Management I+II D, 20 points/30 ECTS Syllabus : Management I+II D Course code : FEKD46 Responsibility : Umeå School of Business Subject : Business Administration Level : D (Specialized) Course credit : 30 ECTS / 20 points Field of education: Social Sciences This is a course at the D-level in a Msc-degree at Umeå University. The course can also be included in study programmes in Business Administration and Economics at Umeå School of Business. 1. Resolution to arrange the course The course was established by the Faculty of Social Sciences at Umeå University in December 2002. The syllabus was revised by the Board of Umeå School of Business on May 29, 2006. The syllabus is valid from August 28, 2006 2. Objective and contents The course covers key issues of crucial importance for understanding the challenges facing today’s managers and firms. The course highlights various management perspectives and focuses on the human aspects of organizing, project management, change, and the strategy processes. It is an intellectually challenging course for students, who are required to demonstrate their abilities across various management areas as they complete the courses. Module 1. Perspectives on management and strategy (5 points/7,5 ECTS) The vocabulary of management is rooted in organizing and strategy. Strategy is about the long-term development of the firm; the future of the firm; and the position it will hold in relation to customers, competitors, and stakeholders. Strategy defines the overriding purpose and the core activities of the firm. Management and organizing is about getting there, about sense-making, implementation, change, the creation of commitment, and having things done. Strategic management indicates the combined efforts of creating, defining, and implementing corporate development. Consequently, to be a manager requires knowledge about the ways in which organizations work and how to position organizational actions in an internal and external environment. It also requires an analytical competence in order to understand the firm’s position and its possible paths for development. Perspectives on Management and Strategy is a platform course for the following courses and covers different approaches and models of organizations in general and management and strategy in particular. The learning model applied in the course starts with a distinction between "rational decision-making views" and "process-relational views" on management and strategy. Understanding the dualism between mainstream rational models designed to guide managers and more empirical and pragmatic views on organizational life provides students with a contrast in perspectives that enables them to better analyze contemporary organizations. Given the main categories of rational and process-oriented models, the course aims to increase students’ comprehension of (1) the major approaches to strategy and management issues and (2) a selection of significant and influential theories that have extended the vocabulary of management in recent years. Furthermore, (3) students will be trained to think "strategically" from both an internal and external perspective. Two major modules, along with an introductory and concluding section make up the course syllabus. The "management learning model" (see second paragraph) will be presented and analyzed during the introductory section by combining rational decision-making models with process-oriented models of strategy and management. The first core module covers the strategy process and its different components. Strategy, strategists, strategy formulation, various corporate and environmental contexts, and a variety of approaches to strategy are presented. Concentrated and focused cases are used to illustrate the complexity of strategic issues and students are trained to make priorities and strategic choices in uncertain environments. The concentration of the second core module is the organizing processes, signifying a wider perspective in which theoretical foundations for organization models are discussed and critically reflected upon. Scandinavian research traditions will be used as a starting point to illustrate these exchanges and students will be reminded of the necessity of attending to culturally relevant approaches. These approaches imply that imaginative value constellations can be found in encounters between global and local cultures, particularly through the people who work with the combined efforts of organizing and strategizing in international firms. Universal models must therefore be complemented and contextualized in different settings. Literature seminars, student discussions, and short papers/memos will be the primary learning methods used to illustrate these topics. Finally, research approaches presented in the second core module and practical models and processes presented in the first module will be combined. A successful combination of rational analytical skills and extended academic approaches will create the best conditions for the treatment of management issues that allow us to work with strategizing and organizing in contemporary organizations. Teaching methods: See below 4. Examination methods: See below 5. Module 2. People - The human side of organizing (5 points/7,5 ECTS) The second module on the course will elaborate upon one particularly important topic in the management of modern organizations, namely the people who inhabit