Master of Science in Business Administration

Obiettivi Formativi

Prerequisiti

Programma

Testi Adottati

Bibliografia

Modalità di svolgimento

Regolamento Esame

Updated A.Y. 2021-2022

Organisational dynamics

and behaviour

(Prof. Luca Gnan)

Teaching Staff Responsible for the Course:

Prof. Luca Gnan

E-mail: luca.gnan@uniroma2.it

Availability: Contact via e-mail

Prof.ssa Giulia Flamini

E-mail: giulia.flamini@uniroma2.it

Availability: Contact via e-mail

We are committed to making this course a valuable learning experience for you. After the first month, we will spend part of a class session evaluating our progress, and we will make any necessary changes to keep us on track. However, we welcome your feedback at any time in the semester. It is easiest to reach us by e-mail or during office hours, but we are always happy to set up an appointment. Additionally, if you have a disability that requires unique accommodation, please let us know ASAP so that we can be helpful to you.

E-mails, Office Hours & Feedback on Assignments

We endeavor to answer e-mails within one day. If you have not heard from us within that time, please resend the e-mail. Grades & comments will be posted online in the materials section of the course website. We will be happy to give feedback and discuss assignments after all grading is complete for a specific task. Office hours are scheduled by e-mail request.

We may answer questions of assignment clarification in class and via e-mails to benefit the entire class. We may also give extra grades (see below Team Project) during the course that, while generally designed to support learning in the course, will also help your participation grade. These are pass/fail and do not include comments.

Pre-requisites for the Course:

None.

Course description

While many of the courses in the MScBA teach you how to manage money, information, and other material resources, this course is unique (and invaluable) in that you will learn how to manage your performance and career by learning how to work with and through other people even when you don't want to. Although skills in finance, accounting, marketing, operations, and strategy are crucial for organizational success, managing an organization, its groups, and its individuals is equally important. In your career, you will depend on people to accomplish tasks, goals, and projects; you will need to work for other people, work with other people, and supervise other people. Understanding the human side of management is an essential complement to the technical skills you are learning in other courses. Although we will focus primarily on work, you will find that the course concepts have applications to various organizations, including non-profits, athletic teams, social clubs, and religious and political groups.

This advanced course in organizational behavior is designed to expose you to essential theories and concepts for analyzing, understanding, and managing human behavior in organizations. This course will apply concrete organizational situations from our case studies and projects to essential theories and effective management practices. In this class, you will learn how to thrive at work by managing your relationships. In this course, we will investigate:

• Individual behavior in organizations, including personality, decision-making, personal networks, and ethics.
• Interpersonal behavior, including teamwork, conflict, leadership, and power and influence.
• Organizational factors affecting behavior, including reward systems, culture, and organizational design.

Learning Objectives

Explore from managerial perspective research and practical applications on organizational behavior.

The objective of the training is to provide tools and analytical theory on the analysis of individual and behavior in different group and organizational contexts to:

• Understand and use the fundamental theories on organizational behavior
• Develop capacities for applying theories to practice
• Develop problem-solving abilities with best practices discussion and case study analysis

The study route is divided into four different sections:

• Section I: The Organization Behavior Context and Learning Community.
• Section II: Managing Teams.
• Section III: Understanding and Managing Individuals.
• Section IV: Managing Key Organizational Processes.

At the end of the course, students will have:

1. A deeper understanding of how the study of organizational behavior can aid us in improving the performance and well-being of people at work.
2. Understood how models, theories, and concepts about organizational behavior could promote the effectiveness of individuals, groups, and organizations.
3. Developed skills for analyzing individual, group, and organizational functioning that enhance their effectiveness as managers.
4. Developed a more effective and more complex representation of organizational behavior, enabling them to contribute more effectively to the workplace.

Teaching methods

Lessons will be characterized by the transfer of knowledge and the strong interaction within the classroom; there are analyses of situations, problems, and business cases to facilitate participants in learning.

Regular attending students are strongly recommended to participate in all the lectures, preparations, and presentations of the business cases.

This course uses readings, lectures, exercises, cases, individual and team assignments, and class discussions to meet its goals. Case assignments provide an essential foundation for class discussion and must be completed before each class session. The due dates for all cases and other assignments are listed in the class schedule at the end of the syllabus. Lectures will highlight key points from the readings and provide additional information to supplement the readings. Cases will allow you to apply what you have learned to real-world issues and scenarios. Because each of you brings unique perspectives and experiences to the class, participation in class discussions and activities is essential to your learning and that of other class members. To further enrich your understanding, you will also be matched with an MScBA Teaching Assistant.

Main References

1. A) Textbooks for regular attending students (to be considered a regular attending student, a participant should achieve at least an 85% of presence to lectures and case discussions):

2005. Fincham, P. Rhodes, Principles of Organizational Behaviour, Oxford University Press, 2005.

2005. H. Seijts, Cases in Organizational Behavior (the IVEY casebook series), Sage Publications, Inc, 2005.

As far as the textbook Principles of Organizational Behaviour (Fincham, Rhodes, 2005) is concerned, regular attending students must prepare the following parts:

1. Introduction pp. 1 -11 (Organization Behavior: An Overview)
2. Chapter 1 pp.19 – 50 (Expectations and Learning)
3. Chapter 8 pp. 310-359 (Leadership Dynamics)
4. Chapter 6 pp. 243-270 and Chapter 14 pp .500-510 (Team Problem, Decision Making, and Effectiveness)
5. Chapter 7 pp. 275-305 (Group Dynamics and Performance)
6. Chapter 10 pp. 394-417 (Conflict Management and Negotiation)
7. Chapter 3 pp.93-146 (Appreciating Individual Differences)
8. Chapter 4 pp.151-185 (Appreciating Individual Differences)
9. Chapter 5 pp.191-233 (Motivation)
10. Chapter 2 pp. 54-88 (Stress and the Management of Stress)
11. Chapter 12 pp. 445-464 and Chapter 13 pp.468-491 (Organization and Work Design)
12. Chapter 17 pp.570-592 (Creativity and Innovation)
13. Chapter 15 pp.527-544 (Organizational Culture)
14. Chapter 14 pp.513-523 (Organizational Change and Development)

During the course, ten cases (from the Cases in Organizational Behavior textbook, Seijts, 2005) will be discussed:

1. Chuck McKinnon (on the leadership issue)
2. eProcure – the Project (A) (on the leading and managing teams' issue)
3. The Leo Burnett Company LTD.: virtual team management (on the team dynamics issue)
4. INTEL in China (on the Conflict Management and Negotiation issue)
5. Blinds To Go: staffing a retail expansion (on the Appreciating Individual Differences issue)
6. Elise Smart (on the Stress and the Management of Stress issue)
7. Martin Brass Company (A) Tom Fuller, Vice-President Manufacturing (on the stress and the Management of Stress issue)
8. Victoria Hospital Redesign Initiative (on the Organizational design issue)
9. COM: a dynamic culture (on the Creativity and Innovation issue)
10. Deloitte & Touche: Integrating Arthur Andersen (on the Organizational Change and Development issue).

