University of Southern Indiana

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN INDIANA

College of Business

MNGT 443.001 Dane M. Partridge, Ph.D.

Organization Theory and Design OC 3066C

Spring 2009 465-7085

TR 1200n-115p OC 2027 465-1044 (fax)

http://business.usi.edu/dpartrid/

Office Hours:

TR 930-1145a

and by appt.

INTRODUCTION AND LEARNING OBJECTIVES

This course involves the management challenge of designing organizational structure to facilitate effective performance and achieve competitive advantage given the evolving nature of organizational environments. Issues will include organizational innovation and change; technological change and organizational restructuring; global competition; organizational culture; employee involvement, participative management, and team systems; total quality management; and organizational control, communication, and conflict. Particular attention will be devoted to the implications of information technology and e-business for the structure and design of the 21st century organization.

Following completion of this course, students should be able to:

§ Describe the relationship between organizational theory and organizational design and change, and differentiate between organizational structure and culture

§ Describe the agency problem that exists in all authority relationships and the various mechanisms, such as the board of directors and stock options, which can be used to help control illegal and unethical managerial behavior

§ Describe how and why an organization seeks to adapt to and control the forces in their environment so as to reduce uncertainty

§ Describe the basic organizational design challenges confronting managers

§ Discuss the issues involved in designing a hierarchy to coordinate and motivate organizational behavior most effectively

§ Explain why most organizations initially have a functional structure and why, over time, problems arise that require a change to a more complex structure

§ Understand how an organization’s culture, like its structure, can be designed or managed

§ Appreciate the importance of linking strategy to structure and culture at the functional-, business-, and corporate level to increase the ability to create value

§ Understand how technology needs to be matched to organizational structure if an organization is to be effective

§ Understand the relationship among organizational change, redesign, and organizational effectiveness

§ Describe the typical problems that arise as an organization grows and matures, and how an organization must change if it is to survive and prosper

§ Explain how organizations can use knowledge management and information technology to promote organizational learning to improve the quality of decision making

§ Understand the steps involved in creating an organizational setting that fosters innovation and creativity

§ Appreciate the importance of managing an organization’s power structure to overcome organizational inertia, and to bring about the type of change that promotes performance

College of Business Skill Development

As a part of the College’s strategic planning process, learning goals/educational objectives have been identified (see http://www.usi.edu/business/strategic/learning.asp). This course will help to develop students’ critical thinking skills, oral and written communication skills, ethical decision-making skills, and analytical problem-solving skills.

Note: MNGT 305, Principles of Management, is the prerequisite for this course; MNGT 315, Organizational Behavior, is recommended as well (but not required).

READINGS

Students should obtain the following book:

Jones, Gareth R. Organizational Theory, Design, and Change, 5e (Prentice-Hall, 2007).

Copies of the text should be available for purchase in the Bookstore. Students are also expected to subscribe to the Wall Street Journal; subscription forms will be available from the instructor. Any other assigned readings will be available from the instructor’s website or the Rice Library online databases. Supplements to the course outline and reading assignments may be distributed during the session.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS, METHODS OF EVALUATION, AND RESPONSIBILITIES

In addition to the required reading assignments, there will be four exams, several individual and group case assignments, and an organizational analysis and written case study. Given that the case assignments are primarily for the purpose of class discussion, any that are turned in late will be penalized by 50% (and any late assignments must be submitted no later than one week following the original due date). The group case assignments will be primarily (although not necessarily exclusively) in‑class assignments; any in‑class assignment missed by a student due to absence must be submitted within one week.

Grading will be determined on the basis of the following weights:

Exams (4 @ 15% each) 60%

Organizational analysis 20%

Group case assignments

and supplemental reading briefings 10%

Individual case assignments, supplemental reading

briefings, and class participation 10%

Regular attendance is recommended, as the required readings and class meetings are intended to be complements, not substitutes. The required reading is the foundation for the course; the class meetings and cases will build on that foundation. On the exams, students will be responsible for both material covered by the readings and material discussed in class. Students are expected to keep up with the required reading, as assigned, and to come to class prepared for discussion and with any questions concerning the reading. Students are reminded that under the credit hour system a three-credit class requires on average six hours of outside preparation per week. While research indicates that the average U.S. college student spends less time in outside study and class preparation than the instructor might expect, when full-time students devote only part-time effort to their coursework, less-than-desired outcomes may well result.