the organization. It is essential to understand the organization from the point of view of individual perceptions, motivations and relationships between people in order to develop advanced managerial skills. Traditional leadership theories are considered inadequate in explaining the complexity of the human side of organizations; instead, organizing will be regarded a continuously ongoing process of social interaction between individuals. Subsequently, we will examine the social and political construction of the organization, in which actors with certain - sometimes conflicting - interests and values form the organizing process through continuous interaction. However, actors have varying opportunities to influence the organizing process. One type of actor is the manager, who is traditionally believed to have substantial influence over and responsibility for the human interaction of the organization. From the perspective outlined in this course, leadership is considered not to be a one-sided authority arrangement, but a matter of mutual interaction in which subordinates and superiors jointly create the leadership role. It is important to recognize that the human interaction constituting the organizing process is not totally unbound; rather it takes place in a framework of established norms, values, and traditions. In the last section of this module, we will thoroughly investigate multiple contexts imposing on the organizing process, such as structures of power, gender, and social classes, which place humans in predetermined roles. Also matters of diversity, ethics, and the tension between local individuality and global uniformity are of importance when trying to understand the organizing process of real-life companies and other establishments. In this part of the course, the students will enter more deeply into one of these themes through a group assignment, in order to make both theoretical and empirical implications for the purposeful management of future organizations. The course will conclude with the insights obtained from each group’s elaboration of a particular theme being shared with the other students on the course. Teaching methods: See below 4. Examination methods: The examination will be based on individual written assignments, active participation at seminars and the successful completion of one group assignment. The following grading system is used: Pass with distinction (Väl godkänd, Vg, 75% or more), Pass (Godkänd, G, 50% or more) and Fail (Underkänd U, less than 50%). Module 3. Project management (5 points/7,5 ECTS) The societal trend towards "projectification" has increased the use of projects as a means of accomplishing the organization’s strategic goals. Whereas many of its tools and techniques are becoming standardized, much of the art and science of project management is undergoing continuous evolution. Indeed, research, publications, and practice in the field have accelerated around the world in the past decade. It has become necessary to keep pace with these developments. Individuals in organizations are, to an increasing extent, assigned extraordinary tasks limited in time and scope in addition to their usual work: arranging internal conferences, implementing new accounting systems, planning complex deliveries to customers, starting up a new office abroad. The common denominator of these tasks is the necessity of planning a unique and complete effort and leading a team towards its successful completion. It is the aim of this course (1) to prepare students for participation and leadership in project work, incorporating both analytical and organizational approaches and (2) to provide understanding of the nature of projects in a broader setting, including organizational and industrial aspects of projects. The course is divided into three parts: The first portion concerns planning and organizing techniques for Project Management: project goal setting and definition, work breakdown structures, project planning, project documentation, risk analysis, project budgeting, and stakeholder relations. Students will, after completing Part 1, be able to structure and organize project assignments. The second part of the course moves the student from a focus on the individual project to the perspective of groups of projects. Thus we examine project portfolio and program management, relations between projects and surrounding organizations, and overall organizational structure, the latter including an overview of various popular organizational structures. The third section of the course further broadens the view of projects. Projects abound in society but many scholarly writings are merely echoing practical management problems. The third part gives new insights into the ways in which projects contribute to and relate to long term and wider developments in organizations, industries, and society. Teaching methods: See below 4. Examination methods: See below 5. Module 4. Processes - business strategy (5 points/7,5 ECTS) Management and entrepreneurship are closely related in the creation of strategies and in the corporation’s overall strategic approach. The goal of this module is to bring the perspectives on people and projects together with a perspective on the dynamics of the business context in a process view of management and entrepreneurship. The focus in this module is on the significance of management in the process of organizational change