1. B) Textbooks for NON-regular attending students (to be considered regular attending student, a participant should achieve at least an 85% of presence to lectures and case discussions):

1. FINCHAM, P. RHODES, Principles of Organizational Behaviour, Oxford University Press, 2005 (all chapters).

1. H. SEIJTS, Cases in Organizational Behavior (the IVEY casebook series), Sage Publications, Inc, 2005 (all cases).

1. B) Supplementary textbooks

• Robins S., Judge T." Organizational behavior" 13 edition, Prentice-Hall International, 2005
• Contemporary management" Jones, George, McGraw Hill, 4th edition, 2006
• Managing Organizational Behavior" Jones, George, Prentice-Hall International, 2007
• "Organizational change" B. Senior, J. Fleming, Prentice-Hall International 3 edition, 2006
• "Management" Hitt, Black, Porter Prentice-Hall International, Second Edition, 2008
• Organizational behavior, Debra Nelson, James Campbell Quicl, THOMSON, SOUTHWESTERN, 5th edition
• Managing Behavior in Organizations, Jerald Greenberg, 5th edition Pearson
• Adler, P. S. 1999 International dimensions of organizational behavior London: International Thompson
• Argyris, C. 1960 Understanding Organisational behavior Homewood IL: Dorsey Press (HM300)
• Bandura, A. 1977 Social learning theory New Jersey: Prentice-Hall
• Barnard, C. The functions of the executive Cambridge: Harvard University Press
• Beer, M. et al. 1984 Managing human Assets New York: Free Press
• Braverman, H .1974 Labour and monopoly capital New York: Monthly Review Press (Open shelve)
• Bryman, A. 1986 Leadership and organizations London: Routledge Kegan Paul
• Buchanan, D. A. Organisation in the computer age Aldershot: Gower
• Burns, T & Stalker, G. M. The management of innovation London: Tavistock (Open shelve)
• Child, J. 1972 "Organisational structure, environment, and performance: The role of strategic choice" Sociology vol. 6 # 1 pp 1- 22
• Clegg, S. & Dunkerley, D. 1980 Organisations, class and control London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
• Conti, R. F. & Warner, M. 1993 "Taylorism, new technology and just-in-time systems in Japanese Manufacturing" New Technology, work and employment, vol 8 # 100 31- 42
• Cyert, R. & March, J. G. 1992 A behavioral theory of the firm NJ: Prentice-Hall Englewoods Cliffs
• Dubin, E. (ed) 1976 Handbook of Work, Organisation and Society Chicago Rand McNally
• Drucker, P. F. 1988 Management challenges in the 21st Century London: Heinemann
• Drucker, P. F. 1989 The new realities London: Heinemann
• Duncan, R. B. 1974 "Modifications in decision making structures in adapting to the environment: some Implications for organizational learning" Decision sciences vol, 5 pp 704 –25
• Duncan, w. J. 1981 Organisational Behaviour Houghton: Mifflin
• French, J & Raven. B. 1958 "The bases of social power 'in D. Cartwright Studies in social Power Ann Arbor Institute for Social Research (HM301)
• Gibson, J.L. et al. 1994 Organisations: Behaviour structure and processes (Reserve)
• Gouldner, A. W. 1954 Patterns of industrial Bureaucracy New York: Free Press
• Gruneberg, M. & Wall, T.(eds) Social Psychology and organizational behavior Chichester: John Wiley
• Hall, E. T . Understanding Cultural differences Yarmouth: Intercultural Press
• Handy, C 1999 Understanding Organisations 4th ed London: Penguin (Reserve HD31HAN)
• Hofstede, G. 1991 Cultures and Organisations London: McGraw –Hill
• Hodgetts, R. M. 1991 Organisational behavior: Theory and practice New York: Macmillan company
• Kast, F.E. & Rosenzweig, J.E. Organization &Management11985 4th ed New jersey McGraw-hill (Reserve HD31KAS)
• Kotter, J. P. 1990 "what do leaders really do?" in Harvard Business review 73 pp59-67
• Mintzberg, H. 1983a Power in and around organizations New York: Prentice-Hall
• Mintzberg, H. 1983b Structures in fives: designing effective organizations Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
• Moorhead, G. and Griffin, R. w. 1998 Organisational Behaviour 5th edition Houghton: Mifflin Company
• Mullins, L. Management and Organisational behavior London: Pitman, The financial times (Reserve)
• Perrow, C. 1970 Organisational analysis: A sociological review Belmont: Wadsworth
• Robbins, S. P. 1998 Organisational behavior: Concepts, controversies, and applications NJ: Prentice-Hall (Reserve)
• Simon, H 1957 Administrative behavior NY: Macmillan
• Schein, E. H. 1975 Organisational culture and Leadership San Francisco: Jossey-bass
• Vecchio, R. P. 1995 organizational behavior 3rd edition Orland: Dryden Press

Case Discussions

Regular attending students are expected to be fully engaged in the entire learning process. Regular attending students are expected to:

• Prepare the assigned readings of the cases before each class.
• Prepare as a group work a PowerPoint presentation on the case based on the specific assignment.
• Come to class prepared to participate and discuss to enhance the individual and the class learning.

On the website of the course, students find for each case the relative assignment. Please carefully read the questions before the session and use them for preparing the PowerPoint presentation.

Each student will be involved in the class discussion on the cases and tie the assigned reading for the session. The objective is to bring all class members into the debate. The cases are designed to integrate the concepts from the case into the context of the course. The preparation and the discussion of the cases do not exclude the study of the theoretical concepts useful for the discussion of the cases themselves and the passing of the course exam.

With the cases' discussions in the CLASSROOM, each student will develop:

1. The ability to set the parameters for the problem (key concepts from the case).
2. A depth of knowledge about the case subject (understanding of material, excellent response to the observations of others).
3. The ability to tie in case with other course concepts.
4. The ability to get others involved in the discussion.

To adequately discuss the cases, students do:

• Be prepared with facts and specific quotes from the case.
• Be prepared to comment, ask a question, or develop ideas about the case.

During the discussion, students do:

• Take a position on a question or a point.
• Ask clarifying questions.
• Help keep the discussion moving and on track.
• Help draw others into the discussion.
• Integrate theories and content from other cases.

During the discussion, students do not:

• Be unprepared and show your lack of knowledge.
• Monopolize the discussion.
• Make irrelevant comments.
• Be insensitive to other's desire to speak or to their opinions.

