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STOA 603: Strategy and Organizational Analysis Report a Broken Link

How and why do organizations function as they do? What are the links among their environments, strategies, and structures? This course offers answers to these questions described in a framework designed to improve organizational effectiveness. The course diagnoses and analyzes how implementing organizational strategies effectively often depends on fitting specific environmental factors with organizational structure and process variables.

Required Readings

Lesson 1

Reading 1: Vibert, C. (2024). Thoughts on researching companies and industries.(version 29). [Student handout]. Wolfville, NS: Acadia University.
Reading 2: Barends, E., Rousseau, D., & Briner, R. B. (2014). Evidence-based management: The basic principles. Centre for Evidence-Based Management. https://www.cebma.org/assets/Uploads/Evidence-Based-Practice-The-Basic-Principles.pdf

Lesson 2

Reading 3: Garner, B. A. (2018). Amazon in the global market. Journal of Marketing and Management, 9(2), 63–73.
Reading 4: Nadkarni, D. A. (2017). The four: The hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. [Book review]. Anvesha, 10(3), 55–56.
Reading 5: Matthews, B. L., Harbin, J., & Daigle, J. (2018). New York Times versus Amazon: Is Jeff Bezos’ head still in the clouds? Journal of Organizational Psychology, 18(3), 73–87.
Reading 6: Schoemaker, P., Heaton, S., & Teece, D. (2018). Innovation, dynamic capabilities, and leadership. California Management Review, 61(1), 15–42.

Lesson 3

Reading 7: Pfeffer, J. (2016). Getting beyond the BS of leadership literature. McKinsey Quarterly Magazine, 1, 1–6. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/leadership/getting-beyond-the-bs-of-leadership-literature 
Reading 8: Cosans, C., & Reina, C. (2018). The leadership ethics of Machiavelli’s Prince. Business Ethics Quarterly, 28(3), 275–300.
Reading 9: Sanders, C. G. (2014). Why the positional leadership perspective hinders the ability of organizations to deal with complex and dynamic situations. International Journal of Leadership Studies, 8(2), 136–150.
Reading 10: Arnold, K. A., & Loughlin, C. (2019). Continuing the conversation: Questioning the who, what, and when of leaning in. Academy of Management Perspectives, 33(1), 94–109.
Reading 11: Hill, L. A., Brandeau, G., Truelove, E., & Lineback, K. (2014). Collective genius. Harvard Business Review, 92(6), 94–102.

Lesson 4

Reading 12: Barrett, R. (2013, August 5). Unleashing human potential for performance and profit. Barrett Values Centre. https://www.valuescentre.com/sites/default/files/uploads/2013-08-05/Unleashing%20Human%20Potential%20for%20Performance%20and%20Profit.pdf
Reading 13: Søderberg, A.-M., & Holden, N. (2002). Rethinking cross cultural management in a globalizing business world. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 2(1), 103–121.
Reading 14: Hofstede Insights: Culture Compass. (2019). Cultural compass survey [Student version]. https://www.hofstede-insights.com/launch-culture-compass/

Athabasca University has purchased an individual Cultural Compass Survey code for your use (do not purchase a code) and has emailed it to you to access this survey. Please use your Athabasca University 0365 email address (@learn.athabascau.ca) when completing the survey to ensure that you receive the survey results. Note you can only use this code once. If you require technical assistance, please contact the Hofstede Centre directly at support@hofstede-insights.com
Reading 15: Larson, C. (n.d.), Working with multicultural teams. National Science Foundation. https://nsf.gov/attachments/134059/public/15LFW_WorkingWithMulticulturalTeams_LarsonC.pdf

Lesson 5

Reading 16: Ardichvili, A., Mitchell, J. A., & Jondle, D. (2009). Characteristics of ethical business cultures. Journal of Business Ethics, 85(4), 445–451.
Reading 17: Adelstein, J., & Clegg, S. (2016). Code of ethics: A stratified vehicle for compliance. Journal of Business Ethics, 138(1), 53–66.
Reading 18: Thiel, C. E., Bagdasarov, Z., Harkrider, L., Johnson, J. F., & Mumford, M. D. (2012). Leader ethical decision-making in organizations: Strategies for sensemaking. Journal of Business Ethics, 107(1), 49–64.

