LEARNING OUTCOMES

Learning the basic knowledge needed to understand problems and requirements from the business environment including formalization of concepts and methodologies for organizational planning and management of business processes.

TEACHING METHODS

Class and outside preparation

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The course content is divided into three modules:

1. Decision Making
2. Business Administration and Managerial Accounting
3. Organizational Design

Decision Making module explores decision making in organizations, highlighting the roles of incentive, conflict, power and politics. Individual decision-making vs organizational decision making. Overlapping of the two types of decision-making. Emphasis on characteristics differentiating organizational decision-making and individual decision-making. Three different approaches to decision making: seeing first, thinking first, and doing first. Simon work; Cyert and March theory; Garbage can model; Mintzberg incrementalism.Business Administration and Managerial

Accounting module includes basic concepts of general accounting and performance analysis, cost accounting for control and decision making. Main criteria of cost classification and the main cost objects. Methodologies: full costing, direct costing, job-order costing, process costing, activity-based costing. Short term decisions: contribution margin, product mix, cost-volume-profit analysis, make or buy.

Organizational Design module aims to provide the basic concepts for understanding the internal structure and workings of small firms and large corporations and for designing effective business organizations. In particular, module contents include the role of strategy, the analysis of coordination mechanisms inside organizations, the problem of decentralization of information and power, the different designing choices for the macro-structure, i.e. the functional, divisional, matrix, hybrid or network structure.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

The following books are suggested as a reference:

• Miner J.B. (2015). Organizational Behavior 2: Essential Theories of Process and Structure, Volume 2. Routledge
• Garrison R., Noreen E. Brewer P. (2015). Managerial Accounting, 15th edition, McGraw Hill
• Breitner L.K., Anthony R.N. (2013). Essentials of Accounting 11th edition, Pearson
• Daft R.L. (2015). Organization Theory and Design, 12th edition,  Cengage Learning

Further readings and support material will be provided during the lessons. The suggested books are intended as relevant theoretical reference and complementary sources.