Syllabus

Title
1529 Specialization in Business Administration Course V - New Forms of Organization and Governance
Instructors
Dr. Vitaliano Barberio, Vivian Johannes Tapfer, MSc.
Type
PI
Weekly hours
2
Language of instruction
Englisch
Registration
09/10/20 to 09/25/20
Registration via LPIS
Notes to the course
Dates
Day Date Time Room
Wednesday 10/14/20 11:30 AM - 03:00 PM TC.4.15
Wednesday 10/21/20 11:30 AM - 03:00 PM Online-Einheit
Wednesday 10/28/20 11:30 AM - 03:00 PM Online-Einheit
Wednesday 11/04/20 11:30 AM - 03:00 PM Online-Einheit
Wednesday 11/11/20 11:30 AM - 03:00 PM Online-Einheit
Wednesday 11/18/20 11:30 AM - 03:00 PM Online-Einheit
Wednesday 12/09/20 04:00 PM - 07:30 PM Online-Einheit
Procedure for the course when limited activity on campus

In the winter semester 2020/21, this course is offered in a mixed format of in class sessions and online sessions:

1) Mi 14.10.20: Rotating presence mode: In class introduction to course content and assignments in two groups of students, each 1.5 hrs.

2) Mi 21.10.20: Online session in distance mode

3) Mi 28.10.20: Online session in distance mode

4) Mi 04.11.20: Online session in distance mode

5) Mi 11.11.20: Online session in distance mode

6) Mi 18.11.20: Rotating presence mode: In class case study and course wrap up in two groups of students, each 1.5 hrs.

7) Mi 09.12.20: In class individual written exam

Contents

Organizations do not exist in the vacuum, rather they are part of a multidimensional  - competitors, technologies, resources etc. - environment they both shape and respond to. What we nowadays refer to as traditional models of organizing were developed during decades of relative stability in the business environment and economic growth following WW2 and with the main reference of the American managerial corporation. As the environment in which many organizations in different industries started to become more turbulent, managers started to eventually move away from the rigidity of vertical integration and experiment with new ways of organizing – e.g. networks, clusters, projects, crowds, platforms etc. – in search for more flexibility, speed and adaptability.  

This course will look into the issue of new forms of organizing from different angles. A particular, but not exclusive attention will be occasionally devoted to advances in information technology (IT) because of its prominence in the contemporary business environment as a driver for managerial experimentation and innovation – e.g. open source development, crowd sourcing, social networks, open innovation, cyber protest, e-commerce, etc.

The course includes the following contents:

  • Alternative perspectives on appropriate organizational structures – e.g. market and self-organization versus hierarchy and beyond.
  • Knowledge management and new product development – e.g. learning organization, modular organization and communities of practice, user and open innovation.
  • Networks – e.g. access to resources, communication, collaboration, strategic alliances etc. and other possible alternative ways of organizing compared to market and hierarchy.
  • Organizational implications in the age of ultra transparency – e.g. legitimacy and identity management, shared value, corporate social responsibility.
  • Business models – e.g. elements of business models, business ecology, platforms, blockchain, crowds, e-commerce.
  • Integrating business models and organizational design – e.g. the stages of business model definition, its patterns of adoption, internal challenges of organizational change.
Learning outcomes

After completing this course, students will be able to:

  • Identify and understand (IT-based) business mechanism and how they find their way into new forms of organizing.
  • Acquire a wide conceptual and business analytical knowledge to discuss new forms of organizing from conceptual as well as from practical perspectives.
  • Reproduce the newly acquired knowledge to characterize new forms of organizing in terms of both potential advantages and challenges for organizations.
  • Apply new analytical skills to a) discuss precisely the - potentially harmful - implementation of new forms of organizing and b) identify where traditional organizational forms could work for modern organizations.
  • Propose adequate courses of actions for real-world organizations dealing with issues of implementing new forms and use practical examples in order to support their claims.
Attendance requirements

Students must attend at least 80% of the teaching hours. Hence missing only one learning module is tolerated.

Teaching/learning method(s)

To achieve the learning outcomes, in class teaching and learning formats are combined with online sessions. These combined formats include lectures, reading assignments, discussions and group presentations, written assigments and case studies.

 

Assessment
  • Active participation to the discussion of the examples, readings and assignments of the course (individual) [10 %]
  • One group work presentation (group work) [20 %]
  • Hands-on case studies, to be solved in groups during the course (group work) [30 %]
  • Individual written exam (individual) [40 %]
Additional (blank) field

This course is mainly taught in English. Upon request, students may submit the various components of the final grade - including the written examination - in German.

 

Last edited: 2020-07-01



Back