Describing an organisation Group task INF 5250 Fall 2005

1. Describing an organisationGroup task INF 5250Fall 2005 Pål Sørgaard, Telenor R&D and IfI August 29, 2005

2. Short welcome • INF 5250 Information systems development in organisations • Lectures given in English • Feel free to ask in Norwegian, English or other • If you need to mail me, mail to my address in Telenor Pål Sørgaard, Telenor R&D

3. Learning by doing • An important part of the course is to learn about organisations and organisation theory • One of the best ways to learn a theory is to apply it to a real case • So we start immediately with a project Pål Sørgaard, Telenor R&D

4. The task • The task is to describe an organisation. You should describe the organisation in your own words, you are supposed to use the terminology of Henry Mintzberg’s book Structure in Fives, and you may also use material from the organisation you describe. The description should be written in a fluent language, and should be readable for an audience that does not follow this course. The purpose of the group task is to get a concrete feel for what an organisation is (or can be), and to get experience from trying to analyse an organisation. Pål Sørgaard, Telenor R&D

5. Selecting an organisation • You select the organisation yourselves. To give you a hint, we have written a list of possible organisations at the end of this group task description. As we do not want to have more than one group approaching each organisation, we kindly ask you to inform Miria Grisot about the organisation you try to get in touch with. Pål Sørgaard, Telenor R&D

6. Doing it • You are in other words supposed to select an organisation, contact it yourselves (most organisations have a unit for external information), obtain material from it (web, written documents, annual reports, etc.), get interviews with some people there (e.g. head of administration, who can describe the organisation to you), figure out what it does, its history, etc. In order to finish on time you will need to start working with this group task immediately (collecting material and obtaining appointments for interviews take time). You should have established contact with your case organisation during the first week. • Work in groups, 2-3 students in each group Pål Sørgaard, Telenor R&D

7. Examples of organisations Pål Sørgaard, Telenor R&D

8. Timing • Early in the course • Read Mintzberg’s book yourself • Use the lectures to discuss difficulties with the text or the group task • Fixed deadline: Friday October 7th (we do this to learn Mintzberg, not to do the whole course) • Don’t wait to get started! Pål Sørgaard, Telenor R&D

9. Approaching an organisation • Use public sources (make your homework!) • web • annual report • various news sources • encyclopaedia etc • Take official contact • call/mail the information officer or some responsible manager • ask for material, a visit, and for permission to interview persons who know how they are organised (and why) • send them a description of the group task • send them your report afterwards • Be prepared for a “no” • Be polite Pål Sørgaard, Telenor R&D

10. Deliverable • A textual description of an organisation • Approx 10 pages of text plus illustrations and other material • English, Bokmål or Nynorsk • Electronic file in PDF-format, check that it’s OK • Make sure it looks OK graphically • To be sent by mail to Miria Pål Sørgaard, Telenor R&D

11. Writing quality text • Should be readable by people outside the class (try it on friends and family!) • Should use important concepts from Mintzberg • Spelling and grammar should be OK. Should be fluent to read. • Writing skills are important • Experience needed to prepare for Master and future jobs Pål Sørgaard, Telenor R&D