Students often observe that they would like their classes to “better relate to the real world.” For students to apply what they have learned in the classroom to actual work environments students have responsibility for active, rather than passive, involvement in the learning process. The instructor’s role in active or experiential learning is to serve as a facilitator of student-directed learning, rather than being the provider of teacher-directed instruction. Some have called this a shift from “teaching by talking” toward “learning by doing.” The responsibility for learning is borne by the learner, while the teacher makes resources available and helps the learning process. This instructor’s primary objective with respect to this course is that students will acquire knowledge, skills, and abilities that will make them more competitive in the job market and more effective members of the organizations they join upon graduation.

As one college president has put it, “[I]t isn't enough just to learn -- one must learn how to learn, how to learn without classrooms, without teachers, without textbooks. Learn, in short, how to think and analyze and decide and discover and create…. [W]hile mastery of specific content is important, we want our graduates to learn how to think critically and creatively, express themselves coherently, work collaboratively, and develop a global consciousness…. A college is not a trade school. A college education ultimately must be designed to help students develop the skills needed to become lifelong learners, capable of finding new information, evaluating it, and using it in both the real world and the world of the mind.”

Organizational Analysis

The organizational analysis and written case study will involve collecting and analyzing information about an organization selected at the beginning of the semester and studied throughout the course; your findings will be presented to your colleagues during the latter portion of the semester. The “Analyzing the Organization: Design Module Assignment” at the end of each chapter in the text provides a framework for your analysis. Your analysis will consist of answers to selected questions from the Design Modules (there are close to 100 questions to choose from at the end of the 14 chapters). Your final report should be typed, double‑spaced, 10‑12 pages in length (not including title page and references), and is due no later than April 30. You may choose to work in a team of 3-4 students on the project; team reports should be typed, double-spaced, 15-20 pages in length (not including title page and references). Note: this project involves analyzing an organization, not simply describing an organization. In recent semesters students have come to rely too heavily on company-produced information such as that found on the company website. Students are cautioned, therefore, to collect information from a variety of sources – over-reliance on any single source, such as a company website, will negatively affect the evaluation of the paper.

Further details of these requirements and grading procedures will be discussed in class as is necessary. Students are encouraged to stop in during office hours to talk about any problems or suggestions you may have concerning the course, about careers or graduate school, or just about management or things in general. If the scheduled office hours are inconvenient feel free to make an appointment. To underscore the value of office hours, each student will be expected to meet briefly with Dr. Partridge early in the semester. To facilitate electronic communication, students are requested to schedule this initial appointment via e-mail. Please be reminded that USI provides free e-mail for students through MyUSI. The University routinely uses this USI e-mail account for both formal and informal communications with students. Students are expected to check their USI e-mail account regularly for University correspondence. If you prefer to use an e-mail account other than the one provided you by USI, you should forward your USI e-mail to the account you use most often.

WHAT (SOME) STUDENTS HAVE LIKED LEAST…

· “Too many supplemental readings”

· “Too many student presentations – boring to listen to and I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be getting from them”

o First, the briefings are intended to reinforce students’ analytical and communication skills: every USI business graduate should be able to read a Wall Street Journal or Harvard Business Review article, identify the key points (the implications for managers), and communicate those points effectively to their colleagues. Second, consistent with the active learning approach, if you’re not sure what the point of a briefing is (the “so what”), ask! All supplemental readings are intended to reinforce, elaborate upon, or provide additional examples of material contained in the text and lecture.

· “Being randomly called on”

o Exams aren’t optional, projects aren’t optional, why should participation be voluntary?

