Organizational Behavior in Business

Course Description                                                                                                              

A study of the behavior of people at work in all forms of organizations. Topics to be covered include the fundamentals both of organizations and of organizational behavior, including individual differences, attitudes, values, ethics, motivation, group dynamics, decision-making, conflict, power, change, stress, leadership, job design, and organization structure. Also includes the development of management theory, as well as international and technological management, and self-assessment.

Learning Goals

General Learning Goals

Competency in speaking within common business scenarios

Students will practice their oral presentation skills in a major team project. 

Competency in writing about common business scenarios

Students will write short papers on the next learning goal topic.

Students will demonstrate ethical reasoning skills within a business environment

Each chapter contains a section called “Ethical Dilemma” that will be the focus of discussion and/or be the topic for a short written paper.

 Students will know how to use team building and collaboration to achieve group objectives

            Team building and collaboration to achieve group objectives will be practiced during the

             preparation stages and the group presentation.

Students will have an understanding of the influence of global and multicultural issues

on business activities

Global aspects relating to organizational culture is covered in a separate chapter in our text.

Course Specific Learning Goals

• To be able to explain Organizational Behavior (OB) concepts in your own words
• To learn to think like a manager as you use OB theories to solve business problems
• To learn to understand the behavior of yourself and others around you through self-reflection and feedback
• To learn to relate OB theories to your own experiences
• To demonstrate the value of OB concepts by showing the importance of them with future behavior.

Course Prerequisite:

            Junior standing or above or consent of the chair.

Grading and Evaluation

Many different tools are used to test your degree of success at achieving the different learning goals.  There are 4 exams and a quiz over each chapter of material.   There are 2 individual projects: 4 ethical dilemma case studies and one written paper.  Finally, there is a group project with a peer evaluation that will have about 4 team members making a 10-15 minute presentation in class.  Here is the breakdown of points in this class:

            Exams                        4 @ 100 points each                  = 400

            Quizzes                       18 @ 10 points each                  = 180

            Ethical Dilemma Situations    4 @ 25 points each    = 100

            Individual paper                                                                 = 100

            Group project

                   Presentation                                                                = 100

                   Peer evaluation                                                           =   50                        Total Available Points                                                                   = 930

Grades will be determined on the basis of the total points earned.  Letter grades will be given according to the following scale:

                        A = 837-930 points

                        B = 744-836 points

                        C = 651-743 points

                        D = 558-650 points

                        F = less than 558 points

File Submission

All files for this course will be submitted to WebCT.  No e-mail submissions will be accepted.  Directions for submitting course assignments (this includes papers and presentation files):

• Go to the Assignments tab on the left side of the screen. Click on the appropriate assignment. It should have two text boxes: one labeled Submission and the other labeled Add Comment. Between these two boxes is a small grey box that says Add Attachments. Click on this box and browse to select your presentation file on your computer.

• If this does not work, the IT department says that not having the proper Java configuration on your computer will cause problems uploading AND downloading. To check that your configuration is correct, go to:
  http://distance.mwsu.edu/distance/javahelp.asp

• If you are still unable to upload your file, submit a problem report to IT (I cannot help with these issues). You can do this by going to http://distance.mwsu.edu/distance/OPRS/OPRS.asp
  You should provide as much information as you can so that they can help you.

• Not being able to upload your work is not a reason for it to be late. There is a "Test Dropbox" that you can submit any file to so that you can ensure that your computer configuration is compatible with WebCT.

Late Work

Late work is not accepted for any reason.  Students have the opportunity to submit papers early.  More details on assignment submission can be found in the Project Guidelines.

Attendance Policy:

Students are expected to attend all class meetings for this course, following the university attendance policy.  (See Midwestern State University Undergraduate Catalog, Vol. LXXV, No. 2, p. 88).  Each meeting of the class will run as scheduled.  So as not to disturb the class, you are not to walk in and out of the classroom during the class hour except for an emergency.  Cell phone activity (including texting) is prohibited. 

Other Related Policies

1. If a student misses a regularly scheduled exam, the student must immediately notify the instructor of his/her intention to schedule a make-up exam.  Make-up exams will be administered at the professor’s discretion, and the professor reserves the right to require documentation of reason for missing an exam. 

1. Most of the class sessions will be discussion oriented with ample opportunity for students to provide input to those discussions.   An important characteristic of business students is the ability to verbally communicate ideas and thoughts.  Though no part of your grade is directly contingent on participation, everyone should be motivated to develop this characteristic since it is so important in business.  Furthermore, if you have a question, please ask it!!