James O'Neil: Catalogue data in Autumn Semester 2024 |
| Name | Mr James O'Neil |
| oneilj@ethz.ch | |
| Department | Management, Technology, and Economics |
| Relationship | Lecturer |
| Number | Title | ECTS | Hours | Lecturers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 363-0341-00L | Introduction to Management  Registration only for MSc MTEC and MAS MTEC students. | 3 credits | 2G | Z. Zagorac-Uremovic, D. Baschung, J. O'Neil | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract | This course is an introduction to general management. This course follows a systemic view of organizations and adopts the congruence model as a framework to analyze the critical, interconnected elements of organizations. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Learning objective | By the end of this course, students will understand management as a set of skills, processes, tools and methods that enable organizations to achieve their goals and to coordinate operations in order to meet evolving customers’ and societal needs. The students will achieve these goals by being able to: - Analyze organizations as open systems, and describe their critical elements, - Apply conceptual tools and methods that help to analyze or approach the critical elements, - Compare different notions of organizational performance, and explain why they matter, - Discuss the relationships that connect the critical elements of an organization on the basis of real cases, - Explain how change, internally or externally initiated, impact such relationships | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Content | This course is an introduction to general management. This course follows a 'systemic' view of organizations and adopts the congruence model as a framework to analyze the critical, interconnected elements of organizations: Input (i.e., from external environment), strategy, people, work, formal and informal structure of the organization, and its outputs. In this course we will introduce these critical elements and learn how managers can analyze and approach these elements by means of different conceptual tools and methods in order to achieve performance. We will furthermore discuss the relationships that connect the critical elements together by means of real-life cases, whereby the focus will be on the critical reflection of particular cases of fits and misfits between those elements and on the application of a selection of tools and methods. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Lecture notes | The content of the course will rely on different readings, cases and selected chapters of following book: Dess, G., McNamara, G., Eisner, A., & Lee, SH. 2018. Strategic Management: Text and Cases. McGraw Hill. Selected readings from the book and additional learning materials will be available on the course Moodle: link will be posted in early September | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literature | The content of the course will rely on different readings and on selected chapters of following book: Dess, G., McNamara, G., Eisner, A., & Lee, SH. 2018. Strategic Management: Text and Cases. McGraw Hill. Selected readings from the book and additional learning materials will be available on the course Moodle: link will be posted in early September | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prerequisites / Notice | Throughout the course different session preparation assignments, like reading book chapters or case studies will be handed out to the students on moodle. This preparation is required to participate in the lectures. The final exam is requested for all types of students (MSc, MAS). It is not possible to retake the exam within the same term or academic year. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Competencies |
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| 365-1083-00L | Leading the Technology-Driven Enterprise Exclusively for MAS MTEC students (1st and 3rd semester). An enrolment for the lecture “Introduction to Management” (363-0341-00) is mandatory. | 1 credit | 1S | J. O'Neil, D. Röttger | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Abstract | The bloc-course is about change leadership. It provides MAS students with coaching and mentoring from two senior change leaders in the attempt to develop critical management skills and bridge the gap between theory and practice. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Learning objective | The general objective of the course is to enable MAS students with post work experience to think critically about concepts discussed in class during the course on Introduction to Management (i.e., the transformation process by Nadler and Tushman, 1980) and their own professional challenges. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Content | In today’s VUCA world that is Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous, how will you lead disruptive change due to Innovation and Technology evolution instead of being swept away by it? Have you mastered the process of leading change? Do you have a specific plan of action for the most critical problem you are trying to solve right now? If not, this is the course for you. You will learn lessons from relevant, current case studies that will bring out specific learnings in each of the 4 modules of the class – Innovation, Change Management, Leadership and Application. The first module explores how you can be a practical and effective Innovator as an Intrapreneur Leading an established Technology Driven Enterprise, or as an Entrepreneur. Starting with clear definitions of the ‘problem’ and the ‘customer’, you will work through the steps of clarifying the value proposition of the innovative process or product, testing, pivoting and fast iterations, and moving with confidence to implementation. With Technology and Innovation being necessary but insufficient starting points, the next two modules will dig deep into successful Change Management and Leadership at all levels to ensure aligned and effective execution. The case studies will highlight both successes, and failures, of prior experiences. This class is taught ‘by practitioners for practitioners’ with the final module focused on a customized Framework of Application introduced during prior modules. You will bring your priority challenge to the class, and through small group work and individual coaching, you will develop a plan of action. A final ‘elevator speech’ will give immediate feedback with which you can enhance the plan and apply it immediately back in your organization. Separately, the D-MTEC MAS Mentoring Programme is available, should you desire continuing help to support your planning and execution after the course, or more generalized career development ideas. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literature | Literature and readings will be announced beforehand. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||