The course is designed to expose students to the contemporary challenges facing organizations and managers. The course combines perspectives from organization theory, organizational behavior, and international business to examine how organizations are structured and people are managed across diverse contexts. The topics covered include: organizational structure and design, strategic management, leadership and motivation, organizational culture, and cross-cultural management. 

The course is structured in two sections:

Individuals, teams, and organizations (micro and meso): This section focuses on the strategic and managerial context of organizational behavior. It examines organizational structure and design, individual behaviors and processes in organizations, and how to integrate business strategy and organizational behavior. A particular emphasis in this section is to understand the factors that influence external (organization-environment) and internal (individual-organization) fit/misfit.

Organizations and environments (meso and macro): This section focuses on the embeddedness of organizations in diverse institutional and cultural environments, the resulting strategic challenges and opportunities, and the requirements for effectively managing people, talent, and a diverse workforce. A particular emphasis is on international and multinational organizations that cross national and cultural borders.

After the course, students will be able to:

• identify and compare organizational structures and designs; understand their advantages and disadvantages
• describe and critically evaluate the key roles and activities of managers
• explain the key challenges of managing organizations and people in increasingly complex and integrated business environments
• analyze and compare the challenges of managing in national and international contexts
• understand the role that diverse contexts may play in managing organizations and people
• develop strategies for managing organizations and people vis-à-vis contemporary business challenges and contexts

The course emphasizes the training and development of the following skills and competencies:

• analytical thinking and problem solving: Students learn to analyze complex organizational and managerial challenges in a systematic way applying a number of conceptual tools and techniques in order to develop appropriate solutions.
• critical thinking: Students are encouraged to develop their own critical opinions based on sound understanding of different organizational and managerial contexts.
• presentation, discussion, and debating skills

Active engagement is a firm requirement of this course – which means that students are expected to attend all sessions and prepare the assigned readings and course materials before each module. The sessions will include a theoretical input component, discussion of practical implications, and group activities.

Participation is mandatory. Students can miss up to one module in total. It is recommended that students save their absence allowance for cases of illness. The attendance requirement largely aligns with WU’s guidelines for PI courses, in that students who fail to meet the attendance requirement have to be de-registered from the course as quickly as possible (with a “fail” grade or ungraded).

(https://www.wu.ac.at/en/staff/information-for-teachers/courses-exams-and-theses/continuous-assessment-course-pi/)

Students are only permitted to attend the course for which they are registered – as attendance and group work are tied to the specific sections.

Arriving late or leaving early counts toward students’ absences. Students are not requested to inform the instructors in advance if they miss class fully or partially. Instead, if students join classes late or leave earlier, they are required to sign the ‘lateness’ sheet, indicating the reasons for coming late or leaving earlier as well as the time missed.

The course combines multiple teaching and learning approaches including input components (traditional lecture style), business case studies, group work and presentations, and written assignments. For each session, students are required to prepare assigned readings, which are the foundation for in-class discussions. In addition, students will critically analyze and evaluate real-life companies, which requires application of conceptual insights and learning gained in class.  

As a policy, instructors will not respond to student emails. Instead, all communication with instructors is done through the forum on Canvas. This is to ensure that all students will have equal access to information. Prior to posting questions in the forum, students should check the FAQs and whether previous forum communication provides answers to questions. The only exception for students to contact instructors via email is when due to reasons of sickness they exceed the absence allowance, and need to submit a doctor’s note.

Group assessment:

• Summary reports from group discussions (30%)

Individual assessment:

• Peer evaluation (10%)
• Reflection on key learning points (20%)
• Final examination [multiple choice] (30%)
• Class attendance (10%)

Grading scheme (total 100%):

All grade points will be recorded in the Gradebook on Canvas. Late or missed submissions, as well as those that are flagged by the plagiarism check, will result in a grade of ‘0’ – without exception. Please note that all group members are accountable for adhering to the plagiarism policies of the university. Cases of plagiarism will be reported to Study Services, which results in failing the course and possible suspensions from studies.

Points are not rounded arithmetically. Any divergences or alternative procedures require announcement prior to the course starts so not to jeopardize the integrity of the grading process. Similarly, compensatory assignments are not usually offered to students.

It is students’ responsibility to familiarize themselves with the basics of good academic practice prior to the start of the course. Equally, they need to know about the various facets of plagiarism and academic fraud, such as

“- Copying from other students (e.g. in written homework)

- Failure to use correct citations in written performance components

- Handing in the same written work in different courses without including a note in
  the paper indicating that it has been submitted more than once (self-plagiarism)”

 (https://www.wu.ac.at/en/students/my-program/bachelors-student-guide/courses-and-exams/plagiate-neu)

AI-based software and tools of all kinds (e.g., ChatGPT, Bard, Grammarly, etc.) are not authorized for this course. Students are expected to conduct their own, independent research, and for both written and oral assignments, are expected to use their own words. This applies especially when personal reflections and the expression of students’ own opinions/analyses are concerned. All submitted assignments are automatically checked for plagiarism and usage of AI. In suspicious cases, audit interviews will not be conducted.

This course is open to students in the 4th semester of the BBE program. Students who would like to take the course before the 4th semester of the program should enquire with the BBE program management to ensure that 4th-semester students will have sufficient slots.

After registration, please do not contact instructors to request registration for parallel courses. Instructors will not carry out registrations as long as in all parallel courses sufficient slots are still available.

Please log in with your WU account to use all functionalities of read!t. For off-campus access to our licensed electronic resources, remember to activate your VPN connection connection. In case you encounter any technical problems or have questions regarding read!t, please feel free to contact the library at readinglists@wu.ac.at.

WU Vienna is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty.  Students are expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold the policies of the University in this respect. Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Code of Student Behavior and avoid any behavior which could potentially result in suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or participation in an offence. Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University.

(https://www.wu.ac.at/en/students/wu-campus/code-of-conduct)

The course is designed with the aim of creating a fair and inclusive learning environment for all students. Should you have any special needs or require additional support in the course, please feel free to contact the instructors. All correspondence will be kept confidential. Other WU support services include:

Student counselling

(https://www.wu.ac.at/en/students/my-program/bachelors-student-guide/volunteering-support-and-honors-programs/student-counselling)

BeAble Support Program

(https://www.wu.ac.at/en/students/my-program/bachelors-student-guide/volunteering-support-and-honors-programs/beable)