Organizational Design
Code: 104679Credits: 6
| Degree programme | Type | Course |
|---|---|---|
| Business Administration and Management | OP | 4 |
| Economics | OP | 3 |
| Economics | OP | 4 |
Contact lecturer
- Name :
- Pere Ortin Angel
- Email :
- pere.ortin@uab.cat
Group languages
You can consult this information at the end of the document.
Prerequisites
There are no specific prerequisites.
In the subject, concepts analyzed in other courses will be used: decision trees, backward induction, joint and conditional probabilities, and Bayes' theorem. Although they will be reviewed again, having these concepts consolidated will help to follow the subject.
Objectives
The design of business organizations is the result of a delegation process of decision-making. Throughout this course, we try to provide the conceptual instruments in order to value in monetary terms the benefits and costs of the delegation of decisions, and therefore how these decisions end up affecting the organizational structure of the company and its ability to create value and as a consequence its competitiveness.
It is pursued that at the end of the course the student is able to:
1. Identify the main determinants of the benefits and costs of delegating a decision.
2. Identify whether a decision should be delegated or not.
3. Identify the main mechanisms to reduce the costs of the delegation of a decision.
4. Assess the maximum cost that the company is willing to pay for implementing the aforementioned mechanisms.
Learning outcomes
- Capacity to continue future learning independently, acquiring further knowledge and exploring new areas of knowledge.
- Lead multidisciplinary and multicultural teams, implement new projects, coordinate, negotiate and manage conflicts.
- Select and generate the information needed for each problem, analyse it and make decisions based on this information.
- A capacity of oral and written communication in Catalan, Spanish and English, which allows them to summarise and present the work conducted both orally and in writing.
- Organise work, in terms of good time management and organisation and planning.
- Demonstrate initiative and work independently when required.
- Explain the origin and assess companies' contribution to social welfare.
- Analyse the main motivation systems in companies.
- Design effective motivation policies.
- List the basic stages and processes in the formulation and implementation of a business strategy.
- Apply the processes of formulating strategies to specific cases.
- Draft business plans.
- Relate the business strategy to the objectives of the company and its breakdown into departments or units.
- Adapt the formulation and implementation of strategies to different settings, family companies or recently-created companies.
- Back up business strategy decisions.
- Organise work, in terms of good time management and organisation and planning.
- Demonstrate initiative and work independently when required.
- Capacity to continue future learning independently, acquiring further knowledge and exploring new areas of knowledge.
- Assess ethical commitment in professional activity.
Contents
Topic 1. Introduction.
Object of analysis, relevance and methods
Topic 2. Delegation of decisions and knowledge.
Benefits and costs of delegation. The delegation of decisions and knowledge. Delegation and salaries. Knowledge and wages: the theory of human capital. Acquisition and transmission of knowledge. Investments in training. Remuneration and human capital. Professional career plans.
Topic 3. Coordination.
Coordination and complementarities. Costs of the decoordination and the maximum amount to pay for a coordination system. Common coordination systems: Routines, Business plans, strategic plans, Scorecard Balance. Coordination and business growth.
Topic 4. Information.
Expected value of perfect and imperfect information: Quality of information and willingness to pay for it. Information systems. Requirements for information systems.
Topic 5. Motivation.
Conflicts of interests. Contracts as a means of resolving conflicts of interest. Information asymmetries and contracts problems. Theory of the agency. Incentive contracts.
Learning activities and methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Practical classes | 17 | 0.68 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19 |
| Theoretical classes | 32.5 | 1.3 | 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19 |
| Elaboration and preparation of exercices and presentations | 42 | 1.68 | 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19 |
| Tutorials | 10.5 | 0.42 | 4, 7, 8, 9, 18, 19 |
| Study and undertanding of the matter | 43 | 1.72 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19 |
Teaching will be offered on campus.
The objective of the subject is the application of rigorous theoretical foundations to analyze the problems of organizational design of companies.
That is why it is necessary:
1. Explain the main theories.
This will be done through master classes and additional readings.
2. Numerical cases and exercises.
To illustrate the different theoretical models, there will be small real business cases and numerical exercises related to the cases will be made.
These cases will be exposed and discussed by the students in the practical classes
3. Participation in the Global Sharing Learning project together with Tecnológico de Monterrey.
In groups of students from the Tecnológico de Monterrey and UAB will work together on a particular business case of the topics addressed in class.
The proposed teaching methodology may undergo some modification depending on unforeseen events such as agreements with Tecnológico de Monterrey
Assessment
Continuous assessment activities
| Title | Weight | Hours | ECTS | Learning outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deliver cases and exercixes | 30% | 0 | 0 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13 |
| Final Exam | 20% | 2 | 0.08 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 |
| Mid term exam | 20% | 1.5 | 0.06 | 1, 3, 4, 8, 9, 13, 14, 18, 19 |
| Class attendance | 10% | 0 | 0 | 1, 3, 4, 8, 9, 13, 14, 18, 19 |
| Case presentations | 20% | 1.5 | 0.06 | 2, 5, 7, 9, 17, 18 |
The assessment of the course will consist of:
Exams (see calendar of midterm and final exams of the faculty).
Written tests where the student will be evaluated in all the contents of the subject.
First part. It will be held in the week scheduled for midterm exams. To pass the subject, a minimum grade of four is required in each midterm. In order not to fail in the middle of the course, there will be a recovery exam for this midterm. During the course, the date of the retake exam will be announced, to which all students can take it to improve the grade of the midterm.
Second part. It will be held in the week scheduled for final exams. To pass the subject, a minimum grade of four is required in each midterm.
A weighted average mark of the two midterms will be calculated (Average exam grade). The weighting of each partial will be equivalent to the weight of the contents evaluated in reference to the overall subject.
