APPLIES TO ACADEMIC YEAR 2015/2016

GRA 2261 Managing for Excellence – Generative Practices

Responsible for the course
Arne Carlsen

Department
Department of Leadership and Organizational Behaviour

Term
According to study plan

ECTS Credits
6

Language of instruction
English

Introduction
This is a course on how to manage for excellence in organizations through a dual attention to what makes people thrive and grow and what creates extraordinary performances. The course assumes that employee and group thriving is the key to organizational excellence and that we need to understand how work practice can be generative for both individuals and organizations. The course draws from a fairly new and exciting tradition of research and managerial practice called Positive Organizational Scholarship. It also borrows from recent developments within practice-based approaches to organizations, narrative psychology and the field of “design thinking”. You will be challenged to discover and/or cultivate those generative practices in which you yourself can thrive, manage at your best and be valuable to others. In line with the focus on practice, the course will present rich examples from recent research along with new theory and historical overviews.

Learning outcome
The overall objective of the course is to provide knowledge and attitudes for how to cultivate generative practices and manage for excellence in organizations. Three types of learning outcomes are sought:

a. Knowledge: Students will get an overview of recent key contributions to generative practices, with an emphasis on empirical research and path-breaking new concepts.

b. Skills:
- Practical tools: Students will get familiar with examples of tools to enable generative practices in organizations, ranging from exercises of reflective best self-portrait to the making of physical space for creative work.
- Personal development: The course will seek to practice what it preaches in terms of offering students possibilities to use theory and tools purposively to make their own practice as students generate more learning an vitality in themselves and others.

c. Reflection: Students will be encouraged to maintain a critical approach and learn of research approaches that lend themselves particularly well to study and understand generative practices, with an emphasis on qualitative research, interventions and practice-based studies.

For each of the five main components of the course – the five sets of generative practices – the following learning strategies will be pursued:

- Discussion of real life situations and cases, with small guest appearances by leading practitioners;

- Discussion of articles, some of which are presented in plenary (by teacher), some in smaller groups (by students);

- Brief overviews of theoretical roots (by teacher)

- Discussion of tools, some of which are the subject of active experimentation by students with small written assignments to reflect on what was learned.

In this course class attendance is mandatory. Absences can result in a lower score. Specific information regarding student evaluation will be provided in class.

A course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of 160-180 hours.

Computer-based tools
Not applicable

Learning process and workload
A course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of 160-180 hours.

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 that is not included on the course homepage/It's learning or text book

Examination
The course grade will be based on the following activities and weights:
i. Participation and in-class activities 30%
ii. Two to three small written assignments to be handed in 30%
iii. Term paper 40% (groups of 2-3 students)