Professor Probst currently teaches the course "Change Management" assisted by Özgü Karakulak, offered to MBA and IOMBA students at the University of Geneva. The course is designed to give the participants a sound grasp of complex organizational change management and organizational design. The challenges managers are facing today in view of continuous change require them to be familiar with the basic concepts as well as the pitfalls of organizational change. As current or future managers, participants need to be able to disseminate best practices and effective strategies to design and implement change management projects successfully. Furthermore, they are responsible for strategic resources such as knowledge in order to create and maintain a learning organization. The following main topics are addressed:
- The challenges of changing
- Crisis management and restructuring
- Transforming family business
- Change agents and change
- Implementing and sustaining change
- Organizational learning and change management
Dr. Sebastian Buckup and Dr. Stefan Mergenthaler also teach “The Practice of International Relations” on the IOMBA course. Traditionally, the study of international relations was about the behaviour of states and the way in which they project power over territories as expressed in the commonly used term of geopolitics. Today, international relations are about much more than states and security threats are broader than what used to be an inter-state confrontation about territory and power: from tackling organized crime or terrorism to fighting pollution or epidemics, most of the security threats of the 21st century involve the need to cooperate across borders in order to provide for global public goods. These shifts pose important questions for the functioning of international organizations. On completing of our course “The Practice of International Relations”, participants will be able to systematically analyse drivers transforming the international system as well as their implications for global cooperation. In particular, participants will have gained a deeper understanding of the determinants of state behaviour, the levels of agency in international relations, as well as the norms and principles that underpin international cooperation. Three questions will guide through the course:
- What are the big shifts that characterize the global context?
- How do these shifts affect global cooperation?
- Why does this matter for the management of International Organizations?
Dr. Valerie Federico-Weinzierl currently teaches the course “Cross-Sector Partnerships”, assisted by Dr. Lea Stadtler and Ozgu Karakulak, at the International Organizations MBA, University of Geneva. This course is designed to educate participants about conceptual differences in the area of Cross-Sector Partnerships (CSPs), discuss the benefits and risks of CSPs to advance local to global public goods for different stakeholder groups, and explore the challenges faced in making these collaborations successful, sustainable, and impactful. Overall, this course offers a very practical approach to understanding, designing, and implementing successful Cross-Sector Partnerships, including the opportunity to:
- Learn about their historical evolution;
- Critically discuss the macro perspective on these forms of collaboration, including the key question of legitimacy, as well as the benefits and risks they entail;
- Learn about the practical management of CSPs, including which initial questions to address, the design, implementation, and monitoring processes, as well as implementation challenges, dilemmas, and success factors;
- Learn about development processes and change management in partnerships.
For further information on the IOMBA please click here.