MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION SPRING 2013 BAS 322 ORGANIZATION THEORY Time and place TBA

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1 MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION SPRING 2013 BAS 322 ORGANIZATION THEORY Time and place TBA INSTRUCTOR: DR. S. NAZLI WASTI-PAMUKSUZ OFFICE: H122 TELEPHONE: OFFICE HOURS: TBA and by appointment COURSE DESCRIPTION: a The purpose of this course is to use lectures, videos, class exercises, and case studies to introduce students to theories and concepts that are useful in understanding organizations. Given the domination of organizations in society, it is important to understand and subsequently use the tools provided by organization theory in order to better understand how organizations affect us and how we can shape them. This course is meant to provide students with some of those tools, allowing them to better analyze complicated organizations and organizational situations, and to discover ways of dealing more effectively with them. Hence the course learning outcomes are: To identify multiple perspectives on organizations To be able to apply these various perspectives in analyzing organizations and organizational problems To assess various organizational configurations and identify appropriate ones for the situation. TEXT Jones, Gareth R., Organizational Theory, Design, and Change: Text and Cases, 7 th Edition, Prentice-Hall, 2013 (Available in library reserve. Students can also use older editions of this text; however, they will be responsible for tracking which chapter corresponds to the material covered in class.) Powerpoint slides for the course can be found at old.ba.metu.edu.tr/~nazli/bas322/chx.pptx (Replace x with chapter number, 01, 02, 11, etc.) Students may also be assigned additional reading materials from time to time (available from the internet or student photocopy service). TENTATIVE GRADING SCHEME (Approximate weights): 2 mid-term exams: 70% total Term project: 20% Quizzes and class participation: 10% Tentative midterm dates: March 26 and May 14, 2014, in class Mid-term Exams: These will be true-false and multiple-choice exams. Everything in the chapters covered, class discussions, and cases covered will be included. You will not be allowed to use class material, dictionaries, cellular phones, etc. during the exams. The mid-term exams will cover everything since the beginning of the term or since the last mid-term exam. Quizzes: These will be short essay-type, true-false, or multiple-choice questions which will be conducted prior to class discussions and will be geared towards understanding your preparation level for the case or assigned readings.

2 Class participation: A significant portion of the class will be spent discussing the related readings or cases. Please note that attendance does NOT mean participation (I will not take attendance). You are encouraged to demonstrate your knowledge of the assigned material or make comments during class. You may also be called on randomly. This means that you are expected to have read the material prior to class. In participation, quality is more important than quantity. Class participation will be graded at the end of the term on a scale of 0 to 4 (4=A). Students who have not submitted their Student Information Sheets (old.ba.metu.edu.tr/~nazli/bas322/info.doc) by March 3, 2014 will NOT receive a participation grade. PROGRAM FOR THE SEMESTER I will not be trying to finish a particular chapter at a given time and will allow the discussions to determine how long a topic lasts. Once we finish a topic, you are expected to start reading the next one without me saying so. February 17-19: OT definitions, measures of effectiveness Jones Chapter 1, 2, case discussion February 24-26: Organizational environment Jones Chapter 3, Keiretsu video, case discussion March 3-12: Basic definitions to describe organizations Jones Chapter 4, case discussion Presentations of team compositions on March 3. March 17-26: Weber and bureaucracy Jones Chapter 5, in class exercise, Modern Times video March 31: MIDTERM 1 IN CLASS April 2-7: Organizational design Jones Chapter 6, case discussion, Organizational Structure video April 9-14: Organizational culture Jones Chapter 7, case discussion April 21-28: Organizational design in an international environment Jones Chapter 8 (NO CLASS ON APRIL 23 RD ). April 30-May 5: Organizational technology Jones Chapter 9, King Soopers Bakery video, case discussion. May 7-12: Organizational life cycle Jones Chapter 11, case discussion, Nantucket Nectars video May 14: MIDTERM 2 IN CLASS May 21: PROJECT PRESENTATIONS 1 Revisions in the program may be made and extra class sessions may be arranged as necessary. CLASS RULES: I am not taking attendance in this class so please do not come if you are not willing to obey the following rules. If you do come, I will assume you accept the following: 1. If the classroom door has been closed, it means I have started lecturing, so please do NOT open the door and distract everybody. 1 We may have to schedule an additional class for project presentations I will let you know in advance.

