Organizational Theory and Behavior
UST 604 [250]/UST 704 [250]
Public Administration Program
Summer Semester, First Six Weeks 2016
Dr. L. F. Keller, Instructor
Glickman-Miller Hall 217
Levin College of Urban Affairs
Cleveland State University
Syllabus
This course investigates behavior in public and not-for-profit organizations. Conceptually, these are organizations vested with public purposes. As these are often complex organizations behavior can be counter-intuitive; that is, different from what is generally considered “normal” behavior outside of the organization and even from what may be expected within the organization. The course will be both theoretical and experiential, calling upon and building from actual organizational experiences.
To understand behavior in complex organizations requires understanding such organizations. Thus, the first part of the course examines organization theory and the second half human behavior within such settings.
Scope
The course covers all types of organizations of interest at all levels of government. All types of behavior are examined and explanations of the behavior studied. American culture is presumed.
Focus
The focus is on the nature and origins of behavior in complex American organizations. Complexity is related to but not solely determined by the size of the organization. Complexity also reflects the organizational density of the polity. The most significant managerial and leadership issues are how to handle and channel the behavior within and around an organization so that it facilitates achieving organizational missions. The handling and channeling not only must be effective but also constitutional and ethical. To obtain this capability, a student must possess a thorough understanding of organizations; their structures and behaviors; and psychological and other concepts and theories that must be applied to obtain the understanding.
Requirements
The study and understanding of organizational systems and behavior requires not only reading and attention to class lectures but doing research. Thus, the course will require students to read, listen and do. Readings will be from the textbook, details in the Section on textbooks, and other readings. The other readings are available on Black board.
In addition to the readings, be sure to check out the resources available on the Denhardt book website.
The information on the website on page xviii of the Preface .
Students seeking the Masters degree will have three (3) requirements. One requirement is a web assignment. There will be three (3) such assignments during the course. A second is a take-home final examination. This will be available on Blackboard one (1) weeks prior to the due date. A final requirement is a major research paper on an organization. The organizational paper will be completed by students working in groups of four (4). These requirements are explained below.

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Doctoral students will have two requirements. Each doctoral student will research an organization as detailed below in the following Section . In addition, each doctoral student will do four (4) book critiques of major works in Organizational Theory and Behavior. The specific books are detailed a separate Section below. The assignments not only acquaint doctoral students with the core literature but require critical analysis of such literature. This is a core skill for success in the Ph. D. Program.
The required literature is foundational, classics that started and/or advanced organizational theory and behavior.
The Final Examination will be an essay examination. The completed examination shall be submitted via Blackboard as will all assignments. Each question will have a page limit. The number of pages is a limit not a target.
The research on organizations will be presented to class as well as detailed in a final paper. The presentations are to be a PowerPoint or similar type of presentation. The presentations will be in specific class sessions. The dates for the presentations and papers are listed in the Important Dates
Section below.
All written assignments shall use one inch margins and 12 point typeface. Any word processor may be used. No pdf files will be accepted . Late submissions will lose points. Letter grades may be assigned.
In computing the final grade, letter grades will be converted to points as detailed in the Grading
Section . The final course average will be converted to a letter grade as detailed in the Grading Section .
Organizational Analysis Paper
The major paper for the class will analyze an organization using the organizational framework developed in Topic 2 in the Order of Study Section . The framework will be covered extensively in a class lecture or lectures. Students may use an alternative framework with the approval of the instructor.
The purpose is to layout the internal and external systems of an organization of choice. As the analysis demands considerable data gathering, the projects will be done by groups of four (4) Masters students.
Doctoral students will do their own individual analysis. Organizations are selected on a first requested basis, that is, the first group or doctoral student to request analyzing a particular organization will claim that organization. An updated list of what organizations have been selected will be posted to
Blackboard.
In addition to the application of the framework to the organization, the group or doctoral student will note which three (3) of the organizational behavior topics covered in Chapters 2 through 13 of the
Denhardt et al text are likely to be, or should be, of the most immediate concern for the organization.
The most important part of the this analysis is why the three (3) are the most important. Ideally, the application of the framework illuminates what are the crucial issues with which the organization must cope. Organizational behavior can then be focused on dealing with those issues.
Managers who don’t lead are quite discouraging, but leaders who don’t manage don’t know what is going on. It’s a phony separation that people are making between the two.
Henry Mintzberg

