The American University of Sharjah

MG 622 Organizational Behavior

First Assignment

Please purchase your textbook and bring it to class on March 31st.

Avila University

School of Business and Economics

Course Syllabus

COURSE TITLE: Organizational Behavior and Development (BU 622) - 3 credits

TERM/YEAR:Spring 2016

ROOM:WHI 507

CLASS MEETING:R 6:00 – 9:20 pm

INSTRUCTOR:Daniel George, Ph.D.

OFFICE:Whitfield 505-A

OFFICE HOURS:T R 12:30 pm- 2:00 pm, 5:30 – 6 pm, or by appointment

PHONE:816 501 3799

EMAIL:

Required Text

Organizational Behavior: An Experiential Approach, 8th Edition

by Osland, Kolb, Rubin and Turner. Prentice Hall, 2007

Please be sure to bring this book to every class as we will be doing exercises based on the material in the workbook.

Course Description

This course is designed to allow the prospective manager to develop an understanding of basic human dynamics in organizations. As such the course provides an opportunity to investigate and experience the relevancy to management and administration of topics whose basis can be found in the applied behavioral and social sciences (psychology, sociology, political science, etc.). In general, this course will explore the interactions between individuals and the systems in which they live and work. Individual and group levels of analysis are included in covering such topics as perception, communication, motivation, group development and performance, work design, creativity, quality improvement, individual effectiveness & development, leadership, and intergroup behavior. The materials applicable to this subject are too vast and numerous to be thoroughly covered in one course; therefore, the best we can hope for is to scratch the surface deep enough so that the student will become motivated to pursue learning in this area on his/her own.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of this course, the student will achieve knowledge and/or skills in the following areas:

• Behavioral science theory and concepts as applied to organizations as systems.
• Development of the management skills of analysis, problem-definition, decision-making,
• and implementation.
• Dynamics of work groups.
• Problems and opportunities of group decision-making.
• Motivation in organizational settings.
• Communication and listening.
• Negotiation and conflict management.
• Capacity for empathetic thinking and action.
• Role of leadership in organizations and one’s own leadership style.
• Process of effecting change in complex organizations.
• Organizational culture and job design.

Miscellaneous Behavioral Expectations

Cell-phones are to be turned off completely before entering the class. At the discretion of the instructor, the student may be asked to leave the class should he/she violate this policy.

General conversation between students while class is in session can result, at the discretion of the instructor, in the student’s dismissal from class. Continued violations may result in permanent dismissal from the course.

Habitual tardiness, like the above items, is evidence of poor habits and/or bad manners. Not only does it affect the violator’s grade, it disrupts the class. You are expected to be punctual.

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Class attendance is expected. See more on this topic in the section on Evaluation.

Cheating, of course, will not be tolerated in this course. This policy applies to exams, exercises, written assignments, group projects, etc.. and includes, but is not confined to, plagiarism.

The Educational Process

The underlying assumption is that organizations are living, open systems and that learning is best acquired by multiple means. The focus of this course will be experiential, engaging the student actively in the learning process. In addition to conceptual inputs, the course will utilize structured & unstructured exercises, simulations, case analysis and student's presentations in order to: a) provide you with the opportunity to actually experience the behavioral dynamics being studied; and b) to provide situations wherein you can assess the relevance of the dynamics being studied. Because much of the learning and work towards the achievement of course objectives will occur in the classroom, students must 1) attend class regularly, 2) be fully prepare for class and 3) contribute to the team and class discussions.

Each member of the class will be assigned to a team. Team formation will be made during the first class session and will be for the duration of the course. The purpose of the teams in this course is to provide a vehicle for learning about self and human behavior in organizations.

