Business & Environment Division
Teaching & Learning Plan
TERM:
WINTER 2024
COURSE CODE:
MGMT 1141 (Section 04)
COURSE TITLE:
Organizational Behaviour
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
You will be provided with an introductory examination of organizational behaviour theories and concepts. As such,
you will have the opportunity to apply your theoretical learning within a classroom environment. By examining
organizational behaviours in the contemporary workplace, you will gain insight into the behaviours of individuals,
groups, teams and organizations as a whole.
COURSE CREDIT VALUE:
3
TOTAL COURSE HOURS:
35
COURSE CODE:
COURSE TITLE:
PRE-REQUISITES:
None
None
CO-REQUISITES:
None
None
PROFESSOR INFORMATION
PROFESSOR NAME:
Caitlin Armstrong
PROFESSOR EMAIL:
carmstrong@niagaracollege.ca
OFFICE LOCATION:
Due to COVID-19 and physical distancing guidelines a virtual office
hour(s) will be utilized and communicated.
Niagara College acknowledges the land on which we gather is the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee and
Anishinaabe peoples, many of whom continue to live and work here today. This territory is covered by the Upper Canada
Treaties and is within the land protected by the Dish With One Spoon Wampum agreement. Today this gathering place is
home to many First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples and acknowledging reminds us that our great standard of living is
directly related to the resources and friendship of Indigenous peoples.
Revised November 29, 2022 – Business & Environment Division
RESOURCES
TYPE:
AUTHOR:
TITLE:
Text
Steven McShane,
(required Kevin Tasa, Sandra
resource) Steen
Canadian
Organizational
Behaviour
PUBLISHER:
McGraw Hill
ISBN:
EDITION:
th
9781264159390 11 Edition
(E-Book Only)
OTHER:
Option 2:
9781264160327
Print copy & Ebook)
COURSE OUTCOMES
Outcomes:
Learning Objectives:
1. Apply fundamental
terms, concepts, models,
theories, and research
findings within the field of
organizational behaviour
and management practices.
1. Identify standard usage and definitions of organizational behaviour terms.
2. Explain both the needs and process theories of motivation and their research
findings/implications.
3. Differentiate between teams and groups and describe the models of team
development.
4. Analyze potential abuses of power including politics in an organizational context.
5. Explain the rational decision-making process, the differences between groups and
individuals in making decisions, and the terms ethics and social responsibility.
2. Analyze the
organizational and
environmental conditions
in which various
management strategies
have the greatest potential
of improving an
organization’s effectiveness.
3. Interact with others in
groups and/or teams in
ways that contribute to
effective working
relationships and the
achievement of goals.
4. Illustrate theories and
concepts of Organizational
Behaviour by applying
them to their own self-
2.1. Interpret the role of compensation in the workplace and distinguish among job
redesign techniques in order to improve a company’s effectiveness and efficiency.
2.2. Analyze how differing
a. communication strategies,
b. alternate power bases and
c. situational leadership usage can benefit supervisory and organizational
effectiveness and efficiency.
3.1. Investigate organizational strategies that can be utilized to solve organizational
problems using proven models and theories of
a. communication,
b. motivation,
c. power,
d. leadership and
e. decision-making while in a formalized group or team.
3.2. Predict which organizational strategy will be most effective in real-life cases
and organizational opportunities, while working in a classroom group format.
3.3. Interpret research findings in the discipline of organizational behaviour and apply
them to ‘hypothetical’ situations both at work and at home within a group/team
environment.
4.1. Compute self scores on several organizational behaviour topics.
4.2. Interpret and explain their scores.
Justify their self-analyzes.
analysis.
Revised November 29, 2022 – Business & Environment Division
5. Evaluate organizational
problems using actual case
incidents and recommend
solutions or alternative
courses of action(s) which
attain desired
organizational goals and
5.1. Analyze the alternatives in a given organizational issue/problem
5.2. Choose the correct course of action using standard organizational behaviour
terminology once the possible alternatives have been evaluated.
4.3. Justify their choice.
objectives.
CLASS DATES & LOCATION
Niagara on the Lake Campus
Thursday’s 8:30am - 10:20am
East Wing – E309
EVALUATION AND WEIGHTS
#
1
2
3
4
Evaluation Type
Discussion Board Assignments
