Following on logically from the business fundamentals, the International Organization Management section turns to the unique world of multilateral institutions, both governmental and nongovernmental. This is the section in which participants acquire the conceptual tools and how-to skills that will enable them to meet the management, communication and organizational challenges specific to the international milieu.

The section has a strong hands-on element, and participants benefit from access to Geneva-based international and nongovernmental organizations, who open windows onto their institutions and facilitate on-site learning. The section culminates in a formal three-month internship or consultancy.

Courses in this section include:

• Management Across Cultures
• The Dynamics of Conflict and Negotiations
• Organizational Behaviour and Change Management
• Managing People in Global Markets
• Designing development Projects
• Resource Management in Non-Profit Organizations
• Management Consulting in International Organizations 

Management Across Cultures  

This course is designed to develop a deeper understanding of the issues in managing across cultures. First we will question the importance and relevance of culture in management practice. Then we will explore methods for discovering culture and develop a framework to diagnose culture whether national, corporate, functional, etc. Next we examine the impact of culture on strategy, structure, and human resource management. Finally we will evaluate different approaches to managing cultural differences (aka diversity) and question the role of managers and organizations in a global economy.     

The Dynamics of Conflict and Negotiations

Increasing interdependence within and between societies inevitably leads to frictions and conflicts of interest. A dominant way to overcome these obstacles has been the resort to negotiation. After setting the stage with the logic of conflict and cooperation, this course covers major structural and dynamic issues of negotiation processes. It combines the use of various analytical techniques with the discussion of specific real-world examples at the international level.

Organizational Behaviour and Change Management

IOMBA participants have a double relationship with organizing: Firstly, they are or will be - as members of International Organizations - among the clients of organizers. In order to be able to voice their concerns and to influence (re)organizing decisions, participants have to know a set of basic concepts and issues related to organization design and change management. Secondly, they hold (or will hold in the future) responsibility for organizing a group of highly skilled professionals. In order to fulfil their tasks as managers, they need to be familiar with the basic choices for developing organizational blueprints for effective organizations as well as with the fundamental issues in managing change and implementation. And they have to care about the strategic resource that is knowledge, in order to create and maintain a learning organization.

The idea of the course is that students will discover theories and practice by analysing and teaching themselves. This will happen through case discussions, exchange sessions with professionals and the writing of a case and a teaching note. The course is structured in three parts: 1. structuring of organizations, 2. change management, 3. the learning organization.
 
 
Managing People in Global Markets

Senior executives tell us that they spend about half their time dealing with people-related business issues. Hence the job of the manager is to manage people, along with capital and material resources. This course will introduce you to the major concepts, practices, and techniques involved in managing people-related business issues in contexts ranging from turnarounds of failing organizations, to growing or reengineering healthy ones, to managing cross-border mergers and acquisitions. 

This course will address topics as varied as succession planning, recruiting, staffing, employment discrimination, compensation, performance management and restructuring.  This will be a case-oriented course, supplemented with a variety of other teaching methods - lectures, videos, and focused discussions.  Student teams will be responsible for presenting cases, leading in-class discussions of them, and preparing detailed, written analyses of them.

Designing Development Projects

The module "Project Management in Development" focuses on some of the big issues that development professionals need to be on top of when implementing projects and programmes in today's development environment. The success of project interventions is dependent on the project managers understanding of these bigger issues. Aid instruments, for example, are just one issue which can either undermine or facilitate the success of a project across all sectors, and in all working environments. Understanding the drivers for using certain aid instruments, and the broader drivers for change, will enable project managers to be able to make more effective decisions about their projects.

The "Project Management" module will combine theoretical knowledge with practical hands on training in the use of essential tools and skills needed to be effective project managers in the field. Students will be expected to actively participate in lecturers and will learn through a series of interactive sessions. Each session will convey the latest thinking in the field, explore relevant controversies and debates and identify implications of project management in a development context for poor people and the achievement of millennium development goals.

Resource Management in Non-Profit Organizations  

This "practitioner course" will take the students in four thematic sections through a full classic resource management cycle and beyond: (1) To what extent are NPOs different and how does that impact the RM function in NPOs? (2) Alternative approaches to allocating resources and to establishing linkages along the value chain from results to performance. (3) Establishing accountability through the monitoring and reporting cycle, and finally building on the foundation of the traditional RM function -- (4) Perspectives on moving beyond the traditional RM model to a flexible paradigm of continuous improvements. Students will be asked to deliver their homework at the end of the course on the topic "A case for change" a study for their organization of choice. We'll also test the extent to which perceptions of the group have shifted since the beginning of the course.  

What distinguishes resource management in not-for-profit organizations (NPOs) from organizations that manage with a view of the bottom line? How does the choice of organizational structure shape the behaviour and incentives within the organization? Are NPOs as compared to POs subject to fewer degrees of freedom and fundamentally different incentives in their management? What drives their performance, and to what extent is "performance" critical to their success? How is "performance" actually measured and rewarded?      

Management Consulting in International Organizations

Management consulting has helped businesses solve their most challenging problems for decades.  This has not gone unnoticed in the public sector where use of management consultants has increased dramatically in recent years, and now accounts for over 30% of the multi-billion dollar global consulting market.  Management consulting will play an important role in an IOMBA graduate's future, either as a field of practice or as a service to purchase. This course exposes students to the management consulting methodologies of Peacepath Consulting, an international consulting firm established to serve leading organizations and change makers in international development.

Upon completion participants will:

• Understand why and how clients use consultants;
• Learn central tools of the management consulting field;
• be better equipped to carry out, purchase and manage consulting projects;
• hone problem solving skills applicable to all aspects of IO management.