ORGANIZATIONAL THEORY & CHANGE

(PUBA 603)

Meeting Times Instructor

[ZOOM] Tuesdays or Thursdays 6-8:30 David C. Nixon, Ph.D.
[ASYNC] Complete at your own pace dnixon@hawaii.edu
office hours by appointment

Program Mission
The Mission of the Public Administration Program is to energize public institutions and
organizations doing public work, enrich and deepen civic culture, and increase leadership
capacity for those with public and community responsibilities in Hawaii, the rest of the U.S., and
the Asia-Pacific Region. We do this though teaching, research, and service activities that give
current and future public service professionals the knowledge and skills they need to be more
effective in their work and to improve our communities.

Program Objectives
The MPA program aims to equip you as high functioning public servants. The program has
several goals for your training that are related to organizational theory and change:
• Students will Appraise the organizational environment, both internal and eternal, as well
as the culture, politics, and institutional setting.
• Students will Regularly employ a coherent framework to think critically about an issue in
order to decide what, if any, action to take
• Students will Communicate effectively orally and in written form, by tailoring the mode
of communication to different audiences.
• Students will Value the responsibilities of public service by demonstrating responsiveness
to their publics, and recognizing the legal and ethical responsibilities and engaging in
professional behavior.

Course Objectives
The course will introduce students to foundational and current perspectives on organizational
design. After successful completion of the course, students should be able to:
• Use multiple frames to define and diagnose organizations
• Differentiate between various organizational forms and the impact of the context
• Assess the drivers of human behavior in organizations
• Evaluate the organization and apply organizational change strategies
• Apply their knowledge to "real life" situations

Course Description
The course will systematically explore the characteristics of organizations from the
perspective of the structural, human resources, political, and cultural frames of organizational
theory. The course then focuses on organizational change strategies and theories. The course
concludes with discussions of how these frames and theories can be used in everyday
management of public service organizations.
 A combination of theory and practical application will animate each evening. Most
evening will begin with a theoretical lecture and discussion, with illustrative examples. Most
evenings will end with a hands-on opportunity to explore, practice, and pursue mastery of the
night’s materials.

Textbook and Readings

• Bolman, L.G. and Deal, T.E. 2013. Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and
Leadership, 5th edition. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. A FREE ELECTRONIC
EDITION IS AVAILABLE THROUGH UH LIBRARY
• Shafritz, J.M., Ott, J. Steven, and Jang, Y.S., Eds. 2016. Classics in Organization Theory,
8th edition. San Francisco, CA: Wadsworth. ISBN:978-1-285-87027-4
• additional readings available through Laulima in the “Readings” folder under the
“Rescources” tab.

To maximize your learning, it is essential to come to class having read all assigned
materials.

Assignments
This semester you will write a short analysis of a problem in an organization with which
you are familiar and make recommendations to address the problem, based upon the course
material. The assignment will be done in four stages:
Assignment 1: Initial description of the agency and the problem. [maximum 1
page, graded as Pass/Fail] Due Sept 15, 11:59pm
Assignment 2: Framing and Diagnosis. In 1,250 words or less, draft a description
of the problem and apply ONE of the organizational frames covered in this course (structure,
human resources, politics, culture), as follows: Describe the managerial problem the organization
is dealing with. BE SPECIFIC. You might want to consider WHY the problem exists and
persists. Note if there have been attempts to rectify the problem in the past and, if so, WHY did
they fail? Please use citations, and please cite relevant literature, as this will be a component of
your grade. Section headings are always a good idea to help you structure your paper. Due by
November 24 11:59pm.
Assignment 3: Around November 25, you will receive a paper from one of your
peers, and one of your peers will receive a copy of your paper. By Monday, December 1
11:59pm, you will write a set of constructive comments on that paper and send your review to the
instructor. This peer review will be “double-blind” (you will not know the identity of the author,
and the author will not know the identity of his or her reviewer). There is no maximum or
minimum length, and the assignment is graded pass/fail. Most people write a few paragraphs.
Some people provide comments or editorial suggestions directly in the document, as “track
changes”, though it is not required that you do so.
Assignment 4: Strategy Plan. Revise your draft paper, as you deem appropriate in
light of the comments from the instructor and from your anonymous reviewer. Add a section to
the memo that makes one or more recommendation(s) about how to address the problem. Be
candid about the challenges the organization might face in implementing the
recommendation(s)-and why. The final paper (revision of Stage 1 plus recommendation(s))
should be no more than 2,000 words, due Monday, December 14 11:59pm. Email all papers and
CC: the instructor.

Grading
Attention to and practice with the theoretical concepts are vital to your performance, and
the interaction and networking with your peers is an invaluable component of your professional
training. We are going to accomplish all of that, through a variety of online experiences. About
half of the course will consist of synchronous online meetings, through Zoom. You will receive a
Zoom meeting invitation or reminder each of those weeks. Those sessions will function a lot like
an in-person graduate seminar. Please read the required material ahead of time and come
prepared to discuss. Approximately half of the course will be run asynchronously, based on
discussion prompts posted in Laulima. The discussions will open near the beginning of the week
and will close by the end of the week. The quality of your participation in zoom and
asynchronous discussions constitutes 20% of your grade.

If you are unable to attend a scheduled Zoom meeting due to travel, connectivity problems or
really any other reason, you are expected to write a short paper (500 words) about the required
readings for that session.

