TU-C3022 - Organizing of Business, Lecture, 1.3.2022-25.5.2022
This course space end date is set to 25.05.2022 Search Courses: TU-C3022
Topic outline
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Course scope
This course will provide the students with a solid understanding of the foundations of organizing, organizational forms, and organizational phenomena of business, operations, and innovation at the macro and meso level. We will use economic, organizational, and strategy theories to analyze organizing. Theories are valuable for the analyst and manager because most meso and macro organizational phenomena’s and problems are unique and cannot be understood nor solved by simple rules of thumb. After participating in the course, students will (1) be able to distinguish between various forms of organizing of business, operations, and innovation at the macro and meso level; (2) know when a certain form is more suitable and how to organize this form; and (3) be able to assess the effectiveness of current organizing form and develop improvements. Students undertaking this course will become familiar with a series of real-world contemporary organizational phenomena, learn different theoretical perspectives that can elucidate these phenomena, and learn to apply these different ways of “seeing” and managing organizations to cases. As such this course bridges theory and practice, exposing students to a variety of conceptual tools and ways to evaluate novel situations.
This course is for bachelor students in the field of industrial engineering management and information networks. Before taking this course you should have already completed the courses TU-A1100 Industrial Engineering and Management 1 as well as TU-C1030 Managerial accounting and finance for decision-makers.
Course Objectives
After participating in the course, students will:
- be able to distinguish between various forms of organizing of business, operations, and innovation at the macro and meso level;
- know when a certain form is more suitable and how to organize this form; and
- be able to assess the effectiveness of current organizing form and develop improvements.
Overview of the course and how it is organized (period IV-V 2022)
The course is organized as a mixed self-study and a group exercises course. The course is organized into 10 modules. For each of these (except module 1) you will have to submit (1) a reflection note and (2) answers to the group exercise. Then there is an exam in May.
The course starts Tuesday 1.3. with a live session. In the introduction session the course is introduced, and we will go through the practicalities (will be recorded) and take questions. We will also have a first group work exercise on the topic “The ever-changing business environment”, (an introduction presentation to the exercise will be recorded) and a debrief of the exercise. The introduction session hence functions as a preparatory session for the rest of the course modules. After the introduction session, there will be 9 individual self-study assignments, each to introduce and learn about the module topics and prepare students for the remaining 9 live sessions and exercises.
For each module we have prepared prerecorded lecture videos and reading material for self-study (will be available at least 1 week before the module). The pre-assignment covering the lecture videos and the reading material prepares the student for the group exercises. For the group work to be productive it is important that each student has before the meeting with the group watched the lecture videos, read the article, done the pre-assignment, and familiarized themselves with the group assignments and the questions.
The group work exercises can be done in two ways.
Option A: The first option is to attend the Tuesday 9:15-11:45 live-online facilitated group work exercise (3-4 person) sessions. In the live online group-work session, the focus is on the applications of key ideas that the module covers through exercises and debriefs. We will each time form groups randomly so you will get to know many students during the course if you choose this option. We will introduce the assignments in the session and have Q&A about the questions, we will then let you work in groups for 30 min and then have a debrief (groups will present their initial analyses) so you will get a good amount of feedback and support for your group work during these sessions. We will then have another round where each group again works on the other questions for the assignments and then have a second debrief. We are also going to organize some fun break activities (gym break and online coffee breakout rooms) during the online sessions. Students that took the live-online session last year did on average better in their assignments as well as in their final exams than students taking option B.
We have also booked two physical rooms at Tuas for each session. If you want to, you can come to these physical locations and join the online sessions from there. Please bring head phones if you join the online session from the physical location. Coming to the physical location will enable you to have an offline onsite coffee break but the group work session itself is still held completely online. So people at the physical location will be sitting in the same room but still talk to each other through computer screens.
