• Explain basic concepts of organizational theory as presented in the course and how they relate to one another
• Understand the contributions and shortcomings of such concepts in organization theory
• Demonstrate understanding of sensemaking processes and principles of sensemaking theory and the effects of framing in organizing processes.
• Articulate the dynamics of framing and overflows as a way to understand organizing processes in organizations
• Discuss how different ways of managing may lead to different outcomes
• Apply concepts and theories to examples from the shipping industry, and to further your own careers and engage with networks

Organizing goes on everywhere around us. Every act, every word, every gesture, every plan, every gadget, everything goes into some form of organizing activity. Organizing involves all levels of activity, as well. However, One thing that we know about organizing is that it rarely works out exactly as planned. Sometimes it works out completely different from the intentions of the planners. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as failures may harbour new possibilities. When things do not work out as expected, it may be because some things have been overlooked, and organizers may learn from it and do things better the next time around. Therefore the dynamics of organizing can be quite complex, because it involves several different factors.

This course has three main objectives. Firstly, we will familiarize you with basic concepts of organization, such as design, communication, leadership, learning and innovation; and the way they have been understood historically in organisation studies. Secondly, we will introduce you to a processual view of organizing to understand and analyse the phenomenon of organization in a fast moving and constantly changing world. Lastly, we asks you to critically engage with these concepts in groups while analysing cases from the shipping industry and presenting them in class. Constituting 90% of world trade and representing some of the largest companies worldwide, shipping provides us with complex and interesting cases to discuss important aspects of organizing, how things are done through organizing, how things may or may not turn out as planned and what is done to make things

The course gives you an overview of influential concepts of organizational theory, such as

• Taylorism, Bureaucracy, Human Relations

• Organizational Design

• Leadership

• Communication

• Learning/Innovation

•  

• as well as the knowledge to help you understand the dynamics and processes of organizing, such as:

•  

• What do we mean by organizing?

• What are the processes that bind actors together?

• How can those processes be influenced by organizers?

• What constitutes unintended consequences, and how are they handled?

Anteby, Michel, Elena Corsi and Emilie Billaud (2012)  Automating the Paris Subway. Harvard Business Case no. 9-413-061.  Please buy through one of these links:

www.thecasecentre.org/educators/products/view?id=112299

http://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/cases

http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/web/product_detail.seam;jsessionid=DA8BE0C0C06AB04EF401A491825492D1?E=4586222&R=413061-PDF-ENG&conversationId=2673327

Argyris, C., & Schön, D. (1978) Organizational learning: A theory of action perspective, Reading, Mass: Addison Wesley.

Bass, Bernard (1990) From transactional to transformational leadership: Learning to share the vision.

Organizational Dynamics 18(3), pp.19-31

Boje, David. M. (1991) The storytelling organization: A study of story performance in an office-supply firm. Administrative Science Quarterly 36(1):106–126.

Callon, M., (1998), 'An essay on framing and overflowing: economic externalities revisited by sociology', in Callon, M., (Ed.), The Laws of the Markets, Blackwell, Oxford, pp. 244-269.

(pdf)

Carlile, Paul R. (2002). A pragmatic view of knowledge and boundaries: Boundary objects in new product development. Organization Science, Vol. 13,

No.4, pp. 442-455.

Corvellec, Hervé & Annette Risberg (2007) Sensegiving as mise-en-sens -The case of wind power development. Scandinavian Journal of Management, vol. 23, nr. 3, pp. 306-326

Fourcade, M (2010): Price and Prejudice: On Economics and  the Enchantment (and Disenchantment) of Nature, in: Beckert/Aspers, The Worth Of Goods: Valuation and Pricing in the Economy. Oxford University Press, 2010. P. 50-58

George, Rose (2013): Deep Sea and Foreign Going. Inside Shipping, the Invisible Industry that Brings you 90% of Everything, Portobello

Glassman, Michael and Min Ju Kang (2010 Pragmatism, connectionism and the internet: A mind’s perfect storm. Computers in Human Behaviour 26(6):1412-1418.

Hanninen, H. I., and J. S. Laurila. “Risk Regulation in the Baltic Sea Ferry Traffic: The Successive Failures of Bow Visor Technology.” Science, Technology & Human Values 33, no. 6 (February 13, 2008)

Hernes, T., and E. J. Irgens. “Keeping Things Mindfully on Track: Organizational Learning under Continuity.” Management Learning 44, no. 3 (July 1, 2013): 253–66. doi:10.1177/1350507612445258.

Hernes, Tor (2008) Organization as process – theory for a tangled world. London: Routledge. (ch. 8) (pdf)

Hernes, Tor, Birgitte Schäffner, Edda Hendrup (2014) Sensing the momentum: A process view of change in an MNC. Journal of Change Management 15(2):117-141

Hutter, Bridget M., ed. Anticipating Risks and Organising Risk Regulation. Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Chapter 1

Katona, Z/ Sarvary, M (2014): Berkely-Haas Case Series, Maersk Line: B2B Social Media – „It’s communication, not marketing“, University o California Berkeley, Vol. 56, No.3, Spring 2014

Levinson, Marc (2008): The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger, Princeton University Press

Lundberg, Craig (2004) Is there really nothing so practical as a good theory?Business Horizons 47(5):7-14).

Nonaka I. (1988) Toward Middle-Up-Down Management: Accelerating Information Creation. Sloan Management Review, Spring Vol. 29 (3): 9-18.

(pdf.)

Orr, Julian (1998) Images of work. Science, Technology, & Human Values 43(4):439-455

Perrow, C (1981): Normal accidents at three Mile Island, in: Society, Vol. 18(5), p 17-26

Pye, Annie (2005) Leadership and organizing: Sensemaking in action. Leadership 1(1):31-50.

Roberto, Michael A. and Gina M. Carioggia (2003) Mount Everest 1996. Harvard Business School Case.

Tannenbaum, Robert and Warren H. Schmidt (1973) How to choose a leadership pattern. Harvard Business Review May-June 1973. Pp 3-12.

(accessible online through CBS library)

Søderberg, A-M (2006) Narrative interviewing and narrative analyses in a study of a Cross-border Merger. Management International Review, 46:4:397-416

Movies

A Highjacking, 2012, Thomas Lindholm

12 Angry Men, 1957, Sidney Lumet