General provisions

Master programme course- track MAC. The course syllabus was approved by the board of the Department of Business Studies on delegation from the Faculty of Social Sciences and takes effects as of 2009-08-31.

Entry requirements

A Bachelor's degree, equivalent to a Swedish degree of at least 180 credits including the equivalent to 60 credits in Business Studies. Proficiency in English.

Learning outcomes

The aim of the course is to give the students insights in "softer" forms of control such as communication, values and culture. Communication is emerging as one of the most important activities for managers and controllers. Likewise, how the values and the culture are created and how they changes, are often considered as one of the most important factors for the control of a company. Moreover, it is also important to consider how this form of control relates to other types of control in the company.

After taking the course, the students will:

· Have deeper knowledge and understanding about communication, values and culture and how this is part of the control of a company.

· Appreciate how the underlying philosophies of control have change over time.

· Be able to understand these issues from different theoretical perspectives.

· Be able to analyse these issues in a practical context using theory.

· Be able to take part in the management control of companies, concerning aspects like communication, values and culture.

· Be able to relate these issues to other management control issues.

Content

We will start the course with a historical tour of how the philosophies of control have changed over time. We will also start with looking into a case where a company successfully has deployed a control strategy based on communication, values and culture. Using this case as an illustration through out the course, we will then take a closer look at the issues at hand from different perspectives, e.g. the consultancy perspective, the contingency perspective and the sense-making perspective. The consultancy perspective will deal with how these issues usually are dealt with in popular management literature and by consultants at work. The contingency perspective will highlight the importance of the situation a company is facing, when considering different control philosophies. The sense-making perspective will highlight the process of developing the values and creating the culture in an organisation, a process where meaning and acting are interlinked. By using different perspectives we will reach a deeper understanding of these issues and enhance our ability to critical analyse what we find in practise.

Instruction

The teaching will consist of lectures and seminars where the literature will be discussed. Another important part is the writing of a term paper, based on an actual organisation and deploying one or more of the theoretical perspectives.

The course is taught in English.

Assessment

Grades will be given in accordance with the Swedish grading system. The following grades will be used: VG (pass with distinction), G (pass), and U (fail). The final grade of the course is determined after taking into consideration the different parts of the examination. The course consists of obligatory parts.

The examination consists of an exam and the term paper. In order to pass the course both the exam and the term paper must at least get the grade G. The weighted result from the exam and the term paper will then determine if the grade should be G or VG.

In addition, any remaining assignments and supplements must be completed and handed in at least within two weeks after the end of the course otherwise the entire course (including all assignments) has to be redone the following semester, provided there is space in the course.

Uppsala University takes cheating and plagiarism seriously, and disciplinary action will be taken against any student suspected of being involved in any sort of cheating and/or plagiarism. The disciplinary actions take the form of warnings and limited suspensions.

NOTE: Only completed courses can count toward a degree.