APPLIES TO ACADEMIC YEAR 2015/2016

DRE 6004 Organisation Science

Responsible for the course
Svein S Andersen

Department
Department of Leadership and Organizational Behaviour

Term
According to study plan

ECTS Credits
6

Language of instruction
English

Introduction
Please note that this course will be revised before it is offered again

Learning outcome
Learning outcome
An overview over the most important research programs or research areas in organizational science, their underlying assumptions and empirical research methods. Major developments and contributions are discussed on the basis of classical texts as well as authoritative overviews and reviews. Candidates will get a better understanding of the origin and status of key concepts, models and theories debated in current research. The aim is to strengthen participants’ ability to evaluate research and to position their own contributions

Prerequisites
Admission to a PhD Programme is a general requirement for participation in PhD courses at BI Norwegian Business School.

External candidates are kindly asked to attach confirmation of admission to a PhD programme when signing up for a course with the doctoral administration. Other candidates may be allowed to sit in on courses by approval of the courseleader. Sitting in on courses does not permit registration for courses, handing in exams or gaining credits for the course. Course certificates or conformation letters will not be issued for sitting in on courses

Compulsory reading

Collection of articles:
A collection of scientific articles from journals

Recommended reading

Course outline
Course overview
Organisation science is a broad and multidisciplinary field, drawing upon sociology, psychology and economics. This course has three major purposes: 1) to familiarise students with major classical contributions, 2) to follow the development of major modern perspectives, and 3) to identify present challenges and research frontiers. A key concern is how various perspectives and insight may be relevant to management issues.

The course will organised over 5 whole day meetings, in sections of 2 x 3 hours. Each section covers one topic in the area of organisation research. 1) The first day consist of lectures and discussion. The rest of the course 2) participants prepare presentations, and 3) these contributions will be the basis for class discussions.

Day 1:
Overview and challenges – classical perspectives and organizations as tools

The first day consists of two lectures and discussion and planning of participants’ presentations. The first lecture reflects upon the current status of the discipline, emphasising somewhat different aspects of earlier theory development and research. This provides a set of frames for a more systematic discussion of contributions in set of key areas of organisation theory. The second lecture covers classical contributions, with an emphasis on the rational perspective on organizations as tools that dominated the first decades of systematic organization theory research. All participants will sign up for class presentations. There is one week for preparations.

The following 4 days, participants present key areas of organisation research as a basis for class discussions. A key issue is how various contributions relate to the present research frontier. While some of these areas can be regarded as comprehensive research programmes, other areas are characterised by a set of issues that may be approached in various ways.

Day2
Decision-making in organizations
Organization and environment

Day 3
Social constructivism and culture
Knowledge and learning

Day 4
Economic organization theory
New institutional theory

Day 5
New perspectives
Summary and discussion


Duration: 30 hours

Computer-based tools


Learning process and workload
Workload
Lectures 30 hours
Specified learning activities 140 hours
Total 170 hours

Required readings: ca. 1500 pages available in a compendium.

Day I
Overview and challenges
Classical perspectives and organizations as ‘tools’


Day2
Decision-making in organizations
Contingency and dependency

Day 3
The social construction of organizations
The individual in the organization

Day 4
Economic organization theory
New institutional theory

Day 5
New perspectives
Summary and discussion

New challenges for organisational research
Format evaluation paper



Examination
Evaluation: Paper (15 pages) The paper should be original work, and be written specifically for this course.
Graded pass/fail
Examination code(s)
DRE 60041 accounts for 100% of the grade in DRE 6004

Examination support materials
Not applicable

Re-sit examination
Re-takes are only possible at the next time a course will be held. When the course evaluation has a separate exam code for each part of the evaluation it is possible to retake parts of the evaluation. Otherwise, the whole course must be re-evaluated when a student wants to retake an exam.

Additional information
Honour Code
Academic honesty and trust are important to all of us as individuals, and represent values that are encouraged and promoted by the honour code system. This is a most significant university tradition. Students are responsible for familiarizing themselves with the ideals of the honour code system, to which the faculty are also deeply committed.

Any violation of the honour code will be dealt with in accordance with BI’s procedures for cheating. These issues are a serious matter to everyone associated with the programs at BI and are at the heart of the honor code and academic integrity. If you have any questions about your responsibilities under the honour code, please ask.