At WTO, you will investigate the interactions between work, technology, and organizations to help change the course of society.
You will be supported by a diverse team of colleagues and mentors, to help ensure your success in this field. We host regular lab meetings with faculty and students to share news, shape research ideas, and build our identities as scholars.
Our objective as a center is to help you find community, support, and success as a work, technology, and organization scholar.
Why study with WTO?
World-class leading research faculty in the field of organization studies, who work closely with our tight-knit student cohort.
Combine studies in engineering, management, sociology, and psychology to build a unique and balanced perspective on work, technology, and organizations.
100% of WTO students collect original data in the first two years of the PhD program
Over 35 Stanford students have graduated from our PhD program, to become WTO alumni
WTO students have produced award-winning dissertations, including INFORMS, AOM, and CHI
“My time at WTO, and at Stanford as a whole, was life-changing! WTO’s philosophy of using fieldwork to closely examine work practices led me to discover firsthand how powerful knowledge creation can stem from observing the everyday realities at the workplace. Being deeply embedded in an organization revealed aspects of language and globalization’s effects on work that had never been considered in the organizations’ literature.”
How to apply
WTO welcomes applications from students with either social science or technical degrees. The mixing of engineering and social science is the department’s trademark.
The Center for Work, Technology & Organization is located within Stanford’s Department of Management Science & Engineering, so you must follow those procedures for graduate admissions.
Tips on how to apply with a research focus in Work, Technology & Organizations:
In the “Application Information” section, where it asks for “Proposed Program,” select Management Science & Engineering
Note: there is no selection for “Departmental Specialization”
For “Academic Interests,” select Organizations as your top preference.
The Statement of Purpose, which can be submitted online as part of the overall application is the place to make explicit your desire to be part of the Center for Work, Technology & Organization. Feel free to refer to our faculty as well as our research projects in stating your interests and desire to be a part of WTO.