Undergraduate Course: Organising for Sustainability and Equity (BUST10172)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | In an interconnected and increasingly chaotic world, organisations across all sectors face strategic challenges that defy conventional problem-solving approaches. This Honours-level course develops sophisticated theoretical frameworks and analytical capabilities for addressing complex organisational and societal issues that require systemic thinking rather than linear strategic responses.
Drawing on advanced concepts from practice theory, complexity science, and systems thinking, students develop sophisticated analytical and problem-solving capabilities. Through critical engagement with real-world cases and organisational challenges, participants learn to identify, analyse, and develop innovative theoretical approaches to strategic problems facing organisations, industries, and society.
The course is particularly relevant for students interested in sustainability challenges, social innovation, and organisational design. It provides advanced theoretical foundations and sophisticated analytical approaches for those planning to pursue dissertation research in these areas or seeking to develop high-level strategic thinking skills for their future careers in business, government, or the third sector.
This course complements core business school offerings by introducing cutting-edge theoretical perspectives and analytical approaches essential for addressing contemporary organisational challenges. |
| Course description |
This advanced undergraduate course explores contemporary approaches to understanding and addressing complex organisational and societal challenges. Drawing upon institutional theory, practice theory, complex adaptive systems thinking, and poly-centric governance, the course provides students with sophisticated theoretical frameworks and analytical tools for understanding how social structures shape behaviour and outcomes. The course challenges conventional linear thinking by introducing alternative perspectives that emphasise emergence, self-organisation, and the interconnected nature of social systems. Through engagement with these advanced theoretical approaches, students develop sophisticated capabilities in critically analysing complex problems and designing effective interventions. The course bridges theory and practice by connecting abstract concepts to concrete organisational challenges, particularly in areas such as sustainability, social innovation, and organisational design.
Outline content
Part 1: Advanced Theoretical Foundations: Practices, Work, Institutions, and Agency. Foundational concepts for understanding how social structures guide behaviour and action.
- Discourse and contextual analysis
- Practice theory and social-symbolic work
Agency and institutional theory
Part 2: Complex Adaptive Systems and Advanced Systems Theory. Why conventional linear approaches often fail by introducing systems thinking and emergence.
- Systems thinking and feedback loops
- Emergence and self-organisation
- Cross-disciplinary metaphors and biomimicry
Part 3: Critical Perspectives on Organisational Design and Governance. Principles for designing sustainable and responsible organizations and processes.
- Polycentricity and subsidiarity
- Risk, anti-fragility and knowledge
- Process and systems design
Lecture and Workshop Case Studies to include:
- Disrupting Institutions - Menstrual Stigma as Discursive Institution
- Emergence & Self-Organising - Rewinding Yellowstone National Park
- Polycentric Governance - Community Forest Projects in Nepal
- Social-Symbolic Work - Emancipation & empowerment through small savings
- Stigma as Discursive Institution - Disrupting menstrual stigma
- Thinking in (Causal) Systems - Mincome & other basic income experiments
- Urban Sustainability & Subsidiarity - Micromobility and villes du quart heure
Student learning experience
Students engage with complex theoretical material through a blend of synchronous and asynchronous learning activities. Pre-class podcasts and readings introduce sophisticated theoretical concepts, enabling in-class discussions and workshop activities that deepen understanding through critical application.
Students work in peer subject groups organised around shared dissertation interests or academic focus areas. These groups form the basis for collaborative learning throughout the course, with each group paired with another for presentation and feedback activities, creating opportunities for cross-subject learning and development of critical evaluation skills.
