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2013/2014  BA-3AOA  Applied Organisational Analysis

English Title
Applied Organisational Analysis

Course information
Language English
Exam ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Mandatory
Level Bachelor
Duration One Semester
Course period Autumn
Time Table Please see course schedule at e-Campus
Study board
Study Board for BSc in Business Administration and Sociology
Course coordinator
  • Stine Haakonsson - Department of Business and Politics (DBP)
Main academic disciplines
  • Organization
  • Economic and organizational sociology
  • Methodology
Last updated on 14-08-2013
Learning objectives
On successful completion of the course, students should be able to:
  • Within the framework of the curriculum, identify and compare different types of organizations and account for how they are formed, developed and managed in stable and dynamic environments.
  • Identify and discuss the characteristics of the relations between organizations, social groups and individuals.
  • Identify and explain strengths and weaknesses in the approaches applied during the course in the analysis of organizational practices.
  • Apply the theoretical perspectives introduced during the course in an empirical analysis of the institutional and social forms of capital within organizations.
Course prerequisites
The courses 3AOA, 3QLM, 4CCP, and 4MM have one intergrated exam. The exam is 30 ECTS. You can only participate in 3AOA if you also register for the other courses: 3QLM, 4CCP, and 4MM.
Prerequisites for registering for the exam
Requirements about active class participation (assessed approved/not approved)
Participation in the workshop in the course Qualitative Methods is mandatory in order to participate in the second year project. If a student is unable to participate in the workshop, due to illness, the makeup examination is a 10-page home assignment which is to be approved by the course coordinator. For more details, see separate guidelines.
Examination
Second year project on organisational analysis, contextual company perspective, and research methods:
Examination form Oral exam based on written product

In order to participate in the oral exam, the written product must be handed in before the oral exam; by the set deadline. The grade is based on an overall assessment of the written product and the individual oral performance.
Individual or group exam Individual
Size of written product Max. 40 pages
Assignment type Project
Duration
Written product to be submitted on specified date and time.
30 min. per student, including examiners' discussion of grade, and informing plus explaining the grade
Preparation time No preparation
Grading scale 7-step scale
Examiner(s) Internal examiner and external examiner
Exam period Summer Term
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Make-up examination and re-examination
The re-take takes place according to the same rules as the regular examination. However, the following supplementary rules apply:

•For projects where some of the group members are awarded the grade 00 or below at the oral examination, the failed students must submit individually, before the re-take, 2-3 pages on aspects of the project, as specified by the internal examiner.
•For projects where all members are awarded the grade 00 or below at the oral examination, the overall project is deemed unacceptable. Before the re-take, the project must be revised and improved. For supervision in this respect, the internal examiner will give a brief written critique of the project within eight working days after the regular oral examination.
Description of the exam procedure
  • The two third semester courses ’Qualitative Methods’ and ’Applied Organizational Analysis’ and the two fourth semester courses ’Mixed Methods’ and ’The Company in a Contextual Perspective’ are assessed at the second year project examination.
  • The examination is an individual oral examination of 30 minutes, including the examiners’ discussion and awarding of the grade. It is based on the second year project, but the syllabi of the four courses assessed at this examination may be drawn in by the internal examiner.
  • The student will be awarded one grade according to the 7-point grading scale, reflecting an overall assessment of the project, the oral presentation and the defence. The student’s proficiency in spelling and fluency in writing will also be taken into account in the assessment. However, most emphasis will be put on the academic content. 


Learning objectives for the exam
On completion of the course, the student must be capable of explaining, comparing, and integrating the course’s concepts and theories as well as illustrative cases. Integration involves the ability to construct an argument that logically utilises the course’s concepts and theories, and explain how the course’s concepts and theories are rooted in empirical studies.

The student should demonstrate ability to:

  • work in an interdisciplinary way,
  • formulate, delimit and analyse an academic problem,
  • select and apply theories and methods relevant to the project,
  • select and apply fundamental qualitative methods and some mixed methods,
  • show practical knowledge of fundamental organisational analysis and theories about evaluation and assessment, and
  • structure the layout and present the material in a clearly formulated and accessible way in terms of both language and content.
Course content and structure
This course takes its theoretical point of departure in the course Organizational Sociology from the second semester. However, in the present course we take a slightly different approach to the study of organizations, concentrating on how we can apply the theoretical frameworks introduced in the second semester and elaborated upon in this semester to concrete organizations. In so doing, we put our theories into context discussing their analytical strengths and weaknesses in different institutional / organizational / social settings. The application of our theoretical framework is carried out on the basis of case studies which are coordinated with the course: Qualitative Methods in the way that the methods used in the case studies are qualitative methods that you will be introduced to in QM. This enables you to use the cases from this course in the QM course. The two courses will be examined jointly at the end of the fourth semester as part of the second year project.

The course material involves a mix of theory and case studies where the focus is very much on the application of theory onto one or several cases. The case studies cover a wide range of sectors as well as cultural and geographical conditions. Furthermore, they include a variety of methodological approaches to organizational analysis. This facilitates coordination between this course and Qualititative Methods (3QM) which is further enhanced by the design of the two courses, i.e. each one devided into corresponding blocs.


Literature:

Choice of Literature
The course literature for bloc I and III consists of journal articles that have been selected according to the following criteria: 1) that they provide excellent insights into a given analytical approach 2) that they are based upon an elaborate case-study and employ a method / methods that is/are a) qualitative and b) part of the curriculum of the course Qualitative Methods – preferably the same bloc.

Availability
These articles are available in the electronic library at CBS, where they can be downloaded. Literature which is not journal articles, i.e. book chapters, will be put on CBS LEARN prior to class. The literature drawn upon in the bloc II is taken from the following text book that we recommend that students purchase:
Simon Collinson and Glenn Morgan (eds.) 2009. Images of the Multinational Firm.  West Sussex: Wiley
Teaching methods
The course material involves a mix of theory and case studies where the focus is very much on the application of theory onto one or several cases. The case studies cover a wide range of sectors as well as cultural and geographical conditions. Furthermore, they include a variety of methodological approaches to organizational analysis. This facilitates coordination between this course and Qualititative Methods (3QM) which is further enhanced by the design of the two courses, i.e. each one devided into corresponding blocs.
Last updated on 14-08-2013