Foundations of Organization

Course ID

B150031101

Course Title

Teaching language

English

ECTS value

Responsible study board

Study Board of Business Economics

Date of Approval

02-03-2018

Course Responsible

Name	Email	Department
Markus Becker	mab@sod.dias.sdu.dk

Offered in

Odense

Level

Master

Offered in

Autumn

Duration

1 semester

Mandatory prerequisites

None.

Recommended prerequisites

None.

Aim and purpose

Foundations of Organization is a core course in the Strategy and Organization master. This course covers theories that comprise state-of-the-art in organization research.

The aim of the course is to provide a solid knowledge of the most important theories and conceptual frameworks on organizations and standard approaches to tackling the challenges that organizations are a response to, as well as the skills to apply the principles laid out in this course to examine and solve organizational problems in the exam, the Master's Thesis and in a managerial career.

Content

The course covers the most important issues in organizations and problems that organizations are a response to, and the most influential recent theoretical perspectives on these.

The course is structured along the two main challenges that organizations face, i.e., coordination and cooperation. Concerning coordination, the course covers the division of labor and of knowledge, and their consequences for coordination. Regarding the cooperation challenge, authority, hierarchy, the agency problem, and transaction cost economics are discussed. Finally, a third pillar of the course is represented by challenges involving competences in organizations (organizations as information-processing systems, organizations as bundles of competences and routines, and organizational learning).

Learning goals

The aim is that students, by participation in this course, learn to:

Describe, evaluate and use the theories and conceptual frameworks that represent state-of-the-art in organization research
Frame practical issues and problems that organizations face in conceptual terms so they can be related to conceptual frameworks
Conduct a structured, well-argued, and in-depth analysis of challenges that organizations face that is informed by the theories and conceptual frameworks presented in the course
Conduct a structured, well-argued, and in-depth analysis of how to design organizations in response to the challenges they face. The analysis should be informed by the theories and conceptual frameworks presented in the course.

Literature

Selected articles.
About 750 pages in total.

Teaching Method

Lectures including mini-cases, group work and class discussion in order to provide the opportunity for learning by doing and application of theories by the students. To develop an understanding of the challenges that organizations face and the solutions to these challenges they can provide, lectures are combined with other, interactive, learning activities such as mini-cases, group work, class discussions, and voluntary self-assessment exercises on which feedback is provided.

Workload

Scheduled classes:
3 hours weekly in 15 weeks.

The listed teaching activities result in an estimated distribution of the work effort of an average student as follows:
Lectures: 45 hours.
Preparation: 160 hours.
Preparation for exam: 60 hours.
Exam: 5 hours.
Total: 270 hours.

Examination regulations

Exam

Name

Exam

Timing

Exam: January.

Reexam: February.

The form of the reexam is subject to change.

Tests

Written exam

Name

Written exam

Form of examination

Written examination on premises

Censorship

Second examiner: External

Grading

7-point grading scale

Identification

Student Identification Card - Exam number

Language

English

Duration

3 hours written exam.

Length

max. 6 pages (1.5 line spacing)

Examination aids

All exam aids allowed.
It is not allowed to communicate with others.

Assignment handover

Course page in Blackboard.

Assignment handin

Via SDU-assignment in the course page in Blackboard.

ECTS value

Additional information

Internally evaluated for guest- and exchange students.

EKA

B150031102

External comment

NOTE - This course is identical with the former course 9260601 Foundations of Organization.

Used examination attempts in the former identical course will be transferred.

Courses that are identical with former courses that are passed according to applied rules cannot be retaken.

For the profile Global Logistics and Supply Chain Management the following applies:

Students who have passed the course Value Chain Design (course id. 9262001) cannot be examined in this course.

For the profile Communication Management and Leadership the following applies:

Students who have passed the course Advanced Marketing Communication (course id. 8033101) cannot be examined in this course.

1) Students who have to pass the course Advanced Marketing Communication as a compulsory course will be examined for the last time in January 2017. In case the course is not passed at the third and final exam in January 2017, the course will be replaced by Foundations of Organization.

2) Students who have already passed the course Advanced Marketing Communication as a compulsory course, can take the course Foundations of Organization as an elective course on 3rd semester.

Please note: This does not apply for students enrolled in the profile as of 1st September 2016.

The student is automatically registered for the first examination attempt when the student is registered for a course or course element with which one or more examinations are associated. Withdrawal of registration is not possible, and students who fail to participate in an examination have used one examination attempt, unless the University has made an exemption due to special circumstances.

Courses offered

Offer period	Offer type	Profile	Education	Semester

Teachers

Name	Email	Department	City
Markus Becker	mab@sod.dias.sdu.dk		Odense