Module Identifier MM32710  
Module Title ORGANISATION THEORY: STRUCTURE AND STRATEGY  
Academic Year 2002/2003  
Co-ordinator Dr Jack Eaton  
Semester Semester 2  
Pre-Requisite EC30230 or (EC31310 and EC31410)  
Co-Requisite MM32610  
Course delivery Lecture   18 Hours including a revision seminar  
Assessment Semester Exam   1.5 Hours   66%  
  Semester Assessment   Essay-type coursework   34%  

Learning outcomes

1. To be able to build on the group ideas begun in the Motivation & Control module.
2. That is to say, extend the concept of bureaucracy to M-form organisational structure.

To be able to understand and explain:
3. The re-emergence and centrality of organisational structure in relation to strategy issues (e.g. alliances and outsourcing);
4. Different perspectives on strategy and consider its rationality, including possible strategy absence;
5. Organisational decision-making and communications;
6. The influence of technology on organisational structure;
7. The bases of power in and around the organisation and its importance in relation to leadership and strategic choice:
8. Examine own learning processes analytically in order to apply relevant techniques intended to increase ability to acquire, retain and apply information, skills and competencies related to organisational effectiveness.

Aims

1. Studies of the relationship between business strategy and structure, such as Chandler’s (1962) classic, pervade the organisation theory and business literature. The module will provide business students with the chance to familiarise themselves with writing often taken as read in the business journals.

2. The structure/strategy debate enables questioning of assumptions about formal rationality and strategy as planning. Discussion then moves onto Mintzberg’s idea of emergent strategy and, more radically, Weick’s enactment view of sensemaking in strategy.

3. Interdisciplinary comparisons, such as Williamson’s notion of organisation as a response to market failure and Chandler’s view of organisations as a response to market pressure can be made.

4. The idea of technological determinism of organisational structure, particularly in the context of information technology, can be explored.

5. The debate between contingency theories of organisation and the idea of a universal, one best way, global best practice or lean production method will be addressed.

Content

1. An overview of Organisational Structure
2. The Link between Structure and Strategy
3. Theories of Decision Making and Organisational Rationality
4. ‘Irrationality’ in Decision Making
5. Strategy – Planned, Emergent or Absent?
6. Organisational Structure and Contingency Theory
7. The Aston Studies and Organisational Size
8. Organisation and Technology: classic studies
9. Technology as Deterministic?
10. New Technology
11. Institutional Perspectives
12. Power - Around Organisations
13. Power – In Organisations (Politics)
14. Why Firms?
15. The Idea of Networks as an Analytical Device

Reading Lists

Books
Sephen Ackroyd. The Organisation of Business. Managing Organisations. S Clegg, C Hardy and W Nord (eds).
M Huczynski and D Buchanan. Organizational Behaviour.
H Drummond. Organizational Behaviour.
S Clegg. Modern Organisations.