MGT 312 – Human Behavior in Business Organizations
Course Syllabus and Calendar for Fall 2015
INSTRUCTOR INFORMATION:
Professor: Dr. Terry Mullins
Office: Bryan 347
Office Hours: By appointment for online course
E-mail: twmullin@uncg.edu
Phone: Departmental Office 336-334-5692 Cell 336-314-8140 – Best Contact
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
To provide students with a fundamental understanding of the problems and dilemmas managers
face. The course stresses the skills and activities required for managerial effectiveness.
CATALOG DESCRIPTION:
An introduction to how managers coordinate human and material resources to achieve
organizational goals. Effective management practices that can be applied to business,
educational, governmental, hospital, social service organizations.
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Organizational Behavior: Research, Insights and Skills. Terry Mullins, editor, Kendall Hunt
Publishers, 2015, 1st edition, ISBN 978-1-4652-6690-3. Since this is a newly published book, it
may be difficult to find except at the UNCG Bookstore.
The Elements of Style by William Strunk, Jr. and E.B. White, Longman, 1999. (This book has
been in print a long time and any edition works equally well.) This book is required because
many of the course assignments are formal Discussion Board posts.
MGT 312 COURSE OBJECTIVES:
At the end of this course, you should be knowledgeable about major concepts, theories and skills
of Organizational Behavior. The learning outcomes for this course are the following:
1. Explain the value dimensions of assessing national cultures using Hofstede's model.
2. Give specific examples of how the U.S. workplace is becoming more heterogeneous in terms
of gender, race, ethnicity, and age.
3. Identify the stages of group development and explain the managerial responses appropriate to
each stage.
4. Demonstrate an understanding of interpersonal awareness by explaining different styles of
conflict resolution and negotiation techniques.
5. Provide an example of an ethical issue pertinent to leadership today.
6. Predict how perception and attribution affect the decision making process.
7. Explain and give examples of how personality, values and motivation affect employees’
performance.
8. Identify and explain the dimensions of organizational structure and culture and the steps of
organizational change.
TEACHING STRATEGIES:
The teaching strategy for this course relies strongly the use of textbook materials, including selfassessments, online lectures, and discussion boards, a midterm exam and a final exam.
This is an online course, but it IS NOT a self-paced course. There are assignments every week
and each of them has a strictly enforced deadline. Procrastination is a grade killer in this course.
Fair warning.
EVALUATION AND GRADING:
I use a number of approaches to evaluate student outcomes and grade performance. In
calculating your grades, I use the results of your two-midterm exams, your posts on the
discussion boards, your final exam and your completion of the course evaluation. I have listed
the weights assigned to these categories below.
Midterm Exam 1: 20%
Midterm Exam 2: 20%
Discussion Board Participation: 35%
Final Exam: 20%
Course Evaluation 5%
Total 100%
Grading Scale:
A+ 97-100 B+ 87-89.99
A 94-96.99 B 84-86.99
A- 90-93.99 B- 80-83.99
C+ 77-79.99
C 74-76.99
C- 70-73.99
D+ 67-69.99
D 64-66.99
D- 60-63.99
F below 60
Midterm Exams (Two exams at 20% each).
Multiple-choice exams (40 to 60 questions each) will measure your knowledge of the basics of
organizational behavior and management theory. Accordingly, these exams will evaluate your
knowledge of personal, behavioral and situational factors contributing to management
effectiveness. The exams are open book but timed. You have two-hours to complete Exam 1.
You will have two-hours to complete Exam 2. The numeric grade represents the percentage of
correct answers.
Group Discussion Board Posts: (35% of the course grade).
Using discussion boards within the Canvas system, students will discuss readings and
contemporary management issues. I grade your discussion board posts for timeliness, clarity,
responsiveness and quality of writing. I am a stickler for professional-level writing standards.
Students experience more difficulty with their writing than with mastering the content of the
course. I stress the importance of writing because employers complain about the poor writing
skills of new graduates. In fact, it is their number 1 complaint about new college
graduates. Poor writing leads employers to discount the worth of the ideas presented. The
challenge of writing professional-level business reports, letters, email and memos means the
students seldom get full points for their written posts.
Course Evaluation (5% of the course grade)
Near the end of the course, you will receive an email from IT Services inviting you to evaluate
this course. When you receive this email, please take the time to complete the course evaluation.
