The Department of Management assumes in its research, teaching, and executive education activities that an adequate description, explanation, and critical reflection, as well as the presentation of business facts require the coaction of theoretical, methodological, and epistemological approaches from different academic disciplines and paradigmatic positions.

The thematic emphasis in research, teaching, and executive education lies thus on the controllability, and control of and by intervention in for- and non-profit organizations. The multi-perspective process is based on the following thematic fields: organizational behavior, leadership, human resource management, learning in and from organizations, including business strategic aspects, gender and diversity in organizations, as well as the presentation and implementation of teaching-learning-processes in practical business education in a company, university, and school context. Dealing with these main topics extensively, requires the crossing of borders in at least two ways:

• Orientation to a business administration that focuses on social and human sciences, and the resulting theoretical, methodological, and methodological-epistemological diversity

• Multiple perspective with a focus on the triad human-organization-society.
  
  

The Unique Selling Proposition of the Department of Management at Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration (WU) and in international comparison is based on the following factors, which constitute our strength, and which we will concentrate on in the future:

• The work on a clearly defined, scientific, and in practice highly relevant topics: on the controllability, and control of and by intervention in organizations;

• The engagement for, and the commitment to research, teaching, and executive education (lifelong learning, or L3) as the three most important challenges, shaping the future academic landscape in consistence with its principles and aims;

• The critical mass of researchers with an intercommunicable theoretical, methodological, and epistemological orientation, and their increased cooperation will be an additional stimulus to our research projects;

• High theoretical and methodological flexibility, allowing an analysis of the mentioned multiple problems from different perspectives;

• Considerable international, as well as national and regional networking and visibility of persons and research projects involved;

• Bridging gaps in the structure between business administration and its neighboring disciplines through the special content-methodological position of our Department within its different networks;

• The conception of business administration with explicit consideration of the strategic environment;

• The pioneer-like institutional integration of future /innovative topics (e.g., gender and diversity, civil society);

• The specific promotion of key qualifications, as well as a culture of critical reflection through innovative university-didactics, which constitutes a research object in itself.