Mid-Term Exam
Final Project
Final Exam
Total
Weight
20%
30%
20%
30%
100%
Due Date
Feb 8th & March 28th
February 22th
April 4nd
April 18th
E-MAIL COMMUNICATION
As per Niagara College regulations, all students are required to check their <@ncstudents.niagaracollege.ca> student e-mail
account regularly. E-mail is the official route of communication between the College and its students.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Niagara College students are subject to the College’s Academic Honesty Policy and therefore be aware of what constitutes
academic misconduct and its consequences. Student academic misconduct is a serious offence and will not be tolerated. It
may take many forms, including plagiarism, the use of unauthorized aids in assignments or examinations, and the willful
distortion or fabrication of experimental results or data.
CLASS CANCELLATION OR RESCHEDULING
On occasion, it may be necessary to cancel or reschedule a class.
The Niagara College Policy on Class Cancellation and Rescheduling provides details on what students can expect in the
event of a change to a regularly scheduled class meeting.
STUDENT CLASS ATTENDANCE AND LATENESS
Students are responsible for understanding the College's Academic Rights and Responsibilities Policy as it relates to class
attendance and lateness. While class resources will be posted on Blackboard, key discussions, group work, and
opportunities for questions are best accessed during scheduled class hours. Regular attendance is highly recommended.
MISSED OR LATE ASSIGNMENTS
As of January 1, 2020, students must complete a Student Absence Form in the event that they may miss an evaluation. This
applies for both planned and emergency absences. Please see the Missed Evaluations Policy for more information about
the student’s responsibilities in the occurrence of a missed evaluation. See additional information in the Academic Rights
and Responsibilities Policy.
Revised November 29, 2022 – Business & Environment Division
COURSE DROP DATE
The last date to drop one-term courses, without academic penalty, can be found on the Important Dates web page. For
additional information on how to drop a course, contact the Enrolment Services.
ACCESSIBILITY
Niagara College adheres in spirit and practice to the Ontario Human Rights Code. Niagara College is committed to
providing access to an educational environment that fosters a climate of mutual respect, fairness, dignity and equitable
treatment, and to extend to students opportunities to exercise their worth and potential.
Your success in this class is important to me. We all learn differently. If there are aspects of this course that prevent you
from learning or exclude you, please let me know as soon as possible. If you are a student with a disability, or think you
may have a disability, then please make an appointment with an accessibility consultant in the Health, Wellness and
Accessibility Services department. Through them you may be eligible for academic accommodations. Their contact
information can be found on the HWAS website. If you have already been approved for accommodations and wish to
discuss your Letter of Accommodation with me, please approach me after class or send me an email.
ASSIGNMENTS/TEST POLICY
Please hand in/submit your projects and papers on time. 10% per day for each day will be deducted after the deadline.
Exams are scheduled well in advance and will consist of multiple choice and short answer and/or essay questions.
ACCOUNTABILITY & RESPONSIBILITY
Accountability includes completing all assignments on time and as requested, taking responsibility for one’s actions, and
assuming a pro-active approach to the course. It does not include making excuses or forcing the instructor to follow-up on
issues. The standard student workload for this course will be defined by the professor during the first day of classes and
uploaded to Blackboard in the first week of the term.
USE OF PERSONAL RECORDING DEVICES
Niagara College is committed to providing a safe teaching and learning environment that respects the rights and freedoms
of every individual under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the Ontario Human Rights Code, the right to
individual privacy legislated by applicable federal and provincial directives and the Freedom of Information and Protection
of Privacy Act, and the property rights which exist in information conveyed within the learning environment and which
arise under the Canada Copyright Act. Please refer to the Student Code of Conduct to understand the use of personal
recording devices on campus.
TEACHING AND LEARNING PLAN (TLP)
Dates
Asynchronous
Activities
In Class
Week One
Jan 11th