and its development in alignment with the complexity and multiplicity of factors shaping the internal and external business context. Business strategy is viewed as the ongoing efforts in an organization, in which multiple activities and processes converge into a strategic corporate process. Business strategy or strategizing is the topic for this module. Theoretical inspiration will be provided through seminars and lectures on change management and strategy making. Various schools of thought on strategies are presented and their assumptions examined. The aim is to illustrate the impact of these different schools on strategic management. The learning process will combine theory, practice, and reflection. Students will be organized in small groups or management teams working together with a company or a public organisation in a project assignment. They will face different dilemmas that require capacity to integrate and resolve complex issues to develop a theoretical and problem-based understanding of the strategy process. Corporate and public representatives will be involved in various activities as experts, informants, experts and "boards". Attention will also be given to group dynamics and individual development and reflection. Students will be required to demonstrate their capacity to integrate aspects of business originating from both internal and external contexts in the strategizing process. Human resources, strategic identity, network opportunities, innovation processes, structural arrangements, entrepreneurial capacity, market conditions and regulations, competition, and project and portfolio resources are just some examples of factors that are covered. The overall purposes of the module are: to provide students with an understanding of the Business Strategy Process; and to improve students' abilities to analyze and integrate the business context, human resources, and organizational capabilities in the strategizing process. Teaching methods Lectures are used in different parts of the module to outline general theories, and workshops will be utilized for more detailed examination and to deepen understanding of theories. The practice of strategizing will be pursued through an advanced project assignment. Students are expected to be well prepared and to participate actively in discussions during the workshops and different project activities. Moreover, students will take part in reporting a group assignment with both oral and written presentations. Examination methods The examination will be based upon the student's active participation workshops, and the successful completion of a project assignment. Material from guest lectures may also be examined. The following grading system is used: Pass with distinction (Väl godkänd, Vg, 75% or more), Pass (Godkänd, G, 50% or more) and Fail (Underkänd U, less than 50% 3. Prerequisites Courses in Business Administration (90 ECTS) A minimum of 40 points/60 ECTS from A-level and B-level courses (Management, Accounting, Financial Investments, Cost Accounting, Marketing) At the advanced, C level, a minimum of 20 points/30 ECTS, including a Bachelor’s thesis or equivalent 4. Teaching methods Modules 1-3 are based on lectures that outline general theories related to the course topics. Seminars will be utilized to examine the details of the theories and the practice of the topics under study. In some cases more advanced simulation processes will be used. Moreover, group or individual assignments with both oral and written presentations will be used throughout the course. 5. Examination The examination for Modules 1 and 3 consists of active participation in seminars, a written comprehensive examination (tentamen), and successful completion of group or individual assignments. Material from guest lectures may also be examined. The following grading system is used: Pass with distinction (Väl godkänd, Vg, 75% or more), Pass (Godkänd, G, 50% or more) and Fail (Underkänd U, less than 50%). To receive the grade Pass with distinction (Väl godkänd) on the course, the student must have achieved that grade at three of the four modules. Students who do not pass at the time of the normal written examination will be offered an opportunity to sit a further examination within 2-3 weeks. Beyond that, additional examination opportunities normally arise every academic year one-week prior to the start of the autumn term. When a student has failed an examination on two occations, he or she has a right to have another grading teacher. A written request should be handed to the director of studies no later than two weeks before the next examination opportunity. Grades on the course are awarded when students have passed all examinations and compulsory course elements. 6. Utilisation et cetera In cases where there are applicants from exchange programmes or similar, the course language will be English. Otherwise, parts of the course may be taught in English. Information on language aspects can be obtained from the Student Counsellor. It is highly recommended that students enrolled in this course have covered courses on organizational theory/organizational behavior or management in their undergraduate curriculum. Thus it will be assumed that students have basic knowledge on organization theory as well as management and strategy issues. Other Regulations Acknowledgment/Plagiarism: Plagiarism is not acceptable and may result in the imposition of severe penalties. The University provides clear guidelines on its attitude towards plagiarism and how to avoid unintentional plagiarism. Students are advised to read these carefully. If any doubts remain as to what constitutes plagiarism, students should discuss the matter with the lecturer(s). Study Time: Students are expected to prepare a significant amount of material outside of the classroom in order to fulfil course requirements. Previous indications suggest that students should treat this subject as full time work and invest a minimum of forty hours in preparation and attendance. 