Advanced Topics in Organisation Theory


The goal of this course is to provide students with an advanced working knowledge of organization theory (OT). Upon completion, students should be able to understand the intellectual history of the field and recognize how their own work relates and contributes to OT. Students should also be ready to answer the main questions in OT, such as: Why do firms exist? Why are firms structured as they are? What is the role of myth and ceremony in organizational life? Why do organizations ally with other organizations and how does that matter? How can organizations manage their external dependencies? How does our perspective change when we switch from the organizational to the population level? How do coalitions, power, and reference points matter to organizational decision-making? In nearly every class, we start with a broad, generic framework on OT, followed by the more recent areas of application in the second half of the class.


The following topics are covered in this course:
(1) Bureaucracy theory (Class 1)
(2) Resource dependence theory (Class 1)
(3) Institutional theory (Class 2)
(4) Institutional work and logics (Class 2)
(5) Behavioral theory of the firm (Class 3)
(6) Coalitions and power in organizations (Class 3)
(7) Organizational ecology (Class 4)
(8) Field evolution and transformation (Class 4)


The course is organized as a seminar, implying that your cooperation and willingness to actively participate in the sessions will ensure that we jointly create the best possible learning environment. The grading of this course reflects this culture and pedagogy: (a) class participation (25%); (b) article presentation (25%); and concluding written exam (50%).


The literature for this course will consist of carefully selected research articles and book chapters. The materials will include seminal OT contributions, as well as more recent exemplary articles. In addition to the mandatory readings, each class also comes with a longer list of background readings, to facilitate participants with a special interest in a particular topic. The materials are made available via a dedicated BlackBoard site.

Additional info

While this is an advanced course, it has no prerequisite requirements. For any remaining questions, contact me at:


This course will be offered in 2017-2018.


More information and detailed timetables can be found here.

ERIM PhD candidates and Research Master students can register for this course via SIN Online.

External (non-ERIM) participants are welcome to this course. To register, please fill in the registration form and e-mail it to by four weeks prior to the start of the course. Please note that the number of places for this course is limited. For external participants, the course fee is 260 euro per ECTS credit.