Chapter 1



Define organizational
behaviour and
organizations.
Explain why organizational
behaviour knowledge is
important for you and for
organizations.
Describe the anchors on
which organizational
behaviour knowledge is
based.
Summarize the workplace
trends of diversity and the
inclusive workplace, work–


Assignment(s)
Due Date
& Percentage of
Grade
Pre-read Chapter One
Lecture Slides
Complete Weekly
Independent Readings
Revised November 29, 2022 – Business & Environment Division
Course
Outcomes &
Evaluation
Course
Outcomes: 1


Week Two
Jan 18th

Chapter 2




Week Three
Jan 25th

Chapter 3




life integration, remote
work, and emerging
employment relationships.
Describe the four factors
that directly influence
individual behaviour and
performance.
Summarize the five types of
individual behaviour in
organizations
Define personality and
discuss how the Big Five
personality factors relate to
workplace behaviour and
performance.
Describe the dark triad of
personality and the MBTI
types and discuss their
implications for
organizational behaviour.
Summarize Schwartz’s
model of individual values
and discuss the conditions
where values influence
behaviour.
Describe four ethical
principles and discuss three
factors that influence ethical
behaviour.
Describe five values
commonly studied across
cultures, and discuss the
diverse cultures within
Canada.

Describe the elements of
self-concept and explain
how each affects an
individual’s behaviour and
well- being.
Outline the perceptual
process and discuss the
effects of categorical
thinking and mental models
in that process.
Discuss how stereotyping,
attribution, self-fulfilling
prophecy, halo, falseconsensus, primacy, and
recency effects influence the
perceptual process.
Discuss three ways to
improve perceptions, with
specific application to
organizational situations.
Outline the main features of
a global mindset and justify
its usefulness to employees
and organizations.



Pre-read Chapter Two
Lecture Slides
Complete Weekly
Independent Readings
Course
Outcomes: 1
& 2.
Pre-read Chapter Three
Lecture Slides
Complete Weekly
Independent Readings
Course
Outcomes: 1
& 2.
Revised November 29, 2022 – Business & Environment Division
Week Four
Feb 1st

Chapter 4




Week Five
Feb 8th


Chapter 5





Week Six
Feb 15th

Chapter 7

Explain how emotions and
cognition (conscious
reasoning) influence
attitudes and behaviour.
Discuss the dynamics of
emotional labour and the
role of emotional
intelligence in the
workplace.
Summarize the
consequences of job
dissatisfaction, as well as
strategies to increase
organizational (affective)
commitment.
Describe the stress
experience and review four
major stressors.
Identify five ways to manage
workplace stress.

Define employee motivation
and engagement.
Explain how drives and
emotions influence
employee motivation.
Discuss the employee
motivation implications of
four-drive theory, Maslow’s
needs hierarchy, intrinsic
and extrinsic motivation,
and learned needs theory.
Discuss the expectancy
theory model, including its
practical implications.
Outline organizational
behaviour modification (OB
Mod) and social cognitive
theory, and explain their
relevance to employee
motivation.
Describe the characteristics
of effective goal setting and
feedback.
Explain how equity theory,
procedural justice, and
interactional justice
influence employee
motivation.

Describe the elements of
rational choice decision
making.
Explain why people don’t
apply rational choice
decision making when
identifying problems/
opportunities,
evaluating/choosing
alternatives, and evaluating
decision outcomes.




Pre-read Chapter Four
Lecture Slides
Complete Weekly
Independent Readings
Discussion Board
Assignment – Open Feb
1st due Feb 8th by
Midnight.
Course
Outcomes: 1
2 & 3.
Pre-read Chapter Five
Lecture Slides
Complete Weekly
Independent Readings
Course
Outcomes: 1
2 & 3.
Pre-read Chapter Seven
Lecture Slides
Complete Weekly
Independent Readings
Course
Outcomes: 1
2 & 3.
Revised November 29, 2022 – Business & Environment Division



Week Seven
Feb 22nd
Discuss the roles of
emotions and intuition in
decision making.
Describe employee
characteristics, workplace
conditions, and specific
activities that support
creativity.
Describe the benefits of
employee involvement and
identify four contingencies
that affect the optimal level
of employee involvement.
Midterm Examination
In Class
Chapters 1-5 & 7
Mid-term Break
Week Eight
March 7th

Chapter 8





Week Nine
March 14th
Chapter 9 &
Chapter 10
Define teams and informal
groups, and explain why
employees join informal
groups.
Discuss the benefits and
limitations of teams.
Outline the team
effectiveness model and
discuss how task
characteristics, team size,
and team composition
influence team
effectiveness.
Discuss how the six team
processes—team
development, norms, roles,
cohesion, trust, and mental
models—influence team
effectiveness.
Discuss the characteristics
and factors required for the
success of self-directed
teams and remote teams.
Identify four constraints on
team decision making and
discuss ways to improve
decision making and
creativity in teams.
Chapter 9





February 26th – March 1st
Pre-read Chapter Eight
Lecture Slides
Complete Weekly
Independent Readings
Course
Outcomes: 1
2 & 3.
Pre-read Chapter Nine
Lecture Slides
Complete Weekly
Independent Readings
Course
Outcomes: 2
& 3.

