uwloo

MSCI 311Organizational Design and Technology

Faculty
Engineering
Last listed
Spring 2024

No longer offered. It was in Waterloo’s course catalog since at least Winter 2020 (as far back as Open Data goes) to Spring 2024 and last ran in Spring 2024. It isn’t in the 2024–25 or later calendars.

When it ran

  1. W20
  2. F20
  3. W21
  4. S21
  5. F21
  6. W22
  7. S22
  8. F22
  9. W23
  10. S23
  11. F23
  12. W24
  13. S24

Ran in 13 terms, Winter 2020 to Spring 2024.

The focus of this course is on the procedures and variables involved in the design and redesign of organizations. Issues such as departmentation, differentiation, integration, internal politics, innovation, authority, and control are discussed in the context of the underlying technology of the organization. Emphasis will be placed on how one designs both the technical and the organizational systems to ensure their compatibility, noting the effects that one has on the other. [Offered: F, W, S]

In today’s calendar

Discussed on r/uwaterloo

64 posts and comments in 50 threads mention MSCI 311, May 2011 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.

Winter 2024

How is MSCI 311? 1 point, 3 comments

u/Alive-Rough-1738: “I have no idea what it is, but I took it because it was online and a program elective. Can someone tell me their thoughts on it? How hard is it to get a mid-high 80? I intend on this being more of a bird course.”

u/suiyui: “I've heard MSCI 211 and MSCI 311 being described as bird courses on numerous occasions, but personally these are the courses I struggled the most with out of the MSCI- courses due to the content feeling so dry There is a crap ton of content but most of it is self-explanatory. …”

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Fall 2023

MSCI Electives 1 point, 1 comment

u/ShapeBrave9547: “Would love to hear thoughts on some electives people have enjoyed in MSCI. Need to fill some elective requirements and was thinking of taking something bird like MSCI 311 or something more technical like MSCi 446 (but not sure how much value I can actually derive out of it).”

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Spring 2023

Winter 2023

Fall 2022

MSCI course recommendations 3 points, 2 comments

“Comp Math student. Planning to take 2 MSCI courses for my major requirement as an elective. Does anyone have any exciting or interesting MSCI recommendations? …”

u/Few_Character_2432: “If you've liked MSCI 211 at all, you will probably like MSCI 311 (Organizational Design). You might also find 411 (Leadership) interesting. …”

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It’s time to rename management eng/mgmt/MGTE 167 points, 24 comments

“The current name has several issues: It gives the wrong idea. People assume the curriculum is similar to BBA programs, which leads to high schoolers who are mainly interested in …”

u/1000Ditto: “shelling this post more than xierumeng shells his blog: https://www.reddit.com/r/uwaterloo/comments/r824fg/oc\if\i\had\a\dollar\every\time\i\needed\to/?utm\source=share&utm\medium=web2x&context=3”

u/1000Ditto: “… for 10% isn't testing education, it's testing my brain as an information retrieval system) msci 311 = prof ada's critical thinking course where you actually have to be 10brain to get above average, kinda a fun course if you actually enjoy this kind of stuff and prof ada's really …”

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Spring 2022

A GUIDE ON HOW TO PLAN AN OPTION 29 points, 15 comments

u/1000Ditto: “… i'm lazy you can just look the giant list yourself (when in doubt msci 311 with Prof Ada is great) List D online without prereqs: AFM 131, ENGL 109, phil 145, phil 201, phil 202, rec 100 etc...(the list is on the site, it shouldn't take long to figure it out. …”

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Spring 2021

Check it elsewhere

In the scanned calendars

How it read in each calendar from 1985–86 to 1994–95, newest first. The text is OCR of the scanned pages; years whose wording matches are shown once, from the clearest scan. Each year links to its page on uwloo and to that page of the scanned PDF.

1992–93 to 1994–95 3 calendars

The focus of this course is on the procedures and variables involved in the design and redesign of organizations. Issues such as departmentation, differentiation, integration, internal politics, innovation, authority and control are discussed in the context of the underlying technology of the organization. Emphasis will be placed on how one designs both the technical and the organizational systems to ensure their compatibility, noting the effects that one has on the other.

Prereq: M SCI 211 or PSYCH 338

Offered Fall, Winter · 3 class hours a week · 0.5 credit

1985–86 to 1991–92 6 calendars

Another title: Organizational Behaviour 2, probably a different course under the same number (or a misread scan).

Macro theories of organization and organizational processes are discussed. First half of course examines the development of organizational theories. The second half discusses organizational processes such as conflict and communication control. Throughout, an effort is made to relate course material to organizational structures.

Prereq: M SCI 271

Offered Fall, Winter · 3 class hours a week · 0.5 credit