1

MSCI 211 Organizational Behaviour

Spring 2014
Syllabus

Instructor: Seluk Onay
Assistant Professor, Department of Management Sciences
Office: CPH 4329
Ext: x33987
Email: sonay@uwaterloo.ca
Office Hours: By appointment (drop-ins are also welcome subject to availability)

Course Description and Objectives
MSCI 211 is an introductory course in Organizational Behaviour that aims to help students understand how
people and organizations function. In particular, the goal is to acquaint the students with the latest
behavioural research on work and organizations or more specifically on how individual and group behaviour
influence organizational processes and outcomes. In addition to introducing relevant body of research
regarding effective organizational and managerial practices that will enable students to make good, well-
informed decisions, this course will teach students how to manage relationships with their coworkers,
subordinates, managers and customers at the work place.

This course uses a variety of teaching methods. Lecture sessions are coupled with tutorials in which
experiential learning techniques (e.g., cases, role plays, simulations and discussion groups) are employed. The
course also makes use of audio-visual materials (e.g., films and videos) to facilitate understanding of the core
concepts and to present examples of managerial and organizational problems typically encountered in todays
organizations.

Readings
Required textbook:
Langton, Robbins and Judge, Fundamentals of Organizational Behaviour, 5th Canadian Edition. Pearson
Education Canada, Toronto, ON, 2013. ISBN: 978-0-13-335646-5.
Additional readings will be posted on the UW Learn throughout the term.


Communication:
All communications of this course (e.g., lecture notes, additional readings, announcements, emails, discussions,
etc.) will be done through the Learn (https://learn.uwaterloo.ca). It is your responsibility to check the website
regularly for any new information.

Assessment:
Assignments 15%
There will be 3 short assignments. Your worst assignment mark will be dropped. For each assignment, you
will be asked to either complete a task for example, you may be asked to complete an online survey, read an
article, or watch a filmand then write a short response to the task or you will simply be given a
topic/question and asked to answer it in an essay format. Because these critiques are so short (about 500
words), they require you to take time to really think about your response before you start writing and focus
on what is most important to include. All assignments will be submitted through Turnitin (see more about
this on the last page of the syllabus).
Page 2 of 5


Exams 65%
There will be three midterm exams. The exams are not cumulative i.e., they only cover the material for a
particular section of the course. The exams typically contain multiple choice and short answer type questions
and they will be held during the regular class hours.
Course Component Dates Weight
Exam 1 (in class) June 4, Wednesday 20%
Exam 2 (in class) July 2, Wednesday 20%
Exam 3 (in class) July 30, Wednesday 25%
Group Assignment 20%
You will be working in groups in this assignment. For this assignment you will watch a movie, analyse it
and answer a series of questions using the OB theories and concepts we covered in the class. The
objective of this project is to provide you and other members of your group an opportunity to
demonstrate understanding of the course content and to have a "real life" experience of working with
others.

Marking Policies

Missed or Late Assignments: If you cannot submit an assignment even for a legitimate reason youll
receive a zero for that assignment. If you hand in your assignment late, a %5 penalty will be applied for each
day you are late.

Missed Midterm Exam: If you miss an exam for a legitimate reason, the weight of that exam will be
transferred to the next exam. If you miss the last exam (even if for a legitimate reason), you wont be given
any make-ups and your grade for the course will be incomplete (INC). A medical note or other evidence will
be required.

Procedure for marking and mark disputes:
I will check markings regularly but all markings will be conducted by the TAs. If you feel you deserve more
marks for assignments or exams, please write a paragraph on why you deserve more and hand it to your TA
together with your original work within 1 week after the marks are released. TA should review your written
arguments and make a decision. If you still feel unsatisfied with TAs decision, hand all the materials to me.

Other notes:
You should bring your photo ID (WATCARD) for the exams. In the event that the University is closed
during the exam, the exam will be rescheduled on the next available day, including Sunday. Check the website
for further notice.

Teaching Assistants:
Teaching Assistants will organize tutorials, hold office hours to address students questions, mark assignments,
exams, and proctor exams. Please consult your assigned TA for any questions, concerns you have.
Teaching Assistant
Tutorial
Sections
Email
Office Hour and
Location
Xin Bin 105-106 x4bin@uwaterloo.ca TBA
Mehrnaz Mostafapour 101-102 m3mostaf@uwaterloo.ca TBA
Muhammad Shah 107-108 mushah@uwaterloo.ca TBA
Mahdi Roghanizad 103-104 mmroghan@uwaterloo.ca TBA
Page 3 of 5

Lecture and Tutorial Times and Locations:
Attendance is not compulsory in this course for practical reasons. However, students are expected and
encouraged to attend lectures and tutorials. Note that lectures are complementary to the book. The lectures
will go into greater depth on certain topics and will also cover additional material that is not covered by the
book. Hence, you are responsible both for the material covered in the assigned chapters of your textbook and
the material covered in the lectures (and tutorials).
Currently, only four tutorial sessions are scheduled during the term. However, more sessions can be scheduled
if needed. The TAs will run the tutorial sessions and the tutorial hours that are not used for lecturing will
serve as additional TA office hours. That is, the TAs will be available for your questions in their offices every
week at the usual tutorial times even if a tutorial session is not scheduled for that week. The (tentative) dates
of the tutorials are as follows:

