Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Pre-requisites: None
Number of AUs: 3
People are at the heart of all organizations. To stay ahead of the competition, it is imperative that
organizations leverage their people by developing a committed, confident, cohesive, motivated,
engaged and resilient workforce. In order to achieve these, leaders must first understand behavior in
organizations; how people perceive things, what shapes their attitudes and drives their behavior and
how to motivate them to accomplish both personal and organizational goals.
This course is designed to build a foundational understanding of organizational behavior (OB) and
appreciation of the scientific study of behavior in organizations. OB is a field of study aimed at
predicting, explaining, understanding, and changing human behavior as it occurs in organizations.
Underpinning this are three important considerations:
1. OB focuses on observable individual behaviors. However, it also deals with internal cognition (e.g.
thinking and perceiving) and values that accompany and drive visible actions of individuals.
2. OB studies the behavior of people both as individuals and as members of larger social units.
3. OB analyzes the “behavior” of these larger social units (groups and organizations).
(a) Build a foundational understanding of the science and discipline of Organizational Behavior.
(b) Demonstrate how various theoretical frameworks and concepts can be applied to better understand
real life challenges in organizations.
(c) Develop Critical Thinking and Creative Thinking skills that are core to 21st century leadership
effectiveness. Organizational challenges are typically multi-faceted and multidimensional and they
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require analysis of ideas, evaluation of options, and synthesis of diverse arguments. In addressing
organizational challenges, novel ideas also need to be generated.
The course comprises 12 three-hour Seminar-styled sessions from teaching weeks 1-12 and a two-hour
review lecture in week 13.
Learning is made relevant through the direct and explicit application of theoretical frameworks and
concepts to real life organizational challenges and issues. This is achieved through:
Other pedagogies include the use of self-assessments, simulations and video vignettes to help students
make sense of the relevant theories and concepts so as to reinforce and internalize learning. Students
are expected to spend at least 3 hours per week outside the formal seminar meeting to prepare and
study. Students should keep in touch with the latest business news around the world (The Economist,
BusinessWeek, Fortune, Financial Times, Business Times, etc.).
Course Assessments
Components % Individual/Group
4 In-Class Quizzes 10% Individual
Critical
(20 MCQs Thinking Assignment
& 10-min per quiz 20% Individual
Team Creativity Project 20% Team
Final Examination 50% Individual
Total 100%
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Assessment Plan
In-Class Quizzes
Learning Goal: Knowledge Acquisition
Students will be required to participate in
Learning Objective:
4 in-class quizzes that comprise of
Comprehend foundational theories and multiple-choice questions, assessing
frameworks in Organizational Behavior students’ understanding of key theories
and frameworks in Organizational
Behavior.
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situations organizations.
Four (4) in-class quizzes have been scheduled (with each in-class quiz accounting for 2.5% each):
At the start of the seminar session scheduled in the assigned weeks, as listed above, you are required to
bring your own clickers to the seminar session to participate in the in-class quiz. Please be punctual
and be in your seminar class on time as latecomers will not be entertained. There will be a “grace period
of 5 minutes” before the scheduled in-class quiz is administered. If you forget to bring your clickers, you
will graded “0” for that particular quiz. You are responsible for bringing your own clickers to the seminar
session. If you’re absent from the quiz without a valid reason or without prior consent from your
seminar group instructor, you will also be graded “0” for that particular quiz.
Students who are well-prepared for the seminar sessions (completing all the assigned readings, etc),
should be able to get the best mark possible for each in-class quiz. The in-class quizzes are designed to
encourage all students to come well-prepared for seminar sessions.
Critical Thinking Assignment (20%) (Due Date: Feb 22, latest by 8.00 p.m.)
Learning Objective:
Develop Critical Thinking skills to evaluate ideas, synthesize diverse arguments and reconcile divergent
viewpoints.
