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TEACHING

Globalization and Organization



In the course we will review both issues – globalization and organizations – while focusing on those topics that link between the two. We will come to discuss how organizations serve as the carriers of globalization processes: How, while expanding their activities worldwide, organizations proliferate social procedures, establish isomorphic structures, and diffuse cultural patterns. We will also discuss how, on the other hand, globalization processes encourage the formation of organizations and determine their shape worldwide. These organizations range from political structures (structuring the state and its agencies), to international relations (establishing political alliances and trade partnerships), to commercial organizations (forming multinational corporations, their local branches or business partnerships), to cultural institutions (structuring entertainment conglomerates and sending “waves” of fashion and tastes worldwide), to identity politics (encouraging the expansion of human rights, women rights and indigenousness).  

To address these matters, we will consider such issues as the features of global organizational expansion (loose coupling and isomorphism), forms of organizational adaptation (or, glocalization), notions of national sovereignty under conditions of intensifying global organizational expansion, and emerging forms of national and international governance. In general, discussions will draw on diverse bodies of literature (IR, organizational studies, sociology and others) and on studies of particular global organizational fields (science, rights, environment, development and others), thus combining theoretical, comparative and case-study pieces.

Organization Studies:

Theories and Analyses



​Formal organizations are rapidly expanding: in numbers (more of them formed), in reaches (in more countries and sectors worldwide), and in scope (with more functions, units, and responsibilities).  Accompanying this trend is also the expansion of the field of study of organizations and the scope of theories to explain the operations, formation, and challenges of organizations.  This course is designed as an introductory class to organizational studies, combining theoretical discussions with direct application of such theoretical “tool kits” to the everyday challenges of organizational life under complex and rapidly changing strategic and societal conditions.



By carefully studying the principal organizational theories of today and by reviewing the history of the field of organizational studies, class discussions will highlight key conceptual tools to understand organizations.  Drawing from classic arguments and debates, discussions will explicate the use of such conceptual tools through analysis of cases and review of current empirical research.  The core theories reviewed are made relevant to a wide range of topics (change and reform, leadership, organizational structure, social advocacy, and decision-making) and to a wide range of sectors (schools and universities, of course, but also to other non-profit and governmental contexts).

Sociology of Innovation and Entrepreneurship



This course addresses the role of innovation and entrepreneurship in the global integration and the development of nations, regions, and firms. Offering a global and sociological perspective, we shall review the phenomenal rates of worldwide expansion of innovation and entrepreneurship, comparing among different nations, different sectors, and different historic eras. We shall interpret such trends by considering the changing social definitions of innovation and entrepreneurship, their intersection with social inequality (for example, the global innovation divide and the role of gender), the components of national systems of innovation (for example, the regulatory regime and the Triple Helix of industry-university-government), and the impact of culture (for example, on innovativeness and through social networks). Particular emphasis shall be given to the role of social networks in innovation and entrepreneurship, both in Israel and globally. By combining an analysis of empirical data and of case studies with the reading of review articles and policy documents, class discussions will touch upon current debates on such issues as globalization, policy-making, and development strategies.

The course is geared towards research: class discussions will focus on raising issues that are worthy of and appropriate for research and concluding sessions will be devoted to research design on some of these issues. In this way, the course builds towards the research projects that are to be carried throughout Semester B; yet, for students who do not wish to continue through, this course will allow for research-minded discussions of cutting-edge, sociological studies of innovation, entrepreneurship, and social networks.

Research Preparatory Courses

IR Honors Program

תוכנית המצוינות

During the 10-session class, students will be offered the disciplinary support, professional "tools" and the social support network to prepare for independent research and ultimately to formulate, research and write their honors thesis. Goals:

• Conceptualize an appropriate research question, addressing a void in current IR literature about an important social matter
• Develop appropriate research design and methods that lead towards an insightful resolution of the research question
• Write an appropriate literature review, concluding with the student’s own “breakthrough” research ideas
• Acquire the necessary IR skills such as data management and statistics, references and library searches, oral presentations and related techniques, fellowship and grant writing, and IR- style writing.



​מטרת קורס ההכנה לתיזה היא להדריך תלמידי מחקר מתקדמים לקראת כתיבת הצעת מחקר לעבודת תואר מוסמך. לשם כך,תוכנית הלימודים כוללת הקניית הכלים המקצועיים לתכנון מחקר מונחה: בחירת נושא מחקר וניסוח כיוון מחקרי, איתור הספרות הרלוונטית וסיכומה הראשוני, בניית יחסי חניכה עם חברי סגל, פיתוח שיטת מחקר מתאימה לשאלת המחקר, כתיבת הצעת מחקר והגשתה לאישור


SCANCOR Ph.D. Workshop


The workshop -- envisioned, led, and organized by Prof. Woody Powell -- is designed as an intensive teaching program for Ph.D. students with an interest in recent research in institutional theory and organizational studies more generally. The workshops are sponsored and organized by SCANCOR, which resides at Stanford University, and are hosted by various member- or affiliated universities. To date workshops have been hosted by Stanford University, Copenhagen Business School, Helsinki School of Economics, IESE Barcelona, Aalto University, the University of Mannheim, and WU--Vienna University of Economics and Business.


The goal of the workshop is to enable Ph.D. students to pursue their research more effectively, using novel research methods to examine theoretically important questions. In recent decades, institutional theory has expanded outside its origins in the United States to many settings around the world. This perspective has been valuable in explaining, among other things, the adoption of organizational structures, the incorporation of social movement ideas and goals inside organizations, and the global spread of management practice. This teaching portion of the conference provides students with a thorough grounding in the canonical works of institutional theory, an overview of recent lines of research, and an introduction to the diverse methodological tools used by scholars pursuing these ideas.



January 2014: at HUJI





 I also Taught...



- Science Policy: An Interdisciplinary Course

- The Transnational Workplace

- World, Societal and Educational Change

- Science, Technology and Development

- The Knowledge Economy

- Complex Organizations

- Knowledge Management 

- Quantitative Methodology for Graduate Students

- Introduction to Sociology



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