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Effective Action in Complex Organizations SOC 351 SP

Most people work in complex organizations--schools, corporations, state bureaucracies, hospitals. Everyone must deal with these or similar bureaucratic organizations. Bureaucracies invoke fear and frequently breed frustration. Like Max Weber, we see them as an iron cage. This course is designed to dispel fears through knowledge and overcome frustrations through training in skills of effective action. The ideal outcome of the course is for participants to become more confident and sympathetic consultants to an organizational setting with which they are currently involved. There will be both academic and practical components. Students will be offered a basic introduction to the social scientific literature on organizational process, including selected readings from Goffman, Kanter, Perrow, Minzberg, Pfiffer, and Argyris. Ideas will be tested through practical, in-class training in effectiveness skills. Topics covered will include: the effects of language, gender, self-presentation, tactic and strategy, and action theory on effective action.

MAJOR READINGS

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

COURSE FORMAT: Discussion Practicum

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UG Credit: 1.00

Prerequisites: None

Last Updated on MAR-03-1998