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: jwerbel@iastate.edu
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