3 2. Please switch off your cellular phones prior to coming to class and do NOT send messages during class time. If you are expecting an urgent call, please wait for it outside the classroom or inform me of your excuse. 3. If you are too sleepy to listen, please take your nap outside the classroom. Likewise, if you would rather talk to your friends or read material unrelated to the class, please do all that outside. GOOD LUCK AND ENJOY THE CLASS! Outline for Living Case Project Write-Ups Students are required to study an organization and submit a written report maximum 15 pages (not including appendices) in length. You will be responsible for finding an organization that will let you conduct the required analyses. You may pick manufacturing or service organizations, not-for-profit and voluntary organizations, governmental organizations, parts of METU or any other university, a major department or an entire company as your focus. The project should investigate the state of an organization and its use (or lack of use) of OT principles. You are required to use the diagnostic instruments distributed to you in class. The research project may be conducted in teams of up to 3 people; i.e., it may be done in smaller groups or individually. Present your team composition, team name, logo, motto, and the name of the organization you will be studying on March 4, Every member of the team is responsible for the research, presentation, and report, and the project grade will hold for every team member. If there are cases of non-productive team members, teams are expected to first address this problem themselves. If a team cannot do so, the instructor should be notified well before the project due date so that appropriate action may be taken. Peer evaluations will also be submitted with your projects. The projects will be turned in both in electronic and hard copy format on May 26, 2014, by noon. Late project papers, papers handed without a hard copy, and papers exceeding the page limits will NOT be graded unless you have a legitimate excuse cleared in advance. You may submit your papers earlier than the deadline. You are expected to answer the following questions for your report: I. Boundary: Where is the system boundary for the purposes of your project? System mission: Who are the stakeholders and what do they need from the organization? What is the current mission and goals of the organization (written or implicit)? How is this shared with the employees? Performance: Assess the organization s performance using concepts such as productivity, sales, quality, absenteeism, turnover, and job satisfaction. Identify areas where there are significant differences between desired and actual outputs. One way to do this may be to compare and contrast the company with its main competitors in terms of technology, policies, rules, work standards, employees, etc. II. The External Environment & the Organizational Context External environment: List the general and specific sectors of the environment that affect the organization and describe how they influence the organization and its strategy. Characterize the degree of complexity (simple vs. complex), dynamism (stable vs. dynamic), and richness of the environment for this organization and how the organization responds to it. Utilize the tool provided to diagnose environmental uncertainty to support your answers. Consider how the organization manages symbiotic/competitive interdependencies and what kinds of linkages it has formed with other organizations. Environmental Sensitivity: What trends in the environment does the organization need to pay attention to? What are the potential threats and opportunities the organization will face in the future? How does the system get feedback from the environment on how it is doing and where it needs to go in the future?