The learning journey is structured around a project-based assessment that develops both collaborative and independent research capabilities. Through their subject-specific peer groups, students share insights and engage in structured feedback processes, learning to both give and receive constructive criticism. Each group provides detailed feedback on another group's project proposals through Pecha Kucha presentations and written commentaries, developing crucial academic and professional competencies in critical analysis and communication. The culminating individual project report allows students to demonstrate their understanding by applying theoretical frameworks to real-world sustainability or social challenges, incorporating insights gained through the peer feedback process.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 6,
Online Activities 8,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
162 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
5% Report proposal (Individual) - 400-700 words - Assesses all course Learning Outcomes
95% Final Report (Individual) - 2,500 words - Assesses all course Learning Outcomes |
| Feedback |
Formative: Students work in subject-specific peer groups organised around shared interests in particular sustainability or social challenges (e.g., plastics pollution, inequality, urban mobility, climate change). Following the submission of individual report proposals, each interest group receives detailed formative feedback during a group meeting with the course organiser. This feedback addresses advanced theoretical frameworks, recommended research literature, and sophisticated cross-cutting themes relevant to the group's focus area. The peer group structure enables ongoing critical discussion and knowledge sharing throughout the course.
Summative: The report proposal (5%) is marked on a pass/fail basis for timely submission only, ensuring students engage with the formative feedback process. The final report (95%) demonstrates students' ability to synthesise and apply advanced theoretical frameworks to real-world sustainability or social challenges while incorporating insights from formative feedback and peer discussions. The assessment expectations reflect Honours-level requirements for theoretical sophistication and critical analysis. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Critically analyse and theoretically explain how social structures, practices, and institutions shape strategic decision-making and organisational outcomes, using institutional and practice theory frameworks.
- Synthesise and apply advanced systems thinking and complexity theory to develop strategic responses to organisational and societal challenges, demonstrating why conventional strategic approaches may be insufficient.
- Critically evaluate and compare different approaches to organisational design and governance, using concepts such as polycentricity and subsidiarity to address strategic sustainability challenges.
- Demonstrate the ability to integrate theoretical frameworks with practical examples to develop considered responses to contemporary environmental and social issues.
- Apply appropriate analytical tools to assess strategic change initiatives, showing awareness of stakeholder perspectives and potential unintended consequences.
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Reading List
Meadows, D. H. (2008). Thinking in systems: A primer. Chelsea Green Publishing. https://wtf.tw/ref/meadows.pdf
Mitchell, M. (2009). Complexity: A guided tour. Oxford University Press.
Taleb, N. N. (2012). Antifragile: Things that gain from disorder (Vol. 3). Random House.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Cognitive Skills
After completing this course, students should be able to:
Be self-motivated; curious; show initiative; set, achieve and surpass goals; as well as demonstrating adaptability, capable of handling complexity and ambiguity, with a willingness to learn; as well as being able to demonstrate the use digital and other tools to carry out tasks effectively, productively, and with attention to quality.
Understand how to manage and sustain successful individual and group relationships in order to achieve positive and responsible outcomes, in a range of virtual and face-to-face environments.
Practice: Applied Knowledge, Skills and Understanding
After completing this course, students should be able to:
Work with a variety of organisations, their stakeholders, and the communities they serve - learning from them, and aiding them to achieve responsible, sustainable and enterprising solutions to complex problems.
Communication, ICT, and Numeracy Skills
After completing this course, students should be able to:
Convey meaning and message through a wide range of communication tools, including digital technology and social media; to understand how to use these tools to communicate in ways that sustain positive and responsible relationships.
Critically evaluate and present digital and other sources, research methods, data and information; discern their limitations, accuracy, validity, reliability and suitability; and apply responsibly in a wide variety of organisational contexts.
Knowledge and Understanding
After completing this course, students should be able to:
Demonstrate a thorough knowledge and understanding of contemporary organisational disciplines; comprehend the role of business within the contemporary world; and critically evaluate and synthesise primary and secondary research and sources of evidence in order to make, and present, well informed and transparent organisation-related decisions, which have a positive global impact.
Identify, define and analyse theoretical and applied business and management problems, and develop approaches, informed by an understanding of appropriate quantitative and/or qualitative techniques, to explore and solve them responsibly. |
| Keywords | Strategy,Practice Theory,Systems Thinking,Complex Adaptive Systems,Social Innovation |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Winston Kwon
Tel: (0131 6)51 5980
Email: Winston.Kwon@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | |
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