In today’s volatile world, organizational design and change are ongoing activities and challenges for everyone, whether managing a global enterprise or a small work team in the private, public or pluralist sectors. Globalization, worldwide competition, deregulation, digital transformation and intensifying environmental and political challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss or rising authoritarianism drive the ongoing reassessment of the organization. The organizational response has been many new forms of organizational design: matrix, virtual, modular, agile, network, “spaghetti” or “holacracy” – to name a few. New organizational forms challenge old ways of organizing for efficiency and effectiveness.

Knowledge and understanding: The course will offer key conceptual tools to design organizations in global, complex and uncertain environments. This course provides advanced knowledge and analytical resources that will enable students to understand the processes, content and consequences of organizational decisions to be implemented on a glocal scale (global and local), in private firms, public administrations and NGOs. Applying knowledge and understanding: The students will be able to: - apply organization models on a global scale - compare pros and cons of each organizational choice - analyze how and why organizations make decisions to face an evolving environment - apply foundations of business research - apply research approaches and quantitative methods to organizational design - apply methods of change management Making judgements: We expect students to be able to dissect complex organizational issues, analyze them and propose solutions. Students are expected to be able to discuss and evaluate key organizational choices, as well as to evaluate the cognitive and political embeddedness of change processes. Throughout the whole course, students will be invited to critically analyze when, how and why certain organizational choices are adopted and how to favor a change for their implementation. Communications Skills: This course will give the students the possibility to acquire and understand major terms and concepts in order to communicate their ideas, proposals, analysis and critical reasoning in the field of organization design and change. Learning skills: This course will empower learners giving them the tools to determine why certain organizational choices are made and how different alternatives are assessed. The case study discussions, a study project, the simulation, the presentation of scientific papers and the classroom experiment will increase experiential learning and critical thinking for all students involved in the course.

In this course, we will deal with organizational design as a managerial approach to demands for change in the organization. The theoretical basis are the contingency and institutional approaches and their application in a dynamic perspective. An important element in this context is strategic, organizational and institutional fits. A fit is a match between the organization and its environment, strategy, technology, size and institutional context. There may also be fits among these factors. The theory of fits provides management with an opportunity to assess the organization design and change it regularly. The issues include multi-dimensional causal relationships, non-linearity and longitudinal perspectives - elements in studies of new forms of organization and their cultural origins. The course will also tackle the challenges related to organizational redesign and change.

Course materials, as reported week by week. In addition, groups will develop a project assigned at the beginning of the course. Supplementary readings (mandatory only for non-compliant students): • Cunha, M. P., Clegg, S., Gaim, M., & Giustiniano, L. (2022). Elgar introduction to designing organizations. Edward Elgar Publishing. • Cummings, T. G., & Worley, C. G. (2016). Organization development & change.

During the course, the following teaching methods will be applied: • Lectures • Study project in working groups • Discussion of case studies Teaching activities integrate face-to-face lectures with the analysis of business cases performed by both the instructor and the students. Students will be required to join practical training sessions and analyze or discuss, individually or within small groups, case studies focused on the resolution of organizational problems and the definition of the different organizational configurations that can be adopted in different strategic and environmental contexts. These sessions are useful to evaluate student's ability to put into practice the methods of organizational design, analysis and change acquired during the lectures.

The final grade will be based on the following: 1) Project work / continuous assessment • The objective of the project work is to assess students’ ability to apply the knowledge and skills acquired during the course to business cases, working in groups. • The project contributes one-third to the final grade and includes: o a group presentation, to be held during the midterm assessment week, which will allow students to obtain approval to proceed with the full development of the project o a final discussion of the project developed by the group at the end of the course • The content and specific dates of the project presentations will be communicated by the instructor at the beginning of the course. • The project grade is valid for the entire academic year (until February 2027), but it can be used only once and exclusively if the final exam is passed (grade ≥ 18/30). • If a student does not pass the final exam (grade < 18/30), the project grade will also be forfeited. • To avoid losing this grade, students may withdraw from the final exam. 2) Final exam: written • The objective of the written exam is to allow students to demonstrate that they have acquired the fundamental theoretical knowledge of the course and are able to apply it to practical cases, showing critical thinking and independent judgment. • The written exam accounts for two-thirds of the final grade. • For students who have completed the project, the written exam (duration: 60 minutes) will consist of: o a case to be analyzed and discussed; o a set of multiple-choice and open-ended questions. • For students who have not completed the project, or who have not obtained a sufficient evaluation, additional study material is required (as indicated in the dedicated section on MyLuiss). In this case, the written exam will last 90 minutes and will include a greater number of questions. • The written exam may be administered in paper-based or electronic format, or with the support of AI tools. The specific format will be communicated by the instructor and published on MyLuiss at the beginning of the course. • The instructor may request an oral discussion of the exam if further clarification is needed for individual assessment. • Excellent performance in the project work and a fully correct written exam may lead to the award of 30/30 cum laude.

Master thesis assignment is based on the novelty and quality of students’ project. The project (2/3 pages) must include: • Research Question(s) • Table of contents • Abstract • Main references