By carefully studying the principal organizational theories of today and by reviewing the history of the field of organizational studies, class discussions will highlight key conceptual tools to understand organizations. Drawing from classic arguments and debates, discussions will explicate the use of such conceptual tools through analysis of cases and review of current empirical research. The core theories reviewed are made relevant to a wide range of topics (change and reform, leadership, organizational structure, social advocacy, and decision-making) and to a wide range of sectors (schools and universities, of course, but also to other non-profit and governmental contexts).

The course reviews both issues - globalization and organizations - while focusing on those topics that link between the two. It discusses how organizations serve as the carriers of globalization processes: How, while expanding their activities worldwide, organizations proliferate social procedures, establish isomorphic structures, and diffuse cultural patterns. The course also reviews how, on the other hand, globalization processes encourage the formation of organizations and determine their shape worldwide. Such organizations range from political structures (structuring the state and its agencies), to international relations (establishing political alliances and trade partnerships), to commercial organizations (forming multi-national corporations, their local branches or business partnerships), to cultural institutions (structuring entertainment conglomerates and sending “waves” of fashion and tastes worldwide), to identity politics (encouraging the expansion of human rights, women rights and indigenousness).

To address these matters, the course reviews such issues as the features of global organizational expansion (loose coupling and isomorphism), forms of organizational adaptation (or, glocalization), notions of national sovereignty under conditions of intensifying global organizational expansion, and emerging forms of national and international governance. In general, the course draws on the diverse bodies of literature (IR, organizational studies, sociology and others) and on studies of particular global organizational fields (science, rights, environment, development and others), thus combining theoretical, comparative and case-study pieces.