Tutorial 1: Week of May 19-23
Tutorial 2: Week of June 16-20
Tutorial 3: Week of July 7-11
Tutorial 4: Week of July 21-25

Below are lecture and tutorial times and locations:
Time and date Location
Lecture 2:30-5:20 Wed DC 1350
TUT 101 03:30-04:20 Fri RCH 212
TUT 102 04:30-05:20 Fri RCH 212
TUT 103 03:30-04:20 Fri RCH 305
TUT 104 04:30-05:20 Fri RCH 305
TUT 105 01:30-2:20 Mon RCH 212
TUT 106 02:30-03:20 Mon RCH 212
TUT 107 03:30-04:20 Thu RCH 307
TUT 108 04:30-05:20 Thu RCH 307
Page 4 of 5

(Tentative) Course Schedule
Weeks/Dates Topics Readings Important Dates
Week 1 (May 7) Introduction to the Course:
What is OB?
Chapter 1: What is
Organizational Behaviour?

Week 2 (May 14) Individual Behaviour
Perception, Personality and Emotions
Chapter 2: Perception,
Personality and Emotions

Week 3 (May 21) NO CLASS (Monday Schedule)
Week 4 (May 28) Individual Behaviour (contd)
Values and Attitudes
Chapter 3: Values and
Attitudes

Week 5 (June 4) Individual Behaviour (contd)
J ob Satisfaction and Org. commitment
Chapter 3: Values and
Attitudes
Exam 1: June 4 (in class)
Week 6 (June 11) Motivation
Theories of Motivation

Chapter 4: Motivating Self and
Others

Week 7 (June 18)

Motivation (contd)
Applying the Theories of Motivation
Performance Evaluation
Chapter 4: Motivating Self
and Others

Week 8 (June 25) Teams
Characteristics and Processes
Chapter 5: Working in Teams
Week 9 (July 2) Decision Making and Creativity
Creativity
Heuristics and Biases
Chapter 9: Decision making
Tversky and Kahneman (1974)

Exam 2: July 2 (in class)
Week 10 (July 9)

Power and Leadership
Power
Leadership
Chapter 7: Power and Politics
Chapter 8: Leadership


Week 11 (July 16) Leadership (contd) Chapter 8: Leadership
Week 12 (July 23)

Organizational Culture Chapter 10: Organizational
Culture

Week 13 (July 30) Wrap-up Exam 2: July 30 (in class)
Page 5 of 5

TURNITIN, Plagiarism and other academic offences
Plagiarism detection software (Turnitin) will be used to screen assignments in this course. This is being done to
verify that use of all materials and sources in assignments is documented. Students will be given an option if
they do not want to have their assignment screened by Turnitin. In the first week of the term, details will be
provided about arrangements and alternatives for the use of Turnitin in this course.

More about TURNITIN can be found here:
http://ist.uwaterloo.ca/cs/Turnitin/
Cheating will be taken seriously, so dont do it. Students who may be tempted to hand in someone elses work
as if it were their own, to hand work that was prepared for a different course, to look over their neighbours
shoulder for the answer to a quiz or test question, or to commit any other sort of academic offence in an
attempt to improve their grade in the course, should first read the following information very carefully:
UWs Student Academic Discipline Policy (Policy 71)
http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy71.htm and
http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/Policy71.pdf

Students who wish to avoid unintentional plagiarism should also read these documents to make sure they
understand the rules (since unintentional plagiarism still counts as plagiarism according to the policy).
You should also check http://www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/~ugoffice/course_responsibilities for various
university policies.

Note on avoidance of academic offences: All students registered in the courses of the Faculty of
Engineering are expected to know what constitutes an academic offence, to avoid committing academic
offences, and to take responsibility for their academic actions. When the commission of an offence is
established, disciplinary penalties will be imposed in accord with Policy #71 (Student Academic Discipline).
For information on categories of offences and types of penalties, students are directed to consult the
summary of Policy #71 (Student Academic Discipline) which is supplied in the Undergraduate Calendar. If
you need help in learning how to avoid offences such as plagiarism, cheating, and double submission, or if
you need clarification of aspects of the discipline policy, ask your course instructor for guidance. Also,
students who believe that they have been wrongfully or unjustly penalized have the right to grieve; refer to
Policy #70, http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infosec/Policies/policy70.htm

Note for students with disabilities: The Office for Persons with Disabilities (OPD), located in NH1132,
collaborates with all academic departments to arrange appropriate accommodations for students with
disabilities without compromising the academic integrity of the curriculum. If you require academic
accommodations to lessen the impact of your disability, please register with the OPD at the beginning of each
academic term.