MGT2002 Perspectives of Organisation

Staffing

Examiner: Fiona Russo

Other requisites

Students are required to have access to a personal computer, e-mail capabilities and Internet access to UConnect. Current details of computer requirements can be found at http://www.usq.edu.au/current-students/support/computing/hardware.

Rationale

‘For whom does an organisation exist to serve?’

This is a fundamental question that this course seeks, in part, to answer. Without an understanding of the different ways of perceiving organisations, we may accept without critical thought, the various manifestations of organisation we encounter. Contested perspectives such as unitarism and pluralism, exist in a ‘dynamic tension’ played out between stakeholders and shaped by the use of power and influence in relationships.

The challenges and opportunities that managers face, whether they are in for-profit, public or non-profit organisations, have never been greater. As the world seems to be changing ever faster, with technological, economic and political forces reverberating around the world every day. Managers function in contested environments and learn how to balance a variety of stakeholder needs and if necessary shareholder demands.

This course gives students a perspective of what contemporary organisations are and what managers do when the context of what constitutes an ‘organisation’ and what constitutes a ‘manager’ is no longer confined just to the needs of traditional, 20th century organisational designs and management.

Synopsis

The content of the course provides the opportunity to apply critical thinking to alternative perspectives of organisation extending beyond the profit-seeking capitalist paradigm which seeks, as a central quest, to maximise shareholder return on investment.

Students are introduced to a more advanced range of contextual information surrounding management and organisations, including topics such as philosophical views on the motivation behind organisations, a typology of organisations in which management activities occur, and the historical origins of current management theory. Students will examine how contemporary managers need to draw from a toolkit of skills, actions and behaviours, so that they can operate within organisational environments that typically consist of paradoxes and tensions arising from competing imperatives to compete, collaborate, control and create.

Objectives

Topics

Text and materials required to be purchased or accessed

Reference materials

Student workload expectations

Assessment details

Important assessment information

1. Attendance requirements:
   Online: There are no attendance requirements for this course. However, it is the students' responsibility to study all material provided to them or required to be accessed by them to maximise their chance of meeting the objectives of the course and to be informed of course-related activities and administration.
   
   On-campus: It is the students' responsibility to attend and participate appropriately in all activities (such as lectures, tutorials, laboratories and practical work) scheduled for them, and to study all material provided to them or required to be accessed by them to maximise their chance of meeting the objectives of the course and to be informed of course-related activities and administration.
   
   
2. Requirements for students to complete each assessment item satisfactorily:
   To satisfactorily complete an individual assessment item a student must achieve at least 50% of the marks. (Depending upon the requirements in Statement 4 below, students may not have to satisfactorily complete each assessment item to receive a passing grade in this course.)
   
   
3. Penalties for late submission of required work:
   Students should refer to the Assessment Procedure http://policy.usq.edu.au/documents.php?id=14749PL (point 4.2.4)
   
   
4. Requirements for student to be awarded a passing grade in the course:
   To be assured of receiving a passing grade a student must achieve at least 50% of the total weighted marks available for the course.
   
   
5. Method used to combine assessment results to attain final grade:
   The final grades for students will be assigned on the basis of the aggregate of the weighted marks obtained for each of the summative assessment items in the course.
   
   
6. Examination information:
   This is a closed examination. Candidates are allowed to bring only writing and drawing instruments into the examination room.
   
   
7. Examination period when Deferred/Supplementary examinations will be held:
   Any Deferred or Supplementary examinations for this course will be held during the next examination period.
   
   
8. University Student Policies:
   Students should read the USQ policies: Definitions, Assessment and Student Academic Misconduct to avoid actions which might contravene University policies and practices. These policies can be found at http://policy.usq.edu.au.
   
   

Assessment notes

1. Referencing in assignments:
   Harvard (AGPS) is the referencing system required in this course. Students should use Harvard (AGPS) style in their assignments to format details of the information sources they have cited in their work. The Harvard (AGPS) style to be used is defined by the USQ Library's referencing guide at http://www.usq.edu.au/library/referencing.