Zellars MBAD 6161
Fall, 2009
MBAD 6161-U090
ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERSHIP & BEHAVIOR I
Wednesday, 5:30 – 8:15
Fall 2009
Professor: Dr. Kelly Zellars
Office: Friday 250 A
Office Hours: Wed 4:00 – 5:00 (Uptown) and by appointment
Phone: 704-687-7591
E-mail:
Required materials:
1. Robbins, Stephen P. & Judge, Timothy A. Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 9th edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. This is a softcover edition. You may also use the 10th edition or the hard cover edition
2. This is a participant centered learning course (i.e., relies heavily on case based study). Students are required to purchase cases from Harvard Business Publishing. A link will be provided in class.
3. Students are required to read articles and research briefs from Harvard Business Review, and Academy of Management Perspectives (formerly, Academy of Management Executive) (on electronic course reserve on library website and in library databases).
Course Description:
From the UNCC Catalog: “Behavioral knowledge and skills essential to becoming an effective manager/leader including behavior and motivation in an environment of complexity and rapid change and ethical implications of actions and their effects on demographically diverse and increasingly international work force.”
Course Objectives
The major objective of this course is to improve your effectiveness as a manager by providing you with a foundation of knowledge in topics including but not limited to decision making, diversity, work motivation, leadership, group and team dynamics, power and politics, and to develop your ability to apply this knowledge to the solution of managerial problems. In this course we will discuss how to discern critical facts in relevant business scenarios, determine the question or problem to be addressed, and propose an optimum course of action. Readings and cases by leading researchers and practitioners in the field are used to provide contextual familiarity and to practice using the tools and skills required for competitive analysis. This course is designed to help you review basic management theories and principles and become familiar with key management issues. This course relies heavily on cases that provide you opportunities to make difficult decisions (if you feel some decisions are easy, you will likely miss something important). We will address many “people” issues within a firm, including personality, motivation, job satisfaction, leadership, mentoring, politics, team composition and performance, and diversity.
A basic premise of this course is that high-level managers and organizational leaders are most effective when they are able to discern critical facts in ambiguous and often time pressured situations, weigh the costs/benefits of actions, and decisively choose a course of action. This course is intended to help students make good inferences based on available data about the best approach in a particular situation, and how to learn from one’s own experiences and those of others. The course allows you to integrate your knowledge of other business courses into the world of people issues. While it is important to become adept at separating effective recommendations from ineffective recommendations and those that are not feasible to implement, the focus of this course is not on trying to identify a single ―right‖ solution to strategic issues. While there are clearly some beneficial responses and some ineffective responses, there are not fail-safe techniques for solving complex strategic problems. The intent of this course is to provide you with an opportunity to think through complex organizational issues and to diagnose financial and non-financial costs and benefits associated with choosing, and with not choosing, different ways to resolve those issues. Some effective responses are based on using or modifying various models and techniques developed through research. Other successful responses come from integrating knowledge learned in functional area courses. Some solutions require personal creativity and ingenuity. Few solutions are ideal. Most options create new problems and provide important benefits for an organization.
COURSE POLICIES & STRUCTURE
This class is a seminar course. In general, a class will consist of three key components:
1. Review and discussion of the basic issues of the day’s topic. I will give a brief
introduction to the material to “bring it all together.”
