Organizational Development
TCSIG 431
Spring 2004
Instructor: Stephen DeTray
Office: WCG 408
Office Hours: Monday/Wednesday 1:30-3:30, or by appointment
Phone: (253) 692-5654, Email: sdetray@u.washington.edu
INTRODUCTION
Whenever people come together to accomplish something, they form an organization. The
organization then becomes the vehicle for what can be accomplished. As the success of any
mission relies on organization, it is a factor worthy of analysis. Large or small, profit or nonprofit, organizations have been examined to understand how an organization works. What
makes one group more effective than another? What can an organization do to revitalize
itself? How can an individual effect change within any established structure?
Through class and small group discussions based on selected readings, guest speakers, and
the practical experience of class participants, students will gain a deeper understanding of the
historical and contemporary forces driving change in modern organizations. An enhanced
understanding of these dynamics will serve as a practical tool for intervention and change,
using the current organizational context of each student.
REQUIRED TEXTS
Morgan, G. (1997). Images of Organization. (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Publications.
Other resources will be made available as Internet links and readings on Ereserve.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS & GRADING POLICY
Two In-class Exams:
Group Project:
Class Participation:
30% each (total of 60%)
20%
20%
WEEKLY ASSIGNMENTS
WEEK ONE: COURSE INTRODUCTION, Mar. 29, 31
Learning Objectives:
1. To show how our understanding of organization and management is always shaped by
hidden assumptions that shape the way we see, understand and act in relation to problems
of organization and management.
2. To suggest that these understandings are metaphorical, and that in appreciating this, we
can create opportunities for new ways of seeing, understanding, and acting.
Video: “The Deep Dive.” ABC News Nightline profiles Ideo Company.
Readings:
Images of Organization chapter 1
“The People are the Company,” http://www.fastcompany.com/online/01/people.html
“Communities of Practice: Learning as a Social System”
http://www.co-i-l.com/coil/knowledge-garden/cop/lss.shtml
WEEK TWO: ORGANIZATIONS AS MACHINES, April 5, 7
Learning Objectives:
1. To explore the nature of mechanistic organization and its links with the concepts of
bureaucracy, classical management theory, scientific management, and the re-engineering
movement.
2. To illustrate the circumstances and conditions influencing the effectiveness, successes,
and failures of a mechanistic organization.
3. To help students appreciate the force of metaphorical thinking by showing how the
mechanistic approach to organization has become a taken-for-granted mindset, and to
open the way to alternative modes of thinking.
4. To illustrate the social consequences of mechanization and the bureaucratization of
society.
Readings:
Images of Organization chapter 2
Assignment: Stating a Case for Change
Consider the following topic: What issues or problems relating to the subject matter of this
course are currently facing your organization(s)? How can you use the insights of the
various metaphors to deepen your understanding of these issues or problems and assist your
organization in creating meaningful and lasting change? Be prepared to discuss these issues
in class and with your groups.
WEEK THREE: ORGANIZATIONS AS ORGANISMS, April 12, 14
Learning Objectives:
1. To create a detailed understanding of the distinctions between mechanistic and organic
organizations and related ideas about the variety of the species.
2. To illustrate principles of contingency theory: the idea of “good fit” (congruency) within
the organization and between organization and environment: How there is no one best
way of organizing – there are always strengths and weaknesses in every approach.
3. To illustrate the principle of differentiation and integration.
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4. To illustrate the importance of strategy and choice in the process of developing “good fit”
(organizations, unlike organisms, do not always “adapt” spontaneously) and to introduce
the debate between adaptation, selection, and enactment views.
5. To illustrate how environments are constantly changing and how the new forms of
turbulence and change are encouraging the development of organic networking, within
and between organizations, and new concepts of collective strategy.
Readings:
Images of Organization chapter 3
WEEK FOUR: THE BRAIN METAPHOR, April 19, 21
Learning Objectives:
1. To introduce the idea that organization is about information and information processing.
2. To examine current theories and practices that promote organization-wide learning,
innovation, and the creation of learning organizations by generating ‘intelligent’
organizing processes.
