Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture – Elective Course Syllabus 1. Content The course will define Organizational Culture as a trans-disciplinary socio-psychological subject. It will consider different approaches to defining organization culture, their roots and implication for practical application in a profession of an organizational psychologist. It will look at various methods of assessing and understanding culture in organizations and look at principles, approaches and process for managing organizational change. The course will enable students’ insights into a real life application of the theory through case studies, role plays and assignments. 2. Lecturer Mgr. Zuzana Halasova, DipM email: zuza.halasova@gmail.com 3. Learning goals a. Knowledge of theories and concepts Students will be able to state, explain and debate the major approaches and theories to defining organizational culture, their origin and value, based on current knowledge. Students will have an opinion about if, how and why culture matters in organizations, backed by facts. Students will recognize key factors determining organizational culture and illustrate their understanding with examples from own experience, research and business environment. Students will recognize main methods of diagnosing organizational culture and be able to link them to approaches or concepts, from which they stem. They will understand their advantages and limitations. b. Diagnostic skills Students will be able to evaluate relative usefulness of the main diagnostic methods and tools to particular situations related to organizational culture. Students will practice planning and conducting data gathering in organizational setting (applied research). c. Intervention skills Students will be able to propose an effective change management plan for influencing organizational culture and support their plan with valid, fact-based explanation of why it is to be effective. Students will be able to accompany their organizational change plan with a stakeholder management consideration. Students will demonstrate ability to structure and conduct an interview or a team session in order to diagnose or influence organizational culture. d. Professional skills Students will understand the importance of the following skills and practice them during class preparation, class conduct and individual and team assignments: · Self-organization · Presentation skills · Assignment management · Stakeholder management · Team work 4. Course Logistics Minimum participants: 10 Maximum participants: 18 Credits: TBC by the Faculty Completion by: exam The course will be taught in a series of four Saturdays during a spring term. The sessions will run 9:00-12:00 and 13:00-16:00 respectively. Core course books and accompanying recommended reading will be available electronically. Recommended reading is voluntary and encouraged. The exam will be run as a separate 60 min session during an exam period. 5. Didactic methods a. Lecture with questions and discussion b. Group discussion c. Examples and audiovisual material d. Role play and practice e. Case studies f. Individual assignment : “Structuring diagnostic or intervention session” g. Student oral presentations and demonstrations h. Team assignment: “Organizational culture change. Assignment proposal” 6. Successful completion requirements a) Active attendance at the sessions As most of the learning and assessment will come from the face-to-face sessions, students who will miss more than 20% of the face-to-face session time will not be eligible to sign up for an exam. Participative attendance in each half-day session will be awarded with: Excellent: 3-4 points Student is a pro-active participant. All contributions are to the topic and some are original. He/she leads by example in active listening, gives respectfully space for inputs and opinions of others, asks relevant and open ended questions, links or summarizes inputs from other participants to enhance clarity or lead the group discussion in a sensible direction. The content of contribution reflects his/her understanding and reflection on the studied topic. He/she may inspire the rest of the class towards a new line of related enquiry and hence demonstrate change leadership, e.g. pick up one or more impulses from their reading, create their own innovative line of enquiry (new questions or interests linked to the assigned reading or topic), successfully follow it up and introduce it to the group. Good: 1-2 points Student is an active participant. Most contributions are to the topic. He/she practices active listening most of the time, shows respect to inputs and opinions of others, asks clarification and other relevant questions, sometimes links or summarizes inputs from the group. The content of contributions demonstrates his/her knowledge of the studied topic and a good amount of own reflection, e.g. he/she can link or contrast related topics, critically evaluate them or summarize in a way that shows deeper understanding. Needs improvement: 0 points Student’s participation in discussion is seldom or disrespectful. The content of contribution mainly repeats what is stated by others or in the literature without any reflection or own value-adding thinking. More than sporadically the contributions do not keep to the topic. Any case of disrespectful behavior to other session participants will be awarded with 0 points without exception and regardless of the remaining input during the session. a) Individual assignment “Structuring diagnostic or intervention session” Students will be provided with three case scenarios to choose from and required to submit a written structure of either a diagnostic or an intervention session based on their choice. Their written structure must include description of the situation they are addressing with their proposal. They are expected to: 1. Put their proposed structure in the valid organizational