Assignment:
In an essay format, identify, describe and discuss a challenging or complex organizational problem that
you have encountered as a student or an employee. If you have little or no work experience, you may
describe an organizational problem that you have encountered as a customer. In essence, organizational
problems can also be viewed as management problems. A key challenge is to apply the relevant theories
and frameworks in organizational behavior to address and if possible, resolve the identified
organizational problem. There’s no need to consciously choose an organizational problem that will align
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with OB topics that have been covered prior to the submission deadline. In choosing an organization for
this assignment, you are NOT allowed to choose SMRT as this organization is exclusively reserved for
the second assignment on Creative Thinking. (Adapted from Wayne Smith, CSUN)
Please follow the critical thinking rubric provided for this assignment. At a minimum, each element of
the critical thinking rubric will require a separate paragraph. You can assume that each element is
equally weighted. Beyond that minimal requirement, students should employ typical expository
techniques in first-year university essay writing. Sources referred to should be appropriately referenced
and cited, using the APA citation style. It’s very important to give credit where it is due.
Take care to avoid plagiarism, using others’ ideas and words without clearly acknowledging the source
of that information.
Length:
The essay is to be no more than 1,500 words in length. Penalties will be imposed on non-compliance.
The length here does not include the Cover Page, End Notes, Footnotes, References, and Appendices, if
any.
Format:
Submission Details:
Cover Page with Full Name, Matriculation Number, Title of Assignment: Critical Thinking, Date, Word
Count. You can refer to the standard template for Cover Page on the Cover Page folder on the main
course site on edveNTUre. You must also include a signed copy of the Academic Integrity Declaration
(you can download this from the Assignment folder on the main course-site on edveNTUre).
Upload completed assignment via turnitin on your seminar group course-site on edveNTUre by Friday,
Feb 22, latest by 8.00 p.m. Late submissions will be penalized. Refer to paragraph on “Penalties for late
submission of assignments”.
Performance Measurement:
There are 5 elements in the critical thinking rubric. Each element is scored with a number: “1” –
relatively weak, “2” – moderate, and “3” relatively strong. Marks may be deducted for errors in GPS
(grammar, punctuation, and spelling). Please review and edit your essay before you submit.
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Team Creativity Project (20%) (Due Date: Essay due by Mar 17, 8.00 p.m.; Team Presentation during
Week 9, Mar 18 – 22; Peer Evaluation (1) latest by Mar 22).
Team Composition:
Starting in Week 2, all students in each seminar group would have been placed in teams (randomly by
the respective seminar group instructors). Each seminar group will have a total of 10 teams, comprising
of 5 students in each team (assuming a seminar group size of 50 students). Students will continue to
work in their assigned teams for the rest of the semester, including working together to complete this
Creative Thinking assignment.
Learning Objective:
Develop Team Creativity skills to work collaboratively in teams to generate novel idea & insights, frame
problems in multiple ways and to come up with unconventional solutions.
Assignment:
Each team will spend time working together to brainstorm and generate novel ideas on how to address
organizational challenges/issues. What follows is a suggestion on a step-by-step process on how to go
about completing this assignment. All teams will have to use the same visual (M.C. Escher’s “Relativity”)
and same organization (SMRT) in their assignment.
1. Each team will examine this visual masterpiece, “Relativity”, by M.C. Escher (1953)*.
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Each team should generate as many novel insights as possible from the above visual. In idea generation,
each team should strive to generate ideas and insights that are unique, unusual or non-obvious.
IMPORTANT: Please note that the visual should be the MAIN FOCUS, not the historical or contextual
background of the artist or the masterpiece, or other related details concerning the visual.
2. Each team will need to find out more about the challenges confronting SMRT. SMRT’s CEO
Desmond Kuek has been reported by The Straits Times (1 Dec 2012) in saying that there are
“deep-seated issues” within the firm’s management, citing managerial, structural, cultural and
systemic issues that need addressing. Each team is expected to conduct a search through
secondary sources such as Straits Times, Business Times, and other news media resources.
3. Draw connections between the team’s novel insights and ideas generated from M.C. Escher’s
“Relativity”, and the challenges facing SMRT. Transform the novel insights and ideas generated
from the visual to:
4. Next, each team might want to cluster or group the novel ways and solutions into meaningful
and distinct themes.
