Company Culture

ECTS : 6

Description du contenu de l'enseignement :

Course description and objectives
This course was designed for students destined for a career in international management and seeking to gain a personal understanding of the logics behind the cultural aspects of business practices. The teaching aims to broaden students’ perspectives, and enhance their ability to harness abstract cultural concepts and apply them to practical business contexts. This will deepen their understanding of the cultural dimension of business organizations in the light of related managerial considerations. Theoretical analysis and practical applications will prepare students to marketing management issues and organizational development choices. From the structuring of corporate identity to the design of brand image, students will learn about the cultural components of business activities. Teaching is done through thematic lectures, focused class discussions and simulated case study debates.
 
Students will gain practical insight into what constitutes culture and will correlate this with the relevant managerial imperatives of business development. They will work on defining the parameters of their own management philosophy, expressing a unique cultural vision. They will also develop a professional skillset with cultural value orientations and the ability to focus business activity around cultural prerogatives. This aims to enhance their propensity to manage and develop company culture through selected key values.

Course Structure

1. Presentation of course objectives and outline of learning requirements. Introduction to the presence of culture within business organizations and in products and services. Questions and answers session and correlation of student motivations to relevant course content.
2. Development of student understanding of the nature of culture and its modes of retention, orientation and propagation. Overview of culture within society and the arts, and which aspects also pertain to the problem sets of economic process and business organizations.
3. Analysis of cultural components entering into individual identification and social group processes. Culture will be examined as the bonding agent for multiple social actors. It will also be studied as creating and maintaining the reality construct used for their interactions.
4. Review of the place of culture in philosophy, ethnology, social science and psychology.  Outlook onto the historical evolution of culture within business and management science.
5. 1st case study focused on cultural perceptions and mandates as they correlate to socioeconomic contexts and value orientations. Discussion of situational assessments and the consequent implications for company interactions involving cultural considerations.
6. Panorama of company cultures with analysis of their respective goals and orientations. Comparison of various cultural models and the evolution of company culture in contemporary businesses. Exploration of competing trends and future developments.
7. Class analysis of a 2nd case with cultural engineering within a company. Discussion of the role of culture in management and limits of social engineering for business performance.
8. Review of culture in relation to intellectual development and human or artificial intelligence. Culture in cognitive processes, civilizational structuring through culture, historical extension of cultural traditions and practices, in which today companies partake.
9. The design of company culture from business models to policy-making. Study of the potential of culture to create company dynamics and alternative methods for value creation and performance achievement, correlation of company goals with cultural options.
10. Student presentations of independent research on company culture topics.
11. Student presentations of independent research on company culture topic

    Compétence à acquérir :

    Learning outcomes
    Students will have the opportunity to structure their understanding of culture, and its increasing impact on organizational development with potential extension to mainstream society. They will acquire the ability to assess the incidence of cultural values on business orientations and analyze their correlation to management styles. Students will explore how culture is redefining today’s business horizon as well as societal lifestyles. They will also learn how they can contribute to company objectives through cultural values with a distinctive managerial outlook.

    Mode de contrôle des connaissances :

    Assignments and grading
    Required case study preparation, class discussion participation and independent research.
    Graded 50% for collaborative group presentations and 50% for the individual final exam.
     
    The numerical grade distribution will dictate the final grade. The passing grade for a course is 10/20.
     
    Class participation: Active class participation – this is what makes classes lively and instructive. Come on time and prepared. Class participation is based on personal investment and quality of comments.
    Exam policy: In the exam, students will not be allowed to bring any document (except if allowed by the lecturer). Unexcused absences from exams or failure to submit cases will result in zero grades in the calculation of numerical averages. Exams are collected at the end of examination periods.
    
    Academic integrity
    Be aware of the rules in Université Paris Dauphine about plagiarism and cheating during exams. All work turned in for this course must be your own work, or that of your own group. Working as part of a group implies that you are an active participant and fully contributed to the output produced by that group.
    
     

    Bibliographie, lectures recommandées :

    Bibliography
     

    • Organizational Culture and Leadership. Edgard H. Schein - 1985 - Jossey-Bass.
    • Living with Multiple Paradigms: The Case of Paradigm Interplay in Organizational Culture Studies. Schultz, Majken, and Mary Jo Hatch - 1996 - Academy of Management Review 21.2 (1996): 529–557.
    • Impact of Organizational Culture on Organizational Performance: An Overview. F. Shahzad, A. Luqman, R. Khan & L. Shabbir - 2012 – Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business  3 (9), 975 - 985
    • Organizational Culture and its Impact on Employee Performance. R. Durgadevi & V. Shanmugan - 2017 - Journal of Public Health Research and Development, 8 (2), 315
    • Connection Culture: The Competitive Advantage of Shared Identity, Empathy, and Understanding at Work. Michael Lee Stallard, Jason Pankau. Katharine P. Stallard - 2015 - Association for Talent Development.
    • What Silicon Valley Gets Wrong (and Right) About Culture. Jay Rao - 2018 - Quartz at Work.
    • Culture That Rocks: How to Revolutionize Your Company’s Culture. Jim Knight - 2014 - Knight Speaker LLC.
     
    MyCourse
    This course is on MyCourse: No
    
    Lecturer's Biography
    Richard OREN - American & French nationalities Teacher at Paris-Dauphine PSL, University of Paris VIII, ENSTA Paris-Tech
    
    Academic background in Business Administration, Political Economics, Applied Economics, Management Controls & Finance, Business Systems and Organizational AI Architecture. Extensive Teaching Experience in various fields.
    
    Professional Background in Field Management, Project Engineering, Management Methods, Corporate Restructuring, Business Systems, Software Design, Executive Information Systems, Group Information Systems, Bilingual Journalism, Social Service Advocacy and Labor Relations.