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BA350

MANAGING ORGANIZATIONAL SYSTEMS

Fall 2005

Jonathan King   Bexell 332

jonathan.king@bus.oregonstate.edu    737-4601

Office Hours  T: 0830-1030  W: 0900-1000  Th: 1230-1330

 

 

                        Objectives:  To better understand the increasing relevance of "systems" thinking

                        and practice in today's (business) world. To learn some methods for

                        managing both "hard" and "soft" organizational systems. To inspire

                        you to want-to understand and to “think outside the box.”

 

                        Readings: BA350 Public Folder (PF) & OSU Bookstore packet  

 

                        Grading: Weekly quizzes over required readings; mindmaps of

                         j circled numbers;  weekend homework;  computer simulation

                        (the  beangame”); Final Project.

 

                        Note: homework and mindmaps are due no later than one class following the

                        assigned date.  Partial credit will be given for late work.      

 

Please note: this syllabus is a guide, not a contract, and therefore may be changed as necessary.  If changes are made, I will announce them in class generally at least one class in advance of the due date for an assignment, etc.

 

                                       Part I: Why Think About “Systems”?

                                    It's possible to improve the performance of each part taken

                                     separately and destroy the system at the same time.

                                                                                                                                     Russell Ackoff

 

1. Sep 27       INTRODUCTION

                          

2.          29       THE LESSON

                   j  PF-A: “Learning to Solve the Right Problems,” King

                                   

3. Oct    4      MESSES 101: MANAGING MULTIPLE GAMES

                                    PF-B: Natural Capitalism (excerpt)

                                  *http://www.naturalcapitalism.com  (Chapter 14, “Human Capitalism”)

 

4.           6        MESSES 201: MANAGING Interactively Complex GAMES

                               PF-C: “Introduction,” Normal Accidents,  Perrow

                                    PF-D: The Hunt for Red October (excerpt), Clancy              

                                    PF-E: "Robustness Revisited," Watts

                            Part II: Managing Organizational Systems

                                                The job of management is to optimize the system.

                                                                                                          W. Edwards Deming

 

                                                                       

 

5.         11       What is it?  Who does it? and How is it done?

                            l   "What Is Strategy?" Porter

                                             “The New Productivity Challenge,” Drucker

 

6.         13        Multiple Stakeholders -- “BALANCED SCORECARDS”

                                   “The Balanced Scorecard,” Kaplan & Norton

                            m   ”The Surprising Economics of a ‘People Business’,” Barber and Strack

                                    "The Power of Learning at Johnsonville Foods," Honold

                                    PF-F: “Not a Fool, Not a Saint,” Teal   

           

                                                                       

 

7.         18        ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES

                                    PF-G: Diagrams and comments

                                   “Clusters and the New Economics of Competition,” Porter

                                    PF-H: "Networks," Watts

 

8.         20        Social Capital

                   n “How to Invest in Social Capital,” Prusak and Cohen

                                                PF-I: “Unraveling the Mysteries of Productivity,” Bonda

                                    PFJ:  Alexander, A Pattern Language (excerpts)

 

                                                                       

 

9.         25        PROCESS 101: MANAGING CHAINS (REENGINEERING)

                            “How Process Enterprises Really Work,” Hammer & Stanton

                                 PF-K: “Practice Makes Process,” Brown & Duguid

                                    PF-L: “Taking Computers to Task,”Gibbs     

           

10.       27     PROCESS 201: MANAGING INTERACTIONS

                                    PF-M: Systems Archetypes (3 loop diagrams)

                                    PF-M1: Systemic Distortion (diagram & table)

 

11. Nov 1       CONT"D: CANL Systems

                                    PF-N: "The Dark Side of Organizations," Bella, King, Kailin

 

12.          3       PROCESS 301: MANAGING INNOVATION -  LOGICS

                                    PF-O:  “How Corporate Creativity Really Happens”

                                    PF-P:   Three “lateral thinking” techniques from de Bono

                                                                       

13.         8        PROCESS 301: MANAGING INNOVATION -  MotivationS

“How to Kill Creativity,” Amabile

 

14.       10       PROCESS 301: MANAGING INNOVATION -  CULTURES

                                    “Why Transformation Efforts Fail,” Kotter

                                    “Managing for Creativity,” Florida and Goodnight

 

                                                                                                                  

 

15.       15        SHARED VISION 

                                 "Building Your Company's Vision," Collins and Porras

                                   PF-Q: “The Savior of Newark

 

16.       17        EXTRINSIC AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATIONS

                                 "Why Incentive Plans Cannot Work," Kohn

                            ˆ  PF-R: “One More Time...”

                                    PF-S: "Verbal Judo" (excerpt)

 

17.      22        KNOW THYSELF

                       “What Makes a Leader?” Goleman

                                    PF-T: Realities of “Defensive Reasoning

                                    PF-U: C.P. Ellis

 

            24        THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY

 

18.      29        SEEK FIRST TO UNDERSTAND

                   r “What You Don’t Know About Decision Making,” Garvin & Roberto

                                     "Empathetic Listening," Covey

                                    PF-V: Covey (excerpt)

                                    PF-W: "The Great Walls of Misunderstanding," Shafir

 

  19. Dec 1     "EMPLOYEES FIRST, CUSTOMERS SECOND"

                                   PF-X: Danger--Toxic Company, Pfeffer

                                    “What Great Managers Do,” Buckingham

 

 

*To access the assigned chapter from Natural Capitalism:

 

                        1: click on http://www.naturalcapitalism.com

                        2: click on “Read the Book”

                        3: click on “Book Excerpts and Downloadable Chapters”

                        4: scroll down to “14. Human Capitalism” and click on “more  

                        5: scroll down to and click on Download the entire chapter (PDF-156k)