(in Polish) Introduction to Organizational Behavior

elective courses

Nearly everything accomplished in our society is done through or within

some form of organization. In this course, we examine individual, group,

and organizational determinants of work behavior in organizations.

Theory, concepts, and applications relevant to power and politics,

creativity and innovation, teams and leadership, human resource

management, and organizational structure and culture are discussed.

Nearly everything accomplished in our society is done through or within

some form of organization. Organizational behavior (OB) is a

multidisciplinary field of study that seeks to understand individual, group,

and organizational processes and how each contributes to behavior

within organizations. This course will introduce you to the science of OB.

Rather than relying on personal opinions or the management fads found

in popular culture, the material you will learn in this course has been

validated by rigorous research.

It is my goal to translate this scientific body of knowledge into an

actionable, real-world understanding of organizations as well as the

individuals and groups within them. Although I will focus primarily on

business organizations, the topics covered in this course will apply to

virtually any organizational context including non-profit, government,

military, sports, religious institutions, and many others.

Textbook: Robbins & Judge (2016). Organizational Behavior. 16th or 17th

Ed. Pearson. Search “Student Value 16th Edition” on amazon.com for a

$34.00 USD Edition

Additional Readings: These will be posted to the course website.

 Cialdini, Robert B. (2001) Harnessing the science of persuasion.

Harvard Business Review, 79, 72-81.

 Hennessey, B.A. & Amabile, T.M. (2010). Creativity. Annual Review of

Psychology, 61, 569-598.

 Polman, E. & Emich, K.J. (2011). Decisions for others are more

creative than decisions for the self. Personality and Social Psychology

Bulletin, 37, 492-501.

 Snook, S., Perlow, L.A. & Delacey, B.J. (2005). A Tale of Two Coaches:

1) Coach Knight: A Will to Win 2) Coach K: A Matter of Heart. Harvard

Business School.

After completing this course, you will:

1) Develop an appreciation of the complexities of behavior within

organizations

2) Understand key concepts and theories of OB

3) Improve your ability to understand and predict the behavior of others

4) Identify and apply the principles of OB to your personal work and life

experiences

Quiz 1 (People in Organizations) 30 points

Quiz 2 (Organizations) 30 points

Legacy Essay 20 points

Class Participation 20 points

Grading:

5! (95-100%)

5 (89-94%)

4.5 (83-88%)

4 (77-82%)

3.5 (70-76%)

3 (60-69%)

2 (0-59%)

Quizzes: The course will have two quizzes. The first will cover the first

three lectures on individual differences, emotions, and cognitions in the

workplace. The second will cover lectures 7 and 8 on organizational

structure, culture, and change, and human resource management. The

quizzes are predominantly conceptual in nature, which means you need

to understand course concepts in order to do well; simply memorizing

lecture slides and assigned readings is insufficient. The quizzes consist of a

series of multiple-choice questions and one short essay question. Each

quiz is non-cumulative; that is, it will only include new material.

Legacy Essay: In between, you will write a paper after we discuss groups,

teams, leadership, and leaving your legacies. You will describe what you

would like your legacy to be, how you have gone about doing this so far,

and what you can do in the future to make it happen. You must

incorporate applicable theory from class (3-5 pages).

Class Participation: Your active participation is a key design element of the

course. This is not just about the fact that you and your colleagues will

learn specific content areas better through lively discussion, though that

is definitely true. I also have a more general purpose in requiring

participation and that is to give you more practice and experience in what

leaders do on a daily basis. The best leaders think carefully about issues

at hand before deciding their views. They listen carefully to what others

have to say about matters. They develop logical arguments. They

communicate those arguments well too. They speak up in meetings and

in more informal settings and regularly sell their views to others. Finally,

they listen some more and the whole process starts again. The more

experience you have in being assertive in school, the more comfortable

and effective you’ll be in asserting yourself in the workplace.

Both the frequency and quality of your participation are important.

Regular attendance and/or frequent participation alone are not enough

to constitute exemplary participation. Exemplary participation refers to

the combination of regular and very high quality comments.

Attendance rules

Participation is a key to doing well in this course and maintaining the

learning environment. Therefore, you are allowed four hours of

unexcused absence and up to additional four hours of absence with a

formal excuse. Missing more than 8 hours overall results in not passing

the course.