All the regular attending students are kindly invited to build up workgroups (MINIMUM 3 PERSONS – MAXIMUM 5 PERSONS). Each workgroup should prepare a PowerPoint presentation for each case. Into the first slide, the names of the students belonging to the group should be reported.

The structure of the presentation should follow the following outline:

1. One or more introductory slides aimed at describing/reporting the story, the characters, and all the necessary elements to define the context and boundaries of the case clearly.
2. One slide mentioning the questions of the assignment and underlining the learning goals of the case.
3. One or more slides reporting the answers to each question of the assignment.
4. One or more slides reporting the final remarks on the case.
5. One closing slide about the lessons learned after the group discussion of the case.

How to prepare the PowerPoint presentation of the case?

Introduction – a short presentation of the case and a brief description of the problems and situations that should be discussed.

Diagnosis – Problem setting of the context and the situation. Description of the mains facts and elements connected with the concepts and models of Organizational Behavior (e.g., organizational change, conflicts, motivation, satisfaction, leadership, managing people, group dynamics, etc.). What went wrong, and which actions/situations, instead, were right? Which elements could be considered for the diagnosis?

Solution – Students should provide a possible answer to questions/problems related to the case and a possible and unambiguous indication of how to approach the situation and how to solve it. The entire proposal should represent a consistent action plan in terms of behaviors and expected results.

Conclusions – Conclusions should not be longer than 300-500 words and should describe how the situation and the problem characterized the case, how Organizational Behavior schemata might help solve the case, and what the proposed solution might generate in terms of organizational consequences.

Lessons learned – At the end of the presentation, we should identify and report elements/suggestions/advice that we "take home" from the case discussion.

NOTE: During the case discussion, students should explicitly address the context and the different situations with concepts related to Organizational Behavior and with models and theories of this course.

Case Discussions' Class Participation

We believe that the best way to learn, especially about ODB, is actively participating in your education. In this class, "participation" is defined as quality contributions to class discussion and exercises. There are four pre-requisites for successful participation:

1. Be here on time and prepared. If you are not here, you cannot contribute much to class discussion. If you need to miss class for a predictable reason (e.g., job interview, athletic competition), please notify us at least 24 hours in advance so that we can make arrangements for any in-class exercises and so that you can obtain the materials distributed during the class. Of course, we realize that in some cases, unforeseeable emergencies arise. Although we will not directly penalize you for non-attendance, be aware that multiple absences will indirectly hurt you by preventing you from participating in class, thereby lowering your participation grade. To contribute to class discussion, you must come to class having carefully prepared all assignments (i.e., readings, cases, exercises).
2. Be brave. Everyone in this class is smart, engaging, and has unique life experiences to share. You will get the most out of this course if you ask questions, voice opinions, and express your thoughts to one another. If you feel uncomfortable talking in class, please send me an e-mail or set up an appointment to talk with me early in the semester. We will do everything we can to accommodate your circumstances, but we can only do so if they are brought to our attention.
3. Be courteous. Successful participation includes treating your classmates respectfully and professionally. Listen carefully to the comments and questions that your classmates voice. You may learn something new from their perspectives, and you will be able to avoid merely repeating something that another classmate has said earlier in the discussion. Also, it is perfectly acceptable for you to voice disagreement with an opinion provided by another student. The open debate often leads to the most thoughtful and informative class discussions. However, please express your argument in a kind and considerate manner.
4. Be engaged. This class is "unplugged." Once class starts, all electronics (e.g., computers, cell phones, tablets, etc.) should be turned off and put away. If you need to use a device because of a language or disability issue, you need to secure permission at the beginning of the class. The misuse of an electronic device (e.g., surfing the web or texting) will adversely affect your grade.

To facilitate the visioning of its PowerPoint presentation in the classroom, each workgroup should take a personal computer with PowerPoint installed and an available VGA connection.

By 8 pm of the day before the case discussion, all regular attending students should send to the course's Instructors, attaching the case presentation prepared. ONLY STUDENTS WHO HAD HANDED OVER ALL THE CASE PRESENTATIONS WILL BE ADMITTED TO THE 1^st EXAM AFTER THE COURSE.

Policy for Late Assignments

As in the business world, work must be received on time to receive full credit. If you are late on an assignment, your access to the 1^st exam after the course will be compromised. You are always welcome to hand in an assignment before its due date if you know that you will be busy as the due date approaches. If you think that you will not complete an assignment by the stated due date, please speak with us in advance to make alternative arrangements. Our policy on late assignments will depend on the specific circumstances surrounding the problem and thus may differ from student to student. Providing advance notice about a late assignment will minimize the penalty you receive on that assignment but does not guarantee that there will be no penalty for turning the assignment in late.

Other learning sources

Slides and other materials will be available on the course website.

THE SLIDES DO NOT REPRESENT A SUPPORT FOR AN EFFECTIVE AND SUCCESSFUL PREPARATION FOR THE EXAM OF THE COURSE. THEY REPRESENT ONLY A HELP TO FACILITATE THE TRANSFER OF THE KNOWLEDGE TO STUDENTS DURING THE LECTURES.

Attendance

Because of the concentrated nature of the MScBA program, attendance in class is crucial.

Students with less than 85% of attendance to lectures and case discussions (including arriving late or leaving early) will be required to prepare for the exam ALL the chapters of the textbook R. FINCHAM, P. RHODES, Principles Of Organizational Behaviour, Oxford University Press, 2005 and ALL the cases of the textbook G. H. SEIJTS, Cases in Organizational Behavior (the IVEY casebook series), Sage Publications, Inc, 2005.

NOTE: Attendance to the first class session is mandatory. Important information about the course and the instructor's expectations are given during the first session. If you know that you will have to be absent for one session, please contact your instructor to ensure that absence from a session is acceptable.

Exam

The exam is a written exam. The duration is about 3-4 hours, and it includes:

1. Case discussion - You may be given a case study to which some questions may pertain to lead the discussion. As you respond to the questions, please use specific content and theories (use names to identify approaches and models) as the basis of your analysis. You will not receive credit for your personal opinions unless backed by theory, lecture, and text material. Also, describe how you see the content/theory applying to the situation. Your answers will be evaluated based on both quantity and quality. Solutions that are complete and demonstrate a higher level of understanding and analysis will receive more points.
2. Some questions directly connected to the course textbooks – The questions could be open, closed (multiple choice), or a combination of both. You may be asked to discuss the models and the theories presented during the course. You will be asked to interpret some real incidents and focus your attention on specific theoretical issues.

ONLY if the number of the enrolled students to a specific date of exam is less than ten individuals, teachers will ask enrolled students if they want to run an oral exam instead of a written one.

1^st exam after the course participation and exam grades registering on the booklet

Only regular attending students (85% of attendance to lectures and case discussions, including arriving late or leaving early) that have delivered the hard copies of ALL the cases to the Instructors can take the 1^st exam after the course with a format explicitly dedicated to them.

