Organizational Behavior-Syllabus Essay

I. Course Information Intelligence and technical knowledge will only take you so far in your work and private lives. My goal is to introduce you to behavior in organization (and of organizations) in a way that stresses you personal behavioral skill development. In other words, the course should help you assess your strengths and weaknesses and will stress how you can enhance and improve your management skills. To that end, the course stresses a mix of assessment tests for each chapter to give you a personal point of departure for learning and skill development, along with basic theory and cases and role plays to examine examples of situations and skills that we are studying. This is a hands-on course. I expect students to come to class prepared to learn and to participate! Course Objectives: 1) To provide students with knowledge and understanding of the basic principles of organizational behavior (i.e. human behavior in organizations). 2) The course includes both theoretical and practical aspects of OB and is designed to offer introductory knowledge, skills, and perspectives in OB that can be useful for students’ professional and academic careers. II. Course Learning Outcomes: On completion of this course, students should be able to: 1ï ¼Å½ Understand the basic principles of organizational behavior (i.e. human behavior in organizations). 2ï ¼Å½ Be equipped with introductory knowledge, skills, and perspectives in OB that can be useful for students’ professional and academic careers. Teaching and Learning Activities: 1. Lecture 2. In class exercises, small group discussion 3. Team Presentations 4. Final Exam III. Assessment In addition to attendance and engagement in classroom discussion, all items discussed in class including all materials assigned as ‘Required’ reading may be used to assess students’ progress in the class. The methods of assessment include the following: Personal Journal A skills-based OB course centers upon assisting you to assess your strengths and weaknesses, developing a learning plan to redress these and regular reflection about how you can apply the skills and concepts learned outside the classroom. Keeping a journal is the best way to facilitate this. To ensure you get off to a timely start, I shall ask for some specific assignments that constitute part of the journal to be handed in for credit. Examples include the self- assessment of strengths and weaknesses based upon the online assessment (class 2), and other individual exercises in the textbook. You can fulfill the first assignment online at http://www.passovoy.com/assessment/sal/quick.html. You are required to complete a minimum of 8 assessments. In some cases, you will be surprised by what you learn about yourself – both positive and negative. Each student is required to write a maximum two-page single-spaced typed write-up regarding what you learned about yourself. Final Exam A written in-class exam will be given on May 14, 2012. The format of the exam is a combination of multiple-choice and/true-false questions, and are based on lecture and text materials. Many questions are applied and require you to analyze and synthesize OB concepts. Please prepare early for the exams and come to class with any questions or concerns you may have prior to the exam date. Do not feel uncomfortable asking questions. Other students will also benefit from the discussion. Top Five Take-Aways This assignment provides a final opportunity for you to synthesize and share your learning with the class. Reflect on your learning in this class and write up a list of your â€Å"Top Five Take-Aways† from the course. Explain why you chose each concept, how you have utilized it in your own life, and how you think it will help you in your future role as a leader. There is no set length of the paper. That depends on your learning. You are required to turn in a hard copy. Single-spacing, please. Obviously you will not be graded on whether your choice of a learning point is valid or not. Your learning is your learning. Your grade will be based on how well you explain that concept’s application to your life. Your presentation in class will be fairly informal. Each member of the class will have about a minute or so to share a point or two about your most important learning from the course. It is simply an opportunity to reflect on your learning with your peers. Sometimes hear ing what is important to other people can also contribute to your own learning. Group Project Learning to work effectively in groups is a critical work skill. On day one, you will be asked to form groups (final membership to be handed into me by the third meeting. With your group, you will have two assignments. The first is to develop a team learning notebook, recording team responses to case discussion questions throughout the semester. The team learning notebook will be collected during the mid-point of the course (6th week), as well as the end of the course (12th week) . The second assignment is to conduct a 20 minutes presentation on a topic of your choice related to the topic on the day selected by your group. Further information will be given in class and sign up is on a first-come first –serve basis. If any group member expresses displeasure with group process and contributions of others shall used a peer evaluation form. Each individual’s contribution will be identified on the peer evaluation form I will provide and that will be confidential (i.e., your group members will not see your evaluation of their participation). All group members should participate equally to obtain full credit for the assignment. For example, if the assignment receives a grade of 8.5 out of 10 and your group gives you 100% participation rate, then you will receive the total 8.5 points. If your group gives you less than 100% participation, your grade will be adjusted accordingly. Evaluation of your peers should help you maintain an appropriate level of participation from all of your group members. IV.Course Policies Academic Dishonesty: Assignments found to have been plagiarized or an exam in which cheating is found to have occurred will receive a grade of ‘zero’.