RIDER UNIVERSITY
MGT201-FUNDAMENTALS OF MANAGEMENT
AND ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
Fall 2011
Distance Learning Format
Dr. Carol Watson
SWG 246
Virtual Office Hours: Fridays 12:30 – 1:30 pm
Phone: 609-896-5069
Email: watson@rider.edu
Website:
http://blackboard.rider.edu/
Fax: 609-896-5304
REQUIRED TEXT: Carrell, Jennings, & Heavrin (2006). Organizational Behavior. Cincinnati, OH:
Atomic Dog Publishing, ISBN:1-59260-227-4
COURSE OBJECTIVES: The primary objective of MGT 201 is to introduce students to the theory and
research associated with the management of organizations. To accomplish this, the course
provides a practical, yet research-based, orientation to the world of work. Emphasis is placed on
learning how to understand and manage the behavior of the individuals and teams that work in
organizations and how to do so in an ethical and socially responsible way.
While the course focuses heavily on the manager’s role, the topics covered are relevant to all
business students whether or not they aspire to be managers. Those who do not aspire to
managerial positions will learn how to handle their managers and peers at work.
Special attention is given in this course to ethics, cultural diversity, globalization, sustainability, and
corporate social responsibility.
BLACKBOARD: The Blackboard website will be the primary home for this course, so you must be
familiar with this mode of interaction. It will house the syllabus, lecture notes, assignments, external
links and contact information. In addition, you will participate with the professor and classmates
through Discussion Board on Blackboard.
PARTICIPATION: Regular on-line participation is expected in this course. Since this is a 3-credit hour
course that normally meets three times a week, you will be expected to “attend” the course at
least three times each week. This means you will visit the course website to do such things as read
lecture notes, view power point reviews of chapters, take quizzes, participate in assigned writing,
offer reactions to other students’ posts, etc., at least three different times each week.
QUIZZES: There will be ten weekly quizzes covering the assigned topics. The quizzes will be
available on Fridays at 5:00 pm and must be completed the following Monday by11:45 pm each
week. The quizzes are worth 10 points each and comprise 20% of your final grade.
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS: Each week you will complete written exercises to solidify your mastery of
the concepts covered (each exercise is worth up to 10 points or 20% of your grade). You will also
critique another student’s written assignment each week to help him/her gain an accurate and indepth understanding of the material in the chapter (each critique is worth up to 5 points or 10% of
your grade).
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Your personal written assignment must be completed by 11:45 pm on Wednesday of each week.
Your critique of another student’s written work must be completed by11:45 pm on Saturday of
each week.
Please note: There will be no make-up assignments and work turned in after stated deadlines will
be penalized (generally 1 point off for each day late starting with the original due date).
However, penalties for lateness on weekly written assignments will be doubled because another
student’s grade depends upon being able to write a critique of your essay. Repeated lateness on
weekly written assignments will lead to even stronger penalties. Computer malfunction is not an
acceptable excuse for late work. If your computer breaks down, please find a computer on
campus, at work, or at a public library.
EXAMS: There will be two exams that consist of multiple-choice and/or short-answer items. These
exams will assess knowledge, understanding and application of the concepts covered in class
and in the textbook. All exams are closed-book, closed-note, closed-laptop, etc. You will take the
first exam on campus the week of October 17 - 21. The second exam will be on campus the week
of December 12 - 16. I will announce an evening and a location for each exam. If you are not
able to make the time, the Continuing Studies staff will proctor make-ups. You must contact CCS
(896-5033) to schedule a date and time for your make-up exam – and notify me so I can have an
exam there for you. CCS is open from 8:30am – 7:00 pm Monday and Tuesday, 8:30 – 5:00 pm
Wednesday – Friday. The exams are worth 75 points each and together, comprise 30% of your
grade.
