Organizational Behavior

Management 371 Organizational Behavior 9-10 MWF

Professor James Werbel Office: 3367 Gerdin Carver Office hours MWF 11-12 or by appointment (contact by e-mail with several times). I will also be available after class for a few minutes if any one has questions or concerns. E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 294-8423 Course website: http://www.bus.iastate.edu/jwerbel/

Purpose of course: One of the central problems in organizations is managing people to achieve organizational goals. In spite of efforts to achieve clear communications, somehow co-workers and subordinates fail to carry out expectations. In this course, we strive to make efforts to learn how to work effectively with others to ensure through effective communications, motivation, supportive group dynamics, leadership, with the need to understand that we often treat different people differently.

Learning Goals: 1. Effective communications 2. Development of team skills 3. Appreciation of the challenges of leadership

Course prerequisite: Management 370. This course follows many ideas presented in management 370. I will assume that you understand the managerial functions of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. This course largely focuses on the leadership function.

Students with disabilities: Any student with a disability and needing reasonable accommodation must see me during the first or second week of class to classroom performance.

Text: Organizational Behavior by Kreitner and Kinnicki Please use 7th edition.

Tentative Course outline (students are responsible for learning about changes if they miss class)

Jan 8 Introduction to course. Chapter 1

Jan 10. No class.

Jan 12 Diversity Management: case p. 73 Answer the question at the end of the case and explain your response. ½ page -1 page. Graded pass fail and related to participation grade. Chapter 2

Jan 15-19 . Communication chapter 14 On Jan 19 we form teams and pick topics.

Jan 22. case consumer materials enterprises. I will pass this out in class. What are the barriers to communication in this case. What would you do, if anything to overcome those barriers. Less than one page. Communication Cont. graded pass fall and related to participation grade.

Jan. 24-29 Leadership Chapter 16.

Jan 31 Leadership and ethics case p. 629 Doug Durand.

Feb 2 Leadership Chapter 16

Feb 5. An Introduction to power Chapter 15

Feb 7 and 12 Group Presentation Servant Leadership on Feb 7. Power, interpersonal influence, and leadership style chapter 15 case p. 582

Feb 14. Exam 1

Feb 16 Workplace bullying presentation Individual differences Chapter 5

Feb 19-21 Individual differences and emotions chapter 5 Feb 21 presentation managing diversity.

Feb 23 Using older workers presentation and Personality assessment. Perception and Attributions. Chapter 7

Feb 26-8 Perception and attributions Chapter 7 Hot seat video

March 2 Running effective meetings presentation Mary Martin Case p. 252. March 5-7 Work attitudes and values Chapter 6 March 7 Building effective virtual teams.

March 9 . Motivation Chapters 8-9

March 12-16 break

March 19-26 Motivation Cont. March 26 case page 297 March 21 socializing new employee presentation.

March 26 Debate Does Money motivate

March 28 Performance management and video case

March 30 exam 2

April 2-9 Decision making and ethics. Learning Module A starting P. 31 and Chapter 12. April 9 presentation on terminating employees.

April 11-18 groups Chapters 10 and 11 Social loafing presentation on April 13 April 18 outward bound presentation.

April 20-25 Conflict and negotiation Chapter 13. Ethics and leadership presentation. April 20.

April 27 organizational change Chapter 18.

Grading: There will be two mid-term exams, one final exam, one group presentation, and class participation

Group Presentation: I will want groups to provide a 15-20 minute (20 is absolute maximum and presenters will be cut off at that point) presentation and then time for Q and A on one of the following topics. Anyone missing on the assignment day must either have a group member who has agreed to accept the individual or they will be asked to do the report independently. This is an information presentation. You need to share some information that you consider to be important on one of the following topics. You should collect more information than what can be presented within the time frame. Thus, you will need to craft a presentation that presents selected information in a meaningful way.

Workplace bullying Social loafing Servant leadership Workplace mediation Building effective virtual teams Managing Diversity (provide example of one organization) Effective termination of employees Using older employees (over 65) Debate does money motivate (need someone to take two sides and follows classic debate format with rebuttals). If no debate, then some team can present one side. Outward bound/wilderness experiences as a team development tool Ethics and leadership Running effective team meetings Socializing new employees (provide example of one organization). Or other topic as approved by instructor.

