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Susan Soliman Lecturer, Business studies and management Middlesex University Business School Room 304 Block 16 Knowledge Village Dubai U.A.E. E: S.Soliman@mdx.ac T: 00971 (04) 369 3965
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Sebastian Fuchs Lecturer in OB and HRM Middlesex University Business School HRM Department Room W131 The Burroughs Hendon London NW4 4BT United Kingdom E: s.fuchs@mdx.ac.uk T: 0044 (0)20 8411 4629
Sebastian Fuchs
Module leader HRM 1110
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Table of contents
Aim of module..................................................................................................5 Pedagogic strategy of module..........................................................................5 Conceptual framework for HRM 1110...............................................................6 Module outline HRM 1110.................................................................................7 Assessment scheme.........................................................................................9 Middlesex University 20-point assessment scale...........................................17 Communication and admin issues..................................................................18 Seminar activities...........................................................................................19 Module narrative............................................................................................23 Additional reading material............................................................................25 Notes..............................................................................................................26
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Aim of module
This module explores a variety of factors influencing attitudes and behaviours in organisations. It is based on a theoretical framework which aims to answer the question What makes people do a good job at work? from a scientific point of view. The range of factors explored will firstly relate to individuals and their performance within organisations, secondly to those which relate to groups within the organisation, and thirdly to those which relate to organisations as a whole. Through this exploration the module goes on to describe, illustrate, analyse and evaluate concepts, strategies and theories developed and utilised by scholars to maximise the potential and resolve problems associated with an organisations most significant and valuable resource its people.
Essential textbook Buchanan, D. A., & Huczynski, A. A. (2010). Organizational behaviour (7th ed.). Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd.
There is another very interesting text which you might want to look at for this module as well. It is an American textbook which is structured around a theoretical model comparable to the one we use in this module (see page 5). The details of this recommended textbook are:
Additional recommended textbook Colquitt, J. A., LePine, J. A., & Wesson, M. J. (2011). Organizational behavior: improving performance and commitment in the workplace (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
By purchasing a copy of the essential textbook and possibly the recommended textbook you will have a solid and comprehensive source as to why people behave at work the way they do. I am convinced that many of the ideas and theories in these books will be of use for your further studies. So instead of treating this as costs, I would rather treat a good book as an investment in your academic and professional career. Rest assured that many of the ideas and theories in both books are highly relevant to anyone who wants to better understand people at work both in academia as well as in the world of work.
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Figure 1: Conceptual framework for HRM 1110 Copyright Sebastian Fuchs 2011
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Teaching week
1
Lecture
Lecture 1 Introduction to module and Organisational Behaviour and Analysis Lecture 2 Methods in the study of Organisational Behaviour and Analysis and key organisational concepts Lecture 3 Learning and development Lecture 4 Work motivation 1 (need and job design theories) Lecture 5 Work motivation 2 (cognitive and behavioural theories and recent developments in the field)
Seminar
----Seminar 1 Introduction to module and Organisational Behaviour and Analysis Seminar 2 Methods in the study of Organisational Behaviour and Analysis and job performance Seminar 3 Learning Resource Centre on search tools Seminar 4 Learning and development
Oct 9th
Oct 16th
Re-visit lecture notes and textbook chapter Prepare seminar 2 Re-visit lecture notes and textbook chapter Re-visit lecture notes and textbook chapter Prepare seminar 4
4 5
6 7
Reading week 1 Lecture 6 Stress and employee health Essay writing session Lecture 7 Perception theory Lecture 8 Dispositional factors 1: the study of personality and individual ability Lecture 9 Dispositional factors 2: BBC documentary Battle of the Brains Lecture 10 Group formation and processes Seminar 5 Work motivation Seminar 6 Stress and employee health Seminar 7 Academic essay writing and effective scientific reading Seminar 8 Feedback session on formative essay Seminar 9 Dispositional factors
Catch-up with any material you may have missed or are unclear about Re-visit lecture notes and textbook chapter Prepare seminar 5 Re-visit lecture notes and textbook chapter Prepare seminar 6 Re-visit lecture notes and textbook chapter Prepare seminar 7 and read journal article by Skarlicki and Folger (1997) [distributed during lecture] ----Re-visit lecture notes and textbook chapter Prepare seminar 9
8 9
Dec 04th
10
Dec 11th
11
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Week com.
