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2025/2026  BA-BDMAO2021U  Knowledge, Leadership, and Change Management

English Title
Knowledge, Leadership, and Change Management

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Mandatory (also offered as elective)
Level Bachelor
Duration One Semester
Start time of the course Spring
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Study board
Study Board for Service and Markets
Course coordinator
  • Dan Kärreman - Department of Management, Society and Communication (MSC)
  • Eric Guthey - Department of Management, Society and Communication (MSC)
Main academic disciplines
  • Management
  • Organisation
  • Project and change management
Teaching methods
  • Face-to-face teaching
Last updated on 27-06-2025

Relevant links
Learning objectives
  • Understand, apply and reflect upon the concept of knowledge work
  • Understanding the nature of complexity in work organisation
  • Understand and reflect upon the role of leadership in complex work and knowledge work
  • Understand and reflect upon the role of interaction and relationship in complex work and knowledge work
Examination
Knowledge, Leadership and Change Management:
Exam ECTS 7,5
Examination form Home assignment - written product
Individual or group exam Individual exam
Size of written product Max. 10 pages
Assignment type Essay
Release of assignment An assigned subject is released in class
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
Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

This course prepares students for careers as effective managers by exploring the key practical and conceptual tasks and challenges facing knowledge workers and knowledge work. These challenges include organizing work as a series of diverse and challenging projects; managing project portfolios; negotiating work tasks with experts, professionals, and knowledge workers; maintaining integration in very diverse workplaces; and grappling with uncertainty and change. The course stresses that in such contexts, the strategic, organisational and cultural aspects of management practice always intersect and overlap. At the same time, the course explores several theories that link these dynamics together. 

The course further pursues the notion that management practices rooted in industrial regimes of production increasingly have been superseded in many instances by new management practices that foreground leadership, culture and the regulation of identity. The course therefore includes discussion of those aspects of organisational life that are often marginalised in standard texts, including the politics and complexities of managerial decision-making, the roles played by ordinary human interaction, and relationships in organizational settings.

 
Research-based teaching
CBS’ programmes and teaching are research-based. The following types of research-based knowledge and research-like activities are included in this course:
Research-based knowledge
  • Classic and basic theory
  • New theory
Research-like activities
  • Analysis
  • Discussion, critical reflection, modelling
Description of the teaching methods
The course is a mix of case-based teaching and lectures. Case-based teaching will be the major teaching method, and we will use a teaching team consisting of two teachers as much as we can.
Feedback during the teaching period
Pedagogically, the course is grounded in case-based class discussions with live continuous feedback from the teaching team, as well as from fellow students.
Student workload
Preparation 104 hours
Teaching 30 hours
Examination 72 hours
Expected literature

 

Articles, text book chapters and cases as announced on Canvas.

 

Indicative articles:

 

Bernstein, E. (2016). John Bunch, Niko Canner, and Michael Lee.“Beyond the Holacracy Hype: The Overwrought Claims—and Actual Promise—of the Next Generation of Self-Managed Teams.”. Harvard Business Review, 94, 7-8.

 

Brown, J. S., & Duguid, P. (2001). Knowledge and organization: A social-practice perspective. Organization science, 12(2), 198-213.

 

Grint, K. (2005). Problems, problems, problems: The social construction of ‘leadership’. Human relations, 58(11), 1467-1494.

 

Uhl-Bien, M., & Arena, M. (2017). Complexity leadership: Enabling people and organizations for adaptability. Organizational dynamics.
Last updated on 27-06-2025