BA350
MANAGING
ORGANIZATIONAL SYSTEMS
Spring Term,
2007
Jonathan King Bexell
332
T:
jonathan.king@bus.oregonstate.edu
541-737-4601
Objectives: To better
understand the increasing relevance of "systems” in today's (business) world.
To learn some methods for thinking about and for managing organizational
systems. To inspire you to want-to understand,
to want-to “think outside the box,” and to aspire to “excellence.”
Grading: 1) Weekly quizzes over required readings
2)
mindmaps of articles designated in red and by numbers 1
through 10
(due the following class)
3)
weekend homework
4)
computer simulation -- the “beangame”
Note: partial credit will be given for late homework and
mindmaps.
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. Apr 2 INTRODUCTION
2. 4 THE LESSON
1 PF-A: “Learning
to Solve the Right Problems,” King
PF-B: Natural Capitalism (excerpt)
http://www.naturalcapitalism.com/ (Chapter 14, “Human Capitalism”) 1
4. 11 MESSES 201: MANAGING Interactively Complex GAMES
2
PF-C: “Introduction,” Normal
Accidents, Perrow
PF-E:
"Robustness Revisited,"
Part II:
Managing Organizational Systems
The job of management is to optimize the system.
W. Edwards Deming
STRATEGY
3 "What
Is Strategy?" Porter
PF-F: “Strategy
as Strategic Decision Making,” Eisenhardt
6. 18 Multiple Stakeholders -- “BALANCED SCORECARDS”
“The Balanced Scorecard,” Kaplan & Norton
STRUCTURE
7. 23 ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES
8. 25 “Social
Capital”
PF-K:
“Unraveling the Mysteries of Productivity,” Bonda
PROCESS
9. 30 PROCESS 101: MANAGING CHAINS:
REENGINEERING AND SOFTWARE
“How Process
Enterprises Really Work,” Hammer &
Stanton
PF-M: “Practice
Makes Process,” Brown & Duguid
10. May 2 PROCESS
201: MANAGING INTERACTIONS
PF-O: Systems
Archetypes (3 loop diagrams)
PF-P: Systemic
Distortion (diagram & table)
PF-P1: “The
Dynamics Matters,”
11. 7 CONT"D:
Continued
7 PF-Q:
"The Dark Side of Organizations,"
Bella, King, Kailin
12. 9 PROCESS
301: MANAGING FRAMES and THE LOGIC OF CREATIVITY
PF-R: Reframing; Three “lateral thinking” techniques of Edward
de Bono;
“For Want of a Metaphor,” Steven J. Gould; The Social Psychology of Organizing (x),
Weick;
Metaphors We Live By (x), Lakoff & Johnson;
13. 14 CONT”D: 301:
innovation and Motivation
PF-S:
“How Corporate Creativity Really Happens”
“How to Kill Creativity,”
Amabile
14. 16 CONT’D: 301: INNOVATION and
ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXTS
8 “Managing for
Creativity,”
“Why
Transformation Efforts Fail,” Kotter
PURPOSE
15. 21 SHARED “VISION”
"Building Your Company's
Vision," Collins and Porras
PF-T: “The
Savior of
16. 23 EXTRINSIC
AND INTRINSIC MOTIVATIONS
"Why Incentive Plans
Cannot Work," Kohn
PF-U: “One More Time...”
PF-V: "Verbal
Judo" (excerpt)
May 28 MEMORIAL DAY
17. 30 KNOW THYSELF
9 What Makes a Leader?” Goleman
PF-W:
Realities of “Defensive Reasoning
PF-X: C.P. Ellis
18. Jun 4 SEEK
FIRST TO UNDERSTAND
PF-Z1:
"The Great Walls of Misunderstanding," Shafir
PF-Y: Covey (excerpt)
“Principles of Empathic Communication," Covey
“What You Don’t Know About
Decision Making,” Garvin
PF-Z:
Noor on “Clashing Civilizations”
19. 6 "EMPLOYEES FIRST, CUSTOMERS
SECOND"
PF-Z2: Danger--Toxic Company, Pfeffer
10 “What
Great Managers Do,” Buckingham
1
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)