90900 - Organization Theory And Behaviour

Learning outcomes

The course aims to give a graduate-level introduction to organization analysis, providing an overview of the key issues, theories and discussions within organization theory and behaviour. At the end of the course students will be able to: - Learn the main contributions and discussions in organization theory, understanding key causes in shaping the behaviour and performance of real organizations. - Understand organizational theories potentialities by means of applying theory to practical organizational cases and exercises.

Course contents

The first part focuses on the main approaches of the industrial sociology and classical organization theory, such as Taylor and the Scientific Management, Mayo and the Human Relation School and the contribution of Barnard on cooperation, efficiency and efficacy. Moreover, this part deals with the theories of personality development, the Toyota model, Weber and the ideal-type of bureaucracy and its critics, such as Gouldner and Merton.

The second part deals with some important issues related to organizations planning and management and organizational behaviour topics: power and the strategical behaviour of organizational actors; the linkage between organization and its environment; organizational structures and organizational culture.

Readings/Bibliography

Readings:

Week 1

Ch 1, Moorhead, G., & Griffin, R. W. (2008). Organizational behavior managing people and organizations. Dreamtech Press.

Ch 1, Mc Auley et All (2007), Organization theory: challenges and perspectives, Pearson(pp 1-17)

Scott R 2003. “The Subject is Organizations,” Chapter 1, Organizations: Rational, Natural and Open System, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall

Week 2

Chapter 2, Mary Jo Hatch, Ann L. Cunliff (2013), Organization Theory: Modern, Symbolic and Postmodern Perspectives, OUP, Oxford (pp 19-40)

Frederick Winslow Taylor in The Oxford Handbook of Management Theorists, Oxford University Press, 2018.

Scientific Management in International Encyclopedia of Organization Studies, SAGE Reference (2008)

Henri Fayol in The Oxford Handbook of Management Theorists, Oxford University Press, 2018.

Week 3

Max Weber (pages 153-160; 212-219) in Sociological theory in the classical era: text and readings. by Laura Desfor Edles; Scott Appelrouth (2010);

"Bureaucracy." International Encyclopedia of Organization Studies. 2007. SAGE Publications. 3 Sep. 2009.

<http://www.sage-ereference.com/organization/Article_n41.html>.

Week 4

George Elton Mayo in The Oxford Handbook of Management Theorists, Oxford University Press, 2018.

Hawthorne Studies." International Encyclopedia of Organization Studies. 2007. SAGE Publications. 3 Sep.

2009. <http://www.sage-ereference.com/organization/Article_n201.html>.

Week 5

Chester Barnard and the Systems Approach to Nurturing Organizations in The Oxford Handbook of Management Theorists, Oxford University Press, 2018

The Tavistock Group in The Oxford Handbook of Management Theorists, Oxford University Press, 2018

Week 6

Gareth Morgan Paradigms, Metaphors, and Puzzle Solving in Organization Theory in Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 4 (Dec., 1980), pp. 605-622Published

Week 7

“An Introduction to McDonaldization,” pp. 1–19 in The McDonaldization of Society, 3rd ed., by George Ritzer. 2000, Pine Forge Press, Thousand Oaks, CA.

Week 8

Japanese Management in International Encyclopedia of Organization Studies (2008)

TOYOTA PRODUCTION SYSTEM BASIC HANDBOOK

Week 9

Weick, Karl E, The collapse of sensemaking in organizations: The Mann Gulch disaster in Administrative Science Quarterly; Dec 1993; 38, 4;

Edgar Schein, Culture: The Missing Concept in Organization Studies, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 41, No. 2, 40th Anniversary Issue (Jun., 1996), pp. 229-240

 

Teaching methods

Lectures; case studies analysis.

Assessment methods

For students attending REGULARLY classes:

A final research paper with presentation and discussion in class;

 

For students NOT attending classes:

A written exam with 5 open questions on the whole programme.

Teaching tools

PPT; Videos; web-sites; 

Office hours

See the website of Cristina Dallara