised      
Meetings with supervisors 56.2 2.25 13, 8, 2, 1, 7, 3, 5, 9
Type: Autonomous      
Master Thesis execution and writting 306.8 12.27 4, 6, 8, 2, 1, 7, 12, 11, 3, 5, 9, 10

Assessment

The Master ends with a workshop usually organized at the early of September at Palma de Mallorca.

It is mandatory the participation in all the workshop activities.

During 30 minutes each student defend their Master Thesis. It consist on an exposition of their work and the answers to the questions made by a committee of three persons and other assistants to the workshop, usually professors of the master or invited from other universities.

At the end of the workshop there is a grading meeting. At this meeting are invited all the Master's faculty. The comittee of each Master Thesis exposes their evalutaion, then the supervisor, and finnally the floor is open for other faculty members. The Master Thesis are compared in terms of their originality and relevance of the topic, the written memory and their presentation. The Master Theses are ranked and finnally graded.

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Workshop participation 100 12 0.48 4, 6, 13, 8, 2, 1, 7, 12, 11, 3, 5, 9, 10

Bibliography

Ehrenberg (1982) "Writing tecnical papers or reports". The Amercian Statitician. Vol. 36, n.4, p. 326-329.

The Chicago Manual of Style. Available online.

You can find further information:

At the webpage of the MMOBE (public)

At the E-learning of the MMOBE (restricted to enrolled students)