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2020/2021 KAN-CSOLO2029U Strategy and Identity
| English Title | |
| Strategy and Identity |
Course information |
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| Language | English |
| Course ECTS | 7.5 ECTS |
| Type | Mandatory |
| Level | Full Degree Master |
| Duration | One Quarter |
| Start time of the course | Autumn, First Quarter |
| Timetable | Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk |
| Study board |
Study Board for MSc in Economics and Business
Administration
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| Course coordinator | |
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| Teaching methods | |
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| Last updated on 26-06-2020 | |
Relevant links |
| Learning objectives | ||||||
The OC and SI courses aim to offer a practical
and realistic approach to the complexity and dynamism of
organizational contexts, whilst engaging seriously with theories of
organizational change, strategy and identity. They seek to
facilitate students in developing an understanding of the
multifaceted nature of change, strategy and identity in a way that
enables the making of practical judgements in an informed way and
inspires imagination for responsible action. Upon the courses’
completion, we expect the students to be able to fulfill the
following learning objectives:
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| Course prerequisites | ||||||
| Strategy and Identity can only be taken together with Organizing Change as the two courses have a common exam. | ||||||
| Examination | ||||||
| The course shares exams with | ||||||
| KAN-CSOLO1801U | ||||||
| Course content, structure and pedagogical approach | ||||||
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The aim of this course is to introduce strategy and how it intersects with organizational identity in different contexts (large and small organizations, long-lived firms and start-ups, public and private entities, project-based organizations, etc.). The course provides a brief overview of different perspectives in the field of strategy and then makes a move to theories that focus on strategy as a process. In a similar fashion the course provides a brief overview of recent developments in the conceptualization of organizational identity and the move towards process based views on identity and identity change. This implies that rather than seeing strategy and identity as fixed entities, a process view sees them as being in the making. Identity, for example, is the answer to the question “who are we becoming”, whereas strategy will be conceived in terms of how it emerges and becomes consolidated in the organization. A process view facilitates analysis and discussions of ‘how’ organizational identity influences the unfolding of strategies across time – and how the emergence of new strategies may lead to a new identity. The course has temporal emphasis, which enables past, present and future to be analysed, such as how organizational actors may leverage their past in the development of strategies for the future. The course also shows how actors make use of strategic narratives and how they engage external stakeholders in the co-creation of new strategies.
Overlap with the course Organizing Change
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| Description of the teaching methods | ||||||
| Dialogue based lectures, role play, discussion of how the relations between strategy and identity are practiced and managed in organizations based on cases, videos, visiting practitioners and student observations of a concrete organizational context in their group projects. The course comprises a joint workshop with Organizing Change and a joint summary class. | ||||||
| Feedback during the teaching period | ||||||
| The OC and SI courses offer several feedback
opportunities during the class discussions as well as in dedicated
activities. Feedback will be given to the group presentations in
the class and during office hours. The student groups will also
receive supervision and feedback on their projects’ progress on two
occasions. In addition, we will
1) Develop a Canvas-based peer feedback functionality through which teams give feedback to each other on their projects. 2) Develop a Canvas-based cumulative note-taking functionality through which the class creates together notes on main learnings connecting the two courses and teachers provide commentary and feedback to it on a weekly basis. 3) Develop a Canvas-based examples’ functionality, in which the class can contribute brief case examples to and comments on topics covered in each session, and teachers briefly comment on that. 4) Create a Canvas-based archive with selected previous year’s projects (permission has already been sought and granted) and have students comment on their strong points and weakness in relation to concepts from each course; teachers give feedback to the students’ comments. This would allow to better align exam expectations and prepare the students for the oral exam, as many of them have not had oral exams before or, at least, not in English. |
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| Student workload | ||||||
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| Expected literature | ||||||
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The course readings will be about 800 pages, some of which are rather extensive and some of which are more light readings. The readings include, among others: Kaplan, S. & Orlikowski, W. (2014). Beyond forecasting: Creating new strategic narratives. Sloan Management Review, 56/1: 23-28. Kaplan S. & Orlikowski, W. (2013). Temporal Work in Strategy Making. Organization Science, 24(4): 965-995. Mintzberg, H. (1987). The strategy concept I: Five Ps for strategy. California Management Review, 30(1), 11–24. Ravasi, D. & Philips, N. (2011). Strategies of alignment: Organizational Identity Management and Strategic Change at Bang & Olufsen. Strategic Organization, 9/2: 103-135. Schultz, M. & Hernes, T. (2013). A temporal perspective on organizational identity. Organization Science, 24/1: 1-21. Whittington, R. (1996). Strategy as practice. Long Range Planning, 29(5), 731-735. |