Only regular registered students on the DELPHI System will be allowed to register their grades.

The 1^st exam grades will be registered after the official exam date; Teachers will communicate that date. It is compulsory to come on that exam date to register the grade on the Delphi and the booklet.

Team Project

The purpose of the project is to allow your team to apply what has been learned in the course (through course lectures, readings, and case discussions) to problems in an organization of your team's choice.

Class members, regular attending students, will work in teams of four (4) people.

To the Team Project, regular attending students will be allowed to achieve a -3/+3 extra points to the final grade of the 1^st exam after the course. Only regular attending students, taking the 1^st exam after the course will be accepted for the Team Project.

Your team should identify a public, private, or non-profit organization to study (Please, no student groups).

Your team is to gather information from people in an organization through direct contact. You may supplement this information with data from the media, the organization's literature, and other secondary sources. You should identify a relatively recent problem to analyze (i.e., this should not be a historical account of a problem and the company's solution). It would be best if you focus your analysis by applying the concepts from the course. While it is acceptable to incorporate several ideas from the course, please aim for depth rather than breadth regarding course concepts. Your goal is to diagnose the mechanisms causing the problem or issue of concern in the organization. Initially, you may notice many symptoms (for instance, high turnover, seemingly low morale, low commitment, motivation, etc.), but your task is to get to the underlying reason for these symptoms. And beware, sometimes the initial symptoms we think we see are not what they appear to be.

There are three broad goals for this assignment:

1. One goal of this assignment is obviously to take the initiative to contribute to an organization positively.
2. Another primary goal is to provide an opportunity for you to learn more about organizational behavior firsthand and use your critical thinking and reflection skills to link your experience with this organization to your learning concerning organizational behavior theory.
3. The final goal is to provide a forum for you to hone your team member and leader skills and reflect on the learning gained from this team experience. Each team will make a presentation and write a paper that describes what you did for the organization, what you learned about organizational behavior, and what you learned about working on a team.

To meet these broad goals, your team should answer the following questions in the assignments detailed below.

1. What are the issues or problems facing the organization?
2. What can course concepts be applied to understand why this problem is occurring?
3. What recommendations can you offer to help improve organizational functioning?

Deliverables of the Team Project:

1. The project proposal is due to Instructors by the 9^th session of the course by 5 pm. It should include:
2. a) the names of your group members
3. b) your team name
4. c) the name of the organization
5. d) the name, contact information, and level of your contact person
6. e) the method you will use to gain access to the organization
7. f) a brief description (one paragraph) of the problem facing the organization.

2. Your written project is due to Instructors by the 18th session of the course by 5 pm.

It should contain a maximum of 15 double-spaced pages (1 cm margins, 12 point font). You will be penalized significantly for exceeding this limit. The limit does not include appendices, which you are free to use to provide charts, figures, or other background material not necessary in the main body of your analysis. However, appendices that are not directly referenced in the main text will not be read. LATE PROJECT WRITE-UPS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

This written project should summarize what you did for/within the organization, what you have learned about organizational behavior, and what you have learned about working on a team.

Grading of the Team Project:

Your group project will be evaluated on the following criteria:

1. Problem definition: How well (i.e., thoroughly and concisely) do you describe the organizational context, the relevant parties, and the factors that are important to the problem?
2. Accurate and thorough use of course concepts.
3. Integration of course concepts with information about the company and problem, i.e., how well do you integrate course concepts with details about the issue to illuminate the problem in a way that leads to solutions?
4. The extent to which recommendations are consistent with analysis.
5. Quality of written analysis.

Analytical Syllabus

Updated A.Y. 2020-2021

Organizational dynamics

and behavior

(Prof. Luca Gnan)

Teaching Staff Responsible for the Course:

Prof. Luca Gnan

E-mail: luca.gnan@uniroma2.it

Availability: Contact via e-mail

Prof.ssa Giulia Flamini

E-mail: giulia.flamini@uniroma2.it

Availability: Contact via e-mail

Prof. Marjan Bojadjiev

E-mail: provost@uacs.edu.mk

Availability: Contact via e-mail

We are committed to making this course a valuable learning experience for you. After the first month, we will spend part of a class session evaluating our progress, and we will make any necessary changes to keep us on track. However, we welcome your feedback at any time in the semester. It is easiest to reach us by e-mail or during office hours, but we are always happy to set up an appointment. Additionally, if you have a disability that requires unique accommodation, please let us know ASAP so that we can be helpful to you.

E-mails, Office Hours & Feedback on Assignments

We endeavor to answer e-mails within one day. If you have not heard from us within that time, please resend the e-mail. Grades & comments will be posted online in the materials section of the course website. We will be happy to give feedback and discuss assignments after all grading is complete for a specific task.  Office hours are scheduled by e-mail request.

We may answer questions of assignment clarification in class and via e-mails to benefit the entire class. We may also give extra grades (see below Team Project) during the course that, while generally designed to support learning in the course, will also help your participation grade. These are pass/fail and do not include comments.

Pre-requisites for the Course:

None.

Course description

While many of the courses in the MScBA teach you how to manage money, information and other material resources, this course is unique (and invaluable) in that you will learn how to manage your own performance and career by learning how to work with and through other people-even when you don't want to. Although skills in finance, accounting, marketing, operations, and strategy are crucial for organizational success, the ability to manage an organization, its groups, and its individuals is equally important. In your career, you will depend on people to accomplish tasks, goals, and projects; you will need to work for other people, work with other people, and supervise other people. An understanding of the human side of management is an essential complement to the technical skills you are learning in other courses. Although we will focus primarily on work, you will find that the course concepts have applications to a variety of organizations, including non-profits, athletic teams, social clubs, and religious and political groups.

This is an advanced course in organizational behavior designed to expose you to essential theories and concepts for analyzing, understanding, and managing human behavior in organizations.  In this course, we will apply concrete organizational situations from our case studies and projects to essential theories and effective management practices.  In this class, you will learn how to thrive at work by managing your relationships.   In this course, we will investigate:

• Individual behavior in organizations, including personality, decision-making, personal networks, and ethics.
• Interpersonal behavior, including teamwork, conflict, leadership, and power and influence.
• Organizational factors affecting behavior, including reward systems, culture, and organizational design.

Learning Objectives

Explore from managerial perspective research and practical applications on organizational behavior.

The objective of the training is to provide tools and analytical theory on the analysis of individual and behavior in different group and organizational contexts, to:

• Understand and use the fundamental theories on organizational behavior
• Develop capacities for applying theories to practice
• Develop problem-solving capacities with best practices discussion and case study analysis

The study route is divided into four different sections:

• Section I: The Organization Behavior Context and Learning Community.
• Section II: Managing Teams.
• Section III: Understanding and Managing Individuals.
• Section IV: Managing Key Organizational Processes.