Option B: If you prefer to work outside the live facilitated group-work sessions we also offer the option of being in a self-managed group of 3 to 4 people. In the self-managed group, you will work without the live session guidance and debriefs. In this group, you will work at the time you prefer. An enrolment form for these self-managed groups will be announced one week before the course starts and enrolment is due Tuesday 1.3. by end of the day. You can either form a group (before or during the introduction session) or you can enroll as an individual and we will then form the group. We will announce all self-managed groups on the 2nd of March. We will announce the group-work assignment on Friday mornings (on the week before the Module week) by 10 am for everyone. With your group, you need to finalize and submit the group assignment by the latest Thursday 20:00 on the module week.
There are deadlines for submitting self-study pre-assignments and group work assignments. The self-study assignment of the Module week is due one day before the live session (Monday at 20:00). Answers to all group exercises are to be submitted Thursday at 20:00.
Please sign up for the online live sessions or form autonomous groups through the group formation page. The DL for group formation is 1.3.
The exam will be organized as an onsite exam if possible (if not then the exam will be online) after period V (Spring 2022), and after periods I and II (Autumn 2022).
Learning contract
By taking this course, you enter into a learning contract with the course personnel. Here are our mutual promises:
What we promise:
- Design the course in a way that guides you through the study material to help you fulfill the learning objectives.
- Open up the concepts, theories and frameworks, and discuss interesting cases and examples to illustrate their application.
- Help, guide, and advise you in the studies for this course in the best way we can.
What you promise:
- To do your best and reflect.
- Not to take convenient shortcuts or cheat (each submission -incl. the exam- is your and your groups original work and not copied & pasted from others).
- To do your share of the work in the group exercises.
Content and study material
To join the sessions, use the Zoom Link:
https://aalto.zoom.us/j/65100262954
The study material is organized into the following 10 modules:
Topic
Live session
Assignment & Deadline
Deadline**
1
The ever-changing business environment
1.3. kl. 9:15-11:45
We expect all students to join the first live session because we will go through course practicalities.
Individual assignment
No submission
Group assignment
No submission
2
Markets & the formation of demand and supply
8.3. kl. 9:15-11:45
Individual assignment
7.3. kl.20.00
Group assignment
10.3. kl.20.00
3
Transaction costs and organizing business
15.3. kl. 9:15-11:45
Individual assignment
14.3. kl.20.00
Group assignment
17.3. kl.20.00
4
Organizing, coordinating, and incentivizing work
22.3. kl.9:15-11:45
Individual assignment
21.3. kl.20.00
Group assignment
24.3. kl.20.00
5
Rules and responsibilities of business
29.3. kl.9:15-11:45
Individual assignment
28.3. kl.20.00
Group assignment
31.3. kl.20.00
6
Modularity, standards, and interoperability
5.4. kl. 9:15-11:45
Individual assignment 4.4. kl.20.00 Group assignment
7.4. kl.20.00
7
Business networks, complementarity & ecosystems
19.4. kl. 9:15-11:45
Individual assignment
18.4. kl.20.00
Group assignment
21.4. kl.20.00
8
Platforms & platform economy (network effects and externalities)
26.4. kl. 9:15-11:45
Individual assignment
25.4. kl.20.00
Group assignment
28.4. kl.20.00
9
Strategic decisions for organizing platforms
3.5. kl. 9:15-11:45
Individual assignment
2.5. kl.20.00
Group assignment
5.5. kl.20.00
10
The evolving platform economy
10.5. kl. 9:15-11:45
Individual assignment
9.5. kl.20.00
Group assignment
12.5. kl.20.00
For each of the 10 modules, there is:
- A pre-recorded video lecture, which consists of 3-5 mini-lectures each, available under Organizing of Business videos section (these videos will be available latest 1 week before the module week)
- Reading material for the week is available under Materials (will be available at least 1 week before the module week)
- A group assignment (may also include a reading, a case text, or an article) (will be available Thursday (20:00) before the module week)
The reading material consists of one article on the subject per module that can be found in the Materials section and a select set of book chapters for module 4 ( Chapter 7.5 and 7.6) available at the open book repository https://www.core-econ.org/.
