Syllabus

Title
2263 Cases in Strategy & Organization
Instructors
Dr. Sabine Pittnauer
Contact details
Type
PI
Weekly hours
2
Language of instruction
Englisch
Registration
09/19/24 to 09/22/24
Registration via LPIS
Notes to the course
Dates
Day Date Time Room
Tuesday 10/22/24 11:00 AM - 07:00 PM D5.0.002
Tuesday 12/03/24 10:00 AM - 12:30 PM TC.4.28
Wednesday 12/11/24 10:00 AM - 01:30 PM TC.5.28
Wednesday 01/08/25 10:00 AM - 01:00 PM D5.1.002
Monday 01/13/25 10:00 AM - 01:00 PM D5.1.002
Wednesday 01/15/25 10:00 AM - 01:00 PM D5.1.002
Contents

Designing an organization to meet current and future challenges is a central issue for managers. Oftentimes, they have to initiate changes in corporate strategy to adapt to external changes, and, as a consequence, realign organizational dimensions. This course addresses how firms should be organized to achieve their strategic objectives. It addresses the links between corporate strategy and organizational structure, processes, and people, thus focusing on the dimensions determine an organization’s design. This course is designed to provide students with the knowledge base for understanding and analyzing organizational and strategic challenges, including topics such as strategic decision making, strategic change, organizational redesign, designing successful organizations, and developing and retaining key talent.

The course uses a problem-based learning approach that emphasizes application and practice, primarily by the use of cases (by Harvard Business School Publishing) that describe real-life challenges of different types of firms. Key concepts learned in previous courses of the SBWL „Strategy & Organization“ will be applied throughout this course. The course is designed to be highly interactive and is held in English.

Case study discussions and presentations will train students’ analytic thinking and problem solving abilities as well as their teamwork, communication, and presentation skills.

The course is relevant for students interested in general management, strategic management, corporate development, management consulting, academia, and executive staffing and development.

Learning outcomes

Students will learn to analyze and develop solutions for different strategic and organizational challenges. They will apply different analytical approaches and theoretical perspectives and learn to combine adequate tools and frameworks to understand organizational dimensions and linkages. It therefore integrates many issues that students have to handle in their prospective managerial jobs.

 

After completing this course students will have the ability to:

  • Deal with concepts and theories in organization design, strategic management,  and change management
  • Analyze and critically evaluate central strategic decisions and organizational implications
  • Deal with theoretical frameworks in the area of strategy and organization
  • Analyze various aspects and challenges of strategy and organization in practice

Apart from that, completing this course will contribute to students' ability to:

  • Efficiently work and communicate in a team
  • Learn to translate their insights to practical problems
  • Work on solutions for real-life case studies
  • Improve their oral and written communication and presentation skills
  • Learn to give and receive constructive feedback

 

Attendance requirements

Full attendance at all sessions is expected. We require an attendance of minimum 80% of the core lectures (both in-person and online, if applicable) in order to successfully complete the course.

If you are unable to attend a session due to unforeseeable circumstances, you need to inform your lecturer before the session takes place.

Teaching/learning method(s)

The course combines various learning methods, such as: short lectures, readings, team work based on student case study analysis and in-class presentations as well as instructor-led discussions.

 

Further instructions on how to purchase the cases will be announced prior to class.

Assessment

The final course grade is based upon the evaluation of the following assessment assignments:

  • Pre-Assignment (5%)
  • Team assignment and presentation (50%)
  • Student Team report (25%)
  • Oral Participation (20%)

Please note that students must participate in all grading components in order to pass the course.

 

IOD guidelines for AI use:

1. Is the use of AI-based software for your course/exam an (un)authorized aid?

Allowed is the use of AI-based software for writing support, such as Grammarly. However, it is mandatory to indicate the use of any AI-based software in your written work. If you use  AI-based software for text and content generation such as ChatGPT in your reports, presentations, or any other written text, it is mandatory to:
a) verify the information generated and
b) add all relevant references for the text, data, and AI-based software.
During in-class discussions, we will challenge the results and insights from your presentations and written work.

2. How to indicate the permitted use of AI-based software?

You need to provide indication in a footnote for the corresponding sections AND add a detailed appendix with specific "prompts" and the responses from the text generation software.

3. What will your initial steps be for any suspected cases of unauthorized use of AI-based software?

Note that in case of suspicious cases, we will set up an additional individual oral audit interview with the student.

Readings

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.

Last edited: 2024-05-13



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