too many theories not very practical

Too much difficult course.

I am thrilled to announce that I have successfully completed the prestigious Organizational Analysis program offered through Coursera! 🎓✅

This intensive course has equipped me with invaluable knowledge and skills to analyze complex organizational structures, processes, and behaviors. I am excited to leverage these insights to drive strategic decision-making and foster organizational excellence.

🎯 Course Highlights:

✨ Applying analytical frameworks to assess and optimize organizational performance.

✨ Understanding the impact of organizational culture on employee engagement and productivity.

✨ Identifying and managing organizational change to drive sustainable growth.

✨ Leveraging data analytics to enhance organizational decision-making.

✨ Enhancing leadership and communication skills for effective organizational management.

💡 Empowering Organizational Success:

I am immensely grateful to the esteemed faculty at Coursera and Stanford University for their guidance and expertise, which have been instrumental in deepening my understanding of organizational analysis. The knowledge and skills I have gained from this program will undoubtedly help me drive positive change and contribute to the success of organizations.

Together, let's shape a future where organizations thrive and achieve remarkable success.

#OrganizationalAnalysis #DataDrivenDecisions #StrategicPlanning #StanfordUniversityGraduate

Professor Daniel McFarland of Stanford University, deliver here an inspiring and attention-grabbing course about how to find structured keys and solutions for an environment where most organizational problems are distinctive to the circumstances and cannot be elucidated by simple click.

The eleven weeks of materials was indeed long and personally very difficult to absorb, but the final reward is 100% worth it!!

I am highly thankful to Professor Daniel McFarland, for allowing me to be part of his class and sharing us (students) generously his extensive knowledge, theories and thoughts about new ways to enlighten work environment, and understand in a systematic, practical manner & the behind-the-curtain; the industrialized world we are living.

For geographical reasons, it will be technically impossible for me to attend Professor Daniel McFarland classes at Stanford University and thanks to his generous patience, engagement and priceless time to prepare this exceptional course,

I am really honored and proud to have joined this outstanding and must learn course here on coursera!!!

Definitively a stellar 5 Star rating!!!

Found this to be an exceptional course which introduced me to theories for analyzing organizations. The material was challenging, thought-provoking, and highly practical. As an educator in the public school system, I could see how decisions were influenced by many factors. I would like to meet with Professor McFarland one day. I have a few other personal experienced based theories relatinging to analysis of organization , nuances of some presented, that I would like to share with him. I am especially interested in the impact of the consumer on shaping organizations. But I sense the consumer is just lumped in as a member of the environment. The information age empowers the consumer providing greater choice and opportunities for disruptive innovations. I would like to see students wield this influence to bring education into the 21st Century.Professor McFarland, Thank you for your fine work and willingness to share.Robert Schenker: Robert.schenker@gmail.com

An excellent introduction and analysis on the the very essence of organizations. The course is well structured and presented. One may argue that there is lots of theory and material, especially if references and external information are followed and researched. This, in my point of view, is not a minus (however, I'm am used to such an approach given a PhD background). One point of improvement: all theory is accompanied by case-studies and practical examples. Most of them, however, are drawn from the US experience and reality - none really from an international perspective (with the exceptions of the Cuba missile crisis and of Google - an international "icon" anyhow). More intenationally-drawn examples would have been a plus, given the very cultural and nationality-wise mix of students who sign up for MOOCs. Thank you. Dimitris, Athens, Greece.

Background Information: Name of the organization Industry and market in which it operates Size of the organization (number of employees, revenue, etc.) Key products or services Internal Environment: Organizational structure Leadership style and key leaders Culture and values Internal communication and teamwork External Environment: Key competitors Market trends Regulatory environment Customer base and target market SWOT Analysis: Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats Performance Metrics: Financial performance (e.g., profitability, revenue growth) Operational performance (e.g., efficiency, productivity) Employee performance and satisfaction Customer satisfaction and retention Strategic Initiatives: Current strategic goals and objectives Major projects or initiatives Innovation and R&D efforts

Well-paced and genuinely personable delivery of course content. Highly relevant theories and models; indeed, I most appreciated the inter- and cross-disciplinary approach used to better understand human and organizational relationships (in organizations and within and between markets and sub-sectors of the economy). This course met its goal of provided learners with a very wide range of theories and models to understand what can sometimes be a complex web of interactions between supporters and detractors, competitors and collaborators. Truly well worth the investment and as long as one takes good notes throughout each lecture and invaluable resource to draw on for understanding and managing the various relationships that exist within and between organizations.

Exceptionally meticulously planned and well-conducted course. Course content was extremely relevant to today's organizational and corporate realities. The Case applications were very helpful in understanding and assimilating the Organizational Theories. Prof Daniel A McFarland was selfless in sharing his vast knowledge and varied experiences with us during the course. His style of teaching was very balanced, with a poised mix of formal and informal discussions, screen side chats and humor. He conducted the course in an extremely professional manner and covered all the topics in depth. His way of teaching and imparting knowledge has left a lasting impression on me and strengthened my resolve to acquire more knowledge and experiences from such courses.