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The level of knowledge about the organization is what I term “newspaper” accounts. Astute journalists are able to peer inside organizations and understand their inner workings. These second hand accounts are also done by academics who study either the particular organization or the policy area of its main concern. The paper is not meant to be a definitive statement on the organization; rather the analysis is a learning skill of how to apply and interpret frameworks. The most valued outcomes of the class are the ability to obtain and apply the concepts and theories underlying management and administrative strategies. Effective leaders and managers are those who implement wisely frameworks and theories; a few can do so intuitively. Most learn the talent from study and application. Born managers and leaders are rare and those who pose as such can cause serious damage to institutions. Thus education is indispensable tor effective professions centered on running organizations vested with public purposes.
Doctoral Book Critiques
The books for the critiques are not the current literature. The wise student will follow up this exercise by examining more current literature. However, successful understanding of a discipline requires knowing the foundation from which it is developed. Thus, the books noted below as required for critiques are the classics in organizational theory and behavior. An astute student understands that what is a classic resembles to a large extent what is beauty; it is in part determined by the point of view of the individual touting it as a classic. However, learning why an individual with the outlook of the instructor on the discipline sees a book as a classic is itself a valuable lesson.
A critique is more than a book review. A critique notes the utility of the approach used in the book, its
(approach) limitations and how it can be developed further. The approach is explicated in terms of its philosophical roots and the extent to which the approach is appropriately applied. To see critiques of this type, consult the book reviews in the main journals of the field.
For critiquing the foundations of organizational theory, the doctoral student must critique James
Thompson's Organizations in Action . The subtitle illuminates why it is probably the most important work in this vein. For the second book critique on organizational theory, the doctoral student can choose between Philip Selznick, TVA and the Grassroots or Henry Mintzberg, The Structuring of
Organizations . The former is an illustration of how a framework can organize a case study and the latter is instructive in how classes were used to assemble the information.
For critiquing organizational behavior, the doctoral student must critique Mary Parker Follett, Dynamic
Administration and Chris Argyris, Personality and Organization . It is suggested that the doctoral student study the dialogue between Argyris and Herbert Simon in the Public Administration Review .
Textbooks
The required textbooks for the course are listed below. The books are available in the bookstore. Both books have been used previously and used copies may be available. All other readings are available on
Patterns of government cannot be accurately described unless we show what meaning they have to the participants in the acts from which we generalize.
Samuel Beer and Adam Ulam

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Blackboard. Readings on Blackboard are listed in the folder Readings by topic.
The required textbooks are:
Udo Staber, Understanding Organizations: Theories and Images
Robert Denhardt, Janet Denhardt and Maria Aristigueta, Managing Human Behavior in Public and
Nonprofit Organizations (fourth edition)
Office Hours
I will be available an hour before and after class in the classroom.
Contacting the Professor
For all course purposes, use the Course Message function within Blackboard to contact the professor.
He can also be contacted via E-Mail at l.keller@csuohio.edu.
Grading
The final grade for Masters students will be a weighted average of the following items with the following weights.
Web Assignments, total of three (3)
Major Research Paper
Final Examination
30%
40%
30%
The final grade for Doctoral Students will be a weighted average of the following items with the following weights.
Book Critiques, 4 total
Organizational Analysis Paper
60% (15% each Critique)
40%
For purposes of calculating the final course grade, all letter grades are turned into numeric scores according to Scale 1 below. The course numeric average is turned into a letter grade according to Scale
2 below.
Managers who don’t lead are quite discouraging, but leaders who don’t manage don’t know what is going on. It’s a phony separation that people are making between the two.
Henry Mintzberg

