Sociology of organized action

Duration

45h Th

Number of credits

Lecturer

Frédéric Schoenaers, Sophie Thunus

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the first semester, review in January

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

Students improve their ability to understand and assess organisational situations and everyday life social activities through the reading of scientific articles and in-depth analysis of empirical cases.
By learning the key concepts of the sociology of collective action, students become able to understand different types of collective actions and the nature of the relationships between the involved actors. They perform "organisational diagnosis" which means: identifying conflict/cooperation relationships, defining what is at stake is such relationships, describing and understanding organising process and sensemaking operations involved in it.

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

Following the course of sociology of organised action, students:

• Understand the key concepts and methodological tools exposed through the course;
• Are able to apply them for analysing concrete situations of collective action.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

Students must deal with theoretical approaches and concepts presented in the first section of the course "De Taylor à la sociologie de l'action collective".
This course section includes:

• The first chapter of the Friedberg's book (Le pouvoir et la Règle - compulsory reading);
• A summary of the main theoretical approaches at the origin of the contemporary sociology of organisations (compulsory);
• Complementary readings.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

The detailed programme of the course is available on e-campus. The main activities included in the course's programme are:

• Lessons 1 to 3: key concepts of the sociology of organised action based on empirical and theoretical scientific articles.
• Lessons 4 to 5: methods and exercises (organisational diagnosis)
• Lessons 6 to 8: key aspects of sensemaking in organisations
• Lesson 9: exercises.

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)

Classroom teaching, discussions of scientific articles and exercises.

Recommended or required readings

Reading material available on e-campus, inluding:

• Compulsory and complementary readings (scientific articles);
• Presentation of empirical cases;
• PowerPoint presentations.

• Crozier, M., & Friedberg, E. (1992). L'acteur et le système: les contraintes de l'action collective. Éd. du Seuil.
• Friedberg, E. (1988). L'analyse sociologique des organisations. POUR.
• Friedberg, E. (1997). Le pouvoir et la règle: dynamiques de l'action organisée. Éd. du Seuil.
• Weick, K. (1995). Sense-making in organisations. SAGE Publications.

Assessment methods and criteria

The assesment includes the initial evaluation of the prerequisites for this course and a final exam (key theoretical concepts and organisational diagnosis)
Second session: idem.

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

• In order to get access to e-campus, students must subscribe to this course at the very beginning of the academic year.
• The list of the scientific articles that will be presented and discussed through the course is available on e-campus.
• PowerPoint presentations will be made available via e-campus following each lesson.

Contacts

F. Schoenaers
S. Thunus

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