Strategy and Organizational Analysis (STOA) 603
Strategy and Organizational Analysis

Delivery Mode: Online
Credits: 3
Prerequisites: Students must have successfully completed Phase 1 of the MBA program and their Phase 1 Comprehensive Exam (CPEX-506) before taking this course.
Faculty: Faculty of Business
Program: Master of Business Administration
Program: Teresa Rose, PhD
Course Overview
This course covers how and why organizations function as they do — the linkages among their environments, strategies and structures — within a framework designed to improve organizational effectiveness. It uses an integrative approach to diagnose and analyze how the successful implementation of organizational strategies is often contingent upon achieving a fit between specific environmental factors and organizational structure and process variables.
Course Objectives
By the end of this course, students should be able to
- identify and apply the key elements of organizational analysis, industry and environment analysis, strategy, structure, systems, and processes.
- discuss the importance of integration between organizational functions for maximizing organizational effectiveness.
- explain the role of analysis and management of the external environment on organizational effectiveness.
- identify a variety of different models for measuring organizational effectiveness.
- articulate the new requirements of leadership and the role of leadership in supporting organizational effectiveness.
- discuss individual, group, and organizational values, and make connections among values, leadership, organizational culture, and ethics.
- articulate the role of conflict in organizations, and explain the ways in which power and politics affect conflict resolution processes—both positively and negatively—thereby supporting or working against organizational effectiveness.
- relate organizational effectiveness to the need for change, and articulate ways to manage the change process effectively.
- identify and offer appropriate evidence for good management decision making.
- write clear, concise, and error-free communication through online discussions and assignments.
Course Outline
- Week 1: Understanding and Managing Our Environment, and Measuring Effectiveness
- Week 2: Structure and Strategy
- Week 3: Leadership
- Week 4: Values
- Week 5: Ethics
- Week 6: Organizational Culture
- Week 7: Conflict, Power, and Politics
- Week 8: Organizational Change and Course Summary/Overview
Athabasca University reserves the right to amend course outlines occasionally and without notice. Courses offered by other delivery methods may vary from their individualized-study counterparts.