Page 5
Scale 1
A+ = 99, A = 95, A- = 92, B+ = 89, B = 85, B- = 82, C+ = 79, C = 75, C- 72, etc., with F all else.
Scale 2
93.5 and above = A, 89.5 - 93.4 = A-, 87.5 - 89.4 = B+, 82.5 - 87.4 = B, 79.5 - 82.4 = B-, 77.5
-79.4 = C+, 73.5 - 77.4 = C, 69.5 - 73.4 = C-, etc.
Honor Code
The Public Administration Program does not have a formal Honor Code. Often, a program requires students to sign such a Code which details the ethics that should guide behavior of both Faculty and students. Any questions about the Code should be asked prior to engaging in any behavior that one thinks may be under its provisions. The Professor will enforce an Honor Code that includes but is not limited to the following:
1. Each student shall treat all students and their opinions with respect.
2. Each student shall diligently complete all assignments.
3. A student shall do his or her own work. Any work taken from others will be correctly footnoted and acknowledged.
4. All problems with any aspect of the class or with any other student shall be reported to the Professor in a timely fashion.
5. The Professor shall clearly state course goals and how these relate to professional needs.
6. The Professor shall treat all students in a similar and just fashion, varying any treatment to meet course goals and/or the specific needs of a student.
7. The Professor shall timely return all assignments, complete with explanation of why they received the grades they did.
8. The Professor will answer all relevant and appropriate questions and be available to meet with students at stated times.
Punishment for failure to comply with the above provisions will be fair, formal and clear. In the case of rule 3, conscious plagiarism, the unacknowledged use of another’s materials as one´s own with the intent to do so, a second violation will result in a F for the course . The first violation is a F for the specific assignment. The punishment reflects the nature of the crime; it is repugnant to academic, professional and personal integrity.
Important Dates
23 May – First Class, UR 241 28 May – Last Day to Drop
Patterns of government cannot be accurately described unless we show what meaning they have to the participants in the acts from which we generalize.
Samuel Beer and Adam Ulam

Page 6
26 May – First Web Assignment Posted
31 May – First Web Assignment Due 2 June - Second Web Assignment Posted
7 June – Second Web Assignment Due 16 June – Third Web Assignment Posted
20 June – Last Day to Withdraw, “W” appears on transcript
23 June – Third Web Assignment Due
27 June – Final Examination Available on Blackboard
27 June – Organizational Papers Due 29 June – Organizational Papers Presented
29 June – Last Class 5 July, Tuesday – Final Examination Due by 11:59 PM
Version 4.2
Managers who don’t lead are quite discouraging, but leaders who don’t manage don’t know what is going on. It’s a phony separation that people are making between the two.
Henry Mintzberg

Page 7
Order of Study
Part I: Essential Background and Tools of Understanding
Topic 1 – Science, Technology and the Tools for the Study of Organized Life
Readings
Handouts by Lawrence F. Keller, Nature of Science ; Two Views of Science ; and Paradigm Analysis
Gibson Burrell and Gareth Morgan, Sociological Paradigms and
Organisational Analysis , Part I
Part II: The Setting for Modern Management, Administration and Complex
Behaviors
Topic 2 – Organizations, Theory and Administration
Readings
Lawrence F. Keller, Connecting Organizations to Philosophy
Udo Staber, Understanding Organizations: Theories and Images ,
Preface and Chapter 1 (Introduction) [Hereinafter Staber]
Topic 3 – How Collective, focused Behavior is Studied
Readings
Staber, Chapter 2 (Introduction)
Part III: Understanding Organizations
Topic 4 – In the Beginning ...
Readings
Staber, Chapter 3
Patterns of government cannot be accurately described unless we show what meaning they have to the participants in the acts from which we generalize.
Samuel Beer and Adam Ulam

Page 8
Topic 5 – Further Behaviors
Readings
Staber, Chapter 4
Topic 6 – Governing by Time and Structure
Readings
Staber, Chapters 5 and 6
Topic 7 – Discovering What's Happening
Readings
Staber, Chapters 7 and 8
Part IV: Understanding Behavior in Organizations
Topic 8 – Individuals not Borg Members
Readings
Robert Denhardt, Janet Denhardt and Maria Aristigueta, Managing Human Behavior in Public and Nonprofit Organizations , Chapters 1, 2 and 4 [Hereinafter
Denhardt]
Topic 9 – Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
Readings
Denhardt, Chapters 3 and 5
Topic 10 – Coordinating the Troops
Readings
Denhardt, Chapters 9 and 10
Managers who don’t lead are quite discouraging, but leaders who don’t manage don’t know what is going on. It’s a phony separation that people are making between the two.
Henry Mintzberg

Topic 11 – Leading and Motivating the Troops
Readings
Denhardt, Chapters 6 and 7
Topic 12 – Using Power and Politics
Readings
Denhardt, Chapters 8, 11 and 13
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Part V: Leading Organizations to Public Service to the Community
Topic 13 – Putting it Altogether
Readings
Denhardt, Chapters 12 and 14
James D. Thompson, Organizations in Action: the Social Science Bases of
Administrative Theory , Chapter 11
Patterns of government cannot be accurately described unless we show what meaning they have to the participants in the acts from which we generalize.
Samuel Beer and Adam Ulam