Running head: MOL 522E COURSE ANALYSIS SUMMARY

MOL 522E Course Analysis Summary

Medaille College
Lorraine Sennett

Author Note
This paper was prepared on April 28, 2015 for MOL 522E, taught by Kevin Palmer.

MOL 522E COURSE ANALYSIS SUMMARY

I have found this course to be helpful in reinforcing and expanding upon concepts related
to organizational behavior in order for leaders to be effective. I have gained a better
understanding of how human behavior and how it occurs within the organizational context.
There is a need to develop skills and abilities in the areas of diagnosing organizational situations
and identifying proper actions steps to take as a leader. In order to do this one must learn about
the various theories and concepts in this field.
One of the things that leaders can do is have a respect and utilize peoples experience and
wisdom. According to Dorothy Leonard and Walter Swaps article Deep Smarts, being able to
identify people with this type of knowledge and judgment is essential and both explicit and
tactical and experienced based (Osland & Turner, p. 96). A leader must also know where
they stand in their managerial style and how their own beliefs, values, and principles will impact
organizational culture. The competing values model discussed in the article Mastering
Competing Values: An Integrated Approach to Management by Robert Quinn illustrates the
initial conflict of how an organizations effectiveness is impacted by showing four different
models; Human Relations, Open Systems, Internal Process, and Rational Goal. We want our
organizations to be adaptable and flexible, but we also want them to be stable and controlled
(Osland &Turner, p. 89-90). The DiSC and ESCI-U can be helpful for a person to gain
knowledge into their own personal strengths and weaknesses. This will assist in development of
the guiding values and principles a leader wants to promote within their own company and
cultivating it within the companies organizational culture.
Motivation in the workplace is challenging for leaders but critical to growth and a
company sustaining in a highly competitive world. The Five Factor Model Personality
Inventory, Rokeach Values Survey, and Job Survey in the workbook are tools that can provide

MOL 522E COURSE ANALYSIS SUMMARY

insight into what drives a persons motivation providing more information to come up with
effective models that will allow companies to create and implement systems that create rewards
based on what motivates people. There are different motivational theories that can be studied to
gain a better understanding of how human behavior drives what motivates people. The two
different types of theories referred to when exploring motivational theory are process and
content. Content theories focus on the specific internal needs that motivate people (Osland,
Kolb, Rubin, and Turner, p. 103) while process theories focus on describing how personal
factors and environment factors interact and influence each other to produce certain kinds of
behaviors (Osland, Kolb, Rubin, and Turner, p. 109). The content theories are Maslows
Hierarchy of Need, McClellands Need Theory, and Hertzbergs Two Factor Theory. The process
theories are Goal Setting, Equity Theory, Expectancy Theory, and Reinforcement Theory.
There are many challenges when it comes to business ethics. It is important to consider
ones personal ethics that will influence their behaviors within a business environment.
Leadership is influential in creating an environment that will support an ethical culture. There
are five myths discussed in the article Managing To Be Ethical: Debunking Five Business Ethic
Myths by Linda Klebe Trevino and Michael E Brown. There are ethical values and non-ethical
values Ethical values are; trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, justice and fairness, caring, and
civic virtue and citizenship while nonethical values are; money, fame, status, happiness,
fulfillment, pleasure, personal freedom, and being liked. There are ethical frameworks that a
leader should learn and are; Utilitarianism, Justice, Rights Based, Caring Principle, and
Environmentalism.
Stress and conflict within the workplace are common and need to be addressed by
looking at the underlying root cause analysis. A certain amount of stress can be healthy as it

MOL 522E COURSE ANALYSIS SUMMARY

makes us aware of our need to get things done and be both accountable and responsible for
assigned tasks. This can lead to good performance outcomes, creativity, and innovation. There
are factors that can lead to harmful stress such as long work hours, high demands, and imbalance
workloads. This can lead to physical and emotional problems than can impact the company by
the employee being tardy, taking time off for illness, and not being motivated to do their best.
There are things that we can do to promote healthy workplace environments such as working on
improving communication, shared workloads, promote healthy interaction among co-workers,
and encouraging taking time off when needed.
Conflict is inevitable at work and leaders need to know how to effectively manage
conflict. There are five different conflict styles; competition, avoidance, accommodation,
compromise, and collaboration (Osland, Kolb, Rubin, and Turner, p. 345). Effective
communication and use of skills such as attentive listening are critical to conflict management
and resolution. The use of mentoring and coaching programs can be helpful with managing
conflict offering empowerment to employees to be an active part of the decision making process.
The decision making process for leaders is based in daily conflict within the organization and
they must be well equipped to make the tough calls. There are four characteristics noted in the
article that define what makes up a tough call. Tough calls are high-stakes decisions that must
be made when information is ambiguous, values conflict, and experts disagree (Osland &
Turner, p. 547).
The article written by Edgar H. Schein titled Uncovering the Levels of Culture
discusses three different levels to which the culture of a group can be analyzed. The three levels
described are artifacts, espoused values, and basic underlying assumptions. There needs to be an
understanding of culture to understand organizational culture.

MOL 522E COURSE ANALYSIS SUMMARY

Leaders have to be able to effectively manage change and create buy in from employees
to be able to do so. A leader must assess readiness for change in several areas including
leadership, the direction the company is going in, the market competitors, customer needs,
process/functions, what the rewards will be, and the climate of the environment for change along
with motivation internally. The change process is helpful in providing a format on how to
manage change with steps from problem identification to solution, and ongoing evaluation. A
leader will understand and be prepared to manage the natural reaction of employees resistance to
change with empathy. There are tactics to assist with change including having open and honest
communication related to the change while providing education and involving employees in the
process and having knowledge of culture and change.
I enjoyed this course very much and feel my own core beliefs have been reinforced in
relation to how organizations are influenced by behaviors and cultures of the people. I will be
able to take into account learned theories and apply tactics and strategies to my own leadership
styles. I found the personality tests of the DiSC and ESCI-U to be informative, reinforcing, and
helpful in knowing my own strengths and weakness.

MOL 522E COURSE ANALYSIS SUMMARY

Reference
Osland, J. S., & Turner, M. E. (2011). The Organizational Behavior Reader (9th ed.). Pearson
Osland, J. S., Kolb, D.A., Rubin, I.M., & Turner, M. E. (2007). Organizational Behavior An
Experiential Approach (8th ed.). Pearson.