Organisational Behaviour

(1) MGMT100; and (2) A further 15 points in MGMT or MKTG or MSCI or STAT

MGMT201, MGMT216

MGMT216

Course Coordinator / Lecturer

Sarah Wright

Guest Lecturer

Kathy Lund-Dean (Gustavus Adolphus College, USA)

Assessment

Assessment 1: Learning Assignments

Date: Please see lecture schedule.  
Weighting: 30% for all learning assignments (5% each)
Submission: Submitted via Learn.

Learning assignments are designed to help you apply OB concepts and theories to real-world situations or settings. In this course there are six learning assignments: four related to the Manager’s Hot Seat (MHS), and two that require a written reflective discussion based on the class sessions.

Manager’s Hot Seat Assignments
The Manager’s Hot Seat has real-life scenarios that depict complex managerial situations. These are video-based scenarios for which you need to make decisions on how to best manage each situation. For each video you will get familiar with the characters, read background information, watch the meeting scenario and afterthoughts, and create a report grading the manager on her/his skills. You need to create a written report about the decisions you would make in each situation in response to the video scenario you see.

The MHS website is fairly self-explanatory and contains easy-to-use buttons. The learning assignment for this course is your responses to the MHS Response Guide on Learn, containing a discussion of how well each manager did. You will need to integrate course material, including supplemental readings, into your response.

Reflective Assignments
The purpose of these two learning assignment is to write a reflective piece following the class session on power (24/3) and job/organisational design (31/3). You will record your thoughts, comments and reflections triggered by and in response to the exercises we do in class. Your reflection should be brief and to-the-point (about one page).

Please note that your thoughts expressed in your reflection assignments are completely confidential. Please also note that your reflection is not an opportunity to critique the activity or the lecturer/s – it is about your reactions to the class session and how you make sense of your reactions through course material.

Evaluations for this assignment will also be based on (1) completeness; (2) evidence of having actually participated in, and engaged with, the class session and course content; (3) proper spelling, grammar, and syntax, and (4) engagement with the topics beyond any lecture/PowerPoint slide material.

The following website has some useful information on how to write “reflectively”:
http://www.lc.unsw.edu.au/onlib/reflect2.html


Assessment 2: OB Observation Assignment

Date: Due 5pm, Friday 22 May 2015  
Weighting: 40%
Submission: via Learn

You can do this assignment alone or in a small group of 4-5 students. The marking criteria are the same whether you work alone or in a group.

Introduction/Background
For this assignment you will be required to write four short case studies based on four observations you have made.

You will write a description of the events you have personally observed in your workplace or other organisation. Each observation should be personally observed by you (physical presence or you may observe something virtually (e.g. email correspondence, blogs etc.)). If you do not have a workplace in which to observe, you can be creative and chose another organisational setting, e.g. retail environment, medical facility, restaurant, library, airport, social event (e.g. concert, festival), fast-food environment … anywhere where you can observe organisationally relevant behaviour.

When you write a case study, you are helping another person (the reader) understand some phenomenon from your own real-life situation and experience that s/he then may be able to apply to her/his own life. There is a lesson to be learned from a case study; you (the writer) decide what that lesson will be by providing information from your experience that is directly related to that lesson. You pick out relevant information to share with the reader from your experience, and tell the story of what happened. You should provide enough detail and structure so that the reader can figure out what lesson you are trying to share.

For this course, the lesson is what you learned from your observations in an organisational setting that is directly related to any of the course concepts or theories. You are telling me what you learned about course concepts or theories in the context of your observations.

You can write your case about any of the course’s major topics—what did you observe that relates to ____________________ ? Tell us a story about it, examining theories we learn in class and how they fit (or didn’t) with your experience. As you’re writing, use specific models, theories, concepts, etc in your paper and show how closely your experience matches what that specific model, theory or concept has to say.

Your case study does not have to be long or complicated; in fact, it should be concise and to-the-point.

In-Class Discussion Session
On 28 April, during our regular lecture period, we will have a directed discussion session on your observations. We will be using student observations to illustrate the benefits of observation in understanding OB principles, as well as to examine OB issues that may be found in organisations. This is an opportunity to learn about the connection between observations and inference.