Jan 29th
Teaching week
13
Lecture
Lecture 12 Individuals in groups
Seminar
Seminar 11 Group structure
Feb 5th Feb 12th Feb 19th Feb 26th Mar 04th Mar 11th Mar 18th Mar 25th Apr 1 Apr 8th
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Reading week 2 Lecture 16 Organisational decisionmaking Lecture 17 Organisational ethics Lecture 18 Organisational change Lecture 19 Organisational power and politics Lecture 20 National culture and institutions Lecture 21 Module summary Seminar 15 Summative presentations 1 Seminar 16 Summative presentations 2 Seminar 17 Organisational decisionmaking Seminar 18 Organisational ethics Seminar 19 Mock online test Seminar 20 Organisational power and politics
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Assessment scheme
The assessment scheme for this module consists of four summative assessment (assignment which counts towards your final mark) elements (seminar participation, essay, partner/small group presentation and final in-class test) spread over the academic year, plus one formative assessment element scheduled for the first term which will not count towards your final mark. Marks will be given in accordance to the Middlesex University 20-point assessment scale (see page 15). If a student fails one summative assessment (mark below 40%), a better mark might make up for the failed summative assessment element. When two or more of the four assessment elements were failed and the student failed to achieve 40+% overall, the student will fail the entire module. If this is the case, the module leader will decide on a suitable re-assessment to be submitted during the summer of 2012.
Assessment overview This table provides an overview of the assessment elements of HRM 1110, including the element weighting for the overall module and the respective deadlines.
Assessment element Seminar participation Formative essay* Summative essay Summative partner/small group presentation Summative online test Weighting (in %) 15% --40% 25% 20% Deadline Seminars 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 20 21.11.2011 09.01.2012 Seminars 15 and 16 Week commencing April 15th 2012
* Even though the formative essay does not count towards your final mark, it is still a compulsory assessment element and you are required to submit it in order to pass the module.
Seminar participation (15%) You will be put into syndicate groups of four to five people in the first seminar. During the seminars you will have the chance to actively participate and earn participation points. The criterion for such a seminarbased point is whether or not your participation actually makes a valuable contribution to the seminar. In other words, just saying something for the sake of it will not get you any points. Further, the seminar tutor will check if you have prepared the seminars or not. You have the chance to earn one point for seminars 2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18 and 20. This totals 13 seminars. If you got a participation point for each of these 13 seminars you will be awarded two extra points, totalling 15 points overall. These 15 possible points will count for 15% of the overall module.
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Formative essay of 2,000 words - To be submitted to student office by 21.11.2011 - To be uploaded onto OASISPlus Turnitin online assessment function at same deadline - OASISPlus plagiarism report needs to be attached to hard copy please note that system requires at least 24 hours to be updated before second submission can be made - Choose only one of the following essay topics - Deviation from word limit is accepted at level of +/- 10% - Use font Times New Roman, size 11, line spacing 1,5, justified alignment - Put the name of your seminar tutor on the cover sheet - Feedback will be provided during seminar session Questions to choose from: Question 1 The one best way to increase work motivation for an organisation is through financial rewards. Discuss. Reading list: Buchanan, D. A., & Huczynski, A. A. (2010). Organizational behaviour (7th ed.) [Chapter 9]. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. Cameron, J., & Pierce, W. D. (2002). Rewards and intrinsic motivation: resolving the controversy. Westport, CT: Bergin and Garvey. Colquitt, J. A., LePine, J. A., & Wesson, M. J. (2011). Organizational behavior: improving performance and commitment in the workplace (2nd ed.) [Chapter 6]. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Hollyforde, S., & Whiddett, S. (2002). The motivation handbook. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Kohn, A. (1999). Punished by rewards: the trouble with gold stars, incentive plans, A's, praise, and other bribes. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company. Latham, G. P. (2007). Work motivation: history, theory, research, and practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc. Reeve, J. (2005). Understanding motivation and emotion (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Stajkovic, A. D., & Luthans, F. (1998). Self-efficacy and work-related performance: a meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 124(2), 240-261.
