MSOD 617 Foundations of Strategy and Large Systems (2)

The purpose of this course is to introduce assessment concepts and theories related to Strategy and Large Systems. To achieve high performance, an organization’s strategic orientation–its strategies, structures, and processes– must be designed to support each other and to align appropriately into its environmental context. The focus of this course is on the systemic, normative, and assessment considerations associated with environmental scanning and changing an organization’s strategic orientation. Building on the open systems perspective introduced in earlier courses, this course extends the understanding of the relationship among organization environments, strategy, organization design, groups, technology, and culture and effectiveness. Students are expected to reflect on their performance and learning in Practicum 1 as a contribution to their point of view portfolio, integrate those learnings in the frameworks explored in this course, and mobilize for class and field assignments in Practicum 2.