context. (Awarded with 0-5 points) 2. Choose appropriate approach and methods. (0-10 points) 3. Ground (reason) their choices well, based on theoretical concepts. (0-10 points) Individual assignments will be shared with and improved through the rest of the class. Selected works will be utilized for class role play and practical skills learning. Word count: 1600-3200 words Deadlines: as per course schedule Submission: download into an information system Format: Word document; document name to include assignment Nr 1 and a student’s name Language: English or Czech. Foreign language ability does not form a part of assessment. b) Team assignment “Organizational culture change - assignment proposal” In teams of three to four, students will be expected to choose a real organization of their choice or a case organization and prepare a usual business consulting assignment proposal. The proposal will include the key usual parts - business context, approach and methods proposal, high level project, resource and investment plan and initial stakeholder analysis. In the evaluation of the assignment, points will be awarded for: 1. Students’ ability to link the entry situation in the organization to a good choice of diagnostic approach and methods through to a proposal of potential intervention methods. Awarded with 0-10 points. 2. Well thought-through change and stakeholder management plan, based on organizational circumstances. Awarded with 0-10 points. 3. Evidence of team work. Awarded with 0-5 points. 4. Evidence of good project planning and execution. Awarded with 0-5 points. Word count: 1600 - 5000 words Deadlines: as per course schedule Submission: download into an information system Format: Word document; document name to include assignment Nr 2 and a team’s name Language: English or Czech; one team document can contain sections in English and sections in Czech to allow for contributions of all team members. Foreign language ability does not form a part of assessment. 7. Overall course evaluation Contribution to an overall grade: Task Points Session contribution 0-32 Individual assignment 0-25 Team assignment 0-30 Exam 0-20 Σ 107 Final mark assignment: Total points Final grade 99 - 107 A 90 - 98 B 81 - 89 C 72 - 80 D 65 - 71 E 0 - 64 F 8. Course books Schein, Edgar (2010). Organizational Culture and Leadership. 4^th ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Cameron, Kim S. & Quinn, Robert E. (2011). Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture: Based on the Competing Values Framework. 3^rd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Lukasova, Ruzena (2010). Organizacni kultura a jeji zmena. Grada 9. Focus topics in face-to-face sessions Session 1 (1.3.2014) · Definition and meaning of organizational culture · Organizational culture theories and typologies · Competing Values Framework · Shein’s Theory of Culture Link to course books: Cameron, Kim S. & Quinn, Robert E. (2011). Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture: Based on the Competing Values Framework. 3^rd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Chapters 1, 2 and 3. Schein, Edgar (2010). Organizational Culture and Leadership. 4^th ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Chapters 1, 2 and 3. Recommended reading: Culture at Zappo’s http://about.zappos.com/our-unique-culture/zappos-core-values Session 2 (15.3.2014) · Role of leadership in organizational culture · How organizational culture emerges /evolves · Organizational culture assessment/diagnostic methods Link to course books: Schein, Edgar (2010). Organizational Culture and Leadership. 4^th ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Chapters 12, 13, 14,15 and 16. Cameron, Kim S. & Quinn, Robert E. (2011). Diagnosing and Changing Organizational Culture: Based on the Competing Values Framework. 3^rd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Chapter 2, 4, 5 and Appendixes A, B and C. Recommended reading: Kotter, John P. (1996). Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail. In In Harvard Business Review on Leading Through Change. Boston, Harvard School Publishing. Pages 1-18. Mayerson, Debra (2001). Radical Change the Quiet Way. In Harvard Business Review on Leading Through Change. Boston, Harvard School Publishing. Pages 59-81. Session 3 (22.3.2014) · Culture change as a transformation in organization, change management · Process for managed culture change · Developing, integrating vs. changing organizational culture · Individual assignment due Link to course books: Schein, Edgar (2010). Organizational Culture and Leadership. 4^th ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Chapters 17, 18 and 19. Recommended reading: Armenakis, A., Brown, S. & Mehta, A. (2011). Organizational Culture: Assessment and Transformation. Journal of Change Management, Vol. 11, No. 3, 305–328. Collins, Jim (1999). “Turning Goals Into Results: The Power of Catalytic Mechanisms.” Harvard Business Review, 77, 4, 70-82. Beer, Michael & Nohria, Nitin (2000). Cracking the Code of Change. Harvard Business Review, May-June, 133-141 Kegan, Robert & Lahey, Lisa L. (2011). “The Real Reason People Won’t Change”. Harvard Business Review, November, 85-92 Session 4 (12.4.2014) · Organizational culture in international/multicultural organizations · New forms of organizations and their cultures – virtual, flat, etc. · Team assignment due Link to course books: Schein, Edgar (2010). Organizational Culture and Leadership. 4^th ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Chapters 20 and 21. Recommended reading: Bouwman, Christah .S. (2013) The Role of Corporate Culture in Mergers & Acquisitions. In Etienne Perrault (ed.), Mergers and Acquisitions: Practices, Performance and Perspectives, NOVAScience Publishers. Dixon, S., Mayer, K. & Day, M. (2010). Stages of Organizational Transformations in Transition Economies: A Dynamic Capabilities Approach. Journal of Management Studies, May, 416-436.