Teams will be assigned specific tasks during the course. Experience has shown that teams are effective if they:

• Schedule times and places for group meetings early in the course and observe those meeting times. I have scheduled some time within the class periods for group meetings but you will need to schedule outside meeting times.
• Provide time for socializing with team members; task teams that focus exclusively on the task without building interpersonal relationships tend to experience problems later on.
• Meet in a place that is appropriate to the purpose of the meeting. A pizza place may be a good place to build social relationships, yet many groups will find that it is not the best place for working sessions.
• Ask for instructor’s consultation after making and ineffective effort to solve a group problem.
• It is acceptable for a team to fire a non-contributing member. To do so all the rest of the team should agree and should discuss the problem with the affected individual before I will accept the termination. I'll try to visit with each group during the course. Beyond that, I will be available to consult with any group on process problems in the group.
• Notwithstanding all of the above, peer evaluations will be used to determine if there are any free rider issues and the input received from such evaluations will affect an individuals grade for the group projects/assignments/exams.

Performance Evaluation

Grading will be in accordance with the following grading scale and distribution (weighting) scheme.

Grading Scale

90-100A

80-89B

70-79C

60-69D

LT 60F

Grade Distribution

Midterm exam15 %

Final exam15 %

Team assignments10%

Team Project10%

Individual Journal15%

PAAs15%

Participation 10%

Peer Evaluation10%

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Total100 %

Grading Category Descriptions

A more detailed description of each grading category outlined above follows:

Exams. There will be a midterm exam and one final exam in the course. The material in the exams will come from the assigned readings, individual and team assignments, in class activities, lectures and class discussions. The exams will be in two parts: (1) Individual and (2) Group. Both parts will be equally weighted. You are expected to take exams on the day scheduled. There will be no make-up exams.

Team Assignments. Team assignments will be given throughout the semester.

Team Project. Each team will have make a presentation and submit a paper intended to apply the concepts from the course to an active learning environment. The presentation will be assessed on the basis of its overall educational value, impact and class involvement. Your presentation will be graded by me as well as your peers. The paper (8-10pages) should be submitted to me by the end of the semester and will be graded by me. Your total score will be based on both the presentation and the paper (both will be weighted equally). As with all group assignments, each team will be asked to assess the contribution of their team members, and these assessments will detrmine the score of each individual member.

Individual Journal. Each student is required to record and evaluate the classroom and/or team activities and experiences. There are three components that make up this requirement:

1) Following each activity (whether in class or out of class activity) you are required to capture the essence of the activity in a notebook (diary). The notebook(diary) will be collected on the day of the mid-term for feedback purposes and at the end of the semester for grading.

2) During the semester you will be filling out different behavioral questionnaires/instruments, which ae intended to give you some insights about yourself. Keep a record of these files and their results in a folder.

3) At the end of the semester, you should write a 5-page reflective paper based on what you learned about yourself through the PAAs, your notebook (diary), and your scores on the questionnaires/instruments.

Personal Application Assignment (PAA). Please use the attached format to write these papers. Also, the Personal Application Assignment (PAA) format given at the end of each chapter contains appropriate questions that will help you with this activity.

Participation will be evaluated after every class session, and will be measured in terms of both frequency and quality. Measures of quality include the extent to which the contribution indicates thorough preparation and analytic insight, the extent to which it develops links between text material and the case or exercise, the demonstration of effective differing, the facilitation of others in clarifying their point of view, the extent to which the contribution builds on the thinking of others in producing a larger synergistic understanding of the issues being discussed.

Peer Evaluation. At the end of the semester, every student will turn in a peer evaluation plus a self-evaluation that assesses both class preparation and in-class contributions for every member of their learning group.

Attendance: Class attendance is expected. Absence from class, for any reason, is recorded as an absence and will affect course grades as shown in the following table:

Note: Three tardies will count as an absence. Each day is treated as two classes.

General Comments on Assignments

1)Written assignments are evaluated on content (what you say) and format (how it's presented), and must conform to specific assignment guidelines.

2)Each group member is expected to contribute equally and professionally toward group assignments. Peer evaluations will be used to determine if you should receive the benefit of the grade assigned to your group.

Course Calendar

The final journals are due immeditately prior to the final exam.

*Note: The schedule and the contents of the course are subject to change.

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