Organization Theory

2019/2020

Academic Year

ENG

Instruction in English

8

ECTS credits

Delivered at:

International College of Economics and Finance

Course type:

Elective course

When:

3 year, 1-4 module

Course Syllabus

Abstract

The Organisation Theory is a two-semester course for the 4-rd year ICEF students. This is an intermediate course for the students specialised in Economics and Management. “Introduction in Management and Business” course is a pre-requisite, as well as Economics and Sociology courses. The course is taught in English. The course comprises a number of basic approaches to organisation theory in the historical as well as in the methodological aspects. The development of the organisation theory during XX century is presented in its relation to the social and economical processes of that period. At the end of the course a phenomenon of globalisation is studied. It intensifies the interaction between cultures which has a great influence on the functioning of national as well as multinational companies.

Learning Objectives

• present the fundamental concepts of the organisation theory
• teach the students to complete macro- and micro-analysis of organisations in the context of their development and interaction with the environment
• create modern outlook that could be a basis for practical work in any management position

Expected Learning Outcomes

• • Distinguish between managerial (efficiency-oriented) and non-efficiency-oriented types of organisation theory
• use the basic principles of Taylorist production system: standardisation; rationalisation; unification
• identify economic spheres, industries and branches where scientific management could be efficient today
• distinguish the institutional factors of adoption of scientific management and other organisational ideas in Russia, Germany, Japan, Great Britain, Spain
• assess the span of control
• identify the type of organizational structure
• elaborate the rational structure for small and medium-sized companies
• distinguish the advantages and limits of modern flat structures
• assess the necessity of organisational changes
• assess the usefulness of Fordist ideology and practice in developed and developing countries
• use in the managerial practice some conceptions elaborated in the Human Relations Approach: job enrichment, rotation, participative management and others
• be able to change leadership style according to different circumstances
• use different motivational models in organisations
• identify and classify situational factors determining the management style
• solve problems of organisational culture in mergers and acquisition processes