2. An in depth discussion of the case and/or readings.
3. Application of the key ideas to other companies/situations
A general schedule of the topics to be covered in each class is provided in the course outline. Effective participation requires preparation. You are expected to have thoroughly read chapter materials and analyzed case assignments prior to coming to class. You are expected to express your ideas and to evaluate recommendations that others provide. You are expected to ask questions about material that you do not understand. Additionally, it is very valuable if you can find relevant experiences (from your job or company) and share the experiences with your classmates. One caution: While you are expected to make informed contribution to class activities, understand that quality, not quantity alone, is valued. Students who speak frequently but rarely have anything of importance to say make very little contribution and in some cases, hinder class development. Many types of contribution are valued. Effective presentation may involve presenting your insight into the facts of a case, suggesting cause-and-effect relationships among various events, anticipating the results of various actions, generating alternatives, or providing strong support for recommendations. Emotional or empathetic responses are also valued; they help to humanize discussions. Asking questions can be very helpful. Sometimes it is as important to recognize what is not known as it is to have a ―correct answer. Also, I expect students to behave in ways that create an effective and comfortable learning environment. This includes treating others with courtesy and respect, ensuring that cell phones are turned off or are on vibrate, arriving on time for class, and engaging in discussions that are direct but polite.
Course Requirements
Exam. There will be two exams in this class. Exam material will be drawn from class discussions, the assigned readings, and any supplemental material I hand out in class.
Participation. This course demands a high level of participation. Students are required to prepare case analyses for each class. Students will be graded on their participation in terms of both quality and quantity. More details will be provided in class.
Case briefs (8).
Team Project: Case. Details to be provided in class. Groups will present their projects in class and will be evaluated by both me and your peers.
Evaluation
The final class grade will be based on the following:
2 exams: 30% (15% each)
Class Participation/cases 15%
Case analyses 30%
Team Project: 25% (written 20%, oral 5%)
Exams (30%)
There will be two (2) individual exams in this course. The content of the exams will include the discussion of past classes or assignments and/or readings of the day, and will cover the concrete concepts presented in the readings and in class discussions. The exams will consist of essay questions. The exams will emphasize your ability to use course materials and apply course concepts.
Missed Exam. Attendance on exam day is mandatory. Make-up exams will only be given for a very limited set of circumstances. If a conflict arises that is absolutely unavoidable (most commonly out-of-town work assignments), you should notify me as soon as possible. Arrangements will be made to have you take the exam prior to the scheduled exam date. If you miss the exam due to unavoidable circumstances (e.g., illness, a death in the family), you must notify me by the end of the work day on the day of the exam (leave a voice mail, email, or both). Reasons for such a missed exam should be documented. The exam will be made-up as soon as possible after the originally scheduled exam date. At the instructor’s discretion, the make-up exam may differ in content or form from the regularly scheduled exam. A zero will be assigned to missed exams that do not conform to either of the above two circumstance.
Individual class participation (15%)
This class follows a participant centered learning style. Active and meaningful class participation is an essential part of the learning experience in this course. I expect each student to make a strong contribution to the learning experience. One of your more important responsibilities as a student is to ask questions and contribute your ideas during class. Students who were formerly, or are currently working are encouraged to share your personal work experiences with your classmates. Discussing hands-on experience is an important way to integrate the classroom learning with real world situations. To achieve an A grade in participation, active participation will be required both during the discussion of the content assigned for the particular class and during the case discussions. Participation in class discussions help to achieve the stated objectives in several ways. It serves as a point of application of the learned concepts. Moreover, having to articulate what we think furthers our understanding of what we know (and don’t know). It also helps to improve one’s verbal communication capabilities.
Successfully meeting this requirement will generally involve the following steps: First, you must do the assigned readings prior to class and be able to discuss them. Ultimately, in terms of performance evaluation, this portion of your grade seeks to evaluate your comprehension and grasp of the material. Therefore, it is virtually impossible to get an A on this portion of the grade if you do not read the material. Second, do not read the material in passive mode (akin to watching television with one’s critical capabilities disengaged). Read the materials with a purpose. In terms of assigned readings: what are the key principles and concepts being presented? The aim of this course is for you to develop a deep understanding of fundamentals; thus, you should constantly focus your attention when reading on trying to understand what is at the core of each topic covered.
Assigned cases, then, should be read with an eye on the particular concepts covered that week. Case studies, by their very nature, are a presentation of an abundance of information, much of which may not be pertinent to the particular concepts and models being focused upon. Their purpose in the current course, however, is to exemplify the particular content they are assigned with. Thus, do not simply read the cases. Try to figure out how the specific concepts/models for the week are played out in the case. Finally, you must participate in both types of the class discussions.
