MRD 7108:Organisational Management and Networking (CU=3)

Course Description:

Skills in organisational development and management for sustainable rural development. Methods and skills for organisational planning and management for sustainable development; Rural and/or community based organisations and institutions; Social capital formation (opportunity for overcoming production and marketing problems) production and marketing related problems; co-operative support systems and their management, social networking patterns. The three modules; Organisational development and management, Strategic management Planning, and Resource Mobilisation and networking Patterns.

Course Objective:

To enable students understand the role of groups and organisations in rural development.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the course, the students should be able to:

  • Have knowledge of concepts and processes of organisational management
  • Acquire and practise the skills for organisational planning for development
  • Have skills in social and organisational networking for resource mobilisation for rural development.

Methods of Course Delivery

  • Lectures
  • Seminarsand Discussions
  • Self Study Assignments

Course Outline

  • Introduction to Social Network Analysis
  • Network Theories
  • Social Capital Relations
  • Occupational and Entrepreneurial Ties
  • Intra-organisational Networks
  • Formation of Inter-organisational Relations
  • Innovation Diffusion and Learning
  • Interlocking Directorates
  • Network Outcomes
  • Policy Networks
  • Political Influence
  • Social Support Networks
  • Visualizing Networks and Explaining Change
  • Ecology of Affiliations
  • Cognitive Dimensions

Method of Assessment

  • Project Paper (7500 words) 20%
  • Written Test (One Hour) 10%
  • Oral Test (15 Minutes) 10%
  • Final Examination (3 Hours) 60%
  • Total Course Mark100%

Basic Reading List

Beckman, Christine M. and Pamela Haunschild. 2002. “Network Learning: The Effects of Partners’ Heterogeneity of Experience on Corporate Acquisitions.” Administrative Science Quarterly 47:92-124.

Blunt Peter (1983) Organizational Theory and Behaviour, LondonNew York, Longman.

Burt, Ronald S. 2001. “Structural Holes versus Network Closure as Social Capital.” Pp. 31-56 in Social Capital: Theory and Research, edited by Nan Lin, Karen S. Cook, and Ronald S. Burt. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.

Carpenter, Mason A. 2001. “The Strategic Context of External Network Ties: Examining the Impact of Director Appointments on Board Involvement in Strategic Decision Making.” Academy of Management Journal 44:639-660.

Emirbayer, Mustafa. 1997. “Manifesto for a Relational Sociology.” American Journal of Sociology 103:281-317.

Fernandez, Roberto M., Emilio J. Castilla and Paul Moore. 2000. “Social Capital at Work: Networks and Employment at a PhoneCenter.” American Journal of Sociology 105: 1288-1356.

Grint Keith, (1998) The Sociology of Work, Cambridge, Polity Press

Ingram, Paul. 2002. “Interorganizational Learning.” Pp. 642-663 in The Blackwell Companion to Organizations, edited by Joel A. C. Baum. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.

Krackhardt, David. 1990. “Assessing the Political Landscape: Structure, Cognition and Power in Organizations.” Administrative Science Quarterly 35:342-369.

Malecki, Edward J. 1997. “Entrepreneurs, Networks, and Economic Development: A Review of Recent Research.” Advances in Entrepreneurship, Firm Emergence, and Growth 3:57-118.

Marsden, Peter V. and Noah E. Friedkin. 1994. “Network Studies of Social Influence.” Pp. 3-25 in Advances in Social Network Analysis: Research in the Social and Behavioral Sciences edited by Stanley Wasserman and Joseph Galaskiewicz. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

Noon Mike and Paul Blyton (1997), The Realities of Work, London, Macmillan

Pescosolido, Bernice and Judith A. Levy. 2002. “The Role of Social Networks in Health, Illness, Disease and Healing: The Accepting Present, the Forgotten Past, and the Dangerous Potential for a Complacent Future.” Pp. 3-25 in Social Networks and Health, Vol. 8, edited by Judith A. Levy and Bernice Pescosolido. New York, NY:

Sills David ed. (1968) International Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences, London, Collier-Macmillan Publishers

Stuart, Toby E. 2000. “Interorganizational Alliances and the Performance of Firms: A Study of Growth and Innovation Rates in a High-Technology Industry.” Strategic Management Journal 21:791-811.

Wasserman, Stanley and Katherine Faust. 1994. Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications. New York: CambridgeUniversity Press.

Watson Tony J, (1995) Sociology Work and Industry, Routledge, London

Zeffane R. (1995) “The Widening Scope of Organisational Networking: Economic, Sectoral and Social Dimensions”, Leadership and Organisation Development Journal Vol.16 No. 4 pp. 26-33