Course Contents

• Introduction to Organisation Theory
  An object of study. Methodology of organisation theory. Key concepts of organisation theory. Relations of organisation theory with other managerial disciplines. The ambiguity of the term "organisation". Organisation as a property of orderliness, as a certain social unit. Nature of social organisations. Essential features of organisations. Organisation as a target, hierarchically constructed, managed community, social institution. The concept of organisational (synergistic) effect. Managing the synergetic effect. Organisations as an object of scientific analysis. Approaches to the analysis of the phenomenon of organisation in various fields of knowledge. The theory of organisation as a dynamically developing field of social science during the XX - early XXI centuries. Reasons for the rapid development of organisational theory. The importance of scientific study of organisations. Subject area of research in the theory of organisation. Interdisciplinarity of organisational theory. Problem of conceptual integrity of theory. Influence of the general scientific methodology of system analysis.
• Organisation Theory and Scientific Management
  The formation of a market society in the VIII-XIX centuries. Transformation of traditional structures of production organisation. Historical forms of production organisation: craft workshop, small enterprise, large corporation, global corporation. Rational basis for building organisational systems. Priority development of large companies in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. Classical industrial type of organisation. The principle of economies of scale within large organisations. Basic Taylor’s assumptions. A worker as a resource. A problem of co-operation and paternalism. Rationalisation of work. Organisational principles of simple production work (specialisation, external control). Specialisation in administration work. Line structure and its critics. Taylor’s disciples (H.Gantt, The Gilberths,t). H.Braverman and deskilling debate.
• Scientific Management in Russia and other Countries
  The inapplicability of scientific management to non-American systems. The social and economic environment in the USA in the beginning of XX century. The situation in Europe in this period. Taylor successors in Soviet Russia (Gastev, Vitke, Dunoevsky and others). Experimental sociology and psychology in Soviet universities and institutes in 1920-s. Scientific management and in its influence in the post-war time. Job design and work measurement in south-eastern Asia. Nowadays mass production.
• Organisational Structure. Determinants of hierarchal structures
  Types of organisational structures. American and Russian typologies of organisational structures. Advantages and disadvantages of linear, functional, linearfunctional, divisional and matrix structures. Organisational structure and life cycle stage of the organisation. Number of structural levels, the problem of its reduction or increase. Application of the hierarchy principle to the construction and transformation of organisational structure. The concept of a flexible and rigid structure. Possibility of solving nontraditional tasks within the framework of one organisational structure. Creation of crossfunctional, cross-divisional teams. Combination of single-management and collegiality of decision making. Importance of committees in modern companies. Shortcomings in cross-functional teams. The problem of personnel promotion and career building in the organisation. Traditional structures of American firms: holdings (conglomerates) and functional structures. The basic challenge for Sloan in GM. Emergence of M-firm. Balance of centralisation and decentralisation. Reducing of external and internal risks. Dependence on stock market and the predominance of financial strategy in M-structures. The future of M-structures.
• Modern tendencies in the Development of Organisational Structures
  Weber’s “ideal” bureaucracy as an organisational model. Goal setting and organisational structure. Technology and its influence on the organisational structure. Project structure. Matrix structure: its advantages and shortcomings. Complex organisational structures (trust, conglomerate, keiretzu). Organisational structure and social context. Current trends in the development of organisations. Reasons for the decline of interest in large corporations of the classical type. Decentralization of management of modern organisations. Small enterprise as an ideal of economic organisation. The role of community relations in modern small business. Origin and development of the tendency to decentralization of production. Formation of flexible organisational structures. Flexible company structure as a response to the constantly changing external environment. "Hillshaped" and network structures. Formalization of informal ties in modern organisations.
• Fordism and Organisation Theory
  Technology as the basis for building an organisation. Dependence of the spatial structure of the organisation on the type of technology. Operating system of the organisation. Problems of determining the efficiency of the operating system. Accounting and socio-economic interpretation of efficiency. Attempts to take into account the future capabilities of the organisation in determining efficiency. Social problems associated with the functioning of the technical and technological subsystem of the organisation and the development of modern technologies. Adequacy of technology. Monotony of work. Formation of narrow specialist categories. The problem of the ratio of basic and auxiliary functions in the implementation of production processes in modern organisations. Henry Ford as outstanding business reformer. Assembly line and its social and economic consequences. Mass production and work alienation. $5-wage and the emergence of middle class. Fordism as a social and philosophical system. Fordism and world competition.
• Human Relation Approach in Organisation Theory
  Background and circumstances of the Human relation approach emergence. Hawthorne studies and their interpretation. «Human being as a Social Animal». Informal organisation. Human relations theories and Scientific management. Content theories of motivation. A problems of job enrichment. McGregor’s theories X and Y.
• Groups and Leadership in Organisations. Organisations as Motivationally coordinated mechanisms
  The role of leadership crucial to motivation. The Taylorist view on management as responsible for the implementation of the work system Human relations theories and change in the management role interpretation. Different types of leadership (autocratic and democratic, participative and directive). The distinction between managers and leaders. The role of groups. Group dynamic. Typology of groups in organisation
• Contingency Theories and Situation Approach
  A concept of social system. Open and closed systems. A synthesis of the ideas of classical organisation theory and Human relation approach. Studies of J. Woodward. A concept of technology. Relationship between technology and social organisation. Technology as a contingency parameter. The Aston studies. Elements of organisational structure: specialisation of roles, standardisation of rules and procedures, standardisation of employment practices, formalisation of instructions and procedures, centralisation of decisions, spans of control, length of the management chain of command, numbers of specialised support staff. Four main types of structure: personnel bureaucracies, workflow bureaucracies, full bureaucracies, non-bureaucracies
• Organisational Culture. Organisations as Culturally coordinated Mechanisms.
  The notion of organisational culture modern Organisation Theory. The rise of the public interest to Organisational Culture in the end of 1970-s. The norms and values of the members of organisation. The involvement and participation in the work process ias a cultural value. Positive and negative aspects of co-operation, teamwork, flexibility, integration, competition, individualism, job demarcations and hierarchy. Peters and Waterman’s key characteristics of the best American companies. Hofsteade’s study of organisational cultures in different countries. The problem of typology of organisational cultures. The key points of organisational culture of Russian companies. Development of organisational culture. Role of the founder of the organisation in the process of formation of its culture. Stages of organisational development and changes in organisational culture. Organisational development as a purposeful process of changing the norms and values of the company. Management of organisational culture, its different levels. Ability to manage culture. Culturally forming context of latent functions of managerial decisions. Need for diagnostics of organisational culture. Information, education, radical reforming as methods of changing the culture of the company. Ethical components of organisational culture

Assessment Elements

• essay
• final ICEF exam
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• mid-term test
• reports
• solution case studies in seminars
• UoL exam
• winter exam

Interim Assessment

• Interim assessment (2 module)
  0.1 * essay + 0.25 * mid-term test + 0.1 * reports + 0.15 * solution case studies in seminars + 0.4 * winter exam
• Interim assessment (4 module)
  0.02 * essay + 0.4 * Interim assessment (2 module) + 0.02 * reports + 0.06 * solution case studies in seminars + 0.5 * UoL exam

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Business in context : An introduction to business and its environment, Needle, D., 2001
• Models of management : work, authority, and organization in a comparative perspective, Guillen, M. F., 1994

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Организационное поведение : учебник и практикум для академического бакалавриата, , 2015
• Социология организаций : учеб. пособие для вузов, Барков, С. А., 2004
• Теория организации (институциональный подход) : учеб. пособие для вузов, Барков, С. А., 2009