ORGANIZATION DESIGN

This course aims to increase students' understanding of organizational design and its challenges. It will provide theoretical and practical knowledge on what organizational design is, what are the main dimensions, decisions, organizational solutions at different levels of analysis and intervention.

Attendance, active participation in the training activities proposed by the course, and individual study will enable students to:
- acquire knowledge on organizational design and its main dimensions based on the main organizational theories
- understand key decisions of organizational design at different levels of analysis
- apply theoretical principles to practical cases of organizational design
- compare organizational solutions
- analyze critically the main current trends and challenges of organization design (with specific reference to digital transformation)
- combine and summarize complex concepts and communicate them effectively in written and oral form

Pre-requirement: Principles of Management and International Accounting (ET0078)
Students must have passed the exam Principles of Management and International Accounting (ET0078) BEFORE taking the Organization Design exam

The course is divided in 5 sections:

1. Organizations, stakeholders, effectiveness and ethics
2. Challenges of organizational design (differentiation, coordination, authority and control)
3. Designing organizational structure
4. Organizational culture and change
5. Organizational learning and decision-making

The course material will consist of slides, case studies, articles and book chapters.
For each section there will be selected further readings useful for deepening the analysis.

Mandatory reading:
Gareth R. Jones, 2013, Organizational theory, design and Change, Pearson (7th ed.)
Chapters will be communicated during the first lesson and the list will be available in moodle

Students' final assessment consists of a written test. The test consists of 30 multiple choice questions aimed at ascertaining the subject knowledge, the ability to apply knowledge, and to compare organizational choices. The written test lasts 60 minutes and the use of books, notes or electronic media is not allowed.
Students can integrate the exam grade by carrying out during the course a group work, which entails a critical in depth analysis of an assigned topic, and the generation of a written report and an oral presentation.
The final evaluation is composed by: written test grade (0-30 points) + group work grade (optional) (0-4 points)

The course adopts an interactive teching approach based on:
Lectures
Discussions
Quiz/gamification
Cases
Videos
Key note speaker

GROUP WORK ACTIVITY
Students enrolled in the Organization Design course can voluntarily choose to participate to a group work activity. For these projects, there is an additional score from 0 to 4 points to be added to the final exam. The points of the group work will be valid only for the exam sessions of December 2024 and January 2025. Further details regarding the group work will be presented in class.

CONNECTION WITH OTHER COURSES
Some topics in the Organization Design course revisit concepts introduced in earlier courses, while others refer to future courses. For instance, organizational structures are covered in the first module of Principles of Management and International Accounting (first year), different business strategies are explored in the first module of Business Economics and Management of the Firm. These references and connections between topics are a key part of the learning process. This approach promotes active learning, as it requires students to acquire knowledge and understand the interconnections between the topics covered throughout their studies.

written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Circular economy, innovation, work" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development