At the end of the course students will have:

1. A deeper understanding of how the study of organizational behavior can aid us in improving the performance and well-being of people at work.
2. Understood how models, theories, and concepts about organizational behavior could be used to promote the effectiveness of individuals, groups, and organizations.
3. Developed skills for the analysis of individual, group and organizational functioning that enhances their effectiveness as managers.
4. Developed a more productive and more complex representation of organizational behavior, enabling them to contribute more effectively to the workplace.

Teaching methods

Lessons will be characterized by the transfer of knowledge and the strong interaction within the classroom; there are analyses of situations, problems, and business cases to facilitate participants in learning.

Regular attending students are strongly recommended to participate in all the lectures and preparations and presentations of the business cases.

To meet its goals, this course uses readings, lectures, exercises, cases, individual and team assignments, and class discussion. Case assignments provide an important foundation for class discussion and must be completed before each class session. The due dates for all cases and other assignments are listed in the class schedule at the end of the syllabus. Lectures will be used to highlight key points from the readings and provide additional information to supplement the readings. Cases will allow you to apply what you have learned to real-world issues and scenarios. Because each of you brings unique perspectives and experiences to the class, participation in class discussions and activities is essential to your learning as well as that of other class members. To further enrich your learning, you will also be matched with an MScBA Teaching Assistant.

Main References

A) Textbooks for regular attending students (to be considered a regular attending student, a participant should achieve at least an 85% of presence to lectures and case discussions):

2005. Fincham, P. Rhodes, Principles of Organizational Behaviour, Oxford University Press, 2005.
2006. H. Seijts, Cases in Organizational Behavior (the IVEY casebook series), Sage Publications, Inc, 2005.

As far as the textbook Principles of Organizational Behaviour (Fincham, Rhodes, 2005) is concerned, regular attending students must prepare the following parts:

1. Introduction pp. 1 -11 (Organization Behavior: An Overview)
2. Chapter 1 pp.19 – 50 (Expectations and Learning)
3. Chapter 8 pp. 310-359 (Leadership Dynamics)
4. Chapter 6 pp. 243-270 and Chapter 14 pp .500-510 (Team Problem, Decision Making, and Effectiveness)
5. Chapter 7 pp. 275-305 (Group Dynamics and Performance)
6. Chapter 10 pp. 394-417 (Conflict Management and Negotiation)
7. Chapter 3 pp.93-146 (Appreciating Individual Differences)
8. Chapter 4 pp.151-185 (Appreciating Individual Differences)
9. Chapter 5 pp.191-233 (Motivation)
10. Chapter 2 pp. 54-88 (Stress and the Management of Stress)
11. Chapter 12 pp. 445-464 and Chapter 13 pp.468-491 (Organization and Work Design)
12. Chapter 17 pp.570-592 (Creativity and Innovation)
13. Chapter 15 pp.527-544 (Organizational Culture)
14. Chapter 14 pp.513-523 (Organizational Change and Development)

During the course, seven cases (from the Cases in Organizational Behavior textbook, Seijts, 2005) will be discussed:

1. Chuck McKinonn (on the leadership issue)
2. eProcure – the Project (A) (on the leading and managing teams' issue)
3. The Leo Burnett Company LTD.: virtual team management (on the team dynamics issue)
4. INTEL in China (on the Conflict Management and Negotiation issue)
5. Blinds To Go: staffing a retail expansion (on the Appreciating Individual Differences issue)
6. Elise Smart (on the Stress and the Management of Stress issue)
7. Martin Brass Company (A) Tom Fuller, Vice-President Manufacturing (on the Stress and the Management of Stress issue)
8. Victoria Hospital Redesign Initiative (on the Organizational design issue)
9. COM: a dynamic culture (on the Creativity and Innovation issue)
10. Deloitte & Touche: Integrating Arthur Andersen (on the Organizational Change and Development issue).

B) Textbooks for NON-regular attending students (to be considered regular attending student, a participant should achieve at least an 85% of presence to lectures and case discussions):

1. FINCHAM, P. RHODES, Principles of Organizational Behaviour, Oxford University Press, 2005 (all chapters).
2. H. SEIJTS, Cases in Organizational Behavior (the IVEY casebook series), Sage Publications, Inc, 2005 (all cases).

 B) Supplementary textbooks

• Robins S., Judge T." Organizational behavior" 13 edition, Prentice Hall International, 2005
• Contemporary management" Jones, George, McGraw Hill, 4th edition, 2006
• Managing Organizational Behavior" Jones, George, Prentice Hall International, 2007
• "Organizational change" B. Senior, J. Fleming, Prentice Hall International 3 edition, 2006
• "Management" Hitt, Black, Porter Prentice Hall International, Second Edition, 2008
• Organizational behavior, Debra Nelson, James Campbell Quicl, THOMSON, SOUTH WESTERN, 5th edition
• Managing Behavior in Organizations, Jerald Greenberg, 5th edition Pearson
• Adler, P. S. 1999 International dimensions of organizational behaviour London: International Thopmson
• Argyris, C. 1960 Understanding Organisational behaviour Homewood IL:Dorsey Press (HM300)
• Bandura, A. 1977 Social learning theory New Jersey: Prentice –Hall
• Banard, C. The functions of the executive Cambridge: Harvard University Press
• Beer, M. et al 1984  Managing human Assets New York : Free Press
• Braverman, H .1974 Labour and monopoly capital New York: Monthly Review press (Open shelve)
• Bryman, A. 1986 Leadership and organisations London: Routledge Kegan Paul
• Buchanan, D. A. Organisation in the computer age Aldershot: Gower
• Burns, T & Stalker, G. M. The management of innovation London: Tavistock (Open shelve)
• Child , J. 1972 "Organisational structure, environment and performance : The role of strategic choice" Sociology vol. 6 # 1 pp 1- 22
• Clegg, S. & Dunkerley,D 1980 Organisations,  class and control  London : Routledge & Kegan Paul
• Conti, R. F. & Warner, M. 1993 "Taylorism, new technology and just-in -time systems in Japanese Manufacturing" New Technology, work and employment, vol 8 # 100 31- 42
• Cyert, R. & March,J. G. 1992 A behavioural theory of the firm  NJ: Prentice –Hall Englewoods Cliffs
• Dubin, E. (ed) 1976 Handbook of work, Organisation and Society Chicago Rand McNally
• Drucker, P. F. 1988 Management challenges in the 21st Century London: Heinemann
• Drucker, P. F. 1989 The new realities London: Heinemann
• Duncan, R. B. 1974 "Modifications in decision making structures in adapting to the environment: some Implications for organisational learning" Decision sciences vol, 5 pp 704 –25
• Duncan, w. J. 1981 Organisational Behaviour Houghton: Mifflin
• French, J & Raven. B. 1958 "The bases of social power 'in D. Cartwright Studies in social Power Ann Arbor  Institute for Social research (HM301)
• Gibson,J.L. et al 1994 Organisations: Behaviour structure and processes (Reserve)
• Gouldner, A. W. 1954 Patterns of industrial Bureaucracy New York: Free Press
• Gruneberg, M. & Wall, T.(eds) Social Psychology and organisational behaviour Chichester : John Wiley
• Hall, E. T . Understanding Cultural differences Yarmouth: Intercultural Press
• Handy, C 1999 Understanding Organisations 4th ed London: Penguin (Reserve HD31HAN)
• Hofstede, G. 1991 Cultures and Organisations London: McGraw –Hill
• Hodgetts, R. M. 1991 Organisational behaviour: Theory and practice New York: Macmillan company
• Kast, F.E. & Rosenzweig, J.E. Organization &Management11985 4th ed New jersey McGraw-hill (Reserve HD31KAS)
• Kotter, J. P. 1990 "what do leaders really do?" in Harvard Business review 73 pp59-67
• Mintzberg, H. 1983a Power in and around organisations New York: Prentice Hall
• Mintzberg, H. 1983b Structures in fives: designing effective organisations Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
• Moorhead, G. and Griffin, R. w. 1998 Organisational Behaviour 5th edition Houghton: Mifflin Company
• Mullins, L. Management and Organisational behaviour London: Pitman, The financial times (Reserve)
• Perrow, C. 1970 Organisational analysis: A sociological review Belmont: Wadsworth
• Robbins, S. P. 1998 Organisational behaviour: Concepts, controversies and applications NJ: Prentice – Hall (Reserve)
• Simon, H 1957 Administrative behaviour NY: Macmillan
• Schein, E. H. 1975 Organisational culture and Leadership San Francisco: Jossey-bass
• Vecchio, R. P. 1995 organisational behaviour 3rd edition Orland: Dryden Press