Follow-up of the course. The correct follow-up of the course requires class attendance and the execution of the exercises and programmed activities. Throughout the course, all these aspects will be controlled giving rise to a note that will represent 60% of the final mark of the course. This note will be published before the final exam. If the course follow-up is less than 5, the subject will be suspended.
10% Class attendance. Daily control The note will be the percentage of classes assisted with respect to the total.
30% Weekly delivery of small cases / exercises by groups. Each week of teaching between September and November (between 10-12 cases / exercises) a case will be delivered. Solutions will be made outside the classroom and will be delivered inwriting. Each case / exercise will be evaluated and will have a note.
10% Oral presentations of cases / exercises in class. The cases will be exposed and corrected in class by groups. The rest of the students willvalue them. The final grade is the average between the students' note and the one fromthe teacher.
10% Participation in the Global Learning project shared with the Tecnológico de Monterrey: (https://www.tecglobalclassroom.mx/modelo) details will be provided during the course.
Course note.
A student is considered as non-assessable when he or she does not participate in the exams.
If the student does not pass (less than 5) the course follow-up, the course grade will be 3.
If the student passes the course and gets less than 4 in one (or both) midterm exams, the course grade will be a maximum of 3.6.
For the rest of the students, the course grade will be the weighted average of the average exam grade (40%) and the course follow-up grade (60%). For these students, the grade in the transcript may be higher than the grade of the course, but without altering the grade ranking. The reason is the difficulty of getting very good grades when there are many tests.
Calendar of evaluation activities
The dates of the different evaluation tests will be announced well in advance during the semester.
The date of the final and mid-term exam of the subject is programmed in the calendar of exams of the Faculty.
\"The programming of the evaluation tests can not be modified, unless there is an exceptional and duly justified reason why an evaluation act can not be performed. In this case, the people responsible for the degrees, after consulting the teaching staff and To the affected student, they will propose a new programming within the corresponding teaching period. \" Section 1 of Article 115. Calendar of evaluation activities (Academic Regulations UAB)
The students of the Faculty of Economics and Business who, in accordance with the preceding paragraph, need to change an evaluation date, must present the petition by fillingout the document Request reprogramming test https://eformularis.uab.cat/group/deganat_feie/nou-reprogramacio-de-proves. In the case of this subject, it is understood that it only refers to the final exam and in any case it is recommended to speak with the teacher in advance.
Procedurefor review of qualifications
Coinciding with the final exam will announce the day and the medium in which the final qualifications willbe published. In this way, the procedure, place, date and time of the review of examswill bereported according to the regulations of the University.
Recovery process
\"To participate in the recovery process, students must have been previously evaluated in a set of activities that represent a minimum of two thirds of the total grade of the subject or module.\" Section 3 of Article 112 ter. Recovery (UAB Academic Regulations).
The application of this rule to the specific case of the subject is as follows:
“All students are required to perform the evaluation activities. If the student's grade is 5 or higher, the student passes the course and it cannot be subject to further evaluation. If the student grade is less than 3.5, the student will have to repeat the course the following year. Students who haveobtained a grade that is equal to or greater than 3.5 and less than 5 can take a second chance exam. The lecturers willdecide the type of the second chance exam. When the second exam grade is greater than 5, the final grade will be a PASS with a maximum numerical grade of 5. When the second exam grade is less than 5, the final grade will be a FAIL with a numerical grade equal to the grade achieved in the course grade (not the second chance exam grade).
A student who does not perform any evaluative task is considered “not evaluable”, therefore, a student who performs a continuous assessment component can no longer be qualified with a \"not evaluable\".
The interpretation of the above regulation for this subject is the following:
There will be re-evaluation for those students who have not passed the subject, but the course follow-up mark is greater than 5 and the final grade of the course is equal or higher than 3.5.
The re-evaluation will consist of a new test.
Tracking the course will not be re-evaluated.
The teaching staff will allocate approximately 15 minutes of some class to allow their students to respond to the evaluation surveys of the teaching performance and evaluation of the subject or module
The completion of assessment activities is subject to the provisions set out in this course guide and in the "Policy of the School of Economics and Business on the Detection of Irregularities during Assessment Activities", which regulates the conditions under which assessment tasks are conducted and the procedures applicable in cases where indications of irregularities are detected. Students are encouraged to consult the policy.
Bibliography
Related references (last editions idenified):
Galán, J.I. (2014) \" Diseño Organizativo\". Editorial Paraninfo. 2a Edición. Madrid.
Brickley J., Smith, C., Zimmerman J. (2011) \"Economía Empresarial y Arquitectura de la Organización\". McGraw-Hill Interamericana de España S.L.; N.º 1 edición
Milgrom, P.; Roberts, J. (1993) “Economía, organización y gestión de la empresa”. Ariel Economía, Barcelona.
Jost, P.J. (2014) \"The Economics of Motivation and Organization. An Introduction\". Edward Elgar Publishing Inc. Northampton, Massacusetts USA.
Judge, W.Q. (2012) Focusing on Organizational Change. Saylor Foundation. Open Textbook Library.
Klausner M., Subramanian G. (2024). Deals: The Economic Structure of Business Transactions. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674495159
Lectures avançades:
Gibbons, R, Roberts, J. Eds. (2013) The Handbook of Organizational Economics. Princeton University Press.
Salas, Vicente. “Economía de la empresa”. 2ª edición. Ariel Economía, Barcelona (1996).
Software
Course groups and languages
The information provided is provisional until November 30. After this date, you will be able to consult the language of each group through this link. To access the information, you will need to enter the course CODE
| Type of teaching | Group | Language | Semester | Shift |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (TE) Theory | 1 | Catalan | first semester | morning-mixed |
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 1 | Catalan | first semester | morning-mixed |