4 What kinds of data are collected about the environment and how is that data processed, fed back, and used by the system to improve? How often is feedback processed? How is it disseminated and to whom? Technical systems analysis: Analyze the current organizational technology using the theories discussed in class. Utilize the diagnostic tool provided to identify the technology for each task you are considering. Formal organization analysis: Analyze the current formal organizational structure by first discussing how the organization looks in terms of differentiation, span of control, standardization, centralization/decentralization, formalization, complexity, specialization, integration mechanisms, etc. Utilize the diagnostic tools provided to evaluate structural complexity and formalization. Identify the type of structure the organization has and provide an organization chart. Consider in your analysis the fit between the technical and organizational systems and how these systems match environmental demands. Also discuss whether the organizational structure matches the size and life cycle phase of the organization using the diagnostic tool provided. Organizational culture analysis: Discuss the characteristic ways in which members of your organization act. Do managers and employees use certain words or phrases to describe the behavior of people in the organization? Are any stories about events or people typically used to describe the way the organization works? How does the organization socialize employees? What beliefs and values seem to characterize the way people behave in the organization? How would you characterize the organization s culture and the way it benefits or harms the organization? How could the culture be improved? III. Recommendations: Based on your findings, what changes do you suggest would benefit this organization? How would these changes help this organization to improve? If no change would be helpful in this organization, please explain why the organization is already doing well using OT. Be sure to provide your rationale for recommendations. Do not simply state recommendations without justifying why they are needed in terms of your previous analyses and course concepts. VI. Conclusions: What are the implications of your findings for the organization you studied its members, environment, stakeholders? What sort of difficulties would this company face when trying to adapt to these principles and techniques? What future problems would you predict for the company if it continues the way it is now? What limitations might your study have? Are there any questions that remain unanswered? How might future research or observations address these questions? General Format for Your Paper Typed, 1.5 or double-spaced, using 12 pt. font and default margins. You should explicitly draw on course concepts and include a reference to the source of the concept in the text of your term paper (e.g. Using Jones model of environmental complexity, we classified the environment as ). It is not necessary to provide detailed summaries of the concepts themselves but rather to use them correctly. Provide all references used at the end of your paper in proper referencing format (look at the end of any textbook or journal article on how it is done). A list of general references at the end of your paper without specific citations is not sufficient referencing. No more than 10% of your work should be direct citations from other authors. Plagiarism is a crime. Do not copy statements out of books or papers without putting them in quotes and providing the proper reference. Use your own words. Your report will be examined for plagiarism using special software designed for this purpose and the percent that is plagiarized will be deducted from your report grade. Points will be taken off for non-professional, sloppy work (spelling mistakes, poor English, untidy looking paper, improper referencing, no table of contents or page numbers, figures or tables without titles, numbers, or sources, etc.) Project Presentations All team members have to participate in the presentation. The order of presentations will be determined randomly. If your group cannot make it on a certain date, it is your responsibility to find a group willing to swap dates with you. Projects will be evaluated on both content and delivery. Delivery

5 includes whether your project presentation is interesting, professional, and clear. Are your voice tone, eye contact, posture, and appearance good? Are your transparencies, handouts, and slides readable, free of typos, informative, and interesting? Have you managed your time effectively and finished your presentation on time? Middle East Technical University Department of Business Administration Rules of Academic Honesty Cheating: All university, faculty, and department principles on academic honesty will be strictly enforced. The usual consequence for academic dishonesty is failure in the course and additional disciplinary action. Examinations are individual and are to be completed without unauthorized outside assistance. Persons observed cheating during examinations will automatically receive a failing grade in the course. Homework assignments are individual, unless otherwise specified by the instructor, and are to be completed without unauthorized outside assistance as well. Persons observed cheating in their homework assignments will receive a score of zero for the portion of the semester grade that is allocated to such assignments. In addition to the consequences above, the instructor will initiate disciplinary action against the student(s) involved in academic dishonesty. Plagiarism: The instructor assumes that students will do their own work. By placing their names (individual or team) on assignments, students are affirming that the contents are their original work. Ideas should be stated in the student s own wording. Violation of this provision will be considered as unethical behavior, subject to disciplinary action. If you have any doubt about the use of a specific material, see the instructor ahead of time. Civility in the Classroom: Students are expected to assist in maintaining a classroom environment which is conducive to learning. In order to assure that all students have an opportunity to gain from time spent in class, students are prohibited from using cellular phones or beepers, eating or drinking in class, arriving late or leaving early without prior permission, or engaging in any other form of distraction. Inappropriate behavior in classroom shall result in, minimally, a request to leave class. Examination Rules: Students must present a valid METU Student ID before they can be allowed into the examination rooms. Those students who cannot present this ID will not be allowed into the examination room under any circumstances. Cellular phones must be turned off and stowed away during the examinations. Students whose phones are observed to be turned on and/or not stowed away will receive a score of zero for the examination.