5. It’s now time for a critical review and decide which novel insights into solutions that are relevant
and appropriate. These must be practical, implementable and contribute towards overcoming
the challenge(s) faced by SMRT.
a. Essay: An essay of no more than 1,000 words in length. (A4 size, Times New Roman, 12-
font size, double-spacing). Penalties will be imposed on non-compliance. The length
here does not include the Cover Page, End Notes, Footnotes, References, and
Appendices, if any. Organize your ideas coherently and present them with sufficient
details/elaborations to help the reader better appreciate how you generated each idea
from the visual and how you transformed these ideas into novel insights (ways of
looking at the problem and deriving solutions to the challenges). The length
requirement will be one key consideration in terms of deciding how many novel insights
to highlight and how much elaboration to provide for each insight. Your team will have
to make the decision on the trade-off between the two. At a minimum, each of the four
criteria (#1, #2, #3 and #4) should require a separate paragraph, as these four criteria
will be applied in assessing this written output. Each criterion is equally weighted.
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Submission details: Cover Page with Full Names of all team members, Matriculation
Numbers of all team members, Title of Assignment: Creative Thinking, Date, Word
Count. You can refer to the standard template for Cover Page on the Cover Page folder
on the main course site on edveNTUre. You must also include a signed copy of the
Academic Integrity Declaration (you can download this from the Assignment folder on
the main course-site on edveNTUre).
7. Remember to complete confidential Peer Evaluation (1), and hand in the hard copy to your
respective seminar group instructor latest by Mar 22. The Peer Evaluation (1) form can be
downloaded from the Peer Evaluation folder from the main course-site on edveNTUre.
Confidential peer evaluation is required from each team member. Feedback from peer
evaluation may be used in moderation of performance for this assignment. Although this is a
team assignment, it does not mean that all team members will get the same mark. Every team
member is expected to contribute actively and substantively, and work collaboratively to the
successful completion of the team assignment.
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Critical Thinking
Process
OB Critical
Thinking Exercise
#1
Module 2 - Week 3 & 4: Organizational Culture & Managing Change
Week 3 Organizational KK Ch 3 OB in Action Case
Jan 28 – Feb 01 Culture, Study # 2: Cisco
Socialization & Systems
Mentoring
Experiential
International OB KK Ch 4, Learning Exercise
pp. 92-111 on Culture
OB Critical
Thinking Exercise #
2: Competing
Values Framework
Experiential
Learning Exercise
on Change
OB Critical
Thinking Exercise #
3: Force Field
Analysis
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Creative Thinking
Process
OB Creative
Thinking Exercise #
1
Week 6 Managing Conflict KK Ch 13, pp. 370- OB in Action Case Critical Thinking
Feb 18 - 22 391 Study # 5: Selina Assignment due
Lo Sees the Light
Quiz # 2
Experiential (KK Ch 10, 11 &
Learning Exercise 13)
on Conflict
OB Creative
Thinking Exercise #
2
Module 4 - Week 7 –10: Individual Behavior in Organizations
Week 7 Key Individual KK Ch 5 OB in Action Case
Feb 25 – Mar 01 Differences & Study # 6: The
Road to Success Best Advice I Ever
Got
Experiential
Learning Exercise
on Personality
OB Creative
Thinking Exercise #
3
Mid-Semester Recess Mar 04 – Mar 08
Week 8 Foundations of KK Ch 8 OB in Action Case
Mar 11 - 15 Motivation Study # 7: The Pay
for Performance
Program Among
Denver Teachers
Hit a Roadblock
Experiential
Learning Exercise
on Motivation
Feedback on
Critical Thinking
Assignment
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Creative Thinking
Team
Presentation
Week 10 Values, Attitudes, KK Ch 6 Video Clips and Mar 29 (Fri)
Mar 25 – 29 Job Satisfaction & Online Learning Good Friday
E-Learning Week Counterproductive Activities
Work Behaviors
Experiential
Learning Exercise
on Leadership
Feedback on
Creative Thinking
Assignment
Week 12 Influence, KK Ch 15 OB in Action Case Quiz # 4
Apr 08 - 12 Empowerment & Study # 10: (KK Ch 6, 16 & 15)
Politics Beyond Flextime –
Trashing the
Workweek
Final Exam
Practice
Confidential Peer
Feedback on Team
Final Feedback
Week 13 Review Lecture & Final Exam Briefing
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Final Exam Date (date yet to be confirmed by NBS Undergrad Exam Office)
*In certain weeks, the proposed typical seminar lesson plan may deviate from the above “template”
(as reflected in Proposed Weekly Schedule)
**There will be a total of 10 teams in each seminar group. Teams will be randomly assigned. All teams
must come prepared for all seminar sessions, having reviewed the assigned chapters and cases, and
be prepared to contribute actively to class discussion. There’s a total of 10 cases for the entire course
(please refer to “Proposed Weekly Schedule”). Your seminar group instructor will assign each team the
case questions that will be discussed in seminar. If you’ve read the case and come prepared, you would
be able to contribute to the discussion. IMPORTANT: Please note that confidential PEER EVALUATION
(2) is required from each team member, and feedback from Peer Evaluation may be used to moderate
the overall coursework grade. This PEER EVALUATION (2) is due latest by Friday, Apr 12. You can
download your copy of Peer Evaluation (2) from the Peer Evaluation (2) folder on the main course-site on
edveNTUre.