Written Submission
You are required to write up four separate case studies each related to an observation which demonstrates OB in action. Each observation should focus on a different topic of OB. Please note however that there will be interconnectedness in your observations (e.g. if you observe conflict as your main topic area, other OB concepts may be relevant to your discussion such as personality differences and power).

The assignment will be graded on proper identification of OB principles and their application to understand the phenomenon observed, the number of situations listed (four are required), thoroughness of description, application of OB frameworks and concepts, and other factors (see the grading rubric on Learn).


Template for each Case Study
Date and Time: (insert date and approximate time of observation)

Organisation: (name of organization or pseudonym [if you wish to preserve anonymity])

Main Focus of Observation (i.e. OB topic):

Description:
In three or four sentences, describe the situation, including the setting, the actors, and the nature of organisational behaviour(s) you see. Provide sufficient information so I can easily understand the situation. What do you observe? What conclusions do you draw from your observations?

Application to OB Course Content:
Next, describe how OB theories/concepts/frameworks can help you understand what you observe. Be sure to support your description by referring to your textbook, concepts discussed in class and/or in the supplemental readings. It may be appropriate to discuss how the behaviour you observe has affected/will affect the organisation and its stakeholders (e.g., employees, customers/clients, owners/investors, competitors, the general public).


Here are some IDEAS for observation and reflection:
Describe a situation in which you observe someone referring to a stereotype. What may have influenced their perception?

Observe and describe a situation in which it was clear to you than an individual’s attitude was critical to the outcome of the event.

Observe and describe an organisational situation that involves motivation (low or high but you need to be able to observe their behaviour). What influenced their level of motivation?

Observe and describe a dysfunctional group situation you have encountered. What was the primary cause of the problem? How will the group become more functional?

Describe a current situation in which you have power. What makes you powerful?


Assessment 3: Class Test
The test will consist of 50 multiple choice questions from Chapters 1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 & 13 (the chapters we have covered in the course).

The test will be sat during class time on the 2nd June and is worth 30% of your final grade.


Grading and Extensions
The various pieces of assessment may be scaled to determine a final grade and 50% should not be regarded as a pass mark.

There will be NO EXTENSIONS given in this course. It is your responsibility to plan your course of study so that even in the event of unforeseen circumstances your assignment can be delivered by the due date.

The only valid excuse for a late or non-submission of an assignment is a family or medical emergency. You must have documented proof of the emergency and contact the Course Coordinator by email.

Please note that computer problems are not valid excuses for non-submission of assessment.

Textbooks / Resources

Required Text:
Bauer, T., & Erdogan, B. (2015). Organizational Behavior. FlatWorld Knowledge. The text is only available as an e-book which makes it significantly cheaper ($US24).
The e-book is available to purchase from here

Required Video:
The Manager’s Hotseat (MHS) from McGraw Hill. Available at www.mhhe.com/mhs. Click on “First time Users” to create an account to access the videos for your learning assignments. The cost for access is $US20.50.

A hardcopy version of the textbook is available from the library.

Course links

MGMT206S1 Course Outline
LEARN

Notes

Class Representative
A class representative may be asked to volunteer in the first few weeks of class. Any problems with the course can be raised with the class rep. Their email can be found at UCSA. The class representative will take up any issues raised by class members with the lecturer concerned as they occur.

Departmental Academic Policies The Department assumes that you have read this document.

You should also read the General Course and Examination Regulations

Dishonest Practice
The University of Canterbury considers cheating and plagiarism to be serious acts of dishonesty.  All assessed work must be your own individual work unless specifically stated otherwise in the assessment guidelines. Material quoted from any other source must be clearly acknowledged. You must not copy the work of another person (student or published work) in any assessment including examinations, tests and assignments. Any person, who is found to have copied someone else's work, or to have allowed their work to be copied, will receive a fail grade for that piece of assessment and may face disciplinary action which may lead to a fine, community service or exclusion from the university.

IMPORTANT: Where there are concerns regarding the authorship of written course work, a student can be required to provide a formal, oral explanation of the content of their work.

Coversheets - Group and Individual

Indicative Fees

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.