LEARNING OUTCOMES
The ability to design organizations is a vital skill for managers. The aim of the course is to offer theoretical and practical understanding on how to design organizations – with a special focus on how to design organizations that foster adaptivity and creativity.
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
- demonstrate knowledge and comprehension of the seminal and latest academic research in organizational design, organizational culture, organizational practices, organizational change, and strategic entrepreneurship;
- analyze, evaluate, and reflect upon how established companies and startups can design and implement processes and practices that allow them to adapt to changing environments and be innovative;
- analyze, evaluate, and reflect upon the capabilities, mindsets, and skills that managers and employees need to design adaptive and creative organizations, and to work in them;
- apply analytical techniques, tools and frameworks taught in the class on a company-based group project to produce original work in evaluating how a company addresses its redesigning challenges; and
- reflect upon how you personally can act as a designer of organizational structures and practices that foster creativity and change within existing companies or startups.
Furthermore, through the completion of this course, students will have practiced:
- Analytical skills in defining and solving problems
- Decision-making skills
- Research skills
- Reflection skills
- Learning by doing from a real business experience
- Group management and teamwork skills
- Communication and presentation skills
- Networking among Finnish companies
This course will be particularly valuable to students who are interested in business development functions, consulting in change management and strategy implementation, organizational transformation, development of work practices, and human resource functions. The course enables students to be more effective designers of coordination, creativity and change to any organizations they join, whether large, established companies or startups.
Credits: 5
Schedule: 07.01.2025 - 14.03.2025
Teacher in charge (valid for whole curriculum period):
Teacher in charge (applies in this implementation): Frank Martela
Contact information for the course (applies in this implementation):
CEFR level (valid for whole curriculum period):
Language of instruction and studies (applies in this implementation):
Teaching language: English. Languages of study attainment: English
CONTENT, ASSESSMENT AND WORKLOAD
Content
valid for whole curriculum period:
In this course, the focus is on developing knowledge, competences, and practical experience on how to design organizations and companies that foster adaptability and creativity. You will learn how both established and nascent organizations can reconfigure their structures and practices toward value-creating and value-protecting opportunities.
Drawing on the perspectives of organizational design, organizational culture, organizational practices, and strategic entrepreneurship, students will learn to apply theoretical and practical frameworks and tools needed to:
a) analyze the impact of organizational structures, organizational cultures, and practices on organizational adaptability and creativity
b) design organizational structures and cultures that foster and maintain adaptive and creative ways of working, and
c) organize and coordinate bottom-up initiatives to facilitate change that acknowledge how both employees (bottom-up processes) and managers (top-down processes) can be involved in this process by employing their agency.
Assessment Methods and Criteria
valid for whole curriculum period:
There are three forms of assessment with which the students need to engage to pass the course:
a) Individual-level assessment based on the submission of individual essays (40% of the final grade)
b) Group-level assessment based on contribution and participation in a group project (40% of the final grade)
c) Attending the lectures (20% of the final grade)
The evaluation criteria of the submitted work (individual essays and deliverable of the group project) for the assessment of this course include four areas: understanding, depth of knowledge, structure, and overall evaluation. Each criterion is of equal importance and weight in calculating the final grade of each assessment. Each criterion is assessed on a scale from 0 (0-49%) to 5 (90-100%). Non-submitted essays are graded with 0.
Workload
valid for whole curriculum period:
Contact teaching
Group assessment
Individual assessment
Self-study
DETAILS
Study Material
valid for whole curriculum period:
The course draws on the literature on organization design, organizational structures, organizational culture, and organizational innovation.
Substitutes for Courses
valid for whole curriculum period:
Prerequisites
valid for whole curriculum period:
SDG: Sustainable Development Goals
8 Decent Work and Economic Growth
9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
17 Partnerships for the Goals
FURTHER INFORMATION
Further Information
valid for whole curriculum period:
Teaching Language: English
Teaching Period: 2024-2025 Spring III - IV
2025-2026 Spring III - IVRegistration:
The number of students is limited to 120 because of the course's learning objectives and activities. The following categories of students have priority to enroll for this course 1) Students of the Master's Programme in Industrial Engineering and Management, 2) Students of the Master's Programme in Information Networks 3) International Design Business Management (SCI) students, 4) Students minoring in Leadership and Change Management 5) exchange students in the Industrial Engineering and Management Master's programme. Bachelor's students can be accepted if the bachelor's degree (including thesis) is almost completed, and the smooth progress of studies requires the commencement of master's studies.