Project Assignment - Financial Management in Complex Organizations

The course deals with various issues related to financial and business management in large and complex organizations. We focus on organizations in both the public and private sectors.

The course has two main parts, where one part focuses on different thematic areas related to governance in large and complex organizations and the other focuses on the development of researchable issues, research design and academic writing that is directly aimed at the project assignment to be carried out. The first main part, which deals with various thematic issues and research areas, is run intensively at the beginning of the semester. The other main part is carried out longitudinally throughout the semester with lectures, workshops and supervision related to the project assignment.

The main topics of the course include

Part 1

• The design of enabling management systems in complex organizations
• The controller role: the collaboration between the economist and other professions
• Governance in the public sector - governance challenges and management practices
• Collaboration management
• Governance, innovation and change
• Governance for different purposes - global and local management systems
• Sustainability strategies and management practices

Part 2

• Case-based research in financial management
• Survey, archive and database-based research in financial management
• What is a good research question? On the development of researchable issues
• Academic writing in the master's thesis

The course will be preparatory for the master's thesis in the main profile of financial management. The course is based on the fact that the students will develop a researchable problem related to management challenges and practices in large and complex organizations and develop and carry out a feasibility study relevant to the master's thesis. The students will, in groups, plan and carry out a study that results in a project assignment. The work on the thesis takes place under personal supervision.

Learning outcome

Knowledge

The student shall:

• Have in-depth and up-to-date knowledge of relevant theories, empirical data and developments in the field of financial management.
• Have in-depth and up-to-date knowledge of modern and innovative management models and their application in large and complex organizations.
• Have knowledge of the diversity of management challenges in large and complex organizations, how these can be identified, studied and understood through different theoretical and methodological approaches.
• Have knowledge of how organizations' external and internal framework conditions affect the development of different management practices.

Skills

The student shall:

• Be able to acquire theoretical and practical knowledge relevant to the understanding of governance in complex organizational contexts.
• Be able to understand and analyze different governance challenges and practices in large and complex organizations.
• Be able to design researchable research questions and appropriate research designs.
• Be able to develop and disseminate academic texts.

General competence

The student shall:

• Develop their ability for critical reflection.
• Have built up a good basis for being able to reflect on how we can contribute to efficient use of resources in large and complex organizations.
• Be able to be a constructive resource in innovation and restructuring processes in large and complex organizations in the private and public sectors.
• Develop their ability to collaborate in the exploration of issues through research and academic dissemination.

The lectureplan and assignments are presented at the start of the semester. Teaching will be conducted as regular lectures, case seminars and student presentations.