• Discussing current topics in the field of leadership, HRM, and change management.
• Understanding the role, the importance, and the limits of leadership.
• Equipping students with a solid theoretical foundation to address and diagnose organizational problems concerning leadership, HRM, and change.
• Providing students with tools for the analysis of organizational problems.
• Supporting students to apply different theoretical lenses to address problems.

Learning outcomes:

On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• LO1: Analyze and diagnose organizational problems from different theoretical perspectives. [relevant theory, social skills, and analytical skills]
• LO2: Apply existing theoretical and practical toolkits to solve organizational problems related to leadership, HRM, and change. [analytical/practical skills]
• LO3: Infer the effect on the organization of the application of practical measures concerning leadership, HRM, and change. [cognitive/practical skills]
• LO4: Integrate different theories and ideas to formulate concise and insightful analyses and solutions of organizational problems. [problem solving and reflection skills]
• LO5: Self-assess their own leadership style to detect current strengths, potentials, as well as limits as organizational members. [Self-Management Skill]

• Combined assessment of in-class activity and contribution to the discussion, students’ presentation, exam with open questions aiming at diagnosing and solving organizational problems, and a few True/false statements on papers to assess students’ overall knowledge.
• In-class activity and contribution to the discussion: 5% (bonus)
• Students’ presentation 10% (bonus)
• Exam: 100%

Brown, SL and Eisenhardt, KM (1997): "The art of continuous change: Linking complexity theory and time-paced evolution in relentlessly shifting organizations." Administrative Science Quarterly, 4: 1-34.

Christensen, C. M., & Rosenbloom, R. S. (1995). Explaining the attacker's advantage: Technological paradigms, organizational dynamics, and the value network. Research policy, 24(2), 233-257.

Edmondson, A. (1999). “Psychological safety and learning behavior in work teams.” Administrative Science Quarterly, 44, 350-383.

Garaus, C., Güttel, WH, Konlechner, SW, Koprax, I., Lackner, H., Link, K. and Müller, B. (2016): "Bridging knowledge in ambidextrous HRM systems: Empirical evidence from Hidden Champions." International Journal of Human Resource Management 27: 355-381.

Goleman, D. (2017). Leadership that gets results (Harvard business review classics). Harvard Business Press.

Grosser, TJ., Obstfeld, D., Choi, E.W., Woehler, M., Lopez-Kidwell, V., Labianca, G., and Borgatti, SP. (2018): "A sociopolitical perspective on employee innovativeness and job performance: The role of political skill and network structure." Organization Science 29: 612-632.

Hansen, NK, Güttel, WH and Swart, J. (2019): "HR in dynamic environments: Exploitative, exploratory and ambidextrous HR architectures." International Journal of Human Resource Management 30(4):648-679.

Kotter, J. P. (1995). Leading change. Harvard Business Review, 2(1), 1-10.

Krackhardt, D. (1992): The strength of strong ties. The importance of Philos in organizations.

Thomas, R., Sargent, L. D., & Hardy, C. (2011). “Managing organizational change: Negotiating meaning and power-resistance relations.” Organization Science, 22(1), 22-41.

Tripsas, M., & Gavetti, G. (2000). Capabilities, cognition, and inertia: Evidence from digital imaging. Strategic Management Journal, 21, 1147-1161.

Case studies. Ancona, D., Backman, E., and Isaacs, K. 2015. Two Roads to Green: A Tale of Bureaucratic versus Distributed Leadership Models of Change. Chapter 9 in Leading Sustainable Change, edited by Henderson, Gulati, Tushman, OUP.

Tushman, M., O’Reilly, C. A., and Harreld, B. 2015. Leading Proactive Change. Chapter 10 in Leading Sustainable Change, edited by Henderson, Gulati, Tushman, OUP.

Other case studies will be communicated before the start of the class.

Complementary Textbooks

Edmondson, Amy (2019): "The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth" Wiley.

Henderson, R., Gulati, R., & Tushman, M. (Eds.). (2015). Leading sustainable change: An organizational perspective. OUP Oxford.

Schreyögg, Georg and Koch, Jochen (2020): “Management.” Springer.

Supplementary Readings

Benner, Mary J., and Michael Tushman (2002). "Process management and technological innovation: A longitudinal study of the photography and paint industries." Administrative Science Quarterly 47.4: 676-707.

Christensen, Clayton (2013). "The innovator's dilemma: when new technologies cause great firms to fail." Harvard Business Review Press.

Eisenhardt, Kathleen M. and Sull, Donald N. (2001): "Strategy as simple rules." Harvard Business Review 79: 106-119.

Eisenhardt, Kathleen M., and Shona L. Brown (1998). "Patching. Restitching business portfolios in dynamic markets." Harvard Business Review 77(3): 72-82.

Goleman, D., Boyatzis, R., & McKee, A. (2001). Primal leadership: The hidden driver of great performance. Harvard business review, 79(11), 42-53.

Güttel, Wolfgang H. and Konlechner, Stefan W. (2009): "Continuously Hanging by a Thread: Managing Contextually Ambidextrous Organizations." Schmalenbach Business Review 71: 150-172.

Hayes, J. (2014): The theory and practice of change management. 4th edition.

Majchrzak, A., Jarvenpaa, S. L., & Hollingshead, A. B. (2007). Coordinating expertise among emergent groups responding to disasters. Organization science, 18(1), 147-161.

O'Reilly, Charles A., J. Bruce Harreld, and Michael L. Tushman (2009). "Organizational ambidexterity: IBM and emerging business opportunities." California Management Review 51(4): 75-99.

O'Reilly, CA, and Tushman, ML (2013): "Organizational ambidexterity: Past, present, and future." The Academy of Management Perspectives 27: 324-338.

Sydow, J., Schreyögg, G. and Koch, J. (2009): "Organizational path dependence: Opening the black box." Academy of Management Review 34: 689-709.

Tripsas, Mary (2009): "Technology, identity, and inertia through the lens of “The Digital Photography Company”." Organization Science 20(2): 441-460.

Tushman, Michael L., and Charles A. O'Reilly (1996). "The ambidextrous organizations: Managing evolutionary and revolutionary change." California Management Review 38(4): 8-30.

Uhl-Bien, Mary and Arena, Michael (2018): "Leadership for organizational adaptability: The theoretical synthesis and integrative framework." The Leadership Quarterly 29: 89-104.