Organization in an inter-connected world: Bright and dark sides of organizational collaboration

Objectives

The overall aim of the course is to increase students' knowledge of the relational view of organizations. By learning about the general principles of this relational approach, students will gain an understanding of how organizational forms (can) contribute to addressing grand challenges following the recognition that organizational, societal, and environmental issues are increasingly complex and interdependent. We study how organizational forms (e.g., teams, projects, organizations, networks), as interconnected systems, influence these issues in positive, but also in negative ways. We examine how the division of tasks and coordination of input, sometimes with two or three parties and sometimes hundreds of thousands, can facilitate or hinder the achievement of (joint) goals at the organizational and societal level.

The bottom line of this course is that organizations are multi-level systems of relations functioning in and related to a wider societal context. The course focuses on the interactions of (i) organizational members within and between organizational teams, (ii) organizations with other organizations within networks, and (iii) organizations with their institutional environment. After taking this course, students should be able to:

• Describe and explain the concept of social capital.
• Know the basic concepts in social networks analysis and apply fundamental notations used to study network structures.
• Describe, explain, and critically evaluate the antecedents and consequences of relationships and networks within and between organizations.
• Apply core theoretical ideas about networks to today’s organizational, societal, and environmental issues.

Contents

This course builds on insights from economics, psychology, and sociology to offer a relational perspective for exploring the relation between, first, intra- and inter-organizational networks and, second, the bright and the dark side of such networks. Possible topics discussed in this course are leadership, cartels, personality traits, opportunism, outsourcing, carbon credits, circular economy, global supply chains, and pollution that are all highly relevant for organizations in an interconnected world. It asks and answers questions like:

• What is the relationship between leadership and network structures in teams?
• To what extent and in which ways do personality traits impact behaviors in social networks in organizations?
• How can we stimulate and sustain corporate social behavior in global supply chains?
• How can we organize interorganizational networks in the health care sector?
• How do organizations manage their relationships with their stakeholders to achieve better performance and maximize societal impact?
• What are the dark sides of global supply chains?
• How can a relational perspective help to deliver on, for example, the circular economy?

Assessment

The organizational setup of the course integrates different kinds of instruction types, including interactive lectures, discussions, lab sessions, presentations by students, and serious games. Students develop a portfolio of assignments that constitutes their final assessment. There is no final exam.