Robert Althauser

[Spring 1999 -- First 8 weeks]
 
 
       Section 3608// Class meets on Tue/Thu at 2:30-5:00 PM // in Ballantine 204

                                                Addresses

URL :: This document and the related Calendar are available at: http://www.indiana.edu/
~rpasoc/s210/s210.html (Portions may require an IU network password from registered students).

EMAIL : Althauser is at althause@indiana.edu

Graduate student Radhika Desai, who will handle the Web quizzes is at rdesai@indiana.edu

Office: Ballantine Hall 842D (enter through 842, the outside door)

Office Hours: See me about appointments in class or via email.

Telephone:

      Faculty office (Ballantine 842D): 855-5426
      Sociology department (Ballantine 744): 855-4127 (lv message)

Sources:

Gareth Morgan: Images of Organization (Images)

Gareth Morgan: Creative Organizational Theory (COT)

Amy Wharton: Working in America (Working)

Tue 12-Jan [1A] ... Syllabus Quiz opens Jan 12/closes noon on Mon Jan 18

 

Syllabus

 

 

SOURCE	Ch#	Title of Chapter	(Pg assigned)
Images	1	Introduction to Metaphors	(3-8)
Images	10	The Challenge of Metaphor	(347-351)
COT	76	Eagle Smelting Case	(268-270)
Images	2	Orgs as Machines	(11-31)
COT	29	Organizational Technologies	(70-71)
Working	7	Frederick Taylor: Scientific Management	(67-75)

 

 

Working	9	Braverman on Division of Labor	(81-85)
COT	25	Lordstown Factory	(55-58)
Working	26	Leidner on McDonalds	(282-294)
Working	24	Juravich on Women on the Line	(262-268)
Working	6	Weber on Bureaucracy	(61-66)

 

Thu 21-Jan [2B]... Week2B Quiz opens Jan 20/closes noon on Fri Jan 22

 

Images	5	Organizations as Cultures	(119-152)
COT	50	Culture as Subtle Language	(150-156)
COT	51	Corporate Culture/Values	(157-158)

 

 

COT	54	Tandem Corp	(166-168)
COT	90	Fortress Insurance	(315-317)
Working	36	Biggart on Mary Kay Cosmetics: .Direct Selling Organizations	(402-414)
COT	87	Maria Theresa Order	(301-304)
COT	89	Nomizu Sake Company	(311-314)
Working	25	Graham on Suburu-Izuzu	(269-281)

 

Tue 2-Feb [4A] ... Week4A Quiz opens Feb 1/closes noon on Wed Feb 3

 

Images	3	Organizations as Organisms	(33-60;64-71)
COT	27	From Bureau-->Networks	(64-67)

 

 

COT	30	Organizational Environments	(72-73)
COT	33	Differentiation vs. Integration	(80-81)
COT	79	Twin Computer co(Acme,Omega)	(278-282)
COT	80	Scholar Educational Products	(283-285)
Working	41	Employee Involvement:Reproco	(460-472)

 

Tue 9-Feb [5A] ... Week5A Quiz opens Feb 8/closes noon on Wed Feb 10

 

Images	4	Oganizations as Brains	(73-118)
COT	48	Organizational Learning	(139-142)

 

 

COT	43	Collaboration/Control	(121-123)
COT	49	3M Company	(143-149)
COT	46	Digital Computers: Teams	(121-123)
COT	40	Japanese Management	(105-111)
COT	47	Grow Large, Stay Small	(132-138)
COT	41	Challenger Disaster	(112-115)
COT	82	Organizations Obstruct Learning	(291-293)
COT	83	Product X	(294-295)

 

Thu 18-Feb [6B] ... Week6B Quiz opens Feb 17/closes noon on Fri Feb 19

 

Images	6	Organization as Political Systems	(153-155;160-198)
Images	6	" "	(208-213)

 

 

COT	58	Politics at Work	(188-195)
Working	32	Social Structure of Management	(347-359)
COT	103	Who Builds Dilworth	(351-353)
Working	20	Culture, Commerce,Gender: Editing	(212-223)
COT	98	Conflict at Riverside	(335-337)

 

Thu 25-Feb [7B]... Week7B Quiz opens Feb 24/closes noon on Fri Feb 26

 

Images	10	rest of The Challenge of Metaphor	(351-353)
Images	11	Shaping Organizational Life	(355-369)

 

      UNUSUAL FEATURES of this course
      GOALS of this course
      EXPECTATIONS and Components of GRADES
      WEB QUIZZES
      CALENDER of ACTIVITIES
      Participation in Research on Teaching and Learning
      About This Being a First Eight Weeks Class; Incompletes
 
 

UNUSUAL FEATURES of this course.

      PRACTICAL and THEORETICAL
      Learning groups in-class
      More in-class discussion than usual.
      Focus on analyzing cases
      Keeping up with assignments critical
      Real-world applications
      Emphasis on active learning
      Out of class Web-quizzes, Web polls
      Eight rather than sixteen week format.
 
 

GOALS of this course

      To enhance your appreciation for the way in which work is embedded in organizations and
      the way in which both are embedded in underlying economic systems.
      To provide a continuing basis for managing the career of your choosing.
      To enhance the knowledge and skills necessary for life-long learning about EOW.
 