Reflection notes and exercises
For modules 2-10, you will have to submit (1) a reflection note and (2) answers to the group exercise. There are deadlines for submitting reflection notes and answering online exercises (each Monday at 20.00 (individual assignment) and each Thursday at 20.00 (group assignment); see table above. The deadlines for reflection notes are strict, no late submissions will be accepted. For late submissions of group assignments, we deduct one point if the assignment is late by at most a day and two points if the submission is late by more than a day.
Preparing the reflection notes will take some time, so start working on these early enough before the deadlines!
Reflection notes
You need to submit a one-page reflection note using the Cornell method for note-taking. There is a video (can be found in the Individual Work Instruction section) that explains how to take notes using this system (if you participated in the Introduction to Strategic Management autumn 2020 then this is familiar to you). This system should help you reflect on and better organize the study material. If you already use another note system (e.g., mind mapping) you can also submit your reflection notes in that format, as long as you submit a one-page document and the document shows that you have reflected on the study material. To complete this task, you need to watch the module’s video slides on the "Organizing Business Video" section and read the selected article for individual assignments in the individual assignment folder.
Click on Module reflections on the left to submit the reflection note (either as .pdf or .jpg picture file; so if you use pen and paper you can take a picture of your notes with your phone and upload that).
Group exercises
The group exercises (900-1200 words, maximum 5 pages including tables and figures) consist of 2-3 assignments and questions where you apply the module key concepts and ideas presented in the module videos and reading material.
Grading
The final grade consists of the following elements:
- Reflection notes: 10%
- Group exercises: 40%
- Exam: 50%
Each reflection note is graded as either 0 or 1. You can get a maximum of 5 points from each group exercise.
Reflection notes
To get the point, it needs to be visible that you have spent effort on reflecting on the topic. Submissions with mostly white space, with just a few words, or that are obviously copied & pasted from elsewhere are graded 0.
Group exercises
The grading criteria are as follows
- 0 not answered or only superficial answers, or copied & pasted from elsewhere (if copied and pasted (and not using quotation marks and referencing) it is considered plagiarism and we will need to take measures accordingly)
- 1 partially answering questions, there is some use of key ideas and elements from lectures and articles of the week, no integration of learnings from previous weeks
- 2 some of the answers are good, some are partially answering questions, there is some good use of key ideas and elements from lectures and articles of the week but also some answers which do not take into account ideas and elements from lecture and reading, non or some integration of learnings from previous weeks
- 3 good answers and good use of key ideas and elements from lectures and articles of the week, some integration of learnings from previous weeks
- 4 answers are really well elaborated and very good use of key ideas and elements from lectures and articles of the week, the answers also integrate learnings from previous weeks
- 5 excellent answers and excellent use of key ideas and elements from lectures and articles of the week, excellent integration of learnings from previous weeks
The exam is organized after period V (Spring 2022) the 25.5 17:00-20:00 (Observe the new date!). The exam consists of four questions (max 50p total). We will organize the exam on-site. We will inform the students in case the situation demands changes.
The next exam session are held on Tue 30.8.2022 13.00–16.00 and Tue 13.12.2022 13.00–16.00.
Overall grading
Exam grades have been given as follows (updated on the 18th June):
Cut-off points Exam grade Exam points (lower bound) 0 0 1 16.5 2 22.5 3 27.5 4 33 5 41.5 Note
- To pass, you need to at least get one point from the exam (so you can’t pass just with reflection notes and group exercises, even if you get all points from them).
- All points will be communicated through the course website (under
Grades)
Contacts
The teachers of the course are Associate Professor Robin Gustafsson.
The course assistant for the course is Sarri Nykänen. Email: sarri.nykanen@aalto.fi
For inquiries that are relevant to other students as well, please ask through the mycourses discussion forum. For personal inquiries, please contact the course assistant by e-mail.