OPEN TO UNDERGRADUATES ONLY

Imagine an activity you have engaged in over the last two
days.  Did this activity involve an organization?
	It probably did.  Whether you went to church, participated
in intercollegiate athletics, shopped in a grocery store, watched
the news on television, or bought beer at the liquor store, your
activity involved organizations.  This class is also part of a very
large organization.
	If it were not for organizations, our cars would not be
licensed, criminals would run free, taxes would not be collected,
your grandparents would not receive their social security checks,
the nation’s defense would be impossible and so would the
administration of justice.  Many organizations, however, are very
powerful and cannot easily be controlled.
	Because we work, consume and play within organizations, it
is essential to understand them.  That is the role of theory.
	Sociologists have developed frameworks that contribute to
our understanding of organizations.  The insights and evidence these
researchers have developed have been used to elaborate management
practices (see In Search of Excellence, for example) that have
influenced the running of many types of organizations.
	Most of us are interested in organizations for practical
reasons as well as for theoretical ones (how should citizens control
public organizations, for example).  As future professionals, most
of you will play a key role, sometimes the leading role, in many
kinds of organizations.  What you learn in this class will be
relevant to your activities as organizational leaders and
participants.  Discussions in class, and the paper project, will
sharpen your skills as organizational practitioners.
	The course will thus involve activities, theoretical
understanding, and practical applications.

ORGANIZATION OF THE COURSE

	Because each of you comes to class with considerable
knowledge of organizations, you are expected to share that
knowledge.  I cannot possibly be familiar with every type of
organization and, therefore, you should share what you know with
your classmates.  Some of the best examples I use to illustrate
arguments have been contributed by students in previous classes.
	Lectures will be devoted to the presentation of theoretical
frameworks and their illustration with many examples (of different
kinds of organizational structure, of centralization, of power
etc.).  These examples will be exposed to relevant studies not
discussed in the textbook.