Organization of Innovation / Organization of Innovation

The Academic Board of Business Administration, Odense
Teaching activity id: 9851201.
Teaching language: English.ECTS / weighting: 10 ECTS / 0.167 full-time equivalent.
Examination language: English.
Exam activity id: 9851212, 9851202.Approved: 29-09-17.
Period: Spring 2018.
Grading: Internal grading.
Assessment: 7-point scale.
Offered in: Odense.
Subject director:
Associate Professor Oliver Baumann, Department of Marketing & Management.

Prerequisites:
  • Prior coursework in organization theory and innovation management
  • Skills related to locating, reading, evaluating, and referencing academic literature
  • Prior experience with academic writing, as acquired, e.g., through a bachelor’s thesis.

Purpose:
By organizing effectively, firms can foster innovation.
This course aims for students to develop competences to identify and reflect how organization design affects innovation, and to develop recommendations for action, based on a scientific and structured analysis and using theoretical frameworks. These competences and skills are relevant for students seeking a career in both private and public organizations, for example in functions such as business development, planning and organizing, innovation management, consulting, or entrepreneurship. The course also aims at allowing students to communicate a theoretically-guided written analysis in a clear and systematic manner. In doing so, it prepares students for major written assignments in academia (e.g., a master’s thesis), but also for a critical analysis and written communication in a practical context.


Content - Key areas:
The course is based on the notion of innovation as a search and recombination process that can be shaped by organizational choices. Building on this conceptualization, the course discussion addresses important issues at different levels:

  • The micro level, including the management of experimentation processes as well as employee motivation.
  • The organizational level, including knowledge management as well as ambidextrous organizational designs that balance innovation and efficiency.
  • The interfirm level, including innovation ecosystems and crowdsourcing approaches.


Goals description (SOLO taxonomy):
The aim of the course is that students, by participation in this course, can:
  • Account for, evaluate, apply, and compare theory and frameworks at the intersection of organization design and innovation management,
  • Independently research, evaluate, and structure literature on an organizational problem that affects innovation,
  • Use the frameworks for doing and disseminating research discussed in the course to analyze, reflect, and communicate a theoretically-guided analysis in written form.

Literature:
The classroom activities draw on a mix of journal articles, book chapters, and cases. The specific literature will be announced at the beginning of the course. In addition, students are expected to research and read further literature related to their individual exam papers.

Time of classes:
Spring.

Scheduled classes:
3 hours weekly in 15 weeks.

Form of instruction:
Lectures, class discussion, and counselling in English.

The course discusses seminal academic articles to provide the theoretical basis and frameworks for addressing the organizational challenges of innovation. It uses case studies to illustrate how to analyze practical issues of organizing for innovation. The compulsory assignment (exam condition) lets each student develop and structure ideas and literature for a possible exam paper. The term paper gives students the opportunity to put the theory to work by analyzing, in an in-depth and scientific manner, a current problem related to the organization of innovation.

Lectures: 45 hours.
Preparation: 60 hours.
Workload in connection to the examination condition: 25
Workload in connection to the exam: 140 hours.
Total: 270 hours

Time of examination:
Ordinary examination in June.
Reexamination in August.

The form of the reexam is subject to change. This will be announced 14 days before the reexam takes place.

Registration for the course is automatically a registration for the ordinary examination in the course. Cancellation is not possible. If the student does not participate in the examination, the student will use an examination attempt.

Examination conditions:
The students must pass one assignment (course id. 9851212). In the assignment, students must develop and structure proposals for a possible exam paper on an organizational problem of innovation. The proposals must be sufficiently narrow, in-depth, and contain relevant theory. The instructors will provide broad topics related to the course contents, which the students can choose from and narrow down to an appropriate size. The assignment has to be solved individually. The assignment is evaluated internally on a passed/not passed basis.

If this requirement is not met, the student cannot participate in the exam and one examination attempt has been used.

Fulfillment of the exam requirement is only possible prior to the ordinary exam. Participation in the re-exam thus requires that the exam requirement is met prior to the ordinary exam.

Duration: 2 weeks.
Location: Home assignment.
Internet Access: Necessary.
Hand out: The course page in Blackboard.
Hand in: Via SDU-assignment in the course page in Blackboard.
Extent: Max. 5 pages according to the formalities for written assignments to programmes in Economic and Business Administration.
Exam Aids: All exam aids allowed.

Form of examination for the certificate:
Written report.

Registration for the course is automatically a registration for the ordinary examination in the course.
Cancellation is not possible.
If the student does not participate in the examination, the student will use an examination attempt.
The university may grant an exemption from the rules in case of exceptional circumstances.

Examination form at the re-exam can be changed.

Supplemental information for the form of examination:
The exam consists of a paper that each student has to write individually, expending the proposal into a full-fledged and well-structured analysis of the chosen problem. The papers must contain relevant theory and communicate the analysis in a clear way. Students are supposed to work independently. The instructors will provide counseling during the writing stage.  

Duration: Approximately 4 weeks at the end of the semester. Date for submission will appear from the examination plan.
Location: Home assignment.
Internet Access: Necessary.
Hand in: Via SDU-assignment in the course page in Blackboard.
Extent: Maximum 20 pages, 1½ line spacing, 12 pitch font, excluding references.
Exam Aids: All exam aids allowed.

The report must be written individually.

Programmes:
cand.merc. Management of Innovation Processes
All Semesters, mandatory. Offered in: Odense
cand.merc. International Business and Management
All Semesters, elective subject. Offered in: Odense
cand.merc. Human Resource Management
All Semesters, elective subject. Offered in: Odense
cand.merc. Communication Management and Leadership
All Semesters, elective subject. Offered in: Odense
cand.merc. International Business and Marketing
All Semesters, elective subject. Offered in: Odense
cand.merc. Management of People
All Semesters, elective subject. Offered in: Odense
cand.merc. Strategy and Organization
All Semesters, elective subject. Offered in: Odense
cand.merc. Accounting and Finance
All Semesters, elective subject. Offered in: Odense
cand.merc. Management Accounting
All Semesters, elective subject. Offered in: Odense
cand.merc. Global Logistics and Supply Chain Management
All Semesters, elective subject. Offered in: Odense
cand.merc. Marketing, Globalization and Culture
All Semesters, elective subject. Offered in: Odense
cand.merc. Brand Management and Marketing Communication
All Semesters, elective subject. Offered in: Odense