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Question 2 To what extent can we attribute high individual performance to employee training? Reading list: Alliger, G. M., Tannenbaum, S. I., Bennett JR., W., Traver, H., & Shotland, A. (1997). A meta-analysis of the relations among training criteria. Personnel Psychology, 50, 341-358. Buchanan, D. A., & Huczynski, A. A. (2010). Organizational behaviour (7th ed.) [Chapter 5]. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. Chen, G., Gully, S. M., Whiteman, J-A., & Kilcullen, R. N. (2000). Examination of relationships among traitlike individual differences, state-like individual differences, and learning performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(6), 835-847. Colquitt, J. A., LePine, J. A., & Noe, R. A. (2000). Toward an integrative theory of training motivation: a meta-analytic path analysis of 20 years of research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(5), 678-707. Colquitt, J. A., LePine, J. A., & Wesson, M. J. (2011). Organizational behavior: improving performance and commitment in the workplace (2nd ed.) [Chapter 2 & 8]. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Saks, A. M. (1995). Longitudinal field investigation of the moderating and mediating effects of self-efficacy on the relationship between training and newcomer adjustment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 80(2), 211-225. Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. (2004). General mental ability in the world of work: occupational attainment and job performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86(1), 162-173. Tracey, J. B., Tannenbaum, S. I., & Kavanagh, M. J. (1995). Applying trained skills on the job: the importance of the work environment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 80(2), 239-252.
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Summative essay of 2,000 words (40%) Essays need to address the task in an appropriate academic fashion, i.e. your arguments need to be based on theoretical and empirical evidence and actually answer the question this is crucial! If you fail to answer the question in your essay you will fail the entire essay even though your essay might have touched upon the subject. Some lecturers give marks for spelling, referencing and structure among others. This is not the case in this module. If you do not follow the guidelines (we will have a session on this) you will lose marks. However, if you follow the guidelines, you will not be given marks for this as this is what you are expected to do anyway. In other words, your performance will be judged merely on content and not on style. You can compare this to a football match you went to see just because people kicked the ball around the pitch is unlikely to impress you when you evaluate the quality of the match afterwards. What is likely to impress you, however, is the players skill of handling the football, the pace of individual players, the creativity with which players created chances and goals and so on. This precise line of reasoning lies behind the assessment of your essay in this module too.
- To be submitted to student office by 09.01.2012 - To be uploaded onto OASISPlus Turnitin online assessment function at same deadline - OASISPlus plagiarism report needs to be attached to hard copy please note that system requires
at least 24 hours to be updated before second submission can be made Choose only one of the following essay topics Do not put your name on essay; student number is sufficient Put the name of your seminar tutor on the cover sheet Deviation from word limit is accepted at level of +/- 10% Use font Times New Roman, size 11, line spacing 1,5, justified alignment Individual feedback will be provided by appointment and/or during office hours
Questions to choose from: Question 1 If you want your employees to perform at soaring levels, you must create high levels of job satisfaction. Discuss. Reading list: Colquitt, J. A., LePine, J. A., & Wesson, M. J. (2011). Organizational behavior: improving performance and commitment in the workplace (2nd ed.) [Chapter 2 & 4]. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Iaffaldano, M. T., & Muchinsky, P. M. (1985). Job satisfaction and job performance: a meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 97(2), 251-273. Judge, T. A., Thoresen, C. J., Bono, J. E., & Patton, G. K. (2001). The job satisfaction-job performance relationship: a qualitative and quantitative review. Psychological Bulletin, 127(3), 376-407. Lapierre, L. M., & Hackett, R. D. (2007). Trait conscientiousness, leader-member exchange, job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviour: a test of an integrative model. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 80, 539-554. Motowidlo, S. J., & Van Scotter, J. R. (1994). Evidence that task performance should be distinguished from contextual performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79(4), 475-480. Spector, P. E. (2006). Industrial and organizational psychology: research and practice (4th ed.) [Chapter 9 & 10]. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Van Scotter, J. R. (2000). Relationships of task performance and contextual performance with turnover, job satisfaction, and affective commitment. Human Resource Management Review, 10(1), 79-95. Williams, L. J., & Anderson, S. E. (1991). Job satisfaction and organizational commitment as predictors of organizational citizenship and in-role behaviors. Journal of Management, 17(3), 601-617.
