300501 Microtheories of Organizing (BS) (WiSe 2011/2012)

The topic of the course are microtheoretical concepts and analyses of organizational structures and processes broadly considered. The bulk of the required readings will be microsociological investigations, but we will also consider contributions from other disciplines like micro-economics and social psychology. Topics will range from the classical behavioral theory of the firm to work place studies, symbolic interactionism and “sensemaking” approaches, principal-agent analyses and game theory. Students are encouraged to bring in their own theoretical and empirical interests and cases. Each microtheoretical approach will be discussed with respect to empirical examples suggested by students, ideally in the form of videoclips of either real-life or scripted and theatrical interaction.
A couple of papers that will give you an idea of where this is going are
Felin, Teppo & Nicolai J. Foss, 2009: Organizational Routines and Capabilities: Historical Drift and a Course-Correction toward Microfoundations. Scandinavian Journal of Management 25: 157-167.
Gomez, Pierre-Yves & Brittany C. Jones, 2000: Conventions: An Interpretation of Deep Structure in Organizations. Organization Science 11: 696-708.
Hilbert, Richard A., 1987: Bureaucracy as Belief, Rationalization as Repair: Max Weber in a Post-Functionalist Age. Sociological Theory 5 (Spring): 70-86.