You register for activities through stads selvbetjening during the announced registration period, which you can see on the Study administration homepage.

When registering for courses, please be aware of the potential conflicts and overlaps between course and exam time and dates. The planning of course activities at Roskilde University is based on the recommended study programmes, which should not overlap. However, if you choose optional courses and/or study plans that goes beyond the recommended study programmes, an overlap of lectures or exam dates may occur depending on which courses you choose.

The course in advanced organization theory builds on the insights that was achieved in the basic course in organization theory. The course is however different from and more advanced because it focuses upon classical themes in organization theory seen in the light of newer theories and discussions within the area of organizational studies (the relationship between the organization and the environment, structure, culture etc.). It is also different from the basic course because it trains the students in reading original texts – including articles – within the organizational studies area. The aim being to prepare students for analyzing, identifying problems and designing suggestions for interventions in organizations when writing projects and in their future practice as employees in an organization.

To illustrate the possibilities of practical application of organization theory in problem situations in companies the different theoretical themes treated in the course will be related to selected types of change situations where the different theories are relevant for solving problems for employees and leaders in organizations.

The course is equivalent to 5 ECTS – that is 135 student working hours covering the following activities:

Lectures in class: 20 hours

Other activities (exercises etc.): 5 hours

Preparation: 62 hours

Exam: 48 hours

Hours in total 135 hours

The course literature consists of classical and newer original texts including research articles from the RUC library´s external databases and selected book chapters related to the themes of each of the ten lectures of the course. Each semester the curriculum of the course is adjusted by the lecturer responsible for the course taking classical themes as well as ongoing scientific discussions and developments in organization studies into account. The detailed description and curriculum of the course may be found on the course home page on Moodle.

Through discussions and explanations of exercises as well as dialogue about and explanations of questions related to the curriculum and content of lectures. After exam, the students who want a more elaborate explanation of the background for the grading of their exam essay may visit the lecturer responsible for the course in his office hours. In order to assure a sufficient learning outcome of such a meeting it is a precondition for the meeting to be held that the student send his/her own short written evaluation of the students own exam essay/answer compared to the exam question and the goals/aims and evaluation criteria of the course to the lecturer before the meeting. The goals and evaluation criteria of the course may be found in the description of the course on kursus.ruc.dk and in the detailed description of the course on Moodle. Moreover the evaluation criteria was presented in slides at the introductory lecture. These slides may be accessed through the website of the course on moodle.

• Knowledge and understanding:

  About advanced theories on organisations and organisation

• About recent contributions to organisational theory and sociology

• About the contributions made by organisational theory to problem-oriented analysis of complex research questions in businesses and organisations

• Skills:

  Analysing organisations’ complex questions in relation to relevant recent theories that apply

• Having discussions based on insights into both a concrete description of the organisation and a scientific perspective, including the associated analysis strategies

• To respond in a meaningful way to chaotic situations by identifying the actions that can be taken in the context

• Compentences:

  Discussing and developing analysis designs using organisational theory

• Reflecting on the business's organisational situation using theoretical concepts

• Formulating well-reasoned and problem-oriented considerations in relation to the field of organisational theory

The course will focus on recent theories about organisations and organisation and demonstrate what can be gained by using the relevant perspectives in connection with narrowing down the subject area and problem. Advanced organisational theory is to increase the understanding of how organisational perspectives also define the selection of analysis strategies.

A number of lectures lasting 2-4 hours will be held and a number of exercises will also be carried out. For the exercises, the students will prepare analyses that, if relevant, relate to their common combined subjects - they will attempt to include concrete examples from the teaching from an organisational theory perspective. At least one of the exercises must include an analysis of multi-faceted and contradictory situations.

Mandatory course