GB3010 Managing for Organizational Effectiveness

Organizations, including defense organizations, are complex, purposive, open systems. As open systems, they face challenges of external adaptation and effectiveness and of internal coherence and efficiency. Our purpose is to understand the structures and processes that make up organizations in order to appreciate how they succeed and why they falter or fail. Our focus is on "organizational diagnosis", which requires us to apply relevant theories to evaluate organizational performance. To do this, we will examine topics that include: organizational structure, motivation and reward systems, organizational culture, power and conflict, effective teams, and the leadership characteristics involved in effectively managing today's organizations. Although these topics are relevant to all organizations, we will pay special attention to their application in the context of the Department of Defense and military organizations.

Prerequisite

Enrollment in DDM Degree Program

Lecture Hours

Lab Hours

Course Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

Identify organizational phenomena you might have encountered previously yet nonetheless had been unfamiliar with;
Make connections between organizational theory and both professional and personal experience;
Develop critical thinking through reflection, feedback, peer interaction, and class discussion;
Analyze and diagnose motivational programs;
Assess and compare organizational cultures;
Identify and select appropriate leadership competencies;
Work collaboratively and effectively in teams;
Develop awareness of organizational system dynamics; and
Increase your individual capacity to diagnose and then manage innovative organizations and people.