NABP2002 Introduction to Cooperation and Organizational Science

Contents and structure

Introduction to basic knowledge about what organized cooperation is, what it is made of and how it develops, as well as basic theories about communication, organisation and leadership. The purpose of this course is that students will learn how to analyse the kinds of cooperative situations and organizational contexts they will take part in as nautical officers, thus improving their abilities to improve the cooperation and organisations they are part of. Knowledge about how to establish and maintain fruitful cooperation, onboard as well as between the ship and other actors, will be presented.

Participation in the lectures, seminars etc. is essential in order to achieve the learning outcomes described below.

Learning Outcome

Knowledge: Upon completion of the course the students have acquired:

Solid knowledge about

• a particular generic theory (i.e. Firth’s theory) that can be used to understand organised cooperative action.
• the organizational tasks that must be solved in order for an organisation to work in such ways that it facilitates good cooperation among individuals.
• criteria for «good» cooperation.
• relationships between individuals and organisations, i.e.
  • How different individuals fill their organisational roles in different ways, and
  • That all members of organisations continuously assess whether the costs of being organised are greater or lesser than the benefits. i.e.
    • dvs. knowledge about how humans are motivated to cooperate or not.
  • About how behaviours and habitual thinking (attitudes) contributes to whether cooperative actions work well or not.

Basic knowledge about

• communication.
  • Knowledge about «meaning»: What it is, how it «spreads» and becomes «shared» among people, how people establish a «good enough» shared understanding of what something specific means, what needs to be done etc.
  • About criteria for "good" and "bad" communication.
• concepts and theories about culture, including "organisational culture", "safety culture" and "intercultural communication".
  • Basic knowledge about the concepts "situational awareness" and "definition of the situation", and the ability to criticise both.
• the concept "learning organisation" (i.e. organisations that learn)
  • About the similarities and differences between "culture-change" and "a learning organisation".
• leadership: About what kinds of tasks leadership is about; what the concept "power" refers to.
• Conflict management

General knowledge about:

• how certain kinds of interactional processes lead to high degrees of well-being, mutual care, trust and respect, safety and efficient cooperation, whereas other processes lead to the opposite
  • knowledge about the concepts trust and trustworthiness
  • the relationship between trust/trustworthiness and safety.

Skills: Upon completion of the course the students are able to use their knowledge to:

• Describe and analyse specific organisations and cooperative situations.
• Recognise different types of leadership, and their pros and cons.
• Recognise "learning organisations" and how they differ from non learning organisations.
• Formulate reasonable hypotheses about the why and how specific organisations function as they do.
• Discuss the hypotheses they have formulated.
• Reflect on how they use the knowledge they have learned and ability to adjust the ways they cooperate with others on the basis of such reflexions.
• Avoid and/or solve conflicts

Competence: Upon completion of the course the students are able to contribute to:

• How organisations work, and that they work well.
• More effective and efficient cooperation; friendlier, more inclusive and pleasant interactions and conversations contributing to increasing the safety of operations at sea.

Entry requirements

None

Recommended previous knowledge

NABP1003 Introduction to Cooperation and Organizational Science

Teaching methods

Videos, seminars, group work, group exercises.

Compulsory learning activities

Mandatory assignments, totally five. Four assignments are groupwork and one is individual. The assignments must be approved at specific deadlines. If an assignment is not approved, one (1) new opportunity is given. If the new submissions is not approved then the students cannot proceed to the next assignment and also lose their rights to submit an exam (semester essay) this semester.

The mandatory assignments are intimately linked with the semester essay. Consequently, the contents of the semester essay will be different for each student, and from semester to semester. The mandatory assignments are valid for two semesters.

Assessment

A "semester essay" that builds on the mandatory assignments.

Grading scale A-F

Examination support material

Any

More about examination support material

Course reductions

• NAB1028 - Samarbeid, organisasjon og kultur på skip - Reduction: 5 studypoints