Postdoc Managing risk and resilience (1.0 fte) in Groningen

Organisation
University of Groningen



Department
Faculty of Economics and Business

The University of Groningen, The Netherlands, seeks a Postdoc researcher with experience in experimental research for the NWO Project ‘Enhancing resilience while maintaining efficiency: planning and human decision-making for the unpredictable’.

The Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) is a research-focused, international Faculty, which consistently ranks highly in international business rankings. FEB offers an inspiring international academic community for students, staff, alumni and external organizations. The Faculty is renowned for its quality, ambition and identity. The mission of the Faculty is to prepare students for a career in research or a leading position in the corporate or public sector through high-quality, research-based degree programmes in the fields of economics and business; to contribute to the advancement of knowledge in these fields by conducting high-quality research; and to provide a stimulating and international environment for both staff and students.

The postdoc will be part of a research project in which one PhD student and 2 Postdoc researchers will work together to explore, identify, and test behaviours as well as decision-making structures and remedial strategies that help organizations to deal with unpredictable and disruptive events. This topic is of great theoretical and practical importance for collaborating groups and organizations, as well as supply chain networks, because disruptions unavoidably affect the sustainability of such complex collaborations.

The postdoc will be part of a multidisciplinary team working on the intersection of supply chain management and organizational behaviour to explore human behaviour and decision making before, during and after disruptions. As such the postdoc will work with faculty members from the research programmes of Operations and Organizational Behaviour. The project is financed by NWO and business partners (i.e. FrieslandCampina, Variass Electronics B.V, Waterbedrijf Groningen, Bosch Thermotechniek B.V). The project is executed in cooperation with these partners and TNO.

Job description
The postdoc will investigate how the specific decision-making processes during the management of supply chain disruptions determine resilience. The focus will be on planning and conducting (field)experiments in cooperation with members of the research team. Excellent research facilities, including a well-equipped laboratory, are available. We anticipate that factors such as cross-training supply chain members and implicit coordination processes will lead to more resilience. More specifically, experience suggests that especially the initial phase of a supply chain disruption may be hectic and critical, as partner organizations need to coordinate intensively to assess the consequences of the disruption, as well as to identify an appropriate countermeasure. Later stages of supply chain distributions usually follow a more predictable pattern, because emergency measures are likely to be in place. It seems critically important that supply chain members are able to correctly identify coordination requirements and are able to act upon these requirements. Specific issues to be studied in this part of the research project are the effects of individual difference variables (e.g., personalities required to deal with certain events), group characteristics (composition, social network characteristics), feedback instruments (e.g., speed and availability of accurate information), and organizational setup (e.g., responsibilities and accountabilities for dealing with disruptions, centralization and decentralization of decision-making).

Requirements
Ability to work in a multidisciplinary team and affinity with practical managerial problems. Successful candidates have a strong research record and have an interest in publishing in the top tier journals in (operations) management and organizational behavior, which meet the criteria set by the Research Institute (SOM). Ideally, the candidate has a completed or almost completed PhD in social or organizational psychology, organizational behaviour, behavioural economics, management, or a related field, with expertise in experimental research.

Conditions of employment
Contract length: 24 months.
The University of Groningen offers a salary depending on research experience and qualifications and ranges between € 2,552 (minimum scale 10 according to Collective Labour agreement of Dutch Universities) and € 4,691 (maximum scale 11) gross per month for a fulltime position. On top of our twelve monthly salaries, we offer an 8% holiday allowance and 8.3% end-of-year bonus, both as a percentage of the gross year salary. Favourable tax agreements may apply to non-Dutch applicants. The position is initially offered for a two-year period, with the possibility of extension. Application You may apply for this position until 14 March / before 15 March 2017 Dutch local time by means of the application form (click on "Apply" below on the advertisement on the university website). Please, submit a motivation letter and CV. We expect you to describe your training and conducted research, if relevant for this position, in your motivation letter. Unsolicited marketing is not appreciated.
Maximum salary: 4691.


Additional information
For additional information, please contact:
Gerben van der Vegt
+31 50 3633915,


In your application, please always include the job opening ID 217031