Admission requirements
This course is only available for students in the BA International Studies.
Description
As sociologist Amitai Etzioni (1964) once stated: “We are born in organizations, educated by organizations, and most of us spend much of our lives working for organizations.” Whatever our roles in society are: entrepreneur, employer, employee, manager, customer, stockholder, elected official, voter, political activist, teacher and student, organizations (will) impact a great many aspects of our lives.”
The prevalence of these entities and the relationship between organizations and human beings, trigger the need to develop knowledge on organizing processes and patterns that structure organizations. The purpose of this course is therefore to enrich students’ understanding of organizational life which will be done by building on two disciplines that specialize in studying organizations: organization theory and organizational behavior. Organization theory draws on the sciences, the humanities and the arts. The topics covered are culture, technology, structure and design and congruency with the external environment. Organizational behavior deals with topics such as ethics, diversity, motivation, attribution, communication and leadership. This discipline explores the behavior, attitudes and performance of individuals and groups within organizations.
After completing the course, students will have gained a solid introductory background in both disciplines of organization theory and organizational behavior. Throughout the course students will find connections to several familiar themes in International Studies, however the goal is to gain new knowledge and insights from focusing on the organizational level of analysis.
This course is designed to bridge academia and practice. The lectures, core book and readings contain theories, models and frameworks with which students will develop their academic knowledge of organizations. The core book, with clear and concise explanations, also contains contemporary examples and real-life cases which will be discussed in class. The insights and ideas from the course will be applied in two case study assignments and will help prepare students for an internship at a company.
For a valuable learning experience students are expected to do pre-assigned readings before coming to the lecture and participate fully in class.
Course objectives
This course aims to:
teach you to quickly grasp the workings of an organization to make sound contributions as an intern.
develop your knowledge on the perspectives in organization theory, the core concepts of organization structure and design and the influence of the external environment.
develop your knowledge on organizational behavior through frameworks and models related to behavior, attitudes and performance of individuals and groups in organizations.
build your ability to describe, analyze and evaluate I) organizational culture and II) organizational structure through case study assignments.
teach frameworks you can apply to accelerate organizational socialization in the internship organization.
equip you with knowledge on managing your work and yourself in organizational situations during your internship.
Timetable
The timetable is available on the BA International Studies website.
Mode of instruction
Lectures
This course consists of 12 lectures. All sessions are compulsory. If you are not able to attend a lecture, please inform the instructor of the course. Being absent without notification can result in a lower grade or exclusion from the final exam.
Course Load
Total course load for this course is 5 EC (1 EC = 28 hours), this equals 140 hours, broken down by:
Attending lectures: 24 hours
Study of compulsory literature: 56 hours
Completing assignments, preparation of classes and final exam: 60 hours
Assessment method
Assessment method and Weighing
| Partial grade | Weighing |
|---|---|
| Case Study I | 20% |
| Case Study II | 30% |
| Final Exam | 50% |
End grade
To successfully complete the course, please take note of the following:
The end grade of the course is established by determining the weighted average of both case studies and the final exam.
The weighted average of the case studies and final exam needs to be 5.5 or higher.
Resit
If the end grade is insufficient (lower than a 6), there is a possibility of retaking the exam, replacing the final exam grade. No resit for the case studies is possible.
Please note that if the resit exam grade is lower than 5.5, you will not pass the course, regardless of the tutorial grade.
Retaking a passing grade
Please consult the Course and Examination Regulations 2017 – 2018.
Exam review
How and when an exam review takes place will be determined by the examiner. This review will be within 30 days after official publication of exam results.
Blackboard
Blackboard will be used for tutorial groups. Students are requested to enroll on Blackboard for this course, but only after correct enrolment in uSis.
Reading list
Kreitner, R. and Kinicki, A. Organizational Behavior, Tenth Edition (custom edition). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2013 (ISBN 9780077172879)
Anand, N., and Richard L. Daft. "What is the right organization design?", 2007
The course guide including the required readings per lecture and guidelines will be posted on Blackboard.
Registration
Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
General information about uSis can be found here.
Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs
Not applicable.
Contact
Lecturer / Academic internship supervisor:
Academic internship supervisor:
Internship coordinator:
When contacting lecturers or tutors, please include your full name, student number and tutorial group number.
Remarks
The course must be taken and completed successfully in the Spring semester prior to the internship.
The course can also be taken as extra-curricular for those interested in management and organizations such as students aiming to do a Master in Management or Public Administration.