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Individual Decision Making and Motivation

How do individuals interact with each other? How should economic activities be coordinated?
Course code
MGMT411
Course type
BSc Course
Weekly Hours
2,0
ECTS
3.0
Term
FS 2020
Language
Englisch
Lecturers
Prof. Dr. Peter-J. Jost
Please note that exchange students obtain a higher number of credits in the BSc-program at WHU than listed here. For further information please contact directly the International Relations Office.
In the centre of our discussion are systems in which several individuals interact with each other in order to achieve certain common goals. These individual decision makers are in some way connected with each other such that the coordination of their individual behaviour towards the common goal becomes essential. We follow the conceptual framework of institutional economics and discuss three different forms of coordination:
  • First, market coordination where individual activities are coordinated via the price mechanism. Here we follow the basic microeconomic theory and discuss the functioning of market as well as different sorts of market failures.
  • Second, interorganizational coordination where individual activities are coordinated by long-term contracts between autonomous partners. Here we follow the transaction cost theory and discuss several factors which determine the usefulness of this coordination mechanism.
  • And third, hierarchical coordination where individual activities are coordinated by a central unit and coordination takes place via commands. Here we follow managerial economic theories and integrate the various coordination instruments used within firms into our analysis.
Date Time
Thursday, 09.01.2020 11:30 - 15:15
Thursday, 09.01.2020 11:30 - 15:15
Wednesday, 29.01.2020 11:30 - 15:15
Wednesday, 29.01.2020 11:30 - 15:15
Friday, 31.01.2020 09:45 - 13:00
Friday, 31.01.2020 09:45 - 13:00
Thursday, 06.02.2020 11:30 - 15:15
Thursday, 06.02.2020 11:30 - 15:15
Thursday, 06.02.2020 11:30 - 15:30
Thursday, 13.02.2020 11:30 - 15:15
Thursday, 13.02.2020 11:30 - 15:15
Friday, 14.02.2020 15:30 - 18:45
Friday, 14.02.2020 15:30 - 18:45
By the end of the course, you will advance your knowledge in different ways:
  • Learning the influences of psychology and sociology will help you understand why and how people make decisions
  • Answering questions regarding the respective last lecture will help you to reconsider the contents discussed in class
  • Learning to write a research paper will help you to deal with a new topic and be useful for your BSc-thesis
  • Learning to analyse an experimental paper will help you to critically analyse the underlying theories
  • Learning how to design an experiment will be useful for identifying differences between theory and practice
  • Learning to speak in front of others will be useful for your university and business career
Jost, Peter-J. (2014). The Economics of Motivation and Organization. Edward Elgar Publishing
  • Experiment & Presentation: 45%
  • Paper: 35%
  • In-class assignments: 20%
  • Participation: Tiebreaker
Your willingness to solve puzzles!
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