Module Identifier |
MBM4010 |
Module Title |
ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR |
Academic Year |
2007/2008 |
Co-ordinator |
Dr Ying Yang |
Semester |
Intended for use in future years |
Next year offered |
N/A |
Next semester offered |
N/A |
Course delivery |
Lecture | 20 Hours. |
|
Seminars / Tutorials | plus classrom discussions |
Assessment |
Assessment Type | Assessment Length/Details | Proportion |
Semester Exam | 2 Hours | 70% |
Semester Assessment | 2000 word essay | 30% |
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 Lists
Books
** General Text
Buchanan, D and Huczynski, A. Organizational Behaviour
Prentice-Hall
Robbins, S. Essentials of Organisational Behaviour
Prentice-Hall
Schmerhorn, J, Hunt, J and Osborne, P. The Basics of Organizational Behaviour
Wiley
Wilson, D and Rosenfeld, R (eds) Managing Organisations
McGraw Hill
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 7