This course is about building, running, and growing organizations in the public and social sectors. For many leaders of new organizations, the most pressing questions (aside from financing) are about how to locate and recruit talented people, and how to manage and keep them, and how to put the organisations on a path that will sustain it for the long-term. This course will address these questions and will provide you with a number of critical concepts and competencies that will be useful in both the short and long term. The course also serves as a general discussion about organizations and organizing so it will be of interest even to those who don’t plan to found or grow a new organization. Throughout the course there will be a dual emphasis on thinking systematically and strategically about aspects of managing and growing an organization from its early stages until maturity and on the actual implementation challenges associated with management and leadership.
The course is organized into three day-long modules: (1) How leaders, especially founders, draw on networks and persuasion to establish organisations and how doing so shapes an organization's culture well into the future; (2) how to think analytically about designing organizational systems, and; (3) what needs to be done to lead and grow an organization for the long-term. The primary course material will be a series of cases illustrating both success and failure. You will also be provided with supplementary readings and lectures that will unpack concepts and analytical frameworks.