Early class. Run by Professor Louis White. Don’t like the 8:30 in the morning schedule, but I can do it. I’ve worked jobs where I had to show up that early before. Just requires discipline.Textbook: Organizational Behavior: Science, The Real World, and You. Nelson and Quick 6th Edition.
Grading consists of two exams and a participation grade. Each exam is multiple choice and makes up 40% of the final grade. Participation and exercises is the last 20%. That’s in-class participation and writing assignments.
Assignments every week. Writing assignments, based on watching a video online. Watch the video, write a one page summary of it.
Attendance is important. More than two absences causes loss of a letter grade.
Some of the dates on the syllabus are wrong. Labor Day being a holiday wasn’t factored in to the schedule. Dr. White is going to retool it, and presumably put it on WebCT.
Actual content now.
Technical problems in businesses are often easy to solve and straightforward, as long as you have the knowledge. Human problems are hard and often intractable.
There are three levels of analysis for organizational behavior. This happens at the organizational level, the group level, and the individual level.
A time of Challenge and Change leads to Opportunities.
Organizational behavior has three primary dynamics. The Psychosocial, the interpersonal, and the behavioral.
Lots of variables affect human behavior. If you are able to look at an organizational chart for an organization, you should be able to generally predict how the people in the company will behave. More organic structures encourage more creativity.
People tend not to like change. Dealing with resistance to change is important and difficult.
Some discussion of paradigms and paradigm shifts.
Components of an organization:
- Task — the mission, purpose, or goal
- People — the human resources or the organization
- Structure — the way the company is organized
- Technology — equipment and enabling factors used
There are formal and informal organizations. Most systems or businesses have both formal and informal organizations attached to them.
- Formal Organizations — the official, legitimate, and most visible part of the system
- Informal Organization — the unofficial and less visible part of the system.
Chapter 1 Video Questions:
- What is your perception of the quality of Jimmy’s job and his work environment?
- What is the quality of Jimmy’s relationship with Manny, his foreman? Does it change? If it does, why?
- How would you react to this sort of work experience?
Chapter 2 Video Questions:
- Does Jack Elliot behave as if he had cross-cultural training before arriving in Japan?
- Is he culturally sensitive or insensitive?
- What do you propose that Jack Elliot do for the rest of his time in Japan?