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Question 2 To what extent does personality predict employee performance? How do personality traits translate into individuals professional careers? Reading list: Barrick, M. R., Mount, M. K. & Strauss, J. P. (1993). Conscientiousness and performance of sales representatives: test of the mediating effects of goal setting. Journal of Applied Psychology, 78(5), 715722. Barrick, M. R., Stewart, G. L., & Piotrowski, M. (2002). Personality and job performance: test of the mediating effects of motivation among sales representatives. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(1), 43-51. Hurtz, G. M., & Donovan, J. J. (2000). Personality and job performance: the big five revisited. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85(6), 869-879. Judge, T. A., Higgins, C. A., Thoresen, C. J., & Barrick, M. R. (1999). The big five personality traits, general mental ability, and career success across the life span. Personnel Psychology, 52, 621-652. Lapierre, L. M., & Hackett, R. D. (2007). Trait conscientiousness, leader-member exchange, job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviour: a test of an integrative model. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 80, 539-554. Motowidlo, S. J., & Van Scotter, J. R. (1994). Evidence that task performance should be distinguished from contextual performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79(4), 475-480. Spector, P. E. (2006). Industrial and organizational psychology: research and practice (4th ed.) [Chapter 10]. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Stewart, G. L. (1999). Trait bandwidth and stages of job performance: assessing differential effects for conscientiousness and its subtraits. Journal of Applied Psychology, 84(6), 959-968.
Summative partner/small group presentation of 10 minutes (plus app. 5 minute discussion) (25%) - To be held in seminars 15 and 16 - All groups need to be ready to present in seminar 15 - Choose only one of the following presentation topics - In-class presentation order will be chosen randomly - Two to three people per group maximum - Articles need to be spread out over seminar group evenly Journal articles to choose from: Article 1 Barrick, M. R., Shaffer, J. A., & DeGrassi, S. W. (2009). What you see may not be what you get: relationships among self-presentation tactics and ratings of interview and job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94:6, 1394-1411. Question 1: What is the article by Barrick et al (2009) about? Question 2: What are the justifications of the hypotheses and what are the actual findings of the study? Question 3: How can organisations use the findings of this study in their selection process? Article 2 Binnewies, C., Sonnentag, S., & Mojza, E. J. (2009). Daily performance at work: feeling recovered in the morning as a predictor of day-level job performance. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 30, 67-93. Question 1: What is the central research proposition of this article? Question 2: Illustrate the findings of this research article. How are they explained by existing research? Question 3: How can organisations translate Binnewies et als (2009) findings into practice?
