| Unit name | Organisational Economics |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ECON30013 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Maija Halonen-Akatwijuka |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) | |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None |
| School/department | School of Economics |
| Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
Why is this unit important?
This unit explores the nature of firms and organisations, a topic based on a long line of Nobel Prize winning research from Ronald Coase to Oliver Hart. Furthermore, there is growing evidence that management of people plays a key role in productivity of organisations.
According to a recent study, it is as important for productivity as R&D and twice as important as information and communication technologies. In this unit, we apply Microeconomics to study how to motivate people and how to organise efficiently.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study
Organisational Economics builds upon the microeconomic theory learnt within first and second years of the undergraduate programme, as well as going further in developing the tools of contract theory.
This unit takes an approach of embedding applications and case studies in addition to the pure microeconomic theory. Whilst other units examine firms' strategic competition within the market, this unit will place a focus mainly upon actions within firms and organisations as well as the boundaries of the firm..
An overview of content
This unit introduces the relatively new field of Organisational Economics.
The first part of the unit focuses upon organisations. Students will examine how employees may be motivated by pay for performance and promotions. Students will then explore when decentralisation leads to the best decisions and how the firm can overcome freeriding in team work.
The second part of the unit covers more theoretical topics of relational contracts, incomplete contracts and the theory of the firm.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit
On completion of the unit students will be able to recognise the importance of compensation and organisational design to productivity of organisations and apply economic models to organisational issues.
Intended Learning outcomes
At the end of this unit, students will be able to:
Teaching will be delivered through a combination of large and small group classes, supported by online resources
Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative)
Students will prepare and submit one piece of formative assessment where questions are of a similar in type to the summative assessment.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
Exam (2 hours) (100%). This assesses all ILOs
When assessment does not go to plan
Normally, there are no opportunities for reassessment in final year units.
Where students are taking this as a non final-year unit, as part of an MSci, students would take a 2 hour exam as a reassessment.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. ECON30013).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
