Or­gan­iz­ing For De­sir­able Fu­tures

Course content

The objective of this course is to examine the managerial, entrepreneurial, and operational challenges faced by alternative organizations as they strive to implement transformative changes. Alternative organizations encompass a range of practices that address issues such as environmental degradation, social inequalities, and democratic instability. By prioritizing values such as sustainability, equality, responsibility, and care, alternative organizations aim to challenge the prevailing emphasis on shareholder value, growth, and competition and experiment with practices that seek to depart from the conventional governance structures found in neoclassical economics. We explore such alternative ways of organizing in various types of organizations, including large businesses, small startups, social enterprises, public agencies, worker and consumer cooperatives, and social movements.

The first module of the course introduces different definitions, types, and values associated with alternative organizations. It engages with various critiques of conventional organizing and investigates how alternative organizations emerge in response to salient issues or institutional failures. In the second module, students analyze case studies to explore the specific organizational challenges arising from managing tensions between financial growth and sustainability, collaboration and competition, autonomy and authority, inclusion and exclusion, innovation and disruption, and change and cooptation. The course introduces alternative approaches to decision-making processes, ownership structures, leadership styles, and (post)growth models that aim to achieve sustainable social change. The final part of the course examines the systemic and institutional conditions necessary for scaling up change initiatives and creating resilient and sustainable organizations.

The aim is to foster a critical understanding of alternative organizing practices, including their limitations, paradoxes and unintended effects, by considering various social, economic and organizational theories of change. The case studies encompass alternative finance organizations, 'non-growing' companies, leaderless organizations, digital commons, circular economies, sustainable entrepreneurship, and feminist organizations. Students also have the opportunity to select additional case studies based on their interests and preferences and will have the opportunity to discuss their insights with practitioners who will share how they translate their values and visions of transformation into concrete daily organizational practices.

The course is part of the minor in Building Organizations for Sustainable Futures: Business and Economics in Transformation, but can also be selected individually. It adresses students in their last year of their master who are looking for inspiration for their master theses.