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2022/2023  KAN-CCMVI2048U  Organization: Team Dynamics in Multinational Corporations

English Title
Organization: Team Dynamics in Multinational Corporations

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Elective
Level Full Degree Master
Duration Summer
Start time of the course Summer
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Max. participants 60
Study board
Study Board for MSc in Economics and Business Administration
Course coordinator
  • Lisbeth Clausen - Department of Management, Society and Communication (MSC)
For academic questions related to the course, please contact course responsible Lisbeth Clausen (lcl.msc@cbs.dk)
Main academic disciplines
  • Management
  • Organisation
  • Organisational behaviour
Teaching methods
  • Face-to-face teaching
Last updated on 16-11-2022

Relevant links
Learning objectives
To achieve the grade 12, students should meet the following learning objectives with no or only minor mistakes or errors:
  • Explain the challenges of global business managers of multinational corporations at the team level.
  • Define and solve a research question concerning high performing teams in a multinational with focus on organization, communication and competence.
  • Present and discuss the research question and findings in a clear and structured manner.
  • Explain and compare the organizational structure, and organizational behavior theories and models presented in the course.
  • Appropriately select theories and models in a framework to be applied to the practical case(s) (provided in the course) E.g. apply theories and models to describe team dynamics when doing global business in practice.
  • Discuss personal team learnings in light of course theory.
Course prerequisites
Completed Bachelor degree or equivalent. Basic knowledge about organisational behavior.
Examination
Organization: Team Dynamics in Multinational Corporations:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Home assignment - written product
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Size of written product Max. 15 pages
Assignment type Project
Duration Written product to be submitted on specified date and time.
Grading scale 7-point grading scale
Examiner(s) One internal examiner
Exam period Summer
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Retake exam: 72-hour home project assignment, max. 10 pages, new exam question.
If the number of registered candidates for the make-up examination/re-take examination warrants that it may most appropriately be held as an oral examination, the programme office will inform the students that the make-up examination/re-take examination will be held as an oral examination instead.

Exam form for 3rd attempt (2nd retake): The second retake is always an online oral exam (20 minutes online oral exam with no preparation time) with one internal examiner and an internal co-examiner.
Course content, structure and pedagogical approach
The aim of the course is to provide students with knowledge of the dynamics of high performing global teams drawing on organization, communication and competence theories. During the course students will become familiar with organization, organizational design and organization behavior theories and methods to understand and analyze team collaboration in multinational corporations. Each session will focus on the application of a specific model for analysis in relation to a corporate case. Throughout the course students will also be challenged to apply and reflect on personal international experience and knowledge about team work.
 
Note: Students will be assigned a team first day in class and work with this team throughout the course. Team engagement in class is expected.
 
Preliminary assignment: Read the case and answer 10 questions (2-3 pages)
 
Class 1. Global organisational challenges and corporate alignment
 
Class 2. High performance team communication - cohesion and conflict
 
Class 3. Stakeholder communication and knowledge sharing 
 
Class 4. Organizational culture and leadership
 
Class 5. Power, cecision-making and politics
 
Class 6. Perception, diversity and socialization
 
Class 7. Organisational design structure and processes
 
Class 8. Organizational change and development
 
- approve individual Research Question on CANVAS.
 
Class 9. Motivation - why work?
 
Class 10 Work-life balance and well-being
 
Class 11 Teams in theory and practice – recap models –experiences
 
Feedback activity and deliveries are planned in each session
Description of the teaching methods
The course is a combination of class room teaching (lectures) and discussions of reading material in relation to the assigned CASE companies (group work). During class sessions students are expected to contribute as 'experts' on behalf of their multinational corporation. They should be prepared to answer questions about their corporation when called upon. The method of ‘cold calling’ accelerates learning and stimulates discussions and engagement.

Team work:
Students will be assigned to one working group (a team) and one multinational CASE company. They will work on this case (25 pages) for the entire course. The case should be read before the first lecture. The course is designed to enable students to collect a portfolio of models and theoretical applications that they can use in the written exam: The teams will make ‘deliveries’ based on given themes/issue/model related to their case company. A delivery is a A-4 paper hand-in, which each team will upload on Canvas immediate following the class. Besides one-page deliveries, students will conduct class presentations analyzing a particular problem in their case related to theory.
During the course the teams will be expected do additional research on their case organization (organizational history, stock value, homepages, news stories, annual reports, etc.). Questions and a guide for the deliveries and presentations will be posted on Canvas.
Note: The case is part of the written exam and the class deliveries may be included in the exam paper.
Feedback during the teaching period
Feedback activity and group deliveries take place in each session. The research question will be designed on the first day of class and approved on CANVAS after the 8th session of the course. The CBS Nordic Nine principles are incorporated in course pedagogics through transformative group learning activities. The class sessions and themes concern sustainability and responsible management in multinational corporations. We critically investigate their diversity policies and team collaboration in inclusive and work-life balance enhancing environments.
Student workload
Preliminary assignment 20 hours
Classroom attendance - team collaboration 33 hours
Preparation 126 hours
Feedback activity 7 hours
Examination 20 hours
Further Information

Ordinary 6 weeks course

 

The course coordinator uploads Preliminary Assignment on Canvas at the end of May. It is expected that students participate as it will be included in the final exam, but the assignment is without independent assessment&grading.