Lesson 6

Reading 19: Groysberg, B., Lee, J., Price, J., & Cheng, J. Y-J. (2018). The leader’s guide to corporate culture. Harvard Business Review, 96(1), 44–52.
Reading 20: Murray, S., Lazure, P., & Péloquin, S. (2017). Understanding culture and subcultures for efficient and sustainable transformation. People & Strategy, 40(2), 40–45.
Reading 21: Pisano, G. P. (2019). The hard truth about innovative cultures. Harvard Business Review, 97(1), 62–71.
Reading 22: Lurie, Z. (2019). SurveyMonkey’s CEO on creating a culture of curiosity. Harvard Business Review, 97(1), 35–39.

Lesson 7

Reading 23: Adkins, R. (2006). Conflict management styles quiz. http://www.ncsu.edu/grad/preparing-future-leaders/docs/conflict-management-styles-quiz.pdf
Reading 24: Landells, E. M., & Albrecht, S. L. (2017). The positives and negatives of organizational politics: A qualitative study. Journal of Business and Psychology, 32(1), 41–58.

Lesson 8

Reading [Video] 25: Hemerling, J. (2016, May). 5 ways to lead in an era of constant change [Video]. TED Conferences. https://www.ted.com/talks/jim_hemerling_5_ways_to_lead_in_an_era_of_constant_change?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare
Reading 26: Burke, W. (2017). Chapter 6: Levels of organizational change: Individual, group, and larger system. In Organizational change: Theory and practice (5th ed., pp. 100–138). Sage.
Reading 27: Anand, N., & Barsoux, J.-L. (2017). What everyone gets wrong about change management. Harvard Business Review, 95(6), 78–85.
Reading 28: Schwarzmuller, T., Brosi, P., Duman, D., & Welpe, I. (2018). How does the digital transformation affect organizations? Key themes of change in work design and leadership. Management Revue, 29(2), 114–138.
Reading 29: Beer, M., & Nohria, N. (2000).  Cracking the code of change.  Harvard Business Review, 78(3), 133-141.

Supplementary Readings

Lesson 1 Supp. Rdgs.

There are no supplementary readings this week.

Lesson 2 Supp. Rdg.

Dutt, D. (2018). In competition with oneself: A qualitative inquiry into Amazon’s entrepreneurial culture. Technology Innovation Management Review, 8(6), 5–14.

Lesson 3 Supp. Rdg.

Hill, L. (2014, September). How to manage for collective creativity [Video]. TED Conferences. https://www.ted.com/talks/linda_hill_how_to_manage_for_collective_creativity?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

Lesson 4 Supp. Rdgs.

Barrett, R. (2017). The values driven organization: Culture, health, employee well-being as a pathway to sustainable performance (2nd ed.). Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group.

You may wish to borrow this publication from your local university library.
Hemp, P. (2008). Where will we find tomorrow's leaders? A conversation with Linda A. Hill. Harvard Business Review, 86(1), 123–129.

Lesson 5 Supp. Rdg.

There are no supplementary readings this week.

Lesson 6 Supp. Rdgs.

Schein, E. (1996). Three cultures of management: The key to organizational learning. Sloan Management Review, 38(1), 9–20.
Arayest, M., Golmohammadi, E., Nekooeezadeh, M., & Mansouri, A. (2017). The effects of organizational culture on the development of strategic thinking at the organizational level. International Journal of Organizational Leadership, 6(2), 261–275.

Lesson 7 Supp. Rdg.

Fleming, P., & Spicer, A. (2014). Organizational power in management and organization science. The Academy of Management Annals, 8(1), 237–298.

Lesson 8 Supp. Rdg.

Kotter, J. P. (1995). Leading change: Why transformation efforts fail. Harvard Business Review, 73(2), 59-67.