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Article 3 Bommer, W. H., Miles, E. W., & Grover, S. L. (2003). Does one good turn deserve another? Coworker influences on employee citizenship. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 24, 181-196. Question 1: What are the central arguments and findings of the article? Question 2: Illustrate the psychological mechanisms and theories of their hypotheses. Question 3: What are the implications of this article for organisations? Article 4 Heslin, P. A. (2009). Better than brainstorming? Potential contextual boundary conditions to brainwriting for idea generation in organizations. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 82, 129-145. Question 1: What is the difference between brainstorming and brainwriting? What are the limitations of brainstorming? Question 2: What is the evidence that brainwriting may be a more effective tool for idea generation than brainstorming in organisations? Why may this be the case? Question 3: Illustrate the main contextual factors under which brainwriting is most effective in organisational life? Article 5 Judge, T. A., Hurst, C., & Simon, L. S. (2009). Does it pay to be smart, attractive, or confident (or all three)? Relationships among general mental ability, physical attractiveness, core self-evaluations, and income. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94:3, 742-755. Question 1: What is this article all about? Question 2: What are the findings of this study? Question 3: How can individuals make use of them? Article 6 Ng, T. W. H., & Feldman, D. C. (2010). Human capital and objective indicators of career success: the mediating effects of cognitive ability and conscientiousness. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 83, 207-235. Question 1: What is this article all about? Question 2: What are the findings of this study? Question 3: What are the implications of this study for individuals and for organisations? Article 7 Robinson, S. L., & O'Leary-Kelly, A. M. (1998). Monkey see, monkey do: the influence of work groups on the antisocial behavior of employees. Academy of Management Journal, 41:6, 658-672. Question 1: What is this article all about? Question 2: Illustrate the main psychological mechanisms and theories underlying Robinson and OLearyKellys (1998) study. Question 3: Why is this article important for organisations? Article 8 Romero, E., & Pescosolido, A. (2008). Humor and group effectiveness. Human Relations, 61:3, 395418. Question 1: What are the central arguments of this article? Question 2: What are the main mechanisms as to why class two humour is likely to positively affect group effectiveness? Question 3: How can organisations make use of Romero and Pescosolidos (2008) propositions?
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Article 9 Vignovic, J. A., & Foster Thompson, L. (2010). Computer-mediated cross-cultural collaboration: attributing communication errors to the person versus the situation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95:2, 265-276. Question 1: What is the article by Vignovic and Foster Thompson (2010) all about? Question 2: What are the findings of the article? Question 3: What are the implications of the findings for your communication at university and when searching for a job after graduation? Article 10 Webster, J. R., Beehr, T. A., & Christiansen, N. D. (2010). Toward a better understanding of the effects of hindrance and challenge stressors on work behavior. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 76, 68-77. Question 1: What is the article by Webster et al (2010) about? Question 2: What did the authors find in their study? Question 3: What are the implications for organisations of this article?
Marking criteria The marking criteria for this summative assessment are as follows: Excellent +70% Delivery Professional appearance Introduction Clarity Vocabulary Volume Speed/timing Visual aids Structure Conclusion Content Questions addressed Logical arguments Questions handled Overall Good 60-69% Average 50-59% Pass 40-49% Fail -39%
40%
60%
Summative online test (20%) - To be held week commencing April 15th 2012 - Further instructions will be given closer to the actual time of the test
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Percentage
Missed assessment 0 29 30 34 35 39 40 41 43 44 46 47 49 50 51 53 54 56 57 59 60 61 63 64 66 67 69 70 71 74 75 79 80 100
20 point scale
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Degree class
Fail
Third class
First class
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Please leave me a message on my university telephone (04 369 3965) if I am not available to take your call. In general, I prefer to be contacted during my consultation hours or via email. If you have a contentrelated question please put it into an email, as I know from my own experience as a student that many of your peers are likely to have a similar question and I can then answer that question during the lecture for everybody. If you email me, however, you need to do so in a professional manner (no mobile phone abbreviations, informal language or spelling mistakes). If your email is not written in a professional manner, I will simply not respond to it regardless of how important the issue might be!
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Seminar activities
Seminar 1 Introduction to module and Organisational Behaviour and Analysis This seminar will introduce you to the module and to some core areas of Organisational Behaviour and Analysis. Outline: Overview of content and structure of module. Clarification of assessment scheme. Why study Organisational Behaviour and Analysis? The nature of analytical thinking: descriptive, argumentative and analytical accounts: a group task.