Case Discussions

Regular attending students are expected to be fully engaged in the entire learning process. Regular attending students are expected to:

• prepare the assigned readings of the cases before each class.
• prepare as a group work a PowerPoint presentation on the case, based on the specific assignment.
• come to class prepared to participate and to discuss to enhance the learning of the individual and the class.

On the web site of the course, students find for each case the relative assignment. Please carefully read the questions before the session and use them for preparing the PowerPoint presentation.

Each student will be involved in the class discussion on the cases and tie the assigned reading for the session. The objective is to bring all class members in the debate. The cases are designed to integrate the concepts from the case into the context of the course. The preparation and the discussion of the cases do not exclude the study of the theoretical concepts useful for the discussion of the cases themselves and the passing of the exam of the course.

With the cases' discussions in the CLASSROOM, each student will develop:

1. The ability to set the parameters for the problem (key concepts from the case).
2. A depth of knowledge about the case subject (understanding of material, excellent response to the observations of others).
3. The ability to tie-in case with other course concepts.
4. The ability to get others involved in the discussion.

To adequately discuss the cases, students do:

• Be prepared with facts and specific quotes from the case.
• Be prepared to comment, ask a question, or develop ideas about the case.

During the discussion, students do:

• Take a position on a question or a point.
• Ask clarifying questions.
• Help keep the discussion moving and on track.
• Help draw others into the discussion.
• Integrate theories and content from other cases.

During the discussion, students do not:

• Be unprepared and show your lack of knowledge.
• Monopolize the discussion.
• Make irrelevant comments.
• Be insensitive to other's desire to speak or to their opinions.

All the regular attending students are kindly invited to build up workgroups (MINIMUM 3 PERSONS – MAXIMUM 5 PERSONS). Each workgroup should prepare a PowerPoint presentation for each case. Into the first slide, the names of the students belonging to the group should be reported.

The structure of the presentation should follow the following outline:

1. One or more introductory slides aimed at describing/reporting the story, the characters, all the necessary elements to define the context and the boundaries of the case clearly.
2. One slide mentioning the questions of the assignment and underlining the learning goals of the case.
3. One or more slides reporting the answers to each question of the assignment.
4. One or more slides reporting the final remarks on the case.
5. One closing slide about the lessons learned after the group discussion of the case.

How to prepare the PowerPoint presentation of the case?

Introduction – short presentation of case, short description of the problems and situations that should be coped with the discussion.

Diagnosis – Problem setting of the context and the situation. Description of the mains facts and elements connected with the concepts and models of Organizational Behavior (e.g. organizational change, conflicts, motivation, satisfaction, leadership, managing people, group dynamics, etc.). What went wrong, and which actions/situations, instead, were right? Which elements could be considered for the diagnosis?

Solution – Students should provide a possible answer to questions/problems related to the case and a viable and clear indication of how to approach the situation and how to solve it. The entire proposal should represent a consistent action plan in terms of behaviors and expected results.

Conclusions – Conclusions should not be longer than 300-500 words and should describe how the situation and the problem characterized the case, on how Organizational Behavior schemata might help to solve the case, and what the proposed solution might generate in terms of organizational consequences.

Lessons learned – At the end of the presentation elements/suggestions/advises that we "take home" from the case discussion should be identified and reported.

NOTE: During the case discussion, students should explicitly address the context and the different situations with concepts related to Organizational Behavior and with models and theories of this course.

Case Discussions' Class Participation

We believe that the best way to learn, especially about ODB, is to participate in your education actively. In this class, "participation" is defined in terms of quality contributions to class discussion and exercises. There are four pre-requisites for successful participation:

1. Be here on time and prepared. If you are not here, you cannot contribute much to class discussion. If you need to miss class for a predictable reason (e.g., job interview, athletic competition), please notify us at least 24 hours in advance so that we can make arrangements for any in-class exercises and so that you can obtain the materials distributed during the class. Of course, we realize that in some cases unforeseeable emergencies arise. Although we will not directly penalize you for non-attendance, be aware that multiple absences will indirectly hurt you by preventing you from participating in class, thereby lowering your participation grade. To contribute to class discussion, you must come to class having carefully prepared all assignments (i.e., readings, cases, exercises).
2. Be brave. Everyone in this class is smart, engaging, and has unique life experiences to share. You will get the most out of this course if you ask questions, voice opinions, and express your thoughts to one another. If you feel uncomfortable talking in class, please send me an e-mail or set up an appointment to talk with me early in the semester. We will do everything we can to accommodate each of your circumstances, but we can only do so if they are brought to our attention.
3. Be courteous. Successful participation includes treating your classmates respectfully and professionally. Listen carefully to the comments and questions that your classmates voice. You may learn something new from their perspectives, and you will be able to avoid merely repeating something that another classmate has said earlier in the discussion. Also, it is perfectly acceptable for you to voice disagreement with an opinion provided by another student. The open debate often leads to the most thoughtful and informative class discussions. However, please express your argument in a kind and considerate manner.
4. Be engaged. This class is "unplugged." Once class starts, all electronics (e.g., computers, cell phones, tablets, etc.) should be turned off and put away. If you need to use a device because of a language or disability issue, you need to secure permission at the beginning of the class. The misuse of an electronic device (e.g., surfing the web or texting) will adversely affect your grade.

