Module Information

Module Identifier
MBM4010
Module Title
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
Academic Year
2008/2009
Co-ordinator
Dr Ying Yang
Semester
Intended for use in future years

Course Delivery

Delivery Type Delivery length / details
Lecture 20 Hours.
Seminars / Tutorials plus classrom discussions
 

Assessment

Assessment Type Assessment length / details Proportion
Semester Assessment 2000 word essay  30%
Semester Exam 2 Hours   70%
Supplementary Exam 2 Hours   100%

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

Recognise contrasting perspectives on organisations and the need for an international approach. Organisations and Organisational and Corporate culture - to be discussed by case study. To illustrate Mass production and Taylorism. Motivation to be introduced by reference back to Taylorism, Maslow introduced. To understand the usefulness of the distinction between needs theories and process theories. To examine the main Process theories including Expectancy, Equity and goal-setting. Exercise on play and motivation. `Lost in the Desert? exercise to introduce and dramatise Group Dynamics. To explain the meaning and importance of leadership in organisations. To ensure an interactive approach by case studies on leaders and by exercise on great leaders and poor leaders. To encourage discussion on management by examination of the main activities or functions of management. To ensure or encourage appreciation and awareness of the importance of organisational change by use of video presentation. To explain the meaning and nature of organisational structure.

Aims

This module aims to be an introduction to Organisation Behaviour but also stimulating to those who are familiar with some of the concepts. The scope for the examination of behaviour in organisations is very wide. There is a multiplicity of interrelated factors that influence the behaviour and performance of people as members of work organisations. It is important to emphasise throughout the role of management as an integrating activity and as crucial for organisational effectiveness.

Organisations are highly complex systems that operate in diverse and changing technological socio-economic environments. Despite this, newcomers to the subject of organisation often look for instant answers to questions about how to achieve organisational success. Disillusion soon follows. Therefore this course avoids prescribing particular actions or decisions but seeks to analyse and explain the interacting characteristics and processes that are found in organisations.

The module also acts as a foundation for the Human Resource Management module.

Brief description

By means of alternate lectures and group work on case studies and/or exercises, the module provides an intensive introduction to OB and a means of drawing on students' work experience.

Content

The first topic is national culture in order to quickly draw together what is usually an internationally diverse group and to examine the idea of globalisation. The theme then moves to considering the multinational company as a transmission mechanism for good management practice. How do such strategies interact with national culture? The validity of organisational/corporate culture is then considered.

At about half way the conventional centrality of motivation in most books on OB is raised and whether there can be a unified theory of motivation at work. The related issue of job design leads the module into consideration of the influence of technology on organisational structure. Teamworking, already breifly considered in relation to primary groups, is revisited. The module ends with discussion of power in and around the organisation and approaches to theorising leadership.

Reading List

General Text
Buchanan, D and Huczynski, A. Organizational Behaviour Prentice-Hall Primo search Robbins, S. Essentials of Organisational Behaviour Prentice-Hall Primo search Schmerhorn, J, Hunt, J and Osborne, P. The Basics of Organizational Behaviour Wiley Primo search Wilson, D and Rosenfeld, R (eds) Managing Organisations McGraw Hill Primo search

Notes

This module is at CQFW Level 7