Most of your semester’s grade will be based on your organizational paper and peer review,
described in the preceding section.

attendance: 20%
stage 1 description 10%
stage 2 draft diagnosis 40%
stage 3 peer review 10%
stage 4 final paper 20%
Total 100%

Topics and Schedule

Part I: Introduction
Week 1 (aug25/27) [ZOOM] - Introduction

Week 2 (sept1/3) [ZOOM] - Framing and Overview

Bolman: • Chapter 1: The Power of Reframing.
Shafritz: • Gulick, L. 1937. "Notes on the Theory of Organization."
Laulima: • Gore. 1995. The National Performance Review. "Common Sense Government (third
update).” Washington DC: Government Printing Office

Week 3 (sept8/10) [ASYNC] - History of Organizational theories

Shafritz: • Taylor, F.W. 1916. “The Principles of Scientific Management.”
• Weber, M. 1922. “Bureaucracy.”
Laulima: • Rainey, H.G. 2014. "Understanding the Study of Public Organizations." in
 Understanding and Managing Public Organizations, 5th edition. San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass. Pp16-52.

Part II: The External Environment

Week 4 (sept15/17) [ASYNC] - Organizations and Environments

Bolman: • Chapter 2: Simple Ideas, Complex Organizations
Shafrtiz: • Katz, D. and Kahn, R.L. 1966. "Organizations and the System Concept"
• Thompson, J.D. 1967. "Organizations in Action".
• Meyer, J.W. and Rowan, B. 1977. "Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as
Myth and Ceremony.”
• Pfeffer, J. and Salancik, G.R. 1978. "External Control of Organizations: A Resource
Dependence Perspective."

Part III: Structural Frame

Week 5 (sept22/24) [ZOOM] - Framing Features

Bolman: • Chapter 3: Getting Organized
Shafritz: • Mintzberg, H. 1980. "Structure in 5s."

Week 6 (sept29/oct1) [ASYNC] - Structural Options

Bolman: • Chapter 4: Structure and Restructuring
• Chapter 5: Organizing Groups and Teams
Shafrtiz: • Walker, A.H. & Lorsch, J.W.. 1968. “Organizational Choice”

Part IV: Human Resources Frame

Week 7 (oct6/8) [ZOOM] - Work Motivation and Employee Values

Bolman: • Chapter 6: People and Organizations.
Shafritz: • Maslow, 1943. "A Theory of Human Motivation."
• McGregor, 1957. "The Human Side of Enterprise."
Laulima: • Moynihan, D.P., and Pandey, S.K. 2007. The Role of Organizations in Fostering Public
Service Motivation. Public Administration Review, 67(1): 40-53.

Week 8 (oct13/15) [ASYNC] - Human Capital and Workplace Diversity

Bolman: • Chapter 7: Improving Human Resource Management
Shafritz: • Acker, J. 1992. “Gendering Organizational Theory”
Laulima: • Keiser et al. 2002. “Lipstick and Logarithms: Gender, Institutional Context, and
Representative Bureaucracy” American Political Science Review 96(3): 553-564.

Part V: Political Frame

Week 9 (oct20/22) [ZOOM] - Conflict and Interest

Bolman: • Chapter 9: Power, Conflict and Coalition
• Chapter 10: The Manager as Politician
Shafritz: • French, J.R. & Raven, B. 1959. “The Bases of Social Power.”
Laulima • Pache, A. & Santos, F. 2010. "When Worlds Collide: The Internal Dynamics of
Organizational Responses to Conflicting Institutional Demands." Academy of
 Management Review 35(3): 455-476.

Week 10 (oct27/29) [ASYNC] - Power Politics

Bolman: • Chapter 11: Organizations as Political Arenas and Political Agents
Shafritz: • March, J.G. 1966. "The Power of Power"
• Mintzberg, H. 1983. "The Power Game and the Players."

Week 11 (nov3and5) - Election Weed, no classes. Vote!

Part VI: Cultural Frame

Week 12 (nov10/12) [ZOOM] - Organizational Culture

Bolman: • Chapter 12: Organizational Symbols and Culture
Shafritz: • Schein, E.H. 2004. "The Concept of Organizational Culture: Why bother?"

Week 13 (nov17/19) [ASYNC] - Dimensions of culture

Bolman: • Chapter 13: Culture in Action
• Chapter 14: Organization as Theater
Shafritz: • Cooperrider, D.L., and Whitney, D. 2005. "Appreciative Inquiry."

Week 14 (nov24/26) - Thanksgiving Week, no classes

Part VII: Organizational Change

Week 15 (dec1/3) [ASYNC] - Analyzing Organizational Readiness for Change.

Bolman • Chapter 18: Reframing Change in Organizations: Training, Realigning, Negotiating, and
Grieving
Shafritz: • Kanter, R.M. 1979. "Power Failure in Management Circuits."
Williamson, O.E. 1981. “The Economics of Organization.”
Laulima • Gambil, T. and Kirk, J. 1999. Understanding Organizational Change: The case of a
troubled organization. Journal of Workplace Learning, 11(2): 48-52.

Week 16 (dec8/10) [ZOOM] - Change and Leadership in Action

Bolman • Chapter 15 Integrating Frames for Effective Practice
• Chapter 20, Bringing it all Together: Change and Leadership in Action

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