2019/2020

2020/2021

DM270

SPS/09 (SOCIOLOGY OF ECONOMICS AND LABOUR)

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

DIGITAL COMMUNICATION

PERCORSO COMUNE

2°

2nd semester (01/03/2021 - 28/05/2021)

6

36 lesson hours

Italian Vaira’s module: Italian Bellinzona’s module:Italian with English materials

ORAL TEST

VAIRA MASSIMILIANO (titolare) - 3 ECTS
BELLINZONA CLAUDIO - 3 ECTS

No special or particular prerequisites are requested, although some knowledge in Sociology of Organization or in Organizational Theory could be useful

Vaira’s Module (Technology and Organizations)
This module aims at analysing, on the basis of sociological literature and research, the relationships between technology (and its development) and organizational structures and work organization. The goal is to understand how the introduction and the deployment of a given technology in given historical periods have influenced the way by which organizations are structured and operated, shaping the way work have been undertaken inside them.
Bellinzona’s Module (New organizational frameworks).

The goal is to share and deepen some of the main organizational frameworks currently in use by various business ventures (start-up, scale-up, incumbents). In particular, the module will analyze models of work organization and internal processes, production approaches, methodologies for the optimization of results and the development of corporate culture. Through a practical approach and the use of numerous business cases, it will be possible to get a sufficiently detailed overview of the current organizational paradigms adopted by the main companies of contemporary capitalism.

Tecnologia e Organizzazioni
Main contents

Consistently with its goals, the module will provide knowledges about how technological developments and their applications inside organizational settings have shown in different historical periods.
Starting from Marx’s reflections on the introduction of machines and mechanization of factories in the mid-‘800, the course will deal with Taylor-fordism and its developments, post-fordism with new production concepts theory and lean production model drawn from Japan and, finally, new organizational models based on information technologies which, on the one hand, prefigure new organizational scenarios and, on the other hand, give way to Taylor-fordism’s “reinassance” in different form and basis.

New organizational frameworks

Main contents:

- Lean and agile methodologies
- Horizional and de-centralized models (vertical hierarchies, network approach, holocracy)
- Organizational technology dynamics
- Product-, design-, sales-driven approaches
- Demand fullfillment, scalable efficiency and scalable learning
- Innovation framworks
- Corporate innovation and digital transformation
- Post-digital organizations

Major business cases:

- Kodak, Fujifilm, Vodafone, ING Bank, Amazon Marketplace, Stripe, Netflix.

The course part dedicated to technology-organization relations will be delivered in the traditional frontal teaching modality.
Frontal lesson with the use of slides and business cases.

For technology-organization module the reference text is constituted by didactic material assembled and edited by the teacher and it will be provided during first classes. Any additional readings will be provided by the teacher from time to time.
For new organizational frameworks the reference text is constituted by materials presented and excerpta from the following reference texts:
- Neil Perkin, Agile Transformation: Structures, Processes and Mindsets for the Digital Age, Kogan Page, 2019

Written exam.

Didactic will be provided in presence and blended modality if the epidemic conditions allow that. Otherwise it will be delivered completely in remote modality.