GRA 6026 Organisation Science
GRA 6026 Organisation Science
A main objective of this course is to provide the students with an in-depth understanding of organisations. Organisations are the main tool that modern society applies to meet the challenges of innovation and resolution of complex tasks. To understand how to organise to resolve the challenges organisations meet is the main focus of this course. The course reviews the main contributions to organisation research. Another objective is to provide students with a background to understand the changes in organisational structures that we observe in both the private and in the public sector. Understanding new organisational forms - why they are emerging and which characteristics they bear - are of key importance for managers acting in these sectors. Therefore, the course also aims at giving the students a deeper understanding of the present "experiments" in organisational structures and processes.
- Know the fundamental research streams in organisation science
- Know how to organise to facilitate the resolution of different types of tasks
- Know how to adjust the organisational structure to the influence of different types of environment
- Know about the effectiveness of major organisational mechanisms
- Know about the workings of major organisational mechanisms such as power, authority and goal setting
- Be able to analyse organisational problems
- Be able to identify mismatches in different organisational settings
- Know techniques to adjust an organisation to environmental demands
- Know techniques to adjust an organisation to internal technological demands
- Be able to apply theoretical frameworks to specific organisational problems
- Be able to pinpoint generic organisational problems
- Developed a measured understanding about the relevance and scope of organisations
- Be able to understand how organisations can analysed in different perspectives
- Have a realistic and empirically based attitude to the strengths and limits of rational organisational theories
- Developed a measured and empirically based understanding of how micro and macro conditions interact in organisations and how to analytically disentangle them
- Understand how organisation theory is the foundation for leadership and management
- Introduction, Organisations as rational, natural & open systems
- Organisations as Rational systems
- Organisations as Natural systems
- Organisations as Open Systems
- Designing Organisations & Combining Perspectives
- Organisations & Environment
- The Nature of the Firm
- Boundary Spanning & Boundary Setting
- Technology & Structure: Coordination & Routines
- Environment & Structure
- Modern Organisational forms
The course is structured as seminars, combining lectures with active dialogues. The course will combine textbook readings with research articles. The lectures will utilize current business cases to illustrate the main points in the literature. There are two mandatory assignments, one may be case-based and one may be simulation-based. The assignments are designed to train the students in the application of the theory to real situations.
Please note that while attendance is not compulsory in all courses, it is the student’s own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class.
This is a course with continuous assessment (several exam components) and one final exam code. Each exam component is graded by using points on a scale from 0-100. The components will be weighted together according to the information in the course description in order to calculate the final letter grade for the examination code (course). Students who fail to participate in one/some/all exam elements will get a lower grade or may fail the course. You will find detailed information about the point system and the cut off points with reference to the letter grades when the course start.
At resit, all exam components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course.
All courses in the Masters programme will assume that students have fulfilled the admission requirements for the programme. In addition, courses in second, third and/or fourth semester can have specific prerequisites and will assume that students have followed normal study progression. For double degree and exchange students, please note that equivalent courses are accepted.
Covid-19
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there may be deviations in teaching and learning activities as well as exams, compared with what is described in this course description.
| Assessments |
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Exam category: Activity Form of assessment: Presentation Weight: 10 Comment: Case work Exam code: GRA60261 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Weight: 30 Grouping: Group (1 - 3) Duration: 6 Week(s) Comment: Paper/assignment. Duration between 5 and 8 weeks. Exam code: GRA60261 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
Exam category: Submission Form of assessment: Written submission Invigilation Weight: 60 Grouping: Individual Support materials:
Duration: 3 Hour(s) Comment: Written examination under supervision. Exam code: GRA60261 Grading scale: Point scale leading to ECTS letter grade Resit: All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course |
A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of at least 160 hours.