ORG601 Innovation, work life and business development

Teaching language

English

Prerequisites

Participants should be PhD candidates accepted at a PhD programme in social sciences.

Recommended prerequisites

It is recommended that the candidate has prior knowledge of innovation and social change issues.

Course contents

The core of this course is how to develop sustainable business organisations through insight from both work life studies and innovation theory. Studies of the innovation process focus on the one hand on the social and economic conditions of the firm and the structures that it is part of, and on the other hand on how innovation activities are dealt with inside organisations. This course aims at bringing these two discourses together.

One stream of this literature, the social condition tradition, centres on the fact that no common best way exists on how to organise learning and innovation processes. Firms rather have to adapt to diverse contexts, which means that what constitutes productive ways of organising innovation activities change through time and place. Discussion of how to construct regional advantages, how to organise innovation systems, and how to enhance development and learning processes at a regional level have been one important input to the innovation discourse.

In addition to this, a vast literature deals with organisational learning and innovation. This literature is less focused on structural conditions for innovation and more actor and people oriented. Thus learning at work, how to develop communicative processes that enhance rationality in decision making, how to motivate through participation in work processes are some of the themes discussed in this literature.

The course will discuss how these two discourses in innovation can be complementary.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of this course the candidate should be able to:

• develop new knowledge and new theories about business development in perspective of Norwegian work life development, within the evolutionary school of thought in innovation studies, and to the systemic approach to innovation and the variety of capitalist models.

• conceptualise and identify business challenges in perspective of work life development and innovation, and challenge established knowledge and practice within the field

• to formulate his/her research in different perspectives and based on different disciplinary foundation. Be able to use cross disciplinary insight in his/her research.

• To identify new relevant ethical issues and carry out her/his research with scholarly integrity

Examination requirements

Candidates have to attend at least 80% of mandatory lectures and group work. Candidates have to hand in reflection papers in due time, and take active part in discussions in the course

Teaching methods

Preparation/reading 40 hours
Reflection papers 10 hours

Lectures 30 hours

Group work 10 hours

Discussion 10 hours

Writing exam paper 35 hours

Assessment methods and criteria

Exam paper, 10 pages. The paper will be evaluated as pass/fail where pass is equivalent to B or better