ORG712: Organizational Culture and Design

Instructor & Contact Information

The People tab in Canvas provides information on the course instructor and you can send a message to your instructor following these instructions. Faculty are expected to: 1) grade and return assignments, with feedback, within 7 days from the date of submission; 2) reply to your Canvas messages within 72 hours; 3) reply several times each week in total in the discussion forums (not to each individual student); and 4) demonstrate the core values of City Vision University.

Course Description

This course empowers students as internal agents or external consultants to examine an organization’s existing culture and its capacity for change. The critical question is, “How do we make sense of what happens in our organizations in view of social discourses and system dynamics?” Working with an organization, students use a discursive lens of Four-Frames (structural, human resource, political and symbolic) to "read" how employees see intergroup and organizational dynamics at work. Building on this “reframing” work as a base, students interview managers to explore how design factors, such as strategic, structural and process components align to impact organizational performance. Students weight configuration trade-offs related to designed change. To conclude the course, students reflect on the value of work from a Spirit-empowered perspective.

Course Outcomes

After completing this course, you will be able to:

1. Explain how new employees can use a Four-Frame approach to organizations as a lens to read an organization’s culture and stay motivated.
2. Identify how an organization's goals and strategy may be aligned with its external environment to better process information.
3. Evaluate how work can be designed to align tasks, leadership, and infrastructure processes as the basis for Organizational Design. 
4. Reflect on how God’s design for work can empower employee motivation and satisfaction.

Degree Program Outcomes

This course supports the following program outcomes, marked with an (I) for Introduce, (D) for Develop and an (M) for Mastery.

1. Research methods. Apply action research methods to practical research topics in the field.
2. Diffusion of Innovation. Utilize technology and relational networking to help diffuse innovations within a community of practice.
3. Values Alignment. To develop a theological vision and to align your organization's strategy, culture and systems with that vision to avoid secularization and mission drift.
4. Strategy. To develop a synthesis to integrate a wide range of business skills into a strategic plan for starting or growing an organization. (M)
5. Social Entrepreneurship. Develop strategies and plans to effectively use technology and innovation to achieve organizational goals.
6. Action Research Project. Synthesize action research with theory and practice to solve a practical challenge facing your organization and/or the larger field.

Concentration Outcomes

• 7a. Executive Leadership & Fundraising. Develop and implement plans to grow an organization in its impact, financial health and relational health. (M)
• 7b. Nonprofit Program Leadership & Social Entrepreneurship. Improve the effectiveness of nonprofit programs by implementing best practices. (M)
• 7c. Education Leadership and Innovation. Apply disruptive and continuous innovation principles to designing courses and programs to provide radically affordable and practical online education.
• 7d. Organizational Culture and Change Management. Develop and implement plans to improve organizational health and adapt to change. (M)
• 7e. Trauma-Informed Counseling Management. Develop and implement plans to establish trauma-informed culture of health throughout an organization. (M)

Broad Institutional Outcomes

• I1. Knowledge (Head). Apply a wide range of tools to help solve society’s great problems by shifting from a single lens/tool/discipline to a multiple lens, multifaceted Biblical understanding of reality. (D)
• I2. Skills (Hands). Develop the skills you need for the next position in your development as a leader by shifting from mastery & understanding of a division in an organization to a comprehensive systemic mastery/understanding needed to lead across the organization. (D)
• I3. Attitudes/Character (Heart). Develop the character and discipline needed to step into greater leadership roles by losing the bias of your old position to gain broader perspective and intellectual humility needed to accelerate your commitment to lifelong learning. (D)

Required Texts

Students are required to purchase these texts before the first day of classes. 

• Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2021). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership (7th ed.). Jossey-Bass. ISBN: 978-1119756842
  
• Burton, R. M. (2020). Organizational Design. Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 978-1108717564
• Keller, T.  Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God’s Work. Penguin (2012).  ISBN: 978-1101600337

Guidelines for Written Work

All written work must follow our Writing Format and Forum Requirements. You must read these to understand how to cite sources appropriately.

Critical Policies to Read for This Course

Note: These policies are critical for all students to read. In case of change, we have linked to the versions on our website to make sure you have the latest version.

• Grading Scale 

• Deadlines to Drop Courses

• Attendance, Late Policy and Extensions

• Technology Requirements for Courses

• Standards of Academic Integrity & Plagiarism Policy

• What plagiarism is and how to avoid it 

• Credit Hour Policy, Grading Policy and Other Academic Policies

• ADA Policy, Learning Accommodations & Disabilities Services
• Student Code of Conduct 

• Library Services

Additional Policies:

• Privacy Policy

• Consumer Disclosures
• Additional policies are listed in our catalog

This syllabus is subject to change without notice up until the first day of the semester. Last updated: November 24, 2025