PERSONAL APPLICATION PROJECT: Learning about management includes understanding theories
and also applying them to real-life situations. To help you develop the ability to apply what you
are learning in this course, you will be asked to do a personal application project. You may select
whatever topic appeals to you most (e.g., motivation, leadership, team work, conflict
management, etc.) and find a way to apply one of the theories covered in the relevant chapter
to a personal situation. This means that you will enact the ideas from the theory in an actual
situation and write about how it works. It is preferred that you choose a work situation, but if you
are not currently working, you may choose a personal situation that you are comfortable telling
the class about. This project is worth 100 points or 20% of your grade.
COMMUNICATION: All official email communications from the professor and the University are sent
to your Rider email address. You must check your Rider email account at least daily in order to
stay current with University-related communications. You must also check Blackboard frequently
for course updates. Emails to the professor must come from your Rider email address.
EXTRA-CREDIT: Students have the option of completing an extra-credit assignment for up to an
additional 10 points. This assignment asks you to find an article from the news that is relevant to a
topic covered in the course. The article must be from a reputable source (i.e., Business Week,
Fortune, Harvard Business Review, NY Times, etc.) and it must have been published since
September 1st, 2011. Complete directions for this assignment are included with the course syllabus.
Extra-credit assignments are due on or before 11:45 pm, Sunday, December 11th, 2011. (You must
submit a copy of the article along with your report.)
OFFICE HOURS: I will be available for virtual office hours from 12:30 –1:30pm on Fridays via
Blackboard. I check my email regularly, but please do not assume that I will be available 24/7 to
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respond to your emails. What you can expect is a response within 24 hours of my receipt of your
emails except on weekends. If you have an emergency need to be in touch with me, put
“Emergency” in the subject of your email or, during the week, call me on my office phone.
COURSE ETIQUETTE: Please be polite, respectful, and constructive in all communications with the
professor and your classmates. Disrespectful or otherwise inappropriate remarks will be blocked if
possible, but all will be penalized by subtracting points from your overall course grade.
CHANGES TO THE SYLLABUS: The syllabus is subject to modification at any time throughout the
semester. Such changes will be posted on Blackboard. You are responsible for abiding by the
terms of the syllabus and any announced changes.
ACCOMMODATION: Any Rider student who provides the Services for Students with Disabilities
Office appropriate documentation of a disability is eligible on a case-by-case basis for reasonable
accommodations, such as auxiliary aids, adjustments in academic examination time limits and
locations, and various kinds of support services. If you would like to receive such
accommodations, please set up a meeting with me to discuss the appropriate procedures to be
followed.
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: Academic dishonesty includes any unauthorized collaboration or
misrepresentation in the submission of academic work. In all written work, whether in class or out
of class, the student’s name on the work is considered to be a statement that the work is his or hers
alone, except as otherwise indicated. Students are expected to provide proper citations for the
statements and ideas of others whether submitted word for word or paraphrased. Failure to
provide proper citations will be considered plagiarism and offenders will be subject to the charge
of plagiarism.
In an online course, it is also expected that quizzes or exams taken online will be done without
reference to anything other than your personal memory. Your submission of completed quizzes
and exams is considered a statement that you have not used prompts of any sort or help from
anyone else.
Any student found to have violated Rider’s code of academic integrity will receive an F for this
course that cannot be expunged from his/her transcript.
GRADING
Assessments
Points
Exams
150
Quizzes
100
Written Assignments
100
Critiques
50
Personal Applications
100
Total
500
Grade
A
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Percentage
92.5 – 100
Total Points
463 or above
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD
F
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89.5 – 92.4
86.5 – 89.4
82.5 – 86.4
79.5 – 82.4
76.5 – 79.4
72.5 – 76.4
69.5 – 72.4
59.5 – 69.4
59.4 or below
448 – 462
433 – 447
413 – 432
398 – 412
383 – 397
363 – 382
348 – 362
298 – 347
297 or below
COURSE SCHEDULE
Week
Dates
Topic
Reading
1
September 5-9
Introductions
Syllabus
Personal Post – due 9/07 @11:45 pm
Written
assignment
directions
Reaction to one classmate’s personal post –
due 9/10 @11:45 pm
2
September 12-16
What is OB?
Chapter 1
What do managers do?
