LABORATORY FOR ORGANISATION ANALYSIS

The Laboratory in Organizational Analysis contributes to the education of Social Work students by providing conceptual and operational tools for examining the organizations in which social work takes shape: public services, Third Sector organizations, local networks, and complex organizations. The course connects the understanding of organizational processes with the professional practice of social workers, who operate within rules, roles, power relations, professional cultures, decision-making processes, and conditions of change. The laboratory therefore prepares students to critically observe organizations, formulate interpretative hypotheses, and use appropriate language to discuss possible improvement actions.

- Demonstrate knowledge of the main concepts and approaches to organizational analysis: power, control, rules, culture, decision-making, sensemaking, change, innovation, and learning.
- Understand the relationship between organizational arrangements, professional practices, and the delivery of social services.
- Understand how uncertainty, ambiguity, errors, and conflicts may affect organizations.
- Be able to analyse organizational cases by identifying actors, resources, room for manoeuvre, formal and informal rules, decision-making processes, and the cultures at play.
- Be able to use theoretical categories to interpret recurring situations in social services, such as coordination among professionals, the management of rules and conflicts, the introduction of change, and the handling of critical issues.
- Recognise and analyse interdependencies among actors, roles, and services, understanding how each actor’s decisions and actions affect the work of others and the outcomes of interventions.

Basic knowledge of general sociology is required, with particular reference to the functioning of services and the organizations that provide them.

- Power and organization: power, capacity for action, and the control of uncertainty; organizational control; rules and types of bureaucracy.
- Organizational culture: pervasiveness, static and dynamic nature, levels of culture, corporate cultures, approaches to cultural analysis, culture as control and the dark side of organizations; the management and transformation of cultures.
- Decision-making processes and sensemaking: bounded rationality, ambiguity, and organized anarchy; decision-making constraints; sensemaking, its stages and properties, sensemaking collapse, and resilience.
- Change, innovation, and learning: the content, process, and magnitude of change; resistance, inertia, emergent and planned change; open and employee-driven innovation; single-loop and double-loop learning; learning from errors, problems, and incidents.
- The dark side of organizations: unintentional and intentional deviations from organizational goals, human error, latent factors, organizational myopia, wrongdoing, and criminal organizations.
- Organizational interdependencies: relationships among roles, professions, and services; coordination, information exchange, and the management of mutual dependencies in social work settings.
- Laboratory application: discussion and analysis of cases inspired by social service organizations and services, through group-based practical exercises.

Required reading
M. Catino, L. Tirabeni, (2023) “Fondamenti di organizzazione”, Il Mulino, Bologna.

For examination preparation, students are required to study Chapters IV, V, VI, VII, and VIII. Supplementary materials, cases, and any further readings will be made available on the Moodle platform

The final written assessment consists of approximately three to four semi-open questions, the analysis of a simulated organizational case, and the formulation of a reasoned proposal to address an identified critical issue. It concludes with a brief critical discussion of the theoretical and methodological concepts addressed during the course and of their application to the analysis and proposal presented.
The Lecturer is responsible for ensuring compliance with the rules governing the authenticity and originality of examination work. Consequently, where irregular conduct is suspected, the assessment may include an additional examination component, conducted concurrently with the examination and potentially in a format different from that described above.

written

The instructor is responsible for ensuring the authenticity and originality of all examinations and coursework. In cases of suspected academic misconduct, an additional on-site assessment may be required during the exams, which may differ from the standard format.

A. Marks in the 18–22 range will be awarded where students demonstrate:
- an adequate level of knowledge and applied understanding of the course content;
- a limited ability to collect and/or interpret data and to formulate independent judgements;
- adequate communication skills, particularly in the use of terminology relating to the economic functioning of public services.

B. Marks in the 23–26 range will be awarded where students demonstrate:
- a satisfactory level of knowledge and applied understanding of the course content;
- a satisfactory ability to collect and/or interpret data and to formulate independent judgements;
- satisfactory communication skills, particularly in the use of terminology relating to the economic functioning of public services.

C. Marks in the 27–30 range will be awarded where students demonstrate:
- a good or very good level of knowledge and applied understanding of the course content;
- a good or very good ability to collect and/or interpret data and to formulate independent judgements;
- fully appropriate communication skills, particularly in the use of terminology relating to the economic functioning of public services.

A mark of 30 cum laude will be awarded where students demonstrate excellent knowledge and applied understanding of the course content, judgement, and communication skills.

The course combines lectures, case discussions, small-group practical exercises, and plenary feedback sessions. Its laboratory-based approach is designed to connect theoretical models with concrete organizational situations, with particular attention to social service settings.

Attendance is strongly recommended, as the laboratory activities provide significant support for developing the intended practical skills. Students with specific needs are invited to contact the Lecturer at the beginning of the course, in accordance with University procedures.

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Poverty and inequalities" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development