BUSINESS ANTHROPOLOGY

OVERVIEW: Business Anthropology explores how awareness and mastery of the concepts and approaches of anthropology can be used to better manage organizations. Students will develop the skills to apply ethnographic methods, cultural analysis, and anthropological frameworks to uncover hidden dynamics within organizations, enhance knowledge sharing, and drive innovation. The course is particularly valuable for any student seeking to strengthen their ability to lead complex, knowledge-driven initiatives with cultural awareness, strategic empathy, and deeper human insight.

CONTENT: Through a combination of hands-on fieldwork, case studies, and strategic analysis, students will learn to identify tacit knowledge, navigate organizational cultures, and design more human-centered, resilient knowledge strategies. Topics include: Foundations of anthropology and its relevance to organizational strategy; ethnographic methods for business insight and knowledge discovery; organizational culture, tacit knowledge, and hidden knowledge flows; power, identity, and hierarchy as factors shaping knowledge practices; bridging qualitative and quantitative intelligence for strategic advantage; applied anthropology in business innovation, design thinking, and change management.

LOGISTICS: This course is delivered in a hybrid format, with some sessions occurring on-campus and some as synchronous online sessions. Sessions meet weekly at the regularly scheduled day and time regardless of modality; the modality of each session will be available on the syllabus prior to the start of the semester. No prerequisites. Open to all graduate students.