organization theory - public policy phdphd.publicpolicy.umd.edu/jlu/files/sample_syllabus_0.pdf ·...

Organization Theory

Sample Syllabus

Jiahuan Lu

University of Maryland, College Park

Phone: 240-898-8132 E-mail: [email protected]

Course Description

The purpose of this master-level course is to provide a venue for students to become

exposed to knowledge, insights, and skills necessary to manage and lead public and nonprofit

organizations. To achieve this goal, this course will survey the major topics, perspectives, and

theories under the umbrella of “organization theory” over time, including organizational

environments, goals and effectiveness, strategy and decision-making, structure and design,

communication, leadership, culture, and other topics. Emphasis is placed on understanding both

the theoretical development of the field and its many practical applications in real public and

nonprofit management contexts. Students are encouraged to apply the theories and concepts of

the subject matter covered in this course to their own individual fields of specialty or interest,

and to draw from their experience and offer relevant insights to share with the class.

Course Format

A typical class will be divided into two parts. During the first half of the class, we will

discuss assigned readings on a specific organization management topic. The instructor will

provide an overview of the topic. One/two student(s) will then lead the discussion of readings.

Discussion leaders should provide an overview of the readings, introduce questions and issues

for examination, and facilitate the discussion. The focus should be on how these readings help us

understand organizational behaviors and management, not just summarizing readings. Such

discussions should be conducted in an interactive way, joined by the instructor and all students.

In the second half of the meeting, we will study particular cases and explore how the theoretical

concepts and ideas we’ve covered could be applied to the cases being discussed and other more

generic day-to-day management and leadership in public and nonprofit organizations. The case

discussion will be led by the instructor, actively joined by all students.

Course Materials

Required Readings:

Rainey, H. G. (2009). Understanding and Managing Public Organizations. San Francisco:

Jossey-Bass.

In addition, we will be reading a number of case studies. All of the cases are available for

purchase on-line:

mailto:[email protected]

Jiahuan Lu, Sample Syllabus, Organization Theory

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Harvard Kennedy School Case (HKS), at www.ksgcase.harvard.edu.

Harvard Business School Case (HBS), at http://hbsp.harvard.edu//product/cases.

The names and numbers of the cases are included in the weekly readings below. Be sure to

mark your status as “Academic” to receive a substantial discount on the purchase price.

All of the other required readings for the course will be available on Blackboard.

Recommended Readings:

Scott, W.R., & Davis, G. (2007). Organizations and Organizing: Rational, Natural and

Open Systems Perspectives. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

March, J. G., & Simon, H. A. (1958). Organizations. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Perrow, C. (1986). Complex Organizations: A Critical Essay. New York: Random House.

Thompson, J.D. (1967). Organizations in Action: Social Science Bases of Administrative

Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill.

The following list includes some of the leading journals on public and nonprofit

organization research. I encourage you to read articles on your topics of interest in these

prestigious journals.

Academy of Management Journal (AMJ), Academy of Management Review (AMR),

Administrative Science Quarterly (ASQ), Harvard Business Review, Journal of Public

Administration Research and Theory (J-PART), Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly

(NVSQ), Public Administration Review (PAR), Sloan Management Review.

Course Expectations

The course requires extensive reading and class preparation as well as a high level of

participation in class. Student assessment will be based on class participation, short memos, and

final exam. I will be using the +/- grade system.

Class Participation (20%)

Active class participation means engagement, informed by knowledge of the readings and

other materials, in class sessions and other aspects of the course. It requires more than

simply coming to class and it does not mean an effort to dominate class discussion. Asking

and responding to questions in ways informed by close attention to the readings is the best

indication of effective class participation.

In the first class, each student (or two students together) will choose a course topic that

he/she/they would like to lead future discussions. We will talk about the detailed

http://www.ksgcase.harvard.edu/

http://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/cases


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requirements for discussion in the first class. Each student (except for discussion leaders) is

required to prepare at least 2 or 3 discussion questions related to the assigned readings and

bring the questions to the class. Please email the questions to discussion leaders and copy to

me by 5:00 pm on the day before class. However, in order to allow time to explore a smaller

number of issues in greater depth, not every question will be discussed in class.

Students should also prepare for the case discussions each week by identifying, and being

prepared to participate in the class discussion, on: (1) the issues raised, (2) the relevant

theory and practice (from readings, experience, etc.), and (3) your recommended actions and

rationale.

