The principal goals of this course are to help students understand: 1) The context in which they, as managers, will function; the options they have for careers in management based on their own aptitudes and orientations; and how they can develop the skills they need for success in their chosen fields; and 2) How the effective strategic management of people contributes to organizational performance and the production of value, and that for many organizations, the effective management of people has been the driver of competitive advantage. This is the first course in a two course sequence.
This course is intended to help students assess events occurring in organizations from a behavioral and human resources perspective and to help them develop strategies for managing these events. The course applies knowledge from the fields of organizational behavior and human resource management to provide an understanding and the skills needed to be effective in organizations. The fields of Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management are devoted to the study of how human beings act in organized settings and how organizations can affect human behavior through a variety of policies, practices, structures, and strategies. In today's environment, organizations are faced with high levels of international competition and an increasing pace of technological, market, and social changes. As an organizational member, you are expected to successfully operate within these increasingly complex demands as well as help create and guide change. The purpose of this course is to provide you with the framework and tools needed to analyze and operate in the changing organization. We will examine some of the features that characterize an emerging organizational form and contrast this to its traditional predecessor. The focus of the course will be on the skills you will need to operate in the "new" organization including skills for being a change agent working in entry level and early career managerial roles. Recommended preparation: Accredited Bachelor's in Engineering plus summer job experience.
In this course, doctoral students will develop an understanding of the role of practice and performativity in organizing. This involves exploring the link between doing and thinking by and between individuals in an effort to address larger issues of group- and organizational-level behavior. Students will examine elements of human behavior in organizational endeavors such as embodied cognition, and the enactment of structures and routines. Methods of "capturing" practice in organizing will also be discussed. By the end of the course, students will be expected to articulate how the practice perspective relates to their own research interests and future projects.