Explain why communication
is important in
organizations, and discuss
four influences on effective
communication encoding
and decoding.
Compare and contrast the
advantages and
disadvantages of digital
written communication
channels, other verbal
Revised November 29, 2022 – Business & Environment Division




communication channels,
and nonverbal
communication.
Discuss the relevance of
synchronicity, social
presence, social acceptance,
and media richness when
choosing the preferred
communication channel.
Discuss various barriers
(noise) to effective
communication, including
cross-cultural and genderbased differences in
communication.
Explain how to get your
message across more
effectively, and summarize
the elements of active
listening.
Describe effective
communication strategies in
organizational hierarchies,
and review the role and
relevance of the
organizational grapevine
Chapter 10





Describe the dependence
model of power and the five
sources of power in
organizations.
Discuss the four
contingencies of power.
Explain how people and
work units gain power
through social networks.
Describe eight types of
influence tactics, three
consequences of influencing
others, and three
contingencies to consider
when choosing an influence
tactic.
Identify the organizational
conditions and personal
characteristics associated
with organizational politics,
as well as ways to minimize
organizational politics
Revised November 29, 2022 – Business & Environment Division
Week 10
March 21st
Chapter 11
Chapter 11


Define conflict and debate
its positive and negative
consequences in the
workplace.
Distinguish task from
relationship conflict and
describe three strategies to
minimize relationship
conflict during task conflict
episodes.
Diagram the conflict process
model and describe six
structural sources of conflict
in organizations.
Outline the five conflicthandling styles and discuss
the circumstances in which
each would be most
appropriate.
Apply the six structural
approaches to conflict
management and describe
the three types of thirdparty dispute resolution.
Discuss activities in the
negotiation preparation,
process, and setting that
improve negotiation
effectiveness.

Chapter 12

Define leadership and
shared leadership.

Describe the four elements
of transformational
leadership and explain why
they are important for
organizational change.

Compare managerial
leadership with
transformational leadership,
and describe the features of
task- oriented, peopleoriented, and servant
leadership.

Discuss the elements of
path–goal theory and
leadership substitutes
theory.

Describe the two
components of the implicit
leadership perspective.

Identify eight personal
attributes associated with
effective leaders and
describe authentic
leadership.

Discuss cultural and gender
similarities and differences
in leadership.






Week 11
March 28th
Chapter 12

Pre-read Chapter Ten
Lecture Slides
Complete Weekly
Independent Readings
Discussion Board
Assignment – Open
March 21st and Due
March 28th by
Midnight.
Pre-read Chapters Eleven
& Twelve Lecture Slides
Complete Weekly
Independent Readings
Revised November 29, 2022 – Business & Environment Division
Course
Outcomes: 2
3 & 4.
Course
Outcomes: 1
2, 3, 4 & 5.
Week 12
April 4th

Chapter 14





Week 13
April 11th

Chapter 15





Week 14
April 18th
Describe the elements of
organizational culture and
discuss the importance of
organizational subcultures.
Describe four categories of
artifacts through which
corporate culture is
deciphered.
Discuss the importance of
organizational culture and
the conditions under which
organizational culture
strength improves
organizational performance.
Compare and contrast four
strategies for merging
organizational cultures.
Describe five strategies for
changing and strengthening
an organization’s culture,
including the application of
attraction–selection–
attrition theory.
Describe the organizational
socialization process and
identify strategies to
improve that process.

Describe the elements of
Lewin’s force field analysis
model.
Discuss the reasons why
people resist organizational
change and how change
agents should view this
resistance.
Outline six strategies for
minimizing resistance to
change, and debate ways to
effectively create an urgency
to change.
Discuss how leadership,
coalitions, social networks,
and pilot projects assist
organizational change.
Describe and compare
action research, appreciative
inquiry, large group
interventions, and parallel
learning structures as formal
approaches to
organizational change.
Discuss two cross-cultural
and three ethical issues in
organizational change.
Final Examination
In Class



Pre-read Chapter
Fourteen Lecture Slides
Complete Weekly
Independent Readings
Final Project Paper
Due
Course
Outcomes: 3,
4 & 5.
Course
Outcomes: 1
2, 3, 4 & 5.
Pre-read Chapter Fifteen
Lecture Slides
Complete Weekly
Independent Readings
Chapters 8 – 15 (Not
Including 13)
The TLP is subject to change as a result of unforeseen circumstances. You will be notified through
Blackboard in the event of changes.
Revised November 29, 2022 – Business & Environment Division