Organizational Dynamics and Leadership

2024/2025

Academic Year

ENG

Instruction in English

6

ECTS credits

Delivered at:

Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs

Course type:

Compulsory course

When:

1 year, 1, 2 module

Instructor

Устюжанин Владимир Леонидович

Course Syllabus

Abstract

This is a course, necessary for those interested in both academic and applied view on how business organizations function, what makes them thrive or leave the market, and what is the leader’s role in working both with external and internal stakeholders. The course combines profound theoretical frameworks and practical business approaches. It brings together analytical models and theories from disperse fields to provide a framework through which students can view and define organizational problems from multiple perspectives. Major topics include leadership and managership, organizational effectiveness, organizational structure, total quality management, job design, power and politics, groups and teams, motivation, goal setting, and stress management. The course explicitly aims to prepare students for effective leadership practice in a variety of settings, including nonprofit, government, for-profit, community-based, political, national, and international organizations. The purpose of this syllabus is to provide an overview of the objectives and requirements of the course. Any portion of it is subject to modification by the instructors according to instructors’ vision of andragogical design and the learning needs of the class.

Learning Objectives

• This course is designed to develop and extend student knowledge of organizational dynamics and leadership, focusing on ways to optimize areas particularly useful to newer and front line managers, as well as to mid-level and senior leaders. It will focus on leadership through leadership of a team, leadership of oneself and leadership in an organization; and encourage students to reflect on and apply this knowledge in ways that will enhance their abilities as managers and leaders. Specific learning objectives include:
• Gaining and systemizing knowledge of key concepts, theoretical frameworks and terms in organizational effectiveness and leadership
• Familiarizing and actualizing current business and cultural challenges that modern leaders face
• Forming an integral view on organization-wide and team- leadership
• Registering practical ways of developing personal leadership capabilities in various domains
• Understanding of derailment factors that can undermine both personal and organizational effectiveness
• Developing of competencies and metacompetencies relevant for modern leadership challenges: emotional intelligence, collaboration, non-linear and systemic thinking, judgment and problem solving.

Expected Learning Outcomes

• Be able to evaluate key organizational activities and leadership characteristics
• Be able to identify, formulate and critically evaluate actual organizational problems in terms of business strategy, corporate culture and people management
• Be aware of modern frameworks represented in scientific literature, empirical studies, and hands-on business practice
• Know main theories and practical approaches on organizational dynamics; strategic management; psycho-social aspects of leading individuals, teams and companies

Course Contents

• Week 1-2. Organizational structure
• Week 3-4. Corporate lifecycles
• Week 5-6. Leadership effectiveness and derailment
• Week 7-8. Organizational culture.
• Week 9-10. Quality management
• Week 11-12. Innovations management
• Week 13-14. Organizational decision-making
• Week 15. Teams: maximizing group-work effectiveness

Assessment Elements

• Final exam
• Class participation
• Home assignments
  Academic integrity Students have to make sure that they understand the Higher School of Economics’ policies regarding academic integrity and how to use sources in a proper fashion. Not knowing the rules, misunderstanding the rules, running out of time, submitting the wrong draft or being overwhelmed with multiple demands are not acceptable excuses.

Interim Assessment

• 2024/2025 2nd module
  0.3 * Class participation + 0.4 * Final exam + 0.3 * Home assignments

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Allan R. Cohen, & David L. Bradford. (2017). Influence Without Authority: Vol. Third edition. Wiley.
• Collins, J. (2005). Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... And Others Don’t. Journal of College Admission, 186, 26–27.
• Goetsch, D. L., & Davis, S. (2014). Quality Management for Organizational Excellence Pearson New International Edition : Introduction to Total Quality: Vol. 7. ed. Pearson.
• Gothelf, J., & Seiden, J. (2013). Lean UX : Applying Lean Principles to Improve User Experience: Vol. 1st ed. O’Reilly Media.
• Henry Mintzberg. (1979). The Structuring of Organizations.
• Keillor, B. D. (2012). Winning in the Global Market: A Practical Guide to International Business Success : A Practical Guide to International Business Success. Praeger.
• Kelley, T., Littman, J., & IDEO (Firm). (2016). The Ten Faces of Innovation : Strategies for Heightening Creativity. Profile Books.
• Kniskern, H., Finkelstein, S., Whitehead, J., & Campbell, A. (2018). Think Again: Why Good Leaders Make Bad Decisions and How to Keep It from Happening to You.
• Kotler, P. (2016). Marketing Management. [N.p.]: Pearson. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1419695
• Nathan Jamail. (2014). The Leadership Playbook : Creating a Coaching Culture to Build Winning Business Teams. Avery.
• Osterwalder, A., Smith, A., Bernarda, G., & Pigneur, Y. (2014). Value Proposition Design : How to Create Products and Services Customers Want. Hoboken: Wiley. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=945730

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Argyris, C. (1977). Organizational learning and management information systems. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 2, 113.
• Axelrod, R. H. (2010). Terms of Engagement : New Ways of Leading and Changing Organizations: Vol. Rev. and expanded ed. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
• Chandler, A. D. (1990). Scale and Scope: A Review Colloquium Scale and Scope: The Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism. By Alfred D. Chandler Jr., with Takashi Hikino · Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1990. xix + 860 pp. Charts, figures, tables, appendixes, notes, and index. $35.00. Business History Review, 04, 690.
• Douglass, E. P. (1978). Alfred D. Chandler, Jr. The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. 1977. Pp. xvi, 608. $18.50. https://doi.org/10.1086/ahr/83.3.816
• Goman, C. K. (2013). The Truth About Lies in the Workplace : How to Spot Liars and What to Do About Them: Vol. First edition. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
• Greiner, L. E. (1998). Evolution and Revolution as Organizations Grow. Harvard Business Review, 76(3), 55–68.
• Hammond, J. S., Keeney, R. L., & Raiffa, H. (1999). Smart Choices : A Practical Guide to Making Better Decisions: Vol. [Academic Subscription]. Harvard Business Review Press.
• Lawrence G. Hrebiniak. (2013). Making Strategy Work : Leading Effective Execution and Change. Pearson FT Press.

Authors

• MERINOV PAVEL PAVLOVICH
• Ustiuzhanin VLADIMIR LEONIDOVICH