Student Rights and Responsibilities: Academic Misconduct

Truth and honesty are necessary to a university community. Each student is expected to do his or her academic work without recourse to unauthorized means of any kind. Both students and faculty are expected to report violations to academic honesty. USI policies and regulations governing the conduct of students and the procedures for handling violations of these policies and regulations are found in the USI Bulletin and on the Dean of Students' website (http://www.usi.edu/stl/index.htm). Students are reminded of the College of Business expectations regarding the avoidance of plagiarism; plagiarism includes:

(1) failing to cite quotations and borrowed ideas,

(2) failing to enclose borrowed language in quotation marks, and

(3) failing to put summaries and paraphrases in your own words.

(Source: Diana Hacker, A Pocket Style Manual, 2e, Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1997, p. 92.) Students are specifically reminded that electronically copying text from a source document, such as a web page, and pasting that into one’s own document without putting the borrowed language in quotation marks is plagiarism, even if the source of that language is included in an in-text citation and reference list. Simply put, borrowed language must be set off in quotation marks. Furthermore, borrowed ideas require in-text citation the same as borrowed language. Note well – failure to use appropriate in-text referencing of either borrowed language or borrowed ideas is unacceptable, regardless of the inclusion of a reference list.

Even if language and/or ideas borrowed from a secondary source are appropriately referenced, College of Business faculty expect more from students. Copying and pasting someone else’s words and ideas into a document file does not demonstrate your understanding of the material. Secondary sources are appropriate and necessary for a research project, but your contribution should involve more than simply assembling the words and ideas of others.

THE INSTRUCTOR

DANE M. PARTRIDGE -- Associate Professor of Management; B.A., Michigan State University; M.S., Cornell University; Ph.D., Cornell University. Dr. Partridge's primary teaching and research interests involve human resource management and labor relations. His research has been published in the Journal of Collective Negotiations in the Public Sector, the Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, the Journal of Labor Research, and the Denver University Law Review. Current research areas include the effect of picket-line misconduct on the reinstatement rights of strikers. Dr. Partridge’s recent presentations to the community include current developments in business ethics and corporate social responsibility. Dr. Partridge has also taught at Virginia Tech, Radford University, and Roanoke College, and has received several awards for teaching excellence.

COURSE OUTLINE, TENTATIVE SCHEDULE, AND SUPPLEMENTAL READING

Note: only those supplemental readings marked with a “*” are assigned to all; others will be divided for presentation by individual students. Those readings marked with a “@” will be divided for presentation by a pair of students. Readings presentations by individuals or teams should briefly summarize the several key points and implications for managers; these presentations will be expected to make use of a visual aid such as a PowerPoint slide.

1. ORGANIZATIONS AND ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS (1/13, 1/15)

· “Corporate America Confronts the Meaning Of a ‘Core’ Business,” Wall Street Journal, November 9, 1999. (*)

· C.K. Prahalad and Venkatram Ramaswamy, “Co-opting Customer Competence,” Harvard Business Review, January-February 2000. (@)

· “Dot-coms: What Have We Learned?” Fortune, October 30, 2000. (*)

· “America Isn’t Ready [Here’s What to Do About It],” Fortune, July 25, 2005. (*)

2. STAKEHOLDERS, MANAGERS, AND ETHICS (1/20, 1/22)

· Eric M. Pillmore, “How We’re Fixing Up Tyco,” Harvard Business Review, December 2003. (@)

· “Democracy Looks for an Opening – In the Boardroom,” Wall Street Journal, March 22, 2004.

· “Behind Wave of Corporate Fraud, A Change in How Auditors Work,” Wall Street Journal, March 24, 2004.

· David A. Nadler, “Building Better Boards,” Harvard Business Review, May 2004. (@)

· Lynn Paine, Rohit Deshpande, Joshua D. Margolis, and Kim Eric Bettcher, “Up to Code: Does Your Company’s Conduct Meet World-Class Standards?” Harvard Business Review, December 2005. (@)

· “Four Years Later, Enron’s Shadow Lingers as Change Comes Slowly,” New York Times, January 5, 2006.

3. MANAGING IN A CHANGING GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT (1/27, 1/29)

· Case Study: “Can this merger be saved?” Harvard Business Review, January-February 1999. (*)

· “Does Everybody Have to Own Everything?” Wall Street Journal, January 12, 2000.