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HU Credits:
3
Degree/Cycle:
2nd degree (Master)
Responsible Department:
Business Administration
Semester:
2nd Semester
Teaching Languages:
Hebrew
Campus:
Mt. Scopus
Course/Module Coordinator:
Prof. Tammar Zilber
Coordinator Office Hours:
By appointment
Teaching Staff:
Prof Tammar Zilber
Course/Module description:
Within Organizations Theory, organizations were understood in many different ways, each representing a different disciplinary influence (Morgan, images of organizations). In the early days of Organization Studies, under the influence of engineering, organizations were thought of as a machine (Taylor); later on, and with the influence of Psychology, there were conceptualized as social systems, inhabited by people with their needs and emotions; Under the influence of Biology, organizations were conceived as organisms, and with the influence of Economics, as an alternative to the market; Anthropological perspectives view organizations as cultures; and Critical Studies sees them as systems of repressions.
Each of these conceptualizations highlights some aspects of organizing, and disregards others.
In this course we will evaluate the contribution of a narrative perspective on organizations and organizing.
Course/Module aims:
Our goal is to enrich students' viewpoints on organizations and organizing. Specifically, we will deepen students' sensitivity to stories told in everyday organizational lives' and will develop their narrative skills – listening, looking, analyzing and interpreting stories – which will allow students to use stories in order to understand organizational life and manage themselves within them.
Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
• To identify stories told within and about organizations, and to learn from them about organizing (e.g. organizational culture or organizational identity)
• To conceptualize processes of organizing (like interactions or decision making) as narrative processes, to analyze the work of stories in organizations' and gain insights on the the management of organizational processes.
• To engage in analysis and interpretation of organizational stories and of organizations as narratives, based on current theory and methodology.
Attendance requirements(%):
80
Teaching arrangement and method of instruction:
Lectures, class discussions, written responses on the readings
Course/Module Content:
Meeting 1. The narrative turn in the social sciences and the humanities
Meeting 2. Narratives on the individual level: the Homo Narrans
Meeting 3. The storytelling organization and organizing as narrative
Meeting 4. What is a story? The narratological tool kit.
Meeting 5. Stories in organizations: Leadership.
Meeting 6. Stories in organizations: Conflict.
Meeting 7. From stories as reflecting reality to stories as constructing reality.
Meeting 8. Organizing process as narrative: Decision making in the US Central bank, in President's Kennedy cabinet, and in an Israeli rape crisis center.
Meeting 9. Continued.
Meeting 10. Organizing processes as narrative: Entrepreneurship.
Meetings 11+12. Students' presentations. Students will choose out of a list of published articles on organizational processes based on narrative research, and will present them in class. These include research on strategy, resistence and criticism within organizations, individual identity, organizational identity, organizational memory, innovation, entrepreneurship, inter-organizational relations, legitimacy, organizational learning, the material and technological in organizing, emotions, organizational change, organizational culture and sensemaking.
Meeting 13. Wrapping up: Discussing the pros and cons of a narrative perspective on organizations and organizing.
Required Reading:
see course Syllabus in Moodle
Additional Reading Material:
see course Syllabus in Moodle
Grading Scheme :
Additional information:
Please refer to the detailed syllabus on the course website for more details re the course and its requirements
Participation in this course is required (80%). All meetings will be recorded and the recording will be available after class. There will be no in vivo streaming.
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