Theory and diagnosis of organisations [EGESB313]

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course, student will be able to:

- Identify the main perspectives organizing the field of organizational diagnosis;

- Situate the role of organizational theories in providing a diagnosis ;

- Interpret organizations as social, spatial, temporal and technical structures within which social dynamics vectoring organizational, managerial and human issues are at play.

- Identify the main paradigms allowing to understand and to interpret the reality of organizations ;

- Expand methodological skills – observation and analysis – starting from theory to organize and implement a study in an organization;

- Interpret data from the field in a rigorous, analytical, critical and reflective manner.

Objectives

The course aims to provide the theoretical, conceptual and empirical bases to approach the field of organization theory in management sciences and social sciences. It also aims to provide students with methodological and analytical tools (diagnosis) allowing them to understand organizations.

The goal is to stimulate students’ analytical skills while providing them with applicable knowledge for their professional future.

The objectives are fourfold:

1. Situate the field of organizational theory and its different perspectives;

2. Identify organizational stakeholders and their dynamics in time and space and around technologies;

3. Determine the functioning of organizations (diagnostic approach);

4. Interpret organizational and managerial phenomena through critical analysis.

Content

The course is organized around the presentation of different paradigms, perspectives and approaches. From this, organizations are re-examined from different angles allowing to identify their complexity.

Table of contents

More specifically, the course will be organized around five main stages:

1. Organizational theory: definitions, concepts, contexts

2. Logics, configurations and images of the organization

3. The organization and its environment

4. The organization as a dynamic social structure

5. The organization as a spatial, temporal and technological structure