Seminar 2 Methods in the study of Organisational Behaviour and Analysis and job performance In this seminar we will look in more detail at the concept of studying attitudes and behaviours in organisations and the role of job performance. Outline: Understanding crucial methods in Organisational Behaviour and Analysis, including correlations, inferential statistics and concept relationships. Exercise: Churrascaria Botafoguense [distributed during seminar]. Clarification of the concepts of task and contextual performance and counterproductive behaviour.
Seminar 3 Learning Resource Centre on search tools The purpose of this crucial seminar is to gain a better understanding of how to research all the academic material you will need for your studies.
Seminar 4 Learning and development This seminar will consider the material discussed in the lecture on learning and development and will introduce you to the concept of the learning curve. Outline: Why study learning in organisations? What are the main learning theories? Exercise 1: the learning curve (in Huczynski & Buchanan, 2007: 133-134) [distributed during seminar]. Discussion: what can we take away from this exercise for our academic and professional careers?
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Seminar 5 Work motivation This seminar will consider the material discussed in the two lectures on motivation and the academic worth and applicability of one core work motivation theory, namely Hackman et als (1975) job characteristics model. Outline: Why study motivation at work? What are the main motivation theories? Clarification of Hackman et als (1975) job characteristics model. Exercise 2: job characteristics and growth need (in Huczynski & Buchanan, 2007: 272-275) [distributed during seminar]. Discussion: why are not all jobs re-designed if this leads to positive outcomes such as higher internal work motivation and lower absenteeism among others?
Seminar 6 Stress and employee health This seminar is concerned with the concept of stress and employee health in organisations. Outline: What are the main concepts of stress and employee health? Exercise: managing stress (in Colquitt el at (2011: 168-169) [distributed during seminar].
Seminar 7 Academic essay writing and effective scientific reading The purpose of this crucial seminar is to prepare you for your first assignment. We will discuss all the relevant issues so that you have a realistic chance of getting a decent mark in your summative essay. In addition, we will look at how to do effective reading of journal articles by evaluating Skarlicki and Folgers (1997) paper on the relationship between perceived organisational justice and retaliation in the workplace. This will be crucial for both your summative essay and your summative presentation.
Seminar 8 Feedback session on formative essay The line of reasoning behind this seminar is that you receive the essay feedback, reflect on it and then incorporate the suggestions into your summative essay.
Seminar 9 Dispositional factors In this seminar we will look into the idea of how individuals differ and how this is likely to affect organisations and their functioning. Outline: What are the main concepts of personality and individual ability in the study of Organisational Behaviour and Analysis? Exercise: comparing interpersonal skills (in Bloisi et al, 2007: 434-435; 416-419) [distributed during seminar]. Give concrete examples from the world of work as to why the results of this exercise are important?
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Seminar 10 Group formation and processes This seminar will be of more practical nature than other seminars. We will look in great detail at practicalities of different types of task interdependence. In this seminar the seminar tutor will also allocate you to your partner/small group for the summative presentation. Outline: What do we mean by the concept of task interdependence? What are the different conceptualisations of task interdependence? Exercise: paper plane corporation (in Colquitt et al, 2011: 400-402) [distributed during seminar].
Seminar 11 Group structure In this seminar we discuss the journal article by Nielsen (2009) on homogeneity of top management teams. Please have it read for the seminar and prepare the questions below. Outline: What is Nielsens (2009) article all about? Illustrate the main psychological mechanisms as to why top management teams might be highly homogenous. What are the findings of Nielsens (2009) study? Why is this article of importance for organisations?
Seminar 12 Individuals in groups In this seminar we look in more detail at the concept of social loafing in organisations. Outline: Why study the role of individuals in groups? Clarification of the concept of social loafing. Exercise 2: curtailing social loafing (in Huczynski & Buchanan, 2007: 375).
Seminar 13 Work design In this seminar we will look into greater detail at how work design has changed over the past century and how some of the more traditional elements are still very much in existence in the 21st century. Outline: Who are the main scholars (and their concepts) of traditional work design? Exercise: job enrichment at Volvo [distributed during seminar].
