Course Outline & Course Evaluation Form

Session: 2012-13 and Term: I Course Name: Historical and Philosophical Foundations of Business Name of Course Coordinator/Instructor(s): Vidyanand Jha Course Objectives: This course aims to build a historical and philosophical perspective to the study of management. Through eclectic and idiosyncratic methods, it aims to cultivate the skill of philosophizing among students. It aims at problematizing the received theories by building perspectives around certain central tensions in the theory and practice of management. Prescribed Text: Concise History of Indian Business, Dwijendra Tripathy, OUP. Writers on Organizations, D S Pugh, Sage Publications Additional References: Some Readings would be used in different classes. Pedagogy: Concept sessions, exercises, discussions on films etc.
Evaluation Method:

Sr. No. a) b) c) d) e) f) g)

Component Mid Term Examination End Term Examination Quiz (announced or unannounced) Project Assignments Class Participation Oral Examination Take home Assignments/Tutorials

Weightage (%)

Duration Of Exam

Open Book /Closed Open Open

30 2 Hours 30 2 Hours

20

20

Sessions and Activities Details* Session No. 1 and 2 Topic Introduction, Expectation Clarification and Purpose of Organizations Outcomes of Organizations Nature of Industrial Organizations Movie Modern Times Discussions and Take home assignment about assumptions about nature of human beings, their purpose and society Discussions and Take home assignment In class game and debriefing Readings/Cases Activities Group discussions and take home assignment

4 and 5

6, 7 & 8

Changes into Industrial era from agrarian era Exercise on Cooperation and Competition and nature of Trust Nature of thought about business in pre industrial era

Do Beegha Zameen

Game Win as much as you can

10.

Suggested readings: Arthashastra, Art of War, The Prince

Mid Term Examination

11.

Early theorizing about management in industrial era

12.

Scientific Management

13.

Later management theories, Images of Organizations & Marxist Critique Business Guilds, Colonialism, bureaucracy and nature of authority Readings: Ancient and Modern Hindu Guilds Khanna, VS, The Economic History of the Corporate Form in Ancient India Movie Massey Sahib Discussion on the movie and take home assignment

14, 15 and 16

17, 18 and 19

Current crises of Business and possible ways out

Movie Inside Job Readings: Gandhi, MK, Trusteeship Schumacher, EF, Buddhist Economics Khurana, R, Your Turn Sandel, MJ, What Money Cant Buy

Discussion on the movie and take home assignment

20

Review and Summing Up