To develop: (i) a foundation of knowledge about different academic theories about the design and re-design of organisations; (ii) the capacity to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of different organisational theories, designs and practices, to compare and contrast approaches, and evaluate and assess these different models, (iii) the ability to apply the theoretical and conceptual ideas to concrete design and redesign problems, (iv) a tolerance and appreciation for, as well as an ability to manage, conflicting perspectives, ambiguity, paradox, and contradiction, and (v) an ability to analyse organisations in the context of the fundamental and persistent tensions that characterize all organisational design efforts

This course gives an advanced level treatment of aspects related to the design of organisations so as to help achieving added value for the customer, shareholder, employee, stakeholder and the wider society. In this course you will become familiar with the design of organisations, particularly in its wider market and societal context, as well as its link with organisational change. This course builds on the second-year course Management of Organisations and will take you deeper into the field. This course will be relevant for you whether you want to pursue a career as a specialist or as a generalist, whether you want to work in a for-profit organisation, in a not-for-profit organisation or whether you want to set up your own business.

Central questions in this course are: What are organisations? What is their effect on society? And vice versa: how does society at large affect organisations? Why do organisations exist? (Put differently: why don’t all economic transactions take place via the market?) How can we classify organisational types? Why are there so many types of organisations? What makes an organisation effective and efficient? What makes an organisation ethical? Whose interests do organisations serve? Why do some organisations fail where others succeed? And most importantly: How should organisations be designed and changed?

Erikson-Zetterquist, U., T. Müllern, & A. Styhre (2011) Organization Theory: A Practice-based Approach, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Additional journal articles (available via EBSCO)

Basic knowledge of organisation theory.
An advanced level of English