To make this part of the evaluation as objective as possible (given its generally subjective nature), participation scores will be assigned at the end of each class period based upon the following scale:
0 Absent
0 Disruptive attendance
5 Partial or inattentive attendance
7 Full attentive attendance (FAA)
8-9 FAA with contribution
10 FAA with contribution demonstrating comprehension
To elaborate, if you are not able to attend a class for whatever reason, your participation for that class is clearly 0—no other evaluation can be made in such a case and still be equitable. Missing a class has a major impact both on the invaluable learning experience that participation in discussions with your peers provide, as well as on your final evaluation, given the weight placed on this portion of your grade. However, emergencies and unexpected events do arise, and thus missing a class may be unavoidable. To allow for this reality, each student is allowed to drop their one (1) lowest participation score (i.e., one class session). An extreme example of disruptive attendance would be assaulting me or a fellow classmate (verbally or physically). A less extreme (and more likely) example would be repeatedly interrupting class with personal business (i.e. cell phones, pagers, etc.). If you are only able to make a part of a particular class (absent for more than 30 minutes), for whatever reason, again equity dictates that you receive only partial credit for participation. Inattentive attending includes such things as taking care of some other business (i.e., working on other class assignments, attending to personal or work matters, etc.) during class time. Having side discussions with fellow classmates while I am, or fellow classmates are, speaking also may be regarded as inattentive, or even disruptive attendance, depending on the length and nature of the side discussion. Full attentive attendance involves being there, following the discussion, but not contributing anything to it (other than your attention). Contributions consist of meaningful additions to the discussion. Beyond the steps outlined above, this also inherently requires listening to and respecting other people’s points of view (but by no means does this mean that you must agree with them. Indeed, debate is much appreciated and welcomed). Also, it does not mean that you should withhold questions for risk of looking stupid. Relevant questions are always a contribution. Quantity also plays a role here; your contributing to the discussion to help it move along is also recognized (and appreciated). To facilitate tracking individual contributions, a seating chart will be made and used starting with the second week of the course. I will use at least two scribes per class session to record discussion and student contributions. The scribes will receive maximum participation credit for satisfactory note-taking and timely transcription submissions. In addition, while there may be students for whom English is not a native language and they may perceive some difficulties in communicating their ideas, they should also have advantages of international experience that are valuable to other students. Thus, I would recommend that those students use their background not as an excuse but as an advantage in terms of class contribution.
Case Analyses (30%) There are eight (8) case analysis reports that need to be submitted by each student. The analysis should be 3 – 4 pages (4 is a maximum) each, typed, double-spaced, on 8.5 by 11 inch paper with 1 inch margins on all sides using 12-point font size. Violations of these rules will lead to a grade reduction. These are individual assignments, thus working with others is strictly prohibited. The specific, assigned questions for each case will be provided at least one week prior to their due date. The case should be analyzed utilizing the information the case provides and/or with any extra information provided by the professor.
Group
The group project includes a case writing report, the presentation of the report, and leading class discussion regarding the report. As a group, you will select one company, collect information and data on the chosen firm (through methods such as use of the internet, business journals, interviews, and/or the library data base), and prepare written reports as follows: (1) one case report up to 10 pages of text (please see acceptable formats used for the cases covered during this class as examples) with tables, graphs, financial statements, etc., included within an appendix; and (2) one teaching note up to 5 pages. The key idea here is that you explore and identify important management issues related to the topics of this class that are relevant to managers (and MBA students – current/future managers). While, as a student, your main task has been to solve/discuss assigned problems, here your main task is finding problems (or opportunities). In the teaching note, you are expected to clarify what students need to discuss and what students can learn from the case. The teaching note will include formulating pertinent discussion questions used to guide class discussion of your case.