Quiz 1 – due 9/12 @ 11:45 pm
Written Assignment 1 – due 9/14 @ 11:45 pm
Critique 1 – due 9/17 @ 11:45pm
3
September 19-23
Theories of Motivation
Chapter 6
Quiz 2 – due 9/19 @ 11:45 pm
Written Assignment 2 – due 9/21 @ 11:45 pm
Critique 2 – due 9/24 @ 11:45pm
4
September 26–30
Applications of Motivation
Chapter 7
Quiz 3 – due 9/26 @ 11:45 pm
Written Assignment 3 – due 9/28 @ 11:45 pm
Critique 3 – due 10/1 @ 11:45 pm
5
October 3-7
Business Ethics and Sustainability
Chapter 3
Quiz 4 –due 10/3 @ 11:45 pm
Sustainability
Attachment
Written Assignment 4 – due 10/5 @ 11:45 pm
Critique 4 – due 10/8 @ 11:45 pm
6
October 10-14
Globalization
Quiz 5 – due 10/10 @ 11:45 pm
Written Assignment 5 – 10/12 @ 11:45 pm
Critique 5 – due 10/15 @ 11:45 pm
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Chapter 8
7
October 17-21
EXAM 1
Chapters 1, 3, 6,
7, and 8
8
October 24-28
Diversity
Chapter 9
Quiz 6 – due 10/24 @ 11:45 pm
Written Assignment 6 – due 10/26 @ 11:45 pm
Critique 6 – due 10/29 @ 11:45 pm
9
Oct 31-Nov 4
Groups and Teams
Chapter 11
Quiz 7 – due 10/31 @ 11:45 pm
Written Assignment 7 – due 11/2 @ 11:45 pm
Critique 7 – due 11/5 @ 11:45 pm
10
November 7-11
Leadership
Chapter 13
Quiz 8 – due 11/7 @ 11:45 pm
Assignment 8 – due 11/9 @ 11:45 pm
Critique 8 – due 11/12 @ 11:45 pm
11
November 14-18
Conflict Resolution
Chapter 14
Quiz 9 – due 11/14 @ 11:45 pm
Assignment 9 – due 11/16 @ 11:45 pm
Critique 9 – due 11/19 @ 11:45 pm
12
November 21-25
Thanksgiving Break
Nov 28 – Dec 2
Organizational Structure
Chapter 15
Quiz 10 – due 11/28 @ 11:45 pm
Assignment 10 – due 11/30 @ 11:45 pm
Critique 10 – due 12/3 @ 11:45 pm
13
December 5-9
Personal Applications – due 12/9 @ 11:45 pm
Extra-credit reports – due no later than 12/9 @
11:45 pm
14
December 12-16
Final Exam
Chapters 9, 11,
13, 14, and 15
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EXTRA CREDIT PAPERS
The goal of writing this paper is to link concepts presented in the text or class with current
business/management events. Students may complete one paper based on a current article
from a management periodical. Please use reputable sources such as the Wall Street Journal, NY
Times, Trenton Times, Business Week, Fortune, Forbes, etc.
NOTE: “current article” means one published after September 1, 2011.
Format:
Papers are limited to 3 pages (typed, double-spaced). Please do not go over 3 pages.
The first page of the paper should briefly summarize the major issues in the article. This summary will
serve as a reference point for me to understand the remainder of the paper.
The remaining 2 pages should identify the course concepts related to the article and discuss how
they are related. Try to find some interesting issues in the article that relate to our OB course.
Please indicate the chapter or chapters in the text to which the article relates as well as the
specific concepts, theories, ideas presented. The final paragraph should summarize what you
have learned about these concepts, theories, etc., from the article.
Please submit a copy of the article along with your paper.
Due Date:
On or before December 9th, 2011
Content:
The paper must present an article that relates to material actually covered in the course.
Credit:
Papers that meet the criteria spelled out above, that are well-written and show good
understanding of course material are eligible for up to 2 points toward your overall course grade.
(This would be enough to boost your grade from a B+ to and A- for example.)
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