General Description
Organising and organisations take many forms. Learning how organisations differ from each other on structural and operational levels and recognising their individual characteristics is essential in understanding how to produce effective change, whether through processes, informational technology or both. Over the past 20 years, organisations and the process of organising have been in constant flux as they try to adapt to and benefit from ever-accelerating rates of change resulting from the convergence of driving forces such as globalisation and interconnected computing and communication technologies. The purpose of the course is first to provide students with perspectives on different types of organisations and a set of tools and concepts to recognise, diagnose and operate within them, and second how to understand and relate the impact of dynamic, technology-driven change in these different organisation types. At the end of the course, students should be able to critically reflect on different organisation types and their characteristics, and assess how external factors and trends impact organisational change programs and their related information technology needs. The course combines lectures, case studies, interactive discussions, assignments and a final examination.
Evaluation:
Assignments: 40%
Examination: 50%
Class Participation: 10%
Reading Materials
Gareth Morgan, “Images of Organization”, Sage Publications, 2006
Kevin Kelly, “Out of Control”, Perseus Books , 1995
Thomas Friedman, “The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century”, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2005
(All titles available on Amazon Kindle and other eBook platforms)