Digital Organizing and Transformation (Autumn 2024)

Abstract

This course examines organizations in light of contemporary challenges with digitalization. It explores organizational perspectives on digitalization and cover theories that can help us better understand, and critically reflect upon, such profound challenges, while also offering hands-on approaches to managing them. Furthermore, it investigates questions of the changing nature of work, and themes such as leadership, management, and organizing in order to make students both knowledgeable about, and skilled in the practice of, and engaging with, digital transformation.

Description

This course takes as its point of departure in organizational and managerial themes and considers them in light of contemporary organizational and managerial challenges related to digital organizing and digital transformation. 
The course draws on literature from organizational studies, digital transformation, and change management. 
Change management perspectives will focus on the development of relevant solutions and approaches to support organizational change during digital transformation. Perspectives from organizational studies will enable students to critically reflect on and analyze these solutions, as well as the problems related to ‘change’ in organizations related to digital transformation. 
Together, these perspectives will enable students to better understand, analyze, critically reflect upon, and develop solutions to support digital organizational changes and transformation.  
The course covers different approaches of how to explore and investigate organizations and the changing nature of work with usage of digital technology. The course also provides insights into how to lead and manage digital transformation.

Formal prerequisites

Intended learning outcomes

After the course, the student should be able to:

• Describe and account for relevant theories and perspectives introduced in the course curriculum
• Identify and make use of appropriate concepts from theories in analyzing empirical issues related to digital organizing and transformation
• Discuss the relevance and applicability of different theories and perspectives to contemporary organizational issues related to digitalization
• Discuss contemporary challenges with digitalization within organizations and reflect upon the consequences of selecting hands-on approaches to manage them, based on the theory

Learning activities

The course is based on readings, lectures, seminar discussions, and workshop exercises focused on working with analysis, reflections, and a variety of empirical cases. Students will also try working with game simulations during exercise classes. Students will be expected to do the class reading before class, and be prepared to participate in active discussion and debate, exercises, and demonstrations. There will also be invited some guest lectures, from academia as well as industry.

Mandatory activities

This is a mandatory assignment. A mini-case, which will train you for the exam case. You will read the case on WhirlTech Industries, and their challenges regarding their digital transformation journey. Your task is to answer the following questions. 

1. Consider how, and with what change management perspectives (from lesson 1 & 2), the issues described in the case could be addressed. Based on your considerations, advise WhirlTech on how to work with the next steps/initiatives on digital transformation. 

2. Discuss and reflect upon the implications of your advised approach on how to take new steps, to counter the described issues in the case, by drawing on relevant organizational themes (from lesson 3 - 7). 

Guidelines: 

Use and apply course literature to your answers (from lesson 1 – 7). 

If you use ChatGPT for reasons other than improving your English, disclose the reason and how it contributes to your answers. 

4-page limit. 

The assignment is a pass or fail assignment. 

You can get a second attempt at the mandatory activity if you have been prevented from handing in the assignment or if you fail the assignment.     

The student will receive the grade NA (not approved) at the ordinary exam, if the mandatory activities are not approved and the student will use an exam attempt.

Course literature

The course literature is published in the course page in LearnIT.

Student Activity Budget

Estimated distribution of learning activities for the typical student

• Preparation for lectures and exercises: 20%
• Lectures: 20%
• Exercises: 15%
• Assignments: 15%
• Exam with preparation: 15%
• Other: 15%

Ordinary exam

Exam type:
C: Submission of written work, External (7-point scale)
Exam variation:
C22: Submission of written work – Take home

reexam

Exam type:
C: Submission of written work, External (7-point scale)
Exam variation:
C22: Submission of written work – Take home

Time and date

Ordinary Exam - hand out Mon, 16 Dec 2024, 08:00 - 14:00
Ordinary Exam - submission Thu, 19 Dec 2024, 08:00 - 14:00