To facilitate the visioning of its PowerPoint presentation in the classroom, each workgroup should take a personal computer with PowerPoint installed and an available VGA connection.

By the 8 pm of the day before of the case discussion, all regular attending students should send to the course's Instructors, attaching the case presentation prepared. ONLY STUDENTS WHO HAD HANDED OVER ALL THE CASE PRESENTATIONS WILL BE ADMITTED TO THE 1^st EXAM AFTER THE COURSE.

Policy for Late Assignments

As in the business world, work must be received on time to receive full credit. If you are late on an assignment, your access to the 1^st exam after the course will be compromised. You are always welcome to hand in an assignment before its due date if you know that you will be busy as the due date approaches. If you think that you will not be able to complete an assignment by the stated due date, please speak with us in advance to make alternative arrangements. Our policy on late assignments will depend on the specific circumstances surrounding the problem, and thus may differ from student to student. Providing advance notice about a late assignment will minimize the penalty you receive on that assignment but does not guarantee that there will be no penalty for turning the assignment in late.

Other learning sources

Slides and other materials will be available under the course web site.

THE SLIDES DO NOT REPRESENT A SUPPORT FOR AN EFFECTIVE AND SUCCESSFUL PREPARATION TO THE EXAM OF THE COURSE. THEY REPRESENT ONLY A HELP TO FACILITATE THE TRANSFER OF THE KNOWLEDGE TO STUDENTS DURING THE LECTURES.

Attendance

Because of the concentrated nature of the MScBA program, attendance in class is crucial.

Students with less than 85% of attendance to lectures and case discussions (including arriving late or leaving early) will be required to prepare for the exam ALL the chapters of the textbook R. FINCHAM, P. RHODES, Principles Of Organizational Behaviour, Oxford University Press, 2005 and ALL the cases of the textbook G. H. SEIJTS, Cases in Organizational Behavior (the IVEY casebook series), Sage Publications, Inc, 2005.

NOTE: Attendance to the first class session is mandatory. Important information about the course and the instructor's expectations are given during the first session. If you know that you will have to be absent for one session, please contact your instructor to ensure that absence from a session is acceptable.

Exam

The exam is a written exam. The duration is about 3-4 hours and it includes:

1. Case discussion - You may be given a case study to which some questions may pertain to lead the discussion. As you respond to the questions, please use specific content and theories (use names to identify approaches and models) as the basis of your analysis. You will not receive credit for your personal opinions unless backed by theory, lecture, and text material. Also, describe how you see the content/theory applying to the situation. Your answers will be evaluated based on both quantity and quality. Solutions that are complete and demonstrate a higher level of understanding and analysis will receive more points.
2. Some questions directly connected to the course textbooks – The questions could open, closed (multiple choice), or a combination of both. You may be asked to discuss the models and the theories presented during the course. You will be asked to interpret some real incidents and to focus your attention on some specific theoretical issues.

ONLY in case, the number of the enrolled students to a specific date of exam is less than ten individuals, teachers will ask enrolled students if they want to run an oral exam instead of a written one.

1^st exam after the course participation and exam grades registering on the booklet

Only regular attending students (85% of attendance to lectures and case discussions, including arriving late or leaving early) that have delivered the hard copies of ALL the case to the Instructors can take the 1^st exam after the course with a format explicitly dedicated to them.

Only regular registered students on the DELPHI System will be allowed to register their grades.

The 1^st exam grades will be registered after the official exam date; Teachers will communicate that date. It is compulsory to come on that date of the exam for registering the grade on the Delphi and the booklet.

Team Project

The purpose of the project is to allow your team to apply what has been learned in the course (through course lectures, readings, and case discussions) to problems in an organization of your team's choice.

Class members, regular attending students, will work in teams of four (4) people. 

To the Team Project, regular attending students will be allowed to achieve a -3/+3 extra points to the final grade of the 1^st exam after the course. Only regular attending students, taking the 1^st exam after the course will be accepted for the Team Project.

Your team should identify a public, private, or non-profit organization to study (Please, no student groups).

Your team is to gather information from people in an organization through direct contact.  You may supplement this information with data from the media, the organization's literature, and other secondary sources.  You should identify a relatively recent problem to analyze (i.e., this should not be a historical account of a problem and the company's solution).  You should focus your analysis by applying the concepts from the course.  While it is acceptable to incorporate several ideas from the course, please aim for depth rather than breadth regarding the use of course concepts.  Your goal is to diagnose the mechanisms that are causing the problem or issue of concern in the organization. Initially, you may notice many symptoms (for instance, high turnover, seemingly low morale, low commitment, motivation, etc.), but your task is to get to the underlying reason for these symptoms. And beware, sometimes the initial symptoms we think we see are not what they appear to be.

There are three broad goals for this assignment:

1. One goal of this assignment is obviously to take the initiative to make a positive contribution to an organization.
2. Another primary goal is to provide an opportunity for you to learn more about organizational behavior first hand and to use your critical thinking and reflection skills to link your experience with this organization to your learning concerning organizational behavior theory.
3. The final goal is to provide a forum for you to hone your skills as a team member and leader and to reflect on the learning gained from this team experience. Each team will make a presentation and write a paper that describes what you did for the organization, what you learned about organizational behavior, and what you learned about working on a team.

To meet these broad goals, your team should answer the following questions in the assignments detailed below.

1. What are the issues or problems facing the organization?
2. What can course concepts be applied to understand why this problem is occurring?
3. What recommendations can you offer to help improve organizational functioning?

Deliverables of the Team Project:

1. The project proposal is due to Instructors by the date of the 9^th session of the course by 5 pm. It should include:

1. the names of your group members
2. your team name
3. the name of the organization
4. the name, contact information and level of your contact person
5. the method you will use to gain access to the organization
6. a brief description (one paragraph) of the problem facing the organization.

2. Your written project is due to Instructors by the date of the 18th session of the course by 5 pm.

It should contain a maximum of 15 double spaced pages (1 cm margins, 12 point font). You will be penalized significantly for exceeding this limit. The limit does not include appendices, which you are free to use to provide charts, figures, or other background material not necessary in the main body of your analysis. However, appendices that are not directly referenced in the main text will not be read. LATE PROJECT WRITE-UPS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

This written project should summarize what you did for/within the organization, what you have learned about organizational behavior, and what you have learned about working on a team.

