MOR 461 – Design of Effective Organizations
Syllabus – Fall 2012 – Tu/Th – Noon to 1:50 pm
Professor:
Office:
Robert B. Turrill, PhD
Bridge Hall 303D
Office Phone: (213) 740-0732
Office Hours: Tuesday 2:30 to 5:30 pm and by appointment
E-mail:
robert.turrill@marshall.usc.edu
Course Description
This course is intended to increase your understanding of the nature and purpose of organizations
and how and why approaches to organization design change. This course is useful both for
students interested in management as well as those interested in management and organization
consulting. Organization structure, processes, effectiveness, and the impact on individual member
development and stakeholder expectations will be the major focal points of the course. The need
for organizational change and innovation against the backdrop of traditional organization theory
will be analyzed and new organization forms examined.
Learning Objectives
The general objective of the course is to help students become good analysts of organization
structure and process, learning effective tools of design as well as of implementation, whether you
wish to become successful consultants to organizations or effective leaders and managers of
organizations.
At the end of the semester, you should be able to:
1. Identify and understand various organization components and their relationship to one
another (an understanding of systemic relationships and consequences).
2. Analyze, assess, and diagnose organization effectiveness, including organization culture
and values.
3. Develop a framework for changing design elements and relationships.
4. Understand principles of designing organizations and other activities.
5. Understand how management and organization design can lead to strategic advantage.
6. Understand issues of implementation of various design strategies and interventions.
7. Understand the relationship between leadership, organizational design, and effectiveness.
Required Materials
Text: ORGANIZATION THEORY AND DESIGN, 11th ed., R. L. Daft,
South-Western, Cengage Learning, 2013.
Course reader – Cases (available in book store)
Prerequisites and/or Recommended Preparation:
BUAD 304 is a prerequisite
MOR 461 – Syllabus – p. 2
Course Notes:
1. Course requirements are designed to keep you prepared and involved in the daily case
discussions and the other activities of the class. Your attendance, preparation, and
participation are essential to contribute to the success of the course for all. Attendance will
be recorded each day, and you are expected to be present the entire class, and on time, to
receive credit for attendance. Excessive absences (more than three) will negatively affect
your final grade in the course. Each absence over three may reduce your course grade by
one-third of a grade, e.g., from a B to a B-.
2. During case discussions and presentations of material and cases by the instructor, guest
speakers, or other students, laptops and tablets should be closed and all electronic devices,
including phones should be turned off.
3. Power point presentations will be posted on Blackboard under “content.” Students are
expected to keep up with posted “assignments” and “announcements” as well.
Grading Policies:
Each graded assignment will be evaluated on a 10-point scale where 9-10 is an “excellent”
analysis, case, or project. This allows for everyone to do well on any particular
assignment, e.g., the team project.
2. At the end of the semester, final grades represent how you perform in the class relative to
other students. Final course grading will be in accordance with the policy of the Marshall
School of Business, which is an average of 3.3 gpa for an elective course. Your final
course grade is based on the total of the weighted percentage of each assignment in
relation to the other students in the class, achieving an overall class ranking based on your
performance.
3. Peer evaluation will be available for team use to adjust team case and project grades based
on individual member contribution and performance within the team.
4. Assignments must be submitted on the day they are scheduled, and case assignments
cannot be submitted late because we will discuss the case the day it is due. All case
assignments and team project assignments must be submitted in hard copy.
1.
Graded Assignments:
EXAMS:
Mid-term exam (on text and class material including power point
content)
Final exam (based on a case)
TEAM PROJECTS:
Organization assessment project
(written analysis and presentation in class)
Team case analysis and presentation
(Each team will select one of the scheduled cases to
write-up and present and discuss in class the day
the case is scheduled.)
INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENTS:
Written case analyses (two @ 10% each)
Class participation and preparation including attendance,
case discussions, and other contributions to the class.
Total
20%
20%
20%
10%
20%
10%
100%
MOR 461 – Syllabus – p. 3
Final drop date for the course and attendance at the first two class sessions:
The final drop date for the course with a grade of “W” is the end of the 12th week of class,
November 16. You may be dropped from the class if you do not attend the first two
sessions of the class. Please let me know if you cannot attend these first two classes.
Retention of graded coursework:
Final exams and all other graded papers not returned to the student will be kept for one
year after the end of the fall semester.
Students with Disabilities:
Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with
Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved
accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure the letter is delivered to me as early in
the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m.–5:00 p.m., Monday
through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776. For more information visit
www.usc.edu/disability .
