INDIANA UNIVERSITY NORTHWEST
DIVISION OF BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS
W430 - Organizations & Organization Design
Summer II, 2003
BERT SCOTT
Office: Lindenwood 418
Office Hours: TR 3:00-6:00
Classroom: MH 111
Class Hours: TR 11:30-2:30 pm
Web Page: http://www.iun.edu/~bnwcls
Home Phone: 464-7174
(10 am-10 pm)
Office Phone: 980-6912
FAX: 980-6916
e-mail: bert@iun.edu
COURSE DESCRIPTION
P: W301, Z301. Analysis and development of organizational theories with emphasis on
environmental dependencies, socio-technical systems, structural design, and control of the
performance of complex systems.
REQUIRED TEXT
(SO) Robbins, Stephen, Organization Theory: Structure, Design and Applications, 3rd Ed., Dorsey
Press, 1990.
Division of Business & Economics Policy on Course Loads: Students should expect to devote
at least nine hours per week to each three semester hour course -- generally three hours in class
and six hours for homework, term papers, and other assignments. Some courses require more
hours, and in some cases, the effort may be concentrated during certain portions of the semester.
Faculty will not consider the number of hours that a student works -- either on a full-time or part-time
basis -- in developing curricula. Faculty will not accept outside employment as an excuse for
inadequate performance or for late or non-completion of assignments. Students who feel that they
must devote many hours to outside employment should take fewer courses.
Page –2-
W430
SCHEDULE
Date
Subject & Assignment
7/8
Introduction & Overview
Opening Case
Organization Effectiveness
(R) - Chaps. 1 & 3
7/10
Structural Design Components & Structural Forms
(R) - Chaps. 4 and Chap. 12, pp. 329-337
7/15
Organizational Strategy & Organizational Size
(R) - Chaps. 5 & 6
7/17
Bureaucratic and Neo-Classical Approaches & Centralization
(R) - Chaps. 2 & 11 (Company choices due)
7/22
Technology Imperative-Woodward, Perrow & Thompson
(R) - Chap. 7
7/24
Adhocratic Designs
(R) – Chap 12, pp. 337-354
Power-Control Approaches
(R) - Chap. 9
Mid-term Examination (Chaps 1-6, 11, 12 part)
7/29
Design Options-Mintzberg
(R) – Chap. 10
7/31
Environmental Imperative - Lawrence & Lorsch and Thompson
(R) - Chap. 8 & 13
8/5
Information-Processing Models & Organizational Evolution
(R) – Chap. 17
Organizational Conflict
(R) - Chap. 15
8/7
Final Examination (Chaps 7-10, 12 part, 13, 15, 17)
8/12
Project Preparation Session
8/14
Term Projects Due
8/19
Project Presentations
8/21
Project Presentations
GRADING: Your term grade will consist of four (4) parts.
Examinations: The first two parts will be examinations. Each of these examinations will take about
one and one-half hours. These examinations will be a mixture of objective and essay types of
questions. You may choose one or the other type of question to answer. Each examination will
count 20% towards your final grade. No make-up examinations will be given. If you are going to
miss an examination, notify me ahead of time, and make arrangements to take the examination
before the class does.
Analytic Term Paper: The third portion of your grade, 40%, will be a group project. This project will
be a group analytical term paper. The class will be divided into teams of three to four students each.
Each team will select a real organization to analyze. This can be any organization, though very
small ones (under 50 members) don't make very interesting objects of study. The organization can
be either profit or not-for-profit. Groups are responsible to notify the instructor by the September 17
class session which organization they will investigate. A completed group project must be submitted
to the instructor no later than the beginning of the August 14 class session. NO LATE PAPERS
WILL BE ACCEPTED.
The term paper will consist of two parts. The first part will describe the actual organization's
structure. This will include, but will not be limited to: (1) a short history of the firm (in two pages or
less), (2) an organization chart, (3) key figures and their backgrounds (in two pages or less), (4) its
degree of complexity, formalization, and centralization, and (5) a description of its actual structural
form. This part of the paper may be no more than 60 percent of the total paper.
The second part of the paper will be analytical and will consider: (1) the determinants of the
structure, (2) the predicted structure of the organization, including a revised organization chart, (3) a
comparison of actual versus predicted structures, (4) an explanation of the discrepancies between
the two forms, and (5) recommended changes to the actual organization (this part is for graduate
students ONLY).
The typical paper will be between 20 and 40 pages in length, but you are free to make it as short or
as long as necessary to achieve your objective. Time will be provided in class for groups to meet
with each other during the semester.
Group grades will be adjusted through a group member rating process at the end to account for
differences in levels of contribution to the overall effort of the group.
Presentation of Term Paper: A presentation of your project report to the class will be the fourth
part of term grade. Each team will make a professional quality PowerPoint presentation to the class
of the findings of their team research paper. These will be done on 8/19 & 8/21. Each group will be
given approximately 1 hour to present: (1) a brief description of the organization, (2) its actual
structure, (3) its predicted structure and the theoretical foundation for it, (4) an organization chart of
each, (5) an analysis of the differences between them. This presentation will be worth 20% of your
term grade.
Group grades for the presentation will also be adjusted through a group member rating process at
the end to account for differences in levels of contribution to the overall effort of the group.
Attendance: Attendance for examination and presentation periods IS mandatory. Attendance will
be taken on those four nights. An absence will lead to your term grade being reduced by one full
letter grade. Any successive absences will lead to further full-grade reductions in your term grade.
W430
Student Name ___________________________
GRADING SUMMARY
W430 - ORGANIZATION THEORY AND DEVELOPMENT
Summer II, 2003
1. Mid-term Examination………………………………………………………20% x _____ = _____
2. Final Examination…………………………………………………………..20% x _____ = _____
3. Project Presentation……………………………………………………….20% x _____ = _____
4. Project Report………………………………………………………………40% x _____ = _____
100%
Absence penalty:
= _____
= _____
Final Score = _____
Course Grade = _____
A+ = 14
A = 13
A- = 12
B+ = 11
B = 10
B- = 9
C+ = 8
C= 7
C- = 6
D+ = 5
D= 4
D- = 3
F+ = 2
F= 1
F- = 0