Master Electives

Each of our master electives is driven by the state-of-the-art research of department members in conjunction with case material.

HIGH PERFORMANCE LEADERSHIP AND MOTIVATION, A PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

Organisational success and the ability to gain a competitive advantage is critically contingent on an organisation’s effective management of people. Leaders are the key players in these processes. At the same time, however, they may also be a primary source of conflict and de-motivation. Understanding what ensures high performance leadership – as well as where leadership can go wrong – is therefore of critical importance to successful organisational functioning. This course explores theory, research, and practice of leadership effectiveness in order to build a deeper understanding of leadership processes, and of the do’s and don’ts of leadership. 

MANAGEMENT OF DIVERSITY

In today’s increasingly globalised world, managing a diverse workforce is one of the key challenges facing organisations. Effective leaders need to understand the facets of multiplicity (including ethnicity, race, gender, age, and religion) and manage a workforce that is positioned along a variety of dimensions. Through exploring the legal and practical aspects of diversity management the students will become prepared for the challenges related to personnel management in modern organisations. Through empirical cases they will learn to diagnose diversity dilemmas in the workplace and will attempt to formulate creative solutions to those challenges.

MANAGERIAL AND GROUP DECISION-MAKING 

For an organisation to achieve its objectives, decision-making is a crucial determining factor. In many business situations, however, it is not possible to solve a decision-making problem analytically. The emphasis in this course is on managerial implications and, in particular, applications for organisational behaviour. The initial part of the course is devoted to understanding the nature, causes, and implications of these human decision-making limitations, while the second part is devoted to group decision-making. We discuss the reasons why groups often do not use their productive potential, and how that can be improved. The last part of the course explicitly focuses on the organisational perspective.

ORGANISATION DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT

This course introduces the process of organisational development and change, with a particular focus on the role of HR management and its interaction with line management and consultants as professional facilitators. It aims to enhance students’ insights into processes of organisational change and development, and examines both formal and informal aspects of organisational functioning. Examples of topics are: development of organisations, change dynamics, institutionalisation and institutional change, organisational learning, management and employee attitudes, power and politics, resistance to change, roles for HRM and others as facilitators of the process of development, strategies for change, institutional entrepreneurship, and management of conflict and resistance.