Organizational Psychology

Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya School of Psychology 8013, Spring 2012

Instructor: Dr. Uriel Haran E-mail: uharan@idc.ac.il Teaching Assistants: Class meetings: Monday 12:00-13:30 Thursday 11:30-13:00 Office hours: By appointment
COURSE SYLLABUS

Catalog description: This course examines the factors that influence individual, group and firm behavior. Topics covered include perception, group behavior, decision making, motivation, leadership and organization design and change. Overview of course: The goal of this course is to teach you the skills essential to effective management in todays business environment. As a manager or a consultant, you will have a challenging job. You must coordinate people, information, and processes to accomplish organizational goals; you must make things happen and understand why they happen, and often not under conditions or timeframes of your own choosing. This course focuses on increasing your problem diagnosis and problem solving skills related to the major challenges managers face in contemporary organizations: building and sustaining high performance organizations in a global marketplace. The course introduces insights and tools from the behavioral and social sciences that will improve your ability to analyze organizational dynamics and to take effective action. Specifically, this course will provide tools, skills, and strategies for: Think about yourself and your development as a professional. Enhancing your managerial judgment. Controlling and designing organizational units and their activities.

Course materials: The courses textbook is Behavior in Organizations (10th Edition) by Jerald Greenberg. It will be available at the bookstore. Additional readings and/or other materials will be made available throughout the course. The readings cover only a part of the course material. The rest will be covered in the lectures. There will be relatively little overlap between the lectures and the readings.

Assignments and grading: There will be NO final exam in the summer. Your final grade will be composed of: 1) Three mid-term quizzes 2) One case analysis (a group assignment) 3) One individual paper The top four grades of these five assignments (three quizzes, a case analysis, an individual paper) will each be worth 25% of your final grade. There is no submission requirement. You can miss a quiz or not submit one assignment and your grade will consist of the four other assignments. Mid-term Quizzes The content of the course can be divided, albeit simplistically and somewhat imprecisely, into three sections: individual processes, group dynamics and organizational dynamics. Each quiz will be administered at the end of its respective section, and will only include material covered in the lectures leading up to it. The quizzes will include a mix of multiple choice and essay questions, and will focus on application of the material discussed in class and in the readings. There will be NO alternative date (moed bet) for the exam. If you do not show up for a quiz, your grade on that quiz will be zero. Case Analysis In this task, You will write a case study based on an event that appeared a) in the news during the semester, or b) in a famous novel or film, and is relevant to the course. You will apply course concepts in explaining the event, its antecedents, its consequences (real or predicted), and what could have been done differently to prevent any adverse consequences that occurred. In general, I will ask you to take the role of a consultant writing a report of your findings and recommendations. The analysis will be done in groups of three. Individual Paper For the final assignment in this course you will have a choice between three different assigments: 1. An interview with a manager: You will interview a manager in a real organization about two course topics of your choice. You will get the managers take on the course concepts pertaining to these topics and how these are applied in that managers job and/or organization. 2. A real-life case analysis: You will write a case study based on an event that appeared in the news during the semester and is relevant to the course. You will

apply course concepts in explaining the event, its antecedents, its consequences (real or predicted), and what could have been done differently to prevent any adverse consequences that occurred. 3. A real-life negotiation analysis: You will conduct a negotiation and analyze its process and outcome, based on concepts covered in class. This includes analyzing your own behavior, your counterparts behavior, the result of the negotiation and what each party could have done to come up with a better outcome for itself. Course Contribution Every session of the course involves interaction in the form of class discussion and exercises, which are an important part of the learning process. To attain a rich and flexible understanding of the concepts, engage the material before class by thoughtfully reading the relevant material for the class. In other words, be actively involved in the learning process. Attendance: Attendance is not required. Neither I nor your classmates gain anything from your mere presence in the room. If you cannot contribute to the discussion and learning process during a class, I am sure your time will be better spent somewhere else. Participation: Contrary to inactive (or disruptive) attendance, active participation in class discussion will be greatly appreciated. I reserve the right to grant you up to 3 extra credit points for the quality of your contribution to the discussion and learning process during the course. The quality of your comments in class will be assessed using the following criteria: Relevance: How is the comment related to the current discussion? Is it related to ideas in the course readings or prior discussions? Logic: Do you explain the reasoning behind your comment using clear evidence and coherent arguments? Integration: Does your comment move the discussion forward by building on previous contributions with new insights? Individuality: Does your comment contribute a new perspective to the discussion, or does it simply repeat what others have already said? You will get the most out of this course if you share your perspectives with one another. I encourage each of you to participate fully in all class exercises and to voice your views in class discussions. I also expect you to ask questions about things that you dont understand, which can be an intimidating thing to do. However, asking questions in class not only helps you, but it also helps your classmates by moving the discussion forward in a new direction.

Grading Policies
1. Your final grade will be based on the average of your four best scores on the

graded assignments (quizzes, case analysis and individual paper), plus any extra credit you may have. There will be no curve. 2. To appeal a grade, including exam grades, submit a typewritten request explaining your position (along with the original assignment) within 7 days of receiving your grade. Document your points with the appropriate course material. After reviewing your explanation I will either award you additional points or schedule a meeting with you to discuss the disputed issue(s). I reserve the right to re-grade the entire assignment when an appeal is submitted. This can result in a lower grade.

Course Schedule
BiO = Behavior in Organizations. Mdl = Moodle.

Class Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Date

Topic

Readings & Assignments

BiO Ch. 1 BiO Ch. 5 BiO Ch. 6 BiO Ch. 7 BiO Ch. 2 (pp. 35-47 in some versions, 65-77

5/3/2012 Introduction to OB and Management 12/3/2012 Affect and Stress 15/3/2012 Job Attitudes 19/3/2012 Motivation 1 22/3/2012 Motivation 2 26/3/2012 Individual Differences Personality and Ability 29/3/2012 Human Resource Management Decisions

in others) BiO Ch. 4

BiO Ch. 3 (pp. 71-90)

Highhouse, S. (2008). Stubborn reliance on intuition and subjectivity in employee selection. [Mdl] Complete Organizational Measures Survey I BiO Ch. 10

8 9

16/4/2012 Decision Making 1 19/4/2012 Decision Making 2 23/4/2012 Mid-term Quiz I

10 11 12

30/4/2012 Groups and Teams 3/5/2012 Teamwork and Interdependence 7/5/2012 Ethics

BiO Ch. 8

This American Life, Episode 405 Inside Job, Prologue + Act One: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radioarchives/episode/405/inside-job
BiO Ch. 2 (p. 47-70)

13 14 15 16

10/5/2012 Power and Politics 1 14/5/2012 Power and Politics 2 17/5/2012 Leadership 21/5/2012 24/5/2012 Influence 28/5/2012 Mid-term Quiz II

Submit Case Analysis

BiO Ch. 12 BiO Ch. 13

17 18 19

31/5/2012 Game Theory and Rational Choice 4/6/2012 Negotiation 1 7/6/2012 Negotiation 2

Negotiation case Negotiation case Thompson, L. (2001). Preparation: What to do before negotiation (Mdl)

20 21 22

11/6/2012 Social Networks 14/6/2012 Organizational Structure 18/6/2012 Review 21/6/2012 Quiz III Submit Individual Paper by July 8.
BiO Ch. 15