Case Memos (40%)

Students are expected to submit four short memos among ten case studies throughout the

semester. Memos are due in hard copy at the beginning of class. If more than four memos

(up to five) are submitted, four highest grades will be recorded. The instructor will have all

written assignments returned to you, graded and with comments, one week after they have

been handed in.

Requirements for written assignments: All written assignments should be clearly written and

well organized. They are to be typed, no more than 3 pages each, double spaced, and 12 -

Times New Roman format. All written assignments must be on time. Late assignments will

not be accepted. All assignments will be anonymous; label your assignments using only

your student ID numbers.

Final exam (40%)

There will be an open-book, take-home final exam on the materials covered in the course.

You may consult all the readings and cases, but not anyone else, when writing your exam

answers. The exam is typically made up of two theoretical questions (you will have the

option to choose two from three) and one case study. You will be expected to finish the

exam in 5 days. Again, label your assignments using only your student ID numbers.

Course Overview

Week # Topic

1 Introduction

2 Overview of Organization Theory; “Publicness” in Public

Organizations

3 Internal Organization (1): Structure and Process

4 Internal Organization (2): Decision-making and Politics

5 Internal Organization (3): People, Team, and Control

6 Internal Organization (4): Culture and Identity

7 Management and Leadership

8 Organization and Environment (1): Overview


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CLASS SCHEDULE

The course schedule is provided as a guideline and is subject to slight changes. Necessary

revisions will be announced in class with as much advance notice as possible.

Week One

Introduction

*Students select topics to lead future discussions.

Think while Reading:

What is an organization? What are the basic elements of organizations? Why do we need

organizations? What are the general perspectives in studying organizations (rational,

natural, and open systems)? What are the current challenges in managing public and

nonprofit organizations?

Required Reading:

Rainey, Ch. 1.

Scott, W.R., & Davis, G. (2007). Organizations and organizing: Rational, natural and

open systems perspectives. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Ch 1. p.1-34.

Suggested Reading:

Ashley, W.G., & Van de Ven, A. (1983). Central perspectives and debates in

organizational theory. Administrative Science Quarterly, 28(2), 245-273.

Week Two

Overview of Organization Theory & “Publicness” in Public Organizations


What is the intellectual development of organization theory like (Weber, Taylor, Follett,

Merton, Barnard, Maslow, … )? Pay attention to Exhibit 2.1 in Rainey (Ch. 2). Are

public and private organizations different? If so, what are the differences? If not, why?

9 Organization and Environment (2): Interorganizational

Network and Collaboration

10 Organization and Environment (3): Change and Innovation

11 Organizational Effectiveness and Performance

12 Wrap-up: Being An Effective Public & Nonprofit Manager


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Required Reading:

Rainey, Ch. 2 and 3.

Suggested Reading:

Shafritz J., Ott, J. S. & Jang, Y. S. (Eds.) (2010). Classics of organization theory. Boston:

Wadsworth.

Case Study:

The Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai, India: In Service for Sight (HBS Case 593-098)

Case Study Questions:

1. What does Dr. Venkataswamy need to do right in order to translate his vision for

Aravind into reality? What does Aravind do in organizing its production process to

accomplish these things? (Think particularly about attracting village patients, organizing

the surgical process, and recruiting doctors.)

2. Can Aravind financially afford to increase the salaries it pays its doctors? If it can,

should it?

3. What grade would you assign to Aravind’s strategy and why?

Week Three

Internal Organization (1): Structure and Process


What are the basic components when designing an organization? How does

organizational structure affect organizational behavior? What is effective organizational

design? Recall the discussion on bureaucratic structures. What are advantages and

disadvantages of such structure? Can we abandon it?

Required Reading:

Rainey, Ch. 8, p.180-211.

Mintzberg, H. (1983). Structure in fives: Designing effective organizations. Prentice Hall.

p. 1-3 and Chapter 2.

Suggested Reading:


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Radin, B. A. (1999). Managing decentralized departments: The case of the U.S.

Department of Health and Human Services. IBM Center for the Business of Government.

Case Study:

What If We Could Start Over? The US Forest Service Champions “Bottom-up”

Management (A) (HKS Case 1246.0)


1. What are the virtues of rules/standard operating procedures (SOP’s) in designing

organizations? What are their drawbacks? For each virtue and drawback, be prepared to

give an example from your personal work experience, your experience as a student,

and/or the situation of the Forest Service in this case.

2. Overall, do you support the efforts of the Forest Service to gain greater freedom to

move money more freely across budget categories? Why or why not? Is there any way to

reconcile the demand of the Appropriations Committee for accountability and the desire

within the Forest Service for fewer rules?

Week Four

Internal Organization (2): Decision-making and Politics


Compare different models of decision making process (rational, incremental, garbage

can, …). Prepare a short case of your interest to share with the class that could be

analyzed using Allison’s models. How do you think about the argument that decision is a

matter of compromise? What are the sources of power in organizations? What are the

factors influencing political behaviors in organizations? How do organizational politics

affect managers and management? How to use politics strategically?

Required Reading:

Rainey, Ch. 7, p.151-169.

Allison, G. T. (1969). Conceptual models and the Cuban missile crisis. American

Political Science Review, 63(3): 689-718.

Pfeffer, J. (1992). Understanding power in organizations. California Management Review,

34(2): 29-50.

Suggested Reading:

Simon H.A. (1947). Administrative behavior. New York: Macmillan.


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Pfeffer, J. (1992). Managing with power. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Kotter, J. P. (1977). Power, dependence, and effective management. Harvard Business

Review, July/August: 125-136.

Case Study:

Columbia’s Final Mission (HBS Case 9-304-090)


1. Assess the performance of Rodney Rocha and Linda Ham. Did each do all what he or she

should have done?

2. Why was it so hard to hold anyone accountable?

3. How organizational issues kept important technical concerns from being heard?

4. How organizations should deal with "ambiguous threats" - weak signals of potential crisis?

Week Five

Internal Organization (3): People, Team, and Control


Recall the human relationship school in organization theory. What is the implication for

human resource management? How do employee motivations affect organizational

performance? Does public service motivation matter? How to enhance employee

motivations? What are the dimensions in designing effective control mechanisms within

organizations? What are the promise and pitfall of using pay-for-performance in public

and nonprofit sectors?

Required Reading:

Rainey, Ch. 9 and Ch. 12

Ouchi, W. G. (1979). A conceptual framework for the design of organizational control

mechanisms. Management science, 25(9), 833-848.

Suggested Reading:

Moynihan, D. P., & Pandey, S. K. (2007). The role of organizations in fostering public

service motivation. Public Administration Review, 67(1), 40-53.


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Nemeth, C. (1986). Differential contributions of majority and minority influence.

Psychological Review, 93(1), 23-32.

Ingraham, P. W. (1993). Of pigs in pokes and policy diffusion: Another look at pay-for-

performance. Public Administration Review, 53(4), 348-356.

Case Study:

Keeping an Open Mind in an Emergency: CDC experiments with ‘Team B” (HKS Case

1895.0 and 1895.1)


1. What are the possible problems to which a Team B at the CDC can be seen as a solution?

2. How might a Team B be used so as best to cope with these problems, if the goal is to

improve the ability of the working team (“Team A”) to do its work?

3. What do you think of the idea of using Team B as an alternate source of information and

opinions for a higher-level CDC decision maker?

Week Six

Internal Organization (4): Culture & Identity


What are organizational culture and organization identity? How do they affect

organizational behaviors and management? Is there a downside of organizational culture?

Is there a link between organizational culture and performance? How to observe, measure,

and manage culture and identity?

Required Reading:

Rainey, Ch. 11, p. 307-316.

Albert, S.A., & Whetten, D. A. (1985). Organizational identity. Research in

Organizational Behavior, 7, 263-295.

O'Reilly, C. A. (1989). Corporations, culture, and commitment: Motivation and social

control in organizations. California Management Review, 89(31), 9-25.

Schein, E. H. (1983). The role of the founder in creating organizational culture.

Organizational Dynamics, Summer, 13-28.

Suggested Reading:


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Gioia, D.A., Schultz, M., & Corley, K.G. (2000). Organizational identity, image, and

adaptive instability. Academy of Management Review, 25(1), 63-81.

Martin, J., & Frost, P. (1999). The organizational culture war games. In S. R. Clegg and

C. Hardy (Eds.) Studying organization: Theory and method. London: Sage, p. 345-367.

Mahler, J. (1997). Influences of organizational culture on learning in public agencies.

Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 7(4), 519-540.

Case Study:

Columbia’s Final Mission (HBS Case 9-304-090)

McCurdy, H. E. (1992). NASA’s organizational culture. Public Administration Review,

52(2), 189-192.

Donahue, A. K., & O'Leary, R. (2012). Do shocks change organizations? The case of

NASA. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 22(3), 395-425.


1. What role did NASA’s culture play in the Columbia disaster?

2. Put yourself in the shoes of the managers in the case, consider the following questions:

What prior assumptions and beliefs shaped the way that you thought and behaved during

the Columbia mission? What pressures affected your behavior? Where did these

pressures originate? In what ways did the culture impact your actions?

3. If you were in that person’s shoes during the Columbia mission, would you have behaved

differently? Why or why not?

Week Seven

Management and Leadership


What is leadership? How is leadership different from management? Why leadership is

important? What leadership competencies are necessary to be an effective leader? What

is the difference between transactional and transformational leadership?

Required Reading:

Rainey, Ch. 11


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Katz, R. L. (1955). Skills of an effective administrator. Harvard Business Review, 33 (1),

33-42.

Kotter, J.P. (1990). What leaders really do. Harvard Business Review, 79 (11), 85–97.

Kotter, J. P. (1995). Leading change: Why transformation efforts fail. Harvard business

review, 73(2), 59-67.

Suggested Reading:

Mintzberg, H. (1990). The Manager's Job: Folklore and Fact. Harvard Business Review

Northouse, P. G. (2001). Leadership: Theory and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage

Publications.

Rainey, H., & Thompson, J. (2006). Leadership and transformation of a major institution:

Charles Rossotti and the Internal Revenue Service. Public Administration Review, 66 (4),

596-604.

Case Study:

Rudy Giuliani: The Man and His Moment (HKS Case 1681.0)


1. What life experiences and social and institutional resources helped Giuliani play such a

special leadership role bringing the city and country together in the aftermath of the

September 11th attacks?

2. What does the public need from their leadership in acute crisis situations?

3. How can leaders prepare themselves to rise to the moment in times of crisis?

Week Eight

Organization and Environment (1): Overview


What are the general dimensions of organizational environments? Recall the differences

between public and private organizations. How different are their environments?

Compare different theoretical perspectives in studying organizational environment

(population ecology, resource dependence, transaction cost, and institutionalism). What

values should public organizations pursue?

Required Reading:


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Rainey, Ch. 4

Oliver, C. (1990). Determinants of interorganizational relationships: Integration and

future directions. Academy of Management Review, 15(2), 241-265.

Suggested Reading:

Allmendinger, J., & Hackman, J. R. (1996). Organizations in changing environments:

The case of East German symphony orchestras. Administrative Science Quarterly, 337-

369.

Rowan, B. (1982). Organizational structure and the institutional environment: The case of

public schools. Administrative Science Quarterly, 259-279.

Case Study:

Business Process Transformation at the CIA (HKS Case 1515.0 and 1516.0)


1. What challenges does Dick Calder have in a changing political and fiscal environment?

2. Is it strange to you that Calder talks in terms of CIA mission directorates vis-à-vis the DA

and of the White House vis-à-vis the CIA as a whole as being “customers”? Why or why

not?

3. Is “giveback” a Rocky Aoki solution to the problems of delivering DA services?

4. Evaluate Calder’s organizational change strategy. What do you like about it? What don’t

you like?

Week Nine

Organization and Environment (2): Interorganizational Network and Collaboration


Public and nonprofit organizations are more and more often utilizing networks to solve

complex problems that span organizational and sector boundaries. Why does network

form of organizations occur, particularly in public organization context? What difficulties

it brings to organization management? How can we effectively manage

interorganizational networks?

Required Reading:


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O’Leary, R., Gazley, B., McGuire, M., & Bingham, L. B. (2009). Public managers in

collaboration, in Rosemary O’Leary and Lisa Blomgren Bingham (eds.), The

collaborative public manager. Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press.

Ring, P. S., & Van de Ven, A. H. (1994). Developmental processes of cooperative

interorganizational relationships. Academy of Management Review, 19(1), 90-118.

Milward, H. B., & Provan, K. G. (2006). A manager’s guide to choosing and using

collaborative networks. IBM Center for the Business of Government.

Suggested Reading:

O’Toole, L. J. (1997). Treating networks seriously: Practical and research-based agendas

in public administration. Public Administration Review, 57(1), 45-52.

Powell, W. W. (1990). Neither market nor hierarchy: Network forms of organization.

Research in Organizational Behavior, 12, 295-336.

Agranoff, R., & McGuire, M. (2003). Collaborative public management: New strategies

for local governments. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.

Goldsmith, S., & Eggers, W. D. (2004). Governing by network: The new shape of the

public sector. Washington, D.C.: Brookings.

Bryson, J. M. et al. (2009). Designing and managing cross-sector collaboration: A case

study in reducing traffic congestion. IBM Center for the Business of Government.

Case Study:

Going it Together: Coventry’s Community Safety Partnership (HKS Case CR16-06-

1831.0)


1. Why is it difficult to get agencies to work together on common problems that cross

organizational boundaries?

2. What are some of the assets those interested in promoting interorganizational

collaboration have available to try to promote such collaboration? Give examples from

the case of how some of these assets were used to promote partnership working for

community safety in Coventry. Are there approaches to promoting partnership working

that Coventry could have used but didn't?

3. To what extent is the Coventry CDRP basically an effort to extend the resources available

to traditional kinds of police work through assistance from other agencies, and to what

extent does it represent a new approach to crime and disorder reduction?


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Week Ten

Organization and Environment (3): Change and Innovation


Organizational change and innovation is a complicated job, which requires the

knowledge we have covered in previous classes. So a revisit of previous discussions

would help. Why organizations need changes? What are the benefits and risks associated

with changes? What are the attributes of organizational innovations? What are the general

sources of the resistance to change? How to manage changes? Patterns and steps of

successful organizational changes.

Required Reading:

Rainey, Ch 13, p. 355-382.

Coch. L., & French, J.R.P. (1948). Overcoming resistance to change. Human Relations,

1(4), 512-532.

Suggested Reading:

Fernandez, S., & Rainey, H. G. (2006). Managing successful organizational change in the

public sector. Public Administration Review, 66(2), 168-176.

Hannan, M. T., & Freeman, J. (1984). Structural inertia and organizational change.

American sociological review, 49(2), 149-164.

March, J. G. (1981). Footnotes to organizational change. Administrative science quarterly,

26(4), 563-577.

Case Study:

Michelle Rhee and the Washington D.C. Public Schools (HKS Case 1957.0)


1. Should Rhee have adopted the approach Coch and French recommend for bringing

about organizational change? Why or why not?

2. Rhee’s first major action as superintendent was to close 15% of DC school buildings.

Do you agree with her decision to choose this as her first major step? Why? If you

disagree, what would you have done instead as the first major action -- and what

would you have been trying to accomplish by the action you recommend?


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3. Are there steps Rhee could/should realistically have taken to reduce opposition to her

ideas among teachers and/or parents? Would these likely have advanced her

organizational change agenda or not?

Week Eleven

Organizational Effectiveness and Performance


Compare different approaches of effectiveness assessment (goal, system-resource, …).

What are the dimensions of organizational effectiveness? Why measuring performance is

so difficult? New development in performance measures (competing values, balanced

scored, …). What challenges do interorganizational networks bring to performance

measures?

Required Reading:

Rainey, Ch. 6

Hatry, H. P. (1999). Performance measurement. Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press.

p. 12-18, 59, 119-30.

Suggested Reading:

Cameron, K. S. (1986). Effectiveness as paradox: Consensus and conflict in conceptions

of organizational effectiveness. Management Science, 32(5), 539-553.

Quinn, R. E., & Rohrbaugh, J. (1981). A competing values approach to organizational

effectiveness. Public Productivity Review, 122-140.

Provan, K. G., & Milward, H. B. (1995). A preliminary theory of interorganizational

network effectiveness: A comparative study of four community mental health systems.

Administrative Science Quarterly, 40, 1-33.

Case Study:

Mayor Anthony Williams and Performance Management in Washington, DC (HKS Case

1647.0)


1. Why did Anthony Williams choose scorecards as one of his first mayoral initiatives?

What were the potential benefits and risks of this choice? If you were Mayor


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Williams, would you be scared as you make performance commitments you may not

meet?

2. Was it effective to set specific agency goals for Washington DC? Will setting and

monitoring specific goals lead to better delivery of services? What are the drawbacks

of using measurable goals in this setting?

3. Look at line managers’ use of performance measures at the Departments of Motor

Vehicles and Consumer & Regulatory Affairs. What do you think about these

measures? Be specific, and be sure to explain why you make the judgments.

4. What are arguments for why outcome measures are preferable to input/output

measures? What are arguments for why input and/or output measures might be

acceptable, or even superior to, outcome measures? Under what circumstances are

input and/or output measures most appropriate, and when are outcome measures most

appropriate?

Week Twelve

Wrap-up: Being An Effective Public & Nonprofit Manager

Required Reading:

Rainey, Ch. 14

Englehart, J. K. (2001). The marriage between theory and practice. Public Administration

Review, 61(3), 371-374.

Sutton, R .I. & Staw, B.M. (1995). What theory is not. Administrative Science Quarterly,

40(3), 371-384.

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