Amazing!! I enjoyed this course a lot especially the flexibility with time stipulation. Being the MOOC this course was well interactive and informative to fit the practitioners' choice as well the beginners. The technical aspects of this course were fantastic and nicely equipped with any disruption. I hope this type, of course, would open doors for the people who have limited access to the professional development process. There could be group assignments for evaluations which could give a go for more interactive and simulative. Cheers to all graduates off course including me. Thanks to Daniel A. McFarland and his great team including Stanford University and Coursera. Best, Dr. Rahat Sikdar, International Consultant and Development Specialist

Organizational Analysis course with Stanford provided exceptional processes of theory and application for various type work environments. I learned so much about the strengths and threats in determing successful productivity for high level functioning of different type organizational entities. This course is very engaging, challenging, and I highly recommend this course for those new to organzational analysis, or for those who are looking for reviews of strategies in optimizing organizational effectiveness, regardless of organizational type (education, government, technology, manufacturing, finance, etc.) .

I found this course insightful in terms of theories and concepts. A number of case studies related to USA and to educational institutions which, although not relevant to my location and industry, I was able to get some gems from. The Professor is passionate and knowledgeable. At various times, the Professor actually shares with you some of the constraints that he's under in order to provide publicly available videos and slides, I found that helpful given it can be a bit lumpy in terms of structure and presentation.

Excellent course for understanding how organizations work, function, react to problems, change. Very important for managers or business leaders. A large portion of the cases used were from the education field like schools, and universities but the examples can applied to all organizations whether profit or non profit. The lectures were very informative and entertaining. The quizzes were challenging and the final was even more challenging. Thank you Coursera, Stanford, Dr. Dan McFarland for this very beneficial course.

I have many years of experience working at various organizations, however, it was very useful and exciting to learn about different and such complicated paths in the process of decision making. This course has allowed me to gain different perspective and start analyzing in absolute new way organizations/decision making groups with which I am working at this moment.

It also helps to make practical steps in order to succeed in the process of decision making.

Thank you

The course has given me understandings and lenses about the dynamics of organizations and the people within the organizations which I would've never gained if I didn't take this course. I recommend this survey course to anyone who is setting up a career in organizational development and also to people taking management and leadership roles for the first time. Understanding organization dynamics will save them from a lot of frustration.

For a long time, a dreamt with this kind of course and this level of teaching. I believe that this course represents the magna opus of what Coursera's mission fosters to be. It is enlightening, complete and passionate in so many ways that make this intangible asset almost physical. My only advice is, just take this course and embrace what you will learn because it can actually change you and luckily your environment as well.

It took a long while for me to finish this course due to very busy personal schedule. I am so so happy that I've finally completed this as the course presents me challenges and equips me with a lot of theories and tools to explain organisation behaviour. Thanks for putting this course up in Coursera, and the inspiration Prof. McFarland and his team has brought me. I am really very pleased to have done this!!

The course is excellent, it covers several theories about organizational analysis with various case studies. The most interesting thing for me is the constant concern to make practical knowledge, identifying when a theory is more applicable and what course of action a manager should take in each case. In the end, we have a series of tools that can be used in whole or in part, depending on the case in question.

The beginning says week 1 & 2 are difficult as too much new information, but when I go further step by step, I found it's really great to learn framework and will be connected with ten theories and my long working experience in last. Really great course with information, insight and tips. And the screen-side chats are enjoyable with questions and discussion more on real world. Thanks and strong recommend.

The content was very insightful, it provided me with some lenses (as promised) to analyse different organizational issues and have deeper understanding of possible strategies for me as a change agent. The two things I've missed were 1) some peer-graded assignment in addition to quizzes and 2) some list for future investigation/reading. Maybe you would consider adding those to future courses. Thank you!

Very impressed with the content and structure of the course. A fair bit of information well layered that articulated a host of experiences we have at the workplace very well with explanations about them and how to manage to them. Also listed a host of theories supported with management strategies to use that I was not familiar with. So overall extremely pleased with the course.

I am deeply satisfied with the course! The materials/lectures helped me to understand the basics thoroughly. Particularly the case studies are my real interest. I wish if there was a one big case study as an example where all the theories in this course are covered. I am applying these theories in my current organization and I got a positive feedback..! Thanks Coursera!

Interesting course. Provides good insights to the way different organizations work. As a result, when I recently was looking at a start-up, it was easy to identify the different players and understand the nature of the organization. Hopefully, I will be able to use some of the skills learned in the course to help move the organization in a successful direction.

It is an excellent course, with a lot of information that can help you, on your management skills and better comprehension of how organizations can be, apart of what might guide the organization into a new way.

I recommend this course to anyone who wants to improve their management abilities and/or those who are willing to comprehend how organizations behave.

Very informative and well structured course for anyone that would like to understand more about the different lenses you can view a company. Not only useful for organisational analysts but also for anyone that want to understand more about what is happening to one's company and what management styles to use to mitigate or enforce certain behaviours.