Presentation Grading Rubric. Research: 20% To what extent does the group go beyond basic internet information to gather data relevant to the presentation. Focus/theme: 20% To what extent does the presentation make clear its intentions/theme in the introduction, elaborates on those intentions/theme, and presents a summary that gets the audience to reflect on those intentions/theme.. Format and structure:20% To what extent do ideas flow from introduction, through to summary. Are the parts of the presentation interconnected? Time management will also be a part of this component. This goes beyond the 20 minute max. How effectively is the time allocated by each part the presentation? Oral presentation skills 30%. To what extent do the speakers present their ideas clearly and keep audience attention throughout the presentation. Creativity 10%. To what extent does the group use effective, innovative and unusual techniques to present the information? Please note that the first day of presentations get a 2 point bonus allowance on creativity as it is easier to build on other presentations.

Please note that there is a quality component to the grading rubric. All this does is provide the evaluative criteria.

Class participation/attendance. Cases are a part of the presentation score 10 of 100 points in total. They will be written before class and due at the end of class. There are a lot of group activities in this class. So attendance is needed to participate in group activities . I do not give excused absences. Each time you miss class, you can subtract 3 points from your participation grade. Missing 3 classes (but doing the cases and making class comments) is unlikely to affect your grade. However, participation will not help your classroom performance. Missing more than 6 classes will increase the difficulties in getting a high grade in the course. I will score participation on 100 point scale but it will be reduced 10% for your final point total towards your final grade. Final Exam Essay You will need to write a 10 page essay on your leadership style in some work setting. This essay normally begins with an introduction of some type. Then it moves to a description of some work context in which you will be a supervisor. You have choices of different work contexts. Some people like to pick their ideal job, perhaps as the head of some division or as the owner of business. Some people use their current job context. Either is appropriate but from my experiences it generally goes a bit better with a current job context. You will need to describe the type of work being done in your unit, and describe the attributes of your subordinates. Leadership style should vary as depending on these attributes.

Then describe your leadership style in that context. Indicate which of the leadership styles we mentioned in class would be your preferred leadership style.

Then, you need to indicate by concrete examples how you would communicate to your subordinates, how you would motivate them, how you would manage individual differences, how you would address conflict, how you would deal with performance problems, etc. These are all the topics we will cover in the course. Thus, as I go through topics—think how this topic would apply to your leadership style. I would need to see specific examples of how you would manage different types of situations. Again there are many ways to do this. Some people go through there first month on the job. Some people just provide examples of how they would manage these different topics. There is no one way to write this paper. Some students have problems because they focus only on problem employees. Try to focus on different issues and topics in terms of creating high performance (however you define that).

You will be evaluated on the depth of your thought (30%). Is it clear to me how you would manage different types of situations? You will also be evaluated on is you leadership style relevant to your chosen work context (20%). For example, authority compliance is very unusual in sales. It can be done, but I need to understand the work context well enough why this style is being used in sales. You will also be evaluated on the degree your actions match your leadership style (30%). Finally, writing style will also be important (20%). This includes both grammar and easy to follow writing style.

You may choose to blend your style. Just be descriptive. In this situation I would be…., but in that situation I would…… Nonetheless I should understand why you have chosen to behave differently in different situations.

I honestly expect that the serious student will write the first third of the paper before the first exam. This will describe your work context and leadership style. If you do this, you will find it easier to grasp the material I cover in class and readily apply it to your work context. I am here to help you. I want people to seriously think about their leadership style. I am a resource to help consider these issues. If you have any questions, such as I am really undecided between two leadership styles or anything— please contact me. The sooner you contact me the more I can help you. Contacting me about these issues three days before the essay is due is not going to be all that helpful.

The final grade will be based on the following point distribution for these activities.

Exams 100 each 200 Final exam 100 Class participation 90 Group presentation 60 Total 450 points

Please note when I post grades I will post grades on 100 point scale. Thus, for participation I will multiply that score by .9 and presentation score by .6 to calculate your actual points for the final grade.

A 415-450 A- 405-415 B+ 395-404 B 370-394 B- 360-369 C+ 350-359 C 325-349 C- 315-324 D+ 305-314 D 280-304 D- 270-279 F < 270