3. To explore the barriers to learning and innovation created in bureaucratic organizations
and many management control systems.
4. To explore the principles of single and double-loop learning, and ideas about holographic
organization as a means of systematizing the principles through which managers can
develop learning-oriented organizations that self-organize and self-renew.
Readings:
Images of Organization chapter 4
Pascale et al, “Changing the Way We Change.”
Chandon and Nadler, “The breakthrough thinking organization.”
Both are available from links in the course document section of our blackboard site.
WEEK FIVE: THE CULTURAL METAPHOR, April 26, 28
In-class exam Wednesday 28th
Learning Objectives:
1. To show how organizations can be understood as cultures and how corporate culture is
created and sustained.
2. To illustrate different kinds of corporate culture and cross-cultural, gender-based, and
other differences.
3. To show how a focus on the dynamics of culture and the methods used to create and
manage meaning can open the door to new styles of management.
4. To illustrate how corporate culture can become a dominant mindset that traps and
controls organizational members, often linked to political or subconscious factors.
5. To illustrate the relationship between corporate culture and subculture, and how they
often exist in an uneasy tension.
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Readings:
Images of Organization chapter 5
WEEK SIX: THE POLITICAL METAPHOR, May 3, 5
Learning Objectives:
1. To illustrate the political dimensions of organizations: how organizations are political
systems.
2. To develop concrete skills in the political analysis of organizations.
3. To provide a detailed understanding of the nature and use of power in organizations.
4. To provide an introduction to the skills of political management and conflict resolution.
5. To illustrate that organizations are rationalizing rather than rational and how rationality is
best understood through a concept of political rationality.
6. To raise the issue of gender and gender-related politics.
Readings:
Images of Organization chapter 6
WEEK SEVEN: THE PSYCHIC PRISON METAPHOR, May 10, 12
Learning Objectives:
1. To focus attention on the idea that organizations and their members can get “trapped” by
the realities they create.
2. To explore some behavioral reasons why this occurs.
3. To explore psychoanalytic and other explanations associated with the unconscious.
4. To explore the ideological aspects of entrapment and the links between the ideologies
that underpin modern organizations and those underpinning modern societies.
Readings:
Images of Organization chapter 7
WEEK EIGHT: THE DOMINATION METAPHOR, May 17, 19
In-class exam, Wednesday 19th
Learning Objectives:
1. To place the issue of exploitation and domination in the corporate world firmly in view.
2. To use this as a springboard for exploring the issue of social responsibility and corporate
ethics more generally.
3. To investigate the nature of “radicalized organizations.”
4. To examine the source of this radicalization and of the “us” versus “them” attitudes found
in many aspects of labor/management relations.
5. To identify some of the consequences of these ideas for the management of organizations
generally and the future of labor/management relations.
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Readings:
Images of Organization chapters 9, 10, 11
“The Age of Social Transformation” available:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/ecbig/soctrans.htm
WEEK NINE: THE FLUX AND TRANSFORMATION METAPHOR May 24, 26
Learning Objectives:
1. To examine the relevance of understanding the underlying logics that shape and direct
change in social settings.
2. To examine the theoretical significance and practical implications of four distinct yet
complementary metaphorical frames through which different understandings of the
fundamental nature of change can be understood.
3. To highlight the policy issues that arise from this kind of understanding, that sees
organization as a process that is always in flux, and how this can provide a useful
perspective on problems of organizational change and development.
Readings:
Images of Organization chapter 8
WEEK TEN: May 31st Memorial Day Holiday
June 2: Group Presentations begin
Week 11: Exam Week. Group Project Presentations continue in class Monday June 7th
(No regular classes this week)
Disability Accommodations
If you would like to request academic accommodations due to a permanent or temporary
physical, sensory, psychological/emotional or learning disability, please contact Lisa Tice,
counselor for Disability Support Services (DSS). An appointment can be made through the
front desk of Student Affairs (692-4400), by phoning Lisa directly at 692-4493 (voice), 6924413 (TDD), or by e-mail (ltice@u.washington.edu).
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