 

Course and exam timetable is/will be available on https://www.cbs.dk/uddannelse/international-summer-university-programme-isup/courses-and-exams

 

We reserve the right to cancel the course if we do not get enough applications. This will be communicated on https://www.cbs.dk/uddannelse/international-summer-university-programme-isup/courses-and-exams in start March.

 

Important: This course is based on team work in each session. Deliveries in collaboration with your team is mandatory.

 
Expected literature

Mandatory readings:

Champoux, Joseph, E. (2017). Organizational Behavior: Integrating Individuals, Groups and Organizations (5th Edition). Routledge. A few chapters 
 
CASE BOOK: Clausen, Lisbeth (2021) Team dynamics and diversity: Japanese corporate experiences. Copenhagen: Copenhagen Business School Press. p. 250
NOTE: students will purchase ONE case from the above case book. LINK TBA
 
Alon, L. Erez, M. (2015) Leadership emergence in multicultural teams: The power of global characteristics. Journal of World Business. 50 (1), 3-14
 
Cornelissen Joep, (2017) Chapter 2-3. Corporate Communication. A guide to theory and practice. London Sage. Fifth Edition.
 
Hatch, Mary Jo; Schultz, Majken (1997). ”Relations between organizational culture, identity and image”. European Journal of Marketing, 31, 5/6
 
Hatch, Mary Jo & Schultz, Majken 2002, 'The dynamics of organizational identity' Human Relations, vol 55, nr. 8, p989-1018.
 
Katzenbach, Jon R. and Smith, Douglas K. (2005) Organizational culture. The Discipline of Teams. Harvard Business Review. July–August
 
Hajro, A., & Gibson, C. B. (2017). Knowledge Exchange Processes in Multicultural Teams : Linking Organizational Diversity Climates To Teams ’ Effectiveness, 60(1), 345–372.
 
Haas, M., & Mortensen, M. (2016). Perspective—Rethinking Teams: From Bounded Membership to Dynamic Participation. Harvard Business Review. https:/​/​doi.org/​https:/​/​hbr.org/​2016/​06/​the-secrets-of-great-teamwork
 
Kotter, John, P. (2007) Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail.  Harvard Business Review. January. Vol. 85 Issue 1, p96-103
 
Kotter, John P. (2012) Competitive strategy.  Accelerate. Harvard Business Review, November Issue 
 
Mintzberg, Henry and Van den Heyden, Ludo (1999). Organigraphs: Drawing How Companies Really Work Harvard Business Review.  September–October Issue
 
Mortensen, M., & Gardner, H. K. (2017). The overcommitted organization. Harvard Business Review, 2017(September-October), 58–66.
 
Nielsen, Bo Bernard; Nielsen, Sabina. (2013) Top Management Team Nationality Diversity and Firm Performance : A Multi-level Study. Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 34, No. 3, 2013, p. 373-382
 
Nonaka, I., Toyama, R., & Konno, N. (2000). SECI, Ba and Leadership: A Unified Model of Dynamic Knowledge Creation. Long Range Planning, 33(1), 5–34. https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1016/​S0024-6301(99)00115-6
 
Ollier-Malaterre, Arianne and Foucreault, Annie. Cross-National Work-Life Research: Cultural and Structural Impact for Individuals and Organizations. Journal of Management. Vol. 432 No 1 January, 2017 11-136: 115
 
Pentland, Alex. (2012) The New Science of Building Great Teams. Harvard Business Review. April p. 60-70
 
Thomas, David A. and Ely, Robin J. (1996) Cross cultural management. Making Differences Matter: A New Paradigm for Managing Diversity. Harvard Business Review. September–October Issue
 
Stahl, G. K., Mäkelä, K., Zander, L., & Maznevski, M. L. (2010). A look at the bright side of multicultural team diversity. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 26(4), 439–447. https:/​/​doi.org/​10.1016/​j.scaman.2010.09.009
 
Stahl, G. K., Maznevski, M. L., Voigt, A., & Jonsen, K. (2010). Unraveling the effects of cultural diversity in teams: A meta-analysis of research on multicultural work groups. Journal of International Business Studies, 41, 690–709.
 
Tenzer, H.; Pudelko, M. & Harzing, A.-W. (2014). The Impact of Language Barriers on Trust Formation in Multinational Teams. Journal of International Business Studies, 45, 5, 508–535.

 

Additional relevant readings:

A few additional readings will be uploaded on CANVAS at course start.
Last updated on 16-11-2022