Seminar 14 Organisational culture In this session we will apply the notion of organisational culture to Middlesex University. Outline: What is organisational culture? Why study the notion of organisational culture? Exercise: university culture (in Colquitt et al, 2011: 581) [distributed during seminar].
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Seminar 15 Summative presentations 1 In this session the entire seminar cohort will listen to the summative presentations.
Seminar 16 Summative presentations 2 In this session the entire seminar cohort will listen to the summative presentations.
Seminar 17 Organisational decision-making In this seminar we will investigate whether or not team working provides process gains in decision-making when compared to individual decision-making. Outline: Exercise: wilderness survival (in Colquitt et al, 2011: 437-440) [distributed during seminar].
Seminar 18 Organisational ethics In this seminar the emphasis will be on the idea of ethical behaviour in organisations. Outline: What are the main theories and arguments on organisational ethics? Exercise 1: group activity 12.1 (in Fisher & Lovell, 2009: 506) [distributed during seminar].
Seminar 19 Mock in-class test In this seminar you have the chance to sit a mock in-class test in order to be prepared for the summative in-class test in seminar 21.
Seminar 20 Organisational power and politics In this seminar we will look at the concept of organisational politics. Outline: Why study organisational power and politics? What are the main theories and models that scholars have developed to further our understanding of these issues? Exercise: politics in decision-making (in Buchanan & Huczynski, 2010: 723-724) [distributed during seminar].
Seminar 21 Summative in-class test In this last seminar you will have your summative in-class test.
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Module narrative
Short code Title Level Credit points Start term Subject Module leader Module restrictions HRM 1110 Organisational Behaviour and Analysis UG 30 Autumn 2011/12 Human Resource Management Sebastian Fuchs Pre-requisite Programme restriction Level restrictions Other restrictions or requirements Not permitted
This module explores a variety of factors influencing attitudes and behaviour in organisations. It is based on a theoretical framework which aims to answer the question What factors enable or prevent people in doing a good job at work. The range of factors explored will firstly relate to individuals and their performance within organisations, secondly to those which relate to groups within the organisation, and thirdly to those which relate to organisations as structures within society at large. Through this the module aims to describe, illustrate, analyse and evaluate concepts, strategies and theories to maximise the potential and resolve problems associated with an organisations most significant and valuable resource: its people.
Syllabus
Conceptual framework of the module and basic methods in Organisational Behaviour and Analysis. Making sense of organisational outcomes such as performance, organisational commitment and job satisfaction. Individuals in the organisation: theories of learning and development, motivation, personality, individual ability, perception and political skill. Groups and teams in the organisation: group formation, group structure, individuals in groups and team-working. Organisation processes and wider contexts: traditional work design, decision-making, conflict in organisations and national culture and institutions.
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Skills
By the end of the module you will be able to: 1) Be able to select appropriate methods when evaluating organisational situations. 2) Make informed recommendations with regard to improving performance and solving problems in organisations. 3) Construct a scientific argument for a question posed to you. 4) Read yourself into a complex topic with which you are not familiar. 5) Work in groups and participate in group discussions. 6) Compare, contrast and evaluate data and information. 7) Utilise a range of learning resources.
Assessment weighting
100% coursework 1) Formative essay construction of scientific argument and application of different organisationallyrelevant key concepts 2) Seminar participation: 15% application of key Organisational Behaviour and Analysis concepts to different organisational phenomena on individual, group and organisational level of analysis 3) Summative essay: 40% construction of scientific argument and application of different organisationally-relevant key concepts 4) Partner/small group presentation: 25% work in groups and utilisation of different learning resources 5) In-class test: 20% consolidation of key concepts in Organisational Behaviour and Analysis and application to mini case studies
Recommended
Colquitt, J. A., LePine, J. A., & Wesson, M. J. (2011). Organizational behavior: improving performance and commitment in the workplace. (2nd ed.) New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.
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Notes
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