Basic Text
Kreitner, R. & Kinicki, A. 2010. Organizational Behavior. Ninth Edition. McGraw-Hill Irwin
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Penalties will be imposed for late submissions that are not supported with valid reasons. A penalty of 10
marks will be imposed for each day that the assignment is submitted late. For example, a mark of 65%
would become 55% if the assignment is submitted a day late and 45% if it is two days late. In order to
ensure equity, students are reminded to stay within the word limit set for each assignment. Seminar
instructors grading the assignments will stop reading once the word limit has been reached.
Academic Integrity
Truth, Trust and Justice are at the core of NTU’s shared values. Good academic work includes to a very
large extent, honesty and ethical behavior. The quality of your work as a student is therefore subjected
to adhering to principles of academic integrity and to the NTU Honor Code, a set of values shared by
everyone in NTU.
The content of assignments submitted for grading purposes must be that of your own. You should
therefore be diligent in identifying and acknowledging the sources of information used in completing
your work (full details must be provided in your reference section). If you feel that the use of the exact
wordings from a reference source is the best way to present the ideas, then you must use quotation
marks and acknowledge the source. If you choose to summarize the words from a reference, the source
must also be acknowledged, as this is not an original piece of work from you. Submitted work must be
your own effort and must not duplicate (in whole or in part) the work of others (including other
students).
As a student, the responsibility falls on you to be familiar with and to apply the principles of academic
integrity in all the work you do at NTU. Hence you will need to proactively familiarize yourself with the
strategies to avoid all forms of academic dishonesty, including plagiarism, academic fraud, collusion,
cheating, etc. Detailed information can be obtained via the academic integrity website at
http://academicintegrity.ntu.edu.sg. Pleading ignorance or claiming that one is unaware of the
requirements for maintaining academic integrity does not excuse academic dishonesty. As members of
the NTU family, this is a responsibility that students and faculty staff alike must uphold at all times.
The edveNTUre system (Blackboard) will be used to facilitate the posting of assignments, course
materials and announcements, as well as for interacting with your team members and seminar
instructors. Do ensure that your personal particulars especially your hand-phone number (if you have
one) is updated in edveNTUre. This will allow you to receive urgent messages e.g. change in timing for
lessons, via SMS from your Seminar Instructor.
In order to gain the most out of the Seminar-styled lessons, all students are expected to prepare well by
going through the required readings/case studies for each lesson, attend all classes and participate
actively during the sessions. Quizzes will be administered to assess students’ preparation and readiness
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to learn and contribute in the course. Marks awarded in quizzes will count towards coursework
assessment. Your overall coursework mark/grade may be moderated based on feedback from peer
evaluation.
Consultation
Your first point of contact will be your respective seminar group instructors. Please approach or contact
your seminar group instructor if you’ve got any queries on the course, assignments, and any course-
related matter. If you’re unable to contact your seminar group instructor, you may then contact the
course coordinator.
Seminar Instructors
Instructor Email
Tan Joo Seng ajstan@ntu.edu.sg
(Course Coordinator)
Star Soh astarsoh@ntu.edu.sg
ARGChing@ntu.edu.sg
Rosario Chi Ching
OR cckwj@singnet.com.sg
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