Statement on Academic Integrity
USC seeks to maintain an optimal learning environment. General principles of academic honesty
include the concept of respect for the intellectual property of others, the expectation that individual
work will be submitted unless otherwise allowed by an instructor, and the obligations both to
protect one’s own academic work from misuse by others as well as to avoid using another’s work
as one’s own. All students are expected to understand and abide by these principles. SCampus, the
Student Guidebook, (www.usc.edu/scampus or http://scampus.usc.edu) contains the University
Student Conduct Code (see University Governance, Section 11.00), while the recommended
sanctions are located in Appendix A.
Students will be referred to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs and Community Standards for
further review, should there be any suspicion of academic dishonesty. The Review process can be
found at: http://www.usc.edu/student-affairs/SJACS/ . Failure to adhere to the academic conduct
standards set forth by these guidelines and our programs will not be tolerated by the USC Marshall
community and can lead to dismissal.
Emergency Preparedness/Course Continuity
In case of a declared emergency if travel to campus is not feasible, USC executive leadership will
announce an electronic way for instructors to teach students in their residence halls or homes using
a combination of Blackboard, teleconferencing, and other technologies.
Please activate your course in Blackboard with access to the course syllabus. Whether or not you
use Blackboard regularly, these preparations will be crucial in an emergency. USC's Blackboard
learning management system and support information is available at blackboard.usc.edu.
MOR 461 – Syllabus – p. 4 Course outline – topics, assignments, readings and cases
Reading and case analyses are assigned for most class sessions. Questions will be assigned and
posted on Blackboard for each case to direct your analysis and understanding. You are expected to
read and analyze each case before coming to class. For two cases, you will submit a complete
written analysis (7 to 10 pages, double-spaced) in response to the posted questions on September
20 and November 8.
Week
Date
1
Aug 28
30
2
Sep 4
6
3
Sep 11
13
4
Sep 18
20
5
Sep 25
27
6
Oct 2
4
7
Oct 9
11
8
Oct 16
18
Topic
Readings & Cases
Introduction to the course and organization design
Organizations as systems of action
Strategic management
Organizational effectiveness
Guest speaker – case
Strategy and structure
Meet in the ELC in JKP 301
The old and new logic of organizations
Structure and the environment
Mechanistic and organic structures
Technology and design
Meet in the ELC in Bridge Hall
Job design, socio-technical systems,
and motivation at work
Organization size, structure, and control
Guest speaker – consulting
Organizational control
Inter-organizational structures
Strategic alliances
Network structures
Meet in the ELC in Bridge Hall
Mid-term exam
R – Cases in Reader
Read Ch 1 in Daft
Case – Sun Hydraulics - R
Read Ch 2 in Daft
Case – Foundation for
Calif. Community Colleges – R
Read Ch 3 in Daft
Case – C&C Grocery Stores, p. 135
Read Ch 4 in Daft
Case – Paradoxical Twins, p. 177
Written analysis due of this case
Read Ch 7 in Daft
Case – Acetate Dept., p. 300
Read Ch 9 in Daft
Case – Appex Corp. – R
Read Ch 5 in Daft
Case – Corning Inc: Alliances – R
Reread pp. 125-128 in Daft
MOR 461 Syllabus – p. 5
9
Oct 23
25
10
11
Organization culture
Meet in the ELC in Bridge Hall
Nov 1
Organization change and culture
Guest speaker - Consulting
Nov 6
Organization innovation and change
Guest speaker – Entrepreneur
Nov 20
22
14
Nov 27
29
15
Organizational leadership
Nov 13 Decision-making styles and processes
15
13
Learning organizations; team-based design
Oct 30
8
12
Impact of IT on organization design
Guest speaker – President, Architecture Firm
Case – Quantum Corp. – R
Read Ch 10 in Daft
Case – Lands’ End – R
Read Ch 11 in Daft
Case – Shoe Corp of Ill., p. 465
Written analysis due of this case
Read Ch 12 in Daft
Individual vs group decision-making
Case – Executive Decision-Making
at GM – R
Power, politics, and conflict in organizations
Read Ch 13 in Daft
Case – Custom Chip, p. 583
Thanksgiving Holiday
Global organizational structures
Guest speaker – Consulting
Global design strategies
Dec 4
Team project presentations
6
Team project presentations
7
Written team projects due
Dec 18
Read Ch 8 in Daft
Final exam, 11 to 1 pm
Read Ch 6 in Daft
Case – Asea Brown Boveri – R
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