 

EXPECTATIONS and Components of GRADES

      70%: ASSESSMENTS
            Web Quizzes (10%)
                  Because staying current in the assigned reading will make class activities more
                  useful, Web quizzes will be given over each reading assignment. These typically
                  consist of short answer and objective questions. This component reflects the
                  actual quiz scores you receive on the strongest 9 (out of the 12 Quizzes),
                  according to the rules below. This component rewards the diligence it takes to
                  'keep up' AND thereby bring informed thoughts to the class discussions.
            Exams ( Two mid-terms [10% each],and a cumulative Final[40%] ) (60%)
                  Three exams will be given, including a cumulative final. This component reflects
                  the traditional emphasis on demonstrating a degree of new knowledge and
                  understanding of readings and class material.
      30%: PARTICIPATION
            In-class: writing, discussions (20%) In most classes, we will do some in-class
            writing and discussion, either within groups or with the whole class. For the most
            part, full credit is received for being in a class and completing work on all
            questions covered on the worksheet, though additional points will be occasionally
            given, on selected days, for work of high quality. Out of the 12 days of classes (not
            counting the mid term exams), we will count 10 as 100% of this component. We do this
            rather than keep clerical track of excusable absences. (If inclement weather causes
            problems, this may be adjusted during the semester.) This component of the course
            grade rewards being in class and being a full participant in its work.
            Participation in Web Poll(10%) A separate component of this participation grade
            is your submission of the short answer question, which you will also respond to using
            Quiz-site, by 12 noon of the day of the class. Work on this question sets up
            discussion in the class held on that day. These will typically come once a week but
            possibly twice a week. We will count as 100% of this component participation in all
            but two of the 7-8 polls taken.
 
 

Web Quizzes, Polls

      What are they?
            QUIZZES are 15-25 questions for the most part, over the current readings assigned
            and recent prior class periods. You can have your answers to the objective questions
            scored by Quiz-site and you can receive immediate feedback about the results and
            about which questions were missed.
            POLLS consist of one or two short answer questions about the readings for a class..
            In our course accounting, credit for responding to these questions falls under
            Participation, because most of the points typically assigned assume that you
            responded, on time, with a solid answer. Additional credit for exceptionally great
            answers is occasionally given. Far less frequent but possible is diminished credit
            for answers that fall way short of the mark.
      How are the objective questions on the Web Quizzes scored for the purposes of
      assessment?
            You have two attempts.
            The score you receive is calculated to be the highest of
                  The score on your first attempt
                  The average of the scores on the first and second attempt.
                  Hence, how well you do in the end reflects (though it is only half
                  determined by) how well you do on the first attempt.
      How are the short answer questions in the Web Quizzes, if any, and the Web Poll
      short answer question scored?
            The quality of short answer questions and Web Poll questions will be assessed using
            three categories: great answer/solid answer/not a solid answer.
            Keep in mind that the Quiz-site program cannot score short answer questions. Only we
            can and after all quizzes or polls have been completed. Therefore the gradebook
            which Quiz-site keeps and which you can access reflects only your score on
            the objective Quiz questions. All scores reflecting the combination of objective
            and short answer questions will be posted and periodically (roughtly weekly) updated
            in Post'em.
      When are the Web quizzes and the Web poll completed?
            The quiz that covers the current readings assigned, say for the class on Tues, has a
            window of time that lasts about 48 hours, from 36 hours before the class meets to
            noon of the day after class has met.
            A Poll is opened 30 or more hours before it closes at 12 noon on a class day.
 

About This Being a First Eight Weeks Class; Incompletes.

How are 8 weeks courses different for faculty AND students?

While the answer to this question may seem obvious, experience has taught me that at least some
of you may assume things to the contrary.

Everything we do goes by at twice the usual pace. Classes are twice as long per sitting.
Assigned reading encompasses the amount of text normally assimilated in twice the time. There
are typically two, not one, Web quiz per week. Each class absence is the equivalent of missing
a whole regular week of a full semester's class. The shorter (faster) time format DOES NOT MEAN
that you will receive three credit hours for half of the usual reading or half the time spent
in class. Most instructors feel obliged to have their courses require the same amount of
reading and work as they do in courses of regular length. Of course, the requirements vary by
instructor across both 8 and 16 week formats.

Have students had particular problems with 8 week courses in your experience?

In the fall of 1998 I offered two such courses. Illnesses --- particularly those that went
undiagnosed for a week or two and finally turned out to be serious -- as well as funerals or
other family crises -- really took their toll on some students. This led to an amazing number
of requests for incompletes from students who had rarely been to class, taken no tests, etc.

What is your policy on granting incompletes?

My policy corresponds to that of the College of Arts and Sciences. Its Bulletin 1998-2000 for
the Bloomington campus states (pg 18): "A grade of I(Incomplete)( may be given only when
the work of the course is substantially completed and when the student's work is of
passing quality...." What this means, among other things, is that if you have come to class
a very few times and completed virtually no work, you should withdraw, not ask for an
incomplete I cannot grant. I have always assumed that something like this policy existed but I
have found that my assumption was not widely shared. In any event, I take the above as my
policy in all of my courses.