If you complete the evaluation, you will get full credit (5% of your course grade.) Complete this
task promptly since the system deactivates the link before the last day of class. Your ratings and
comments are anonymous. After I submit grades for the semester, system permits me to see the
ratings and the comments. However, I will not be able to connect any ratings or comments to
individual students.
Final Exam: (20% of the course grade)
The final exam is comprehensive, covering Chapters 1 – 14 of your OB textbook. This is a
multiple-choice exam (40 – 75 questions), and you have three-hours to complete the exam once
you open the test window.
Extra Credit There is not an extra credit option in this course.
CALENDAR FOR MGT 312, Human Behavior in Business Organizations – Fall 2015
Week 1 - August 17 - 22
Discussion Board – Introduce Yourself Due by 11:59 PM, Friday, August 21 (Not Graded)
Week 2 - August 23 – 29
Discussion Board – Textbook Check-in Due by 11:59 PM, Friday, August 21 (Not Graded)
Read Chapter 1 (Strategy) in your textbook – Organizational Behavior, Research, Insights and
Skills (OB text)
Week 3 - August 30 – Sept. 5
Discussion Board - Topic to be announced Read Chapter 2 (Human Resource Planning,
Recruitment and Selection) and Chapter 3 (Employee Relations and EEO) in your OB text
Week 4 - September 6 – 12
Labor Day – Monday, September 7 – Offices closed
Read Chapter 4 (Learning, Training and Development and Socialization) and
Chapter 5 (Analyzing Individual Behavior) in your OB text
Week 5 - September 13 – 19
Week 5 Discussion Board – Topic to be announced
Read Chapter 6 (Motivation) in your OB text
Week 6 - September 20 – 26
Exam 1 – September 23 (Wednesday) Test will cover Chapters 1 through 6 in your OB
text Test window is open from 5:00 AM until 11:59 PM on Wednesday, September 23
Week 7 - September 27 – Oct 3
Lesson F: Foundations of Motivation – found on the MGT312 website
Read Chapter 7 (Work Design) and Chapter 8 (Performance Management) in your OB text
Week 8 - October 4 -10
Week 8 Discussion Board: Roles at Work
Read Chapter 9 (Effective Groups and Teams) in you OB text
Week 9 - October 11-17
Fall Break
No Classes Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday – October 10 - 13
No new academic assignments
Week 10 - October 18 – 24
Lesson H: Group Dynamics and Teams
Read Chapter 10 (Intergroup Behavior and Conflict) in your OB text
Week 11 - October 25 – 31
Lesson B: Organizational Culture and Managing Diversity (found on the MGT 312 website)
Read Chapter 11 (Organizational Culture) in your OB text
Week 12 - November 1 – 7
Exam 2 – November 4 (Wednesday)
Test will cover Chapters 7 through 11 in your OB text
Test window is open from 5:00 AM until 11:59 PM on Wednesday,
Week 13 - November 8 - 14
Week 13 Discussion Board: Lessons Learned in MGT 312
Read Chapter 12 (Communication and Interpersonal Skills) and
Chapter 13 (Leadership) in your OB text
Week 14 - November 15 – 21
Lesson M: Leadership – found on the MGT 312 website
Read Chapter 14 ( Careers and stress Management) in your OB text
Week 15 - November 22 - 28
Thanksgiving Break – Wednesday through Sunday Be safe; enjoy the holiday
Week 16 - November 29 – December 5
Monday, November 30 – last day of class
Tuesday, December 1 – Reading Day
Wednesday, December 2 – Review for and complete your Final Exam on
Wednesday, December 2.The test is comprehensive covering Chapters 1 - 14 in your
textbook.
The test window is open from 5:00 AM - 11:59 PM on Wednesday, December 2.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY:
I expect you to abide by the UNCG academic integrity policy statement.
PARTICIPATION/ATTENDANCE POLICY:
Please keep up with the course schedule. Since technology problems arise occasionally, do not
wait until the last minute to complete your assignments. Though the nature of an online course
allows for some discretion over when course work is completed, some activities such as
discussion boards have a limited time window (typically 9-14 days) and other activities such as
exams have more specific time windows (typically less than 24 hours). The specific due dates are
identified in detail in the Course Outline/Calenda