7. Readings and other materials Module 1. Perspectives on management and strategy (5 points/7,5 ECTS) Required (assigned) text: Czarniawska, Barbara & Sevón, Guje (eds.) (2003). "The Northern Light. Organization Theory in Scandinavia". Malmö: Liber/Abstrakt/Copenhagen Business School Press. Johnson, Gerry, Scholes, Kevan, Whittington Richard (2004). "Exploring Corporate Strategy". (Text only) 7th ed Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education Limited. Articles will be added. Module 2. People - The human side of organizing (5 points/7,5 ECTS) Required (assigned) text: Cooper, C.L. & Cartwright, S. (2002) "Healthy mind; Healthy Organization - A proactive approach to occupational stress", in Cooper, Cary L. (ed) Fundamentals of Organizational Behavior, vol. 3. London: Sage Publications, pp. 163-177. Czarniawska, Barbara, Sevón, Guje & Aaltio, Iris (2003) "The Northern Lights. Organization Theory in Scandinavia". Malmö: Liber. Chapters 2,7 and 14. Hogg, Michael A. & Terry, Deborah J. (eds) (2001) "Social identity processes in organizational contexts". Philadelphia: Psychology Press. A case book or a selection of case material will also be added according to instructor’s directives! Theme literature: In addition to the required reading listed above, students are obliged to search for and use additional articles and books highlighting the specific theme of the concluding group assignment! Particular references to the various themes are given below; these should be considered as required, albeit not exhaustive material. GENDER Aaltio, Iris & Kovalainen, Anne (2003) "Using Gender in Exploring Organizations, Management, and Change", in Czarniawska, Barbara, Sevón, Guje & Aaltio, Iris (eds) The Northern Lights. Organization Theory in Scandinavia, chapter 8. Malmö: Liber. Alvesson, Mats & Billing, Yvonne Due (1997) "Understanding gender and organizations". London: Sage. Höök, Pia (2001) "Management as uncontrollable sexuality", in Sjöstrand, S-E, Sandberg, J. & Tyrstrup, M. (eds) Invisible Management. London: Thomson Learning. EMOTIONS Ashforth, Blake E, & Humphrey, Ronald H. (1995) "Emotion in the workplace: A reappraisal", Human Relations 48 (2) 97-125. Brundin, Ethel (2002) "The emergence of emotions in management theory", chapter 1 in: Emotions in Motion. The Strategic Leader in a Radical Change Process. JIBS Dissertation Series, No. 12. Fineman, Stephen (1999) "Emotion and Organizing", in Clegg, Stewart R. & Hardy, Cynthia (eds.) Studying Organizations. Theory and Method, chapter 11. London: SAGE Publications. POWER/SOCIAL CLASSES Fulop, Liz & Linstead, Stephen (2004) "Power and politics in organizations", in Linstead, Fulop & Lilley (eds) Management and Organization - A critical text. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. Hardy, Cynthia & Clegg, Stewart R. (1999) "Some Dare Call It Power", in Clegg, Stewart R. & Hardy, Cynthia (eds.) Studying Organizations. Theory and Method, chapter 15. London: SAGE Publications. DIVERSITY Jehn, Karen A., Northcraft, Gregory B. & Neale, Margaret A. (1999) "Why differences Make a Difference: A field study of diversity, conflict, and performance in work groups", Administrative Science Quarterly, 44(4): 741-763. Lawthom, Rebecca (2000) "Against all odds: Managing diversity, in Chmiel, Nik (eds) Introduction to work and organizational psychology. A European Perspective, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd., pp. 387-406. Nkomo, Stella M. & Cox Jr, Taylor (1996) "Diverse identities in organizations", in Clegg, Stewart R, Hardy, Cynthia & Nord, Walter R. (eds) Handbook of organization studies, London: Sage, pp. 338-356. ETHICS Maclagan, Patrick (1998) "Management and morality". London: SAGE. von Weltzien Hoivik, Heidi (2002) "Moral Leadership in Action". Building and Sustaining Moral Competence in European Organizations. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Module 3. Project management (5 points/7,5 ECTS) Required (assigned) text: Blomquist, T. & Müller, R. (2006) Middle Managers in Program and Portfolio Management: Practice, Rolers and Responsibilities. Newton Square: Project Management Institute. Maylor, Harvey. (2003) "Project Management" Harlow: Person Education. Sahlin-Andersson, Kerstin and Söderholm, Anders. (2002) "Beyond Project Management - New Perspectives on the temporary - permanent dilemma" Malmö: Liber/Abstrakt/Copenhagen Business School Press. Umeå School of Business. "Compendium of Articles" Module 4. Processes - business strategy (5 points/7,5 ECTS) Required (assigned) text: Johnson, Gerry, Scholes, Kevan, Whittington Richard (2004). "Exploring Corporate Strategy". (Text only) 7th ed Harlow, Essex: Pearson Education Limited. Articles can be added. --------------- Umeå University, Umeå School of Business, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden.