Course 2004-2005 a.y.

Course Objectives

This course provides the logical framework needed to understand the central activities of organizations performing economically relevant activities. The systematic view of organizational phenomena provided by this course gives an introduction to the vast field of managrement disciplines.
Class sessions are interactive and rely heavily upon the ideas and examples contributed by class members. A number of case studies are used to illustrate theoretical concepts.
The course aims to achieve the following general objectives:

• to convey the basic managerial vocabulary and models;
• to create a global overview of the nature of organizations;
• to develop the capacity to critically analyze organizational phenomenon.

Course Content Summary

• Organizations and Institutions
• Organizations and Environments
• Principles of Corporate governance
• Evaluating the Performance of Organizations
• Key Management Ratios
• Economies of Scale, Scope and Learning
• Transaction Costs and Firm Boundaries
• Organization Design
• Transforming organizations
• Economics of public and not-for-profit organizations

Textbooks

• C. WALSH, Key Management Ratios, Englewood Cliffs, FT Prentice Hall, 2002, third edition.
• H. MINTZBERG, Managing Government, Governing Management,  Harvard Business Review, May-June, 1996, pp. 75-83.
• P.S. ADLER, Building Better Bureaucracies, The Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 13, no. 4 (November), 1999, pp. 36-49.
• L. BRUSATI, Meeting the Challenge of Public Sector Reform: A Managerial Perspective,  EBS Review, Vol. 11 (June), 2000, pp. 21-25.
• R. HODGES et al., Corporate Governance in the Public Services: Concepts and Issues, Public Money and Management,  April-June, 1996, pp. 7-12.
• P. WRIGHT, Strategic Management in Not-for-Profit Organizations, Chapter 12 of Strategic Management. Concepts and Cases, Englewood Cliffs, Prentice-Hall, 1996, pp. 286-304.
• Further readings to be communicated bu the beginning of the course.

Detailed Description of Assessment Methods

The exam is divided into a written part, which is compulsory, and an oral part that is not compulsory.

Written exam
Students have two general possibilities to sustain the  written exam:

• The first possibility is to attend the 1^st partial exam in November and the 2^nd partial exam in January or February.
• The second possibility is to attend one single exam (general exam) in January or February. Students, which have sustained the 1^st partial exam in November, may withdraw from the 2^nd partial  exam and directly present themselves at the general exam. In case of negative results in January, students may repeat their exams in February.

Oral exam
Students with marks from written exams of min. 16 points may sustain an oral exam which may change their original mark within a range of -2 up to +2. The oral exam has to be sustained in the same period as the written exam has been taken and cannot be repeated.
Students who do not pass the spring exams may represent themselves in July and/or September to sustain the general exam (with the possibility of an integrated oral exam).

During the course, students are asked to prepare 1 written assignment within teams of up to 5 members. The quality of this assignment together with the oral participation in class can lead to an upgrading of up to 2 points on top of the written exam mark(s).