Sociology of Organisations
Code
711081035
Academic unit
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
Department
Sociologia
Credits
6
Teacher in charge
Helena Serra
Weekly hours
4
Teaching language
Portuguese
Objectives
1. Knowledge and undersatnding of basic concepts of the sociological study of organisations;
2. Understanding organisations in the light of social regularities underpinning their productive process;
3. Knowledge and understanding of the ideal types of organisational models within which take plece issues such as: employment; mangement and development of human potential; sociotechnical adaptation; organisational change; professional qualification;
4. Ability to read theoretically the main lines of an organisations´ social processess;
Ability to use models to deal with the complexity and diversity of an organisation;
6. Ability to intervene in a critical and informed way ons organisational processes and situations.
Prerequisites
Subject matter
1. Introduction
The social perspective of organisations: basic concepts
OrganisationsTheory/Sociology of Organisations: object, research and method(s)
2. Classical Theories
Scientific management principles (F.W. Taylor)
Fayol and Ford contributions
Max Weber´s bureaucratic model
The bureaucratic model in contemporary societies
3. The early Human Relations Theory
HRT main topics
The rationalisation of human factor a critical analysis
4. Organisations as Social and Technological Systems
General system theory (GST)
The social-technical experiments
5. Contingency Theories: Organisations as Open Systems
Technology and organisational models
External environment, technology and organisations
6. Power, Politics and Organisations
Strategic analyses
Political organisation theories
Resource dependency theory
7. Contemporary organisational theories
Organisational ecology theory
Cognitivism in organisational studies
Institutional theory
Bibliography
Bernoux, Ph. (1995). A sociologia das organizações. Porto: Rés.
Ferreira, J.M.C., Neves, J. & Caetano, A. (2001). Manual de psicossociologia das organizações. Lisboa: McGraw-Hill
Hall, R.H. (2004). Organizações: Estruturas, processos e resultados. São Paulo: Pearson Prentice Hall, Handel, M.J. (ed.) (2003). The sociology of organizations: Classic, contemporary and critical readings. London: Sage.
Mintzberg, H. (1995). Estrutura e dinâmica das organizações. Lisboa: Dom Quixote
Teaching method
. Theoretical lectures (50%): theoretical lectures (teacher); thematic workshop presentations about a research topic, according to each syllabus section (students).
. Practical classwork and tutorials (50%): reading and texts analysis;
Evaluation method
. Practical classwork (20%): careful reading of required texts, supervised by the teacher. The students should prepare their thematic workshop presentation in group, by articulating the readings with the theoretical lectures.
. Thematic workshops (40%): six thematic workshops chaired by the professor; the student groups present and debate a topic, according with the previous work accomplished in the practical lectures.
. Written test in class (40%): individual assignment. All syllabus topics are included.