MGMT 300-02 (Organizational Behavior) Instructor: David Olson, Ph.D. Office: C121 Phone: 664-2284 Email: dolson@csubak.edu Office Hrs: M/W/F 1-2pm M/W 8-9 pm & by appt

The Course Outline

TEXT

Text: Hellriegel, Slocum, & Woodman, "Organizational Behavior", 8th ed., South-Westem, 1998.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

This is an introductory course in organizational behavior(OB). OB is the study of human behavior within organizations. It is interdisciplinary in nature and draws on psychology, sociology, economics, and other disciplines. A sampling of the topics to be studied include scientific management, personality and individual differences, motivation, negotiation, communication, leadership, decision-making, organizational culture, and ethics. Together we will study the theoretical and conceptual frameworks from each topic and discuss how they relate to each of our individual experiences and understandings. Whenever possible, active involvement will be used to help us relate to and understand the material, as well as help us to understand the diversity of perspectives that exist. Finally, we will draw on our understanding and, hopefully, teach others by serving and observing within an organization in the local community.

GRADING

Final grades will be determined by the following scale:

A: 90 or above B: 80-89 C: 70-79 D: 60-69

There may be some opportunities to earn extra credit points.

SCHEDULE (subject to adjustments)

REQUIREMENTS

VOLUNTEER ORGANIZATION PAPER / PRESENTATION:

An important component of this course is understanding the nature of organizations and how people operate in them. To facilitate this goal, each student will become part of a team and each team will become temporarily involved in a not-for-profit organization. Each member is expected to give a minimum of 8 hours of community service to the organization during the duration of this course. Each team is responsible for analyzing their organization from the perspective of organizational behavior. Therefore, you may wish to collect data, conduct interviews, and, in general, observe the human workings of your organization. All of these activities should take place with the goal in mind of communicating back to the class how organizational behavior took place within this particular organization. Your output may include an executive summary, a brief description of your organization and what you did there, and a description and evaluation of how they perform or can improve on a few selected organizational behavior issues we cover in this course. (12-18 pages/minutes).

Twice during the quarter, each team will be responsible for meeting with me and providing information on your team's work. Every member should attend each of the two meetings, provide a current log of conducted activities, and be fully prepared to discuss his or her work on the project. In addition, at the first meeting, your team is requested to provide a typed copy of 1) a detailed outline of what each member plans on contributing for the project, 2) a project timeline, and 3) a formalized firing procedure for nonperforming members of your group. For the second meeting each member will be expected to provide a rough draft copy of what the team has determined he or she will provide for the final paper and presentation. In addition, each group will provide 1) an updated time line and 2) a draft of their visual presentation materials. These materials will be collected and will help to determine your scores.

Except for differences based on the individual material mentioned above, all group members will receive the same group performance score. However, any group member may be fired from his/her group at any time with prior consultation with me and a written statement signed by a majority of the group's members. Fired members will receive a score of "O" for this assignment. During the first 2 weeks of the course, any student may opt out of this assignment and accept a score of no more than "20" by submitting a written request to me and subsequently completing an acceptable research report (6-9 pg/min).

QUIZZES:

There will be 5 or more unannounced quizzes given during the ten-n. Each will consist of brief fill-in-the-blank questions. Each quiz is worth 2 points and your 5 highest scores will determine your overall quiz score. If not in the room when quizzes are handed out, you will receive a "O" for that quiz (NO exceptions).

EXAMS:

The midterm and final exam will each consist of short essay questions.

MOVIE PAPER

We will watch "Crimson Tide" during the course. Afterwards, you are to discuss one or more of the model(s), process(es), theory(ies) or concept(s) from the motivation, power, and/or leadership chapters and how they were played out in the movie.(2-3 pages).

TEAM EVALUATION:

Each individual will independently provide an evaluation of his/her own team. The evaluation should list each member of the team by full name and provide his or her estimated contribution to the team experience and performance on a percentage basis, with the sum of all member scores equaling I 00%. Also, you should use this opportunity to briefly write about how you have gained insight into OB issues through the experiences of your team (1 -2 pages).

PARTICIPATION:

Each individual is responsible for selecting a subtopic for further study. You will then select an article (either popular or research-oriented) that deals with this topic, write a 1 -page summary of the article/topic (staple to article), and present it to class (5-10 minutes, max 5 points). The remainder of your participation score will be based upon attendance (-l per absence, -.5 per late/leave), your team's evaluations of you (approximately +. 5 or -. 5 per I% deviation from your team's mean evaluation score-excluding your self-score), your team's performance (-I per letter grade lower than "A"), and other forms of participation.

-All papers must be stapled and typed and double-spaced with normal margins and fonts and proofread and spell-checked unless otherwise specified.

Volunteer Organization Service Contract

(submit with volunteer organization paper)

Student Name

Social Security

The above named student volunteered for our community service organization for at least 8 hours between the dates of the 6 th of January 1999 and the 10th of March 1999. 1 understand that this individual, as part of a team, is doing a school assignment to observe an organization, and will write a class paper based on this experience. I also understand that the student will provide me with a copy of this paper if I so indicate below.

Agency Contact Signature

Agency contact Name

Agency Name

Agency Phone

Agency Address

I would like a copy of this student's paper. (please circle one) Yes No

Comments:

For comments regarding this project, please contact Professor David Olson at California State

University Bakersfield, Dept of Management & Marketing 805-664-2284