Organizational Behavior

Course Description

This course integrates the study of management principles and practices with the study of human behavior within organizations. The focus will be upon translation of management and organizational behavior theory to practices that result in organizational effectiveness, efficiency, and human resource development. The primary goal of this course is to prepare students for advanced leadership roles in modern organization. This course will provide a good foundation for students intending to study in any major, as the main objective of this course is to provide students with the essential content and experiences they need to become a motivating student, successful manager and an effective employee in any type of work they do in the future. By taking the course students will understand themselves and other people at work and will be able to learn how to create effective work groups to be successful in life.

The course will examine the contemporary principles, techniques and research findings in management and organizational behavior that are driving high performance and continuous improvement in business today. To understand management and organizational behavior, concepts associated with continuous improvement in individual and group processes will be discussed. Specific attention will be given to Organizational Behaviors, Diversity in Organization, Attitudes and Job Satisfaction, Personality and Values, Perceptions and Individual Decision Making, Motivation Concepts, Foundations of Group Behavior, Communication, Leadership, Power and Politics, and Conflict and Negotiation.

The course will be taught with a combination of lectures and experiential learning techniques so that students will learn the specifics of a particular subject matter and about their own strengths and weaknesses as a learner (i.e. learning how to learn from experience). Interspersed throughout the course students will be encouraged to participate in activities which will involve web based exercises, point counter-point debates, discussion on ethical dilemmas, case study analysis, self analysis techniques, and role plays to make the insights of behavioral science meaningful and relevant to students. Each topic will be presented as an educational intervention to facilitate each stage of the experience- based learning process. Personal Application assignments and simulations are designed to relate personal experiences. Observational methods and team project are added to facilitate the understanding of these experiences. Theories and models are introduced to form generalizations and mental models. And finally, the intervention is structured with the purpose that will encourage students to experiment with and test what they have learned in class as well as in other areas of their lives. The course will teach students how to learn so that it helps them to become continuous learners, capable of responding to demands for change and able to acquire new skills through their careers.

Successful completion of this course should enable participants to achieve the following objectives:
1. List and define basic organizational behavior principles, and analyze how these influence behavior in the workplace.
2. Analyze individual human behavior in the workplace as influenced by personality, values, perceptions, and motivations.
3. Outline the elements of group behavior including group dynamics, communication, leadership, power & politics and conflict & negotiation.
4. Understand your own management style as it relates to influencing and managing behavior in the organization systems.
5. Enhance critical thinking and analysis skills through the use of management case studies, personal application papers and small group exercises.
6. Strengthen research, writing and presentation skills.

Prerequisites: None