Grading of the Team Project:

Your group project will be evaluated on the following criteria:

1. Problem definition: How well (i.e., thoroughly and concisely) do you describe the organizational context, the relevant parties, and the factors that are important to the problem?
2. Accurate and thorough use of course concepts.
3. Integration of course concepts with information about the company and problem, i.e., how well do you integrate course concepts with information about the problem to illuminate the problem in a way that leads to solutions?
4. Extent to which recommendations are consistent with analysis.
5. Quality of written analysis.

Analytical Syllabus

Updated A.Y. 2019-2020

Organizational dynamics

and behavior

(Prof. Luca Gnan)

Teaching Members Responsible for the Course:

Prof. Luca Gnan

Email: luca.gnan@uniroma2.it

Availability: Contact via email

Prof.ssa Giulia Flamini

E-mail: giulia.flamini@uniroma2.it

Availability: Contact via email

We are committed to making this course a valuable learning experience for you. After the first month, we will spend part of a class session evaluating our progress, and we will make any necessary changes to keep us on track. However, we welcome your feedback at any time in the semester. It is easiest to reach us by email or during office hours, but we are always happy to set up an appointment. Additionally, if you have a disability that requires special accommodation, please let us know ASAP so that we can be helpful to you.

Emails, Office Hours & Feedback on Assignments

We endeavor to answer emails within 1 day. If you have not heard from us within that time, please resend the email. Grades & comments will be posted online in the materials section of the course website. We will be happy to give feedback and discuss assignments after all grading is complete for a certain assignment. Office hours are scheduled by email request.

We may answer questions of assignment clarification in class and via emails to benefit the entire class. We may also give extra grades (see below Team Project) during the course that, while generally designed to support learning in the course, will also help your participation grade. These are pass/fail and do not include comments.

Pre-requisites for the Course:

None.

Course description

While many of the courses in the MScBA teach you how to manage money, information and other material resources, this course is unique (and invaluable) in that you will learn how to manage your own performance and career by learning how to work with and through other people-even when you don’t want to. Although skills in finance, accounting, marketing, operations, and strategy are crucial for organizational success, the ability to manage an organization, its groups, and its individuals is equally important. In your career, you will depend on people to accomplish tasks, goals, and projects; you will need to work for other people, work with other people, and supervise other people. An understanding of the human side of management is an essential complement to the technical skills you are learning in other courses. Although we will focus primarily on work, you will find that the course concepts have applications to a variety of organizations, including non-profits, athletic teams, social clubs, and religious and political groups.

This is an advanced course in organizational behavior designed to expose you to essential theories and concepts for analyzing, understanding, and managing human behavior in organizations. In this course we will apply concrete organizational situations from our case studies and projects to essential theories and effective management practices. In this class you will learn how to thrive at work by managing your relationships. In this course, we will investigate:

• Individual behavior in organizations, including personality, decision-making, personal networks, and ethics

• Interpersonal behavior, including teamwork, conflict, leadership, and power and influence

• Organizational factors affecting behavior, including reward systems, culture, and organizational design.

Learning Objectives

Explore in a managerial perspective research and practical applications on organizational behavior.

Objective of the training is to provide tools and analytical theory on analysis of individual and behavior in different group and organizational contexts, in order to:

• Understand and use the fundamental theories on organizational behavior
• Develop capacities for applying theories to practice
• Develop problem solving capacities with best practices discussion and case study analysis

The study route is divided into 4 different sections:

• Section I: The Organization Behavior Context and Learning Community
• Section II: Managing Teams
• Section III: Understanding and Managing Individuals
• Section IV: Managing Key Organizational Processes.

At the end of the course students:

1. will have a deeper understanding of how the study of organizational behavior can aid us in improving the performance and wellbeing of people at work;
2. will have understood how models, theories and concepts about organizational behavior can be used to promote the effectiveness of individuals, groups and organizations;
3. will have developed skills for the analysis of individual, group and organizational functioning that enhances their effectiveness as managers;
4. will have developed a richer and more complex representation of organizational behavior, enabling them to contribute more effectively in the workplace.

Teaching methods

Lessons will be characterized by transfer of knowledge and the strong interaction within the classroom; there are analysis of situations problems and business cases in order to facilitate participants in learning.

Regular attending students are strongly recommended to participate to all the lectures and to all the preparations and presentations of the business cases.

To meet its goals, this course uses readings, lectures, exercises, cases, individual and team assignments, and class discussion. Case assignments provide an important foundation for class discussion and must be completed prior to each class session. The due dates for all cases and other assignments are listed in the class schedule at the end of the syllabus. Lectures will be used to highlight key points from the readings and provide additional information to supplement the readings. Cases will provide you with the opportunity to apply what you have learned to real world issues and scenarios. Because each of you brings unique perspectives and experiences to the class, participation in class discussions and activities is essential to your own learning as well as that of other class members. To further enrich your learning, you will also be matched with an MScBA Teaching Assistant.

Main References

A) Textbooks for regular attending students (in order to be considered regular attending student a participant should achieve at least an 85% of presence to lectures and case discussions):

R. Fincham, P. Rhodes, Principles of Organizational Behaviour, Oxford University Press, 2005.

G. H. Seijts , Cases in Organizational Behavior (the IVEY casebook series), Sage Publications, Inc, 2005.

As far as the textbook Principles of Organizational Behaviour (Fincham, Rhodes, 2005) is concerned, regular attending students have to prepare the following parts:

1. Introduction pp. 1 -11 (Organization Behavior: An Overview)
2. Chapter 1 pp.19 – 50 (Expectations and Learning)
3. Chapter 8 pp. 310-359 (Leadership Dynamics)
4. Chapter 6 pp. 243-270 and Chapter 14 pp .500-510 (Team Problem, Decision Making, and Effectiveness)
5. Chapter 7 pp. 275-305 (Group Dynamics and Performance)
6. Chapter 10 pp. 394-417 (Conflict Management and Negotiation)
7. Chapter 3 pp.93-146 (Appreciating Individual Differences)
8. Chapter 4 pp.151-185 (Appreciating Individual Differences)
9. Chapter 5 pp.191-233 (Motivation)
10. Chapter 2 pp. 54-88 (Stress and the Management of Stress)
11. Chapter 12 pp. 445-464 and Chapter 13 pp.468-491 (Organization and Work Design)
12. Chapter 17 pp.570-592 (Creativity and Innovation)
13. Chapter 15 pp.527-544 (Organizational Culture)
14. Chapter 14 pp.513-523 (Organizational Change and Development)

During the course, seven cases (from the Cases in Organizational Behavior textbook, Seijts, 2005) will be discussed:

a) Chuck McKinonn (on the leadership issue)

b) eProcure – the Project (A) (on the leading and managing teams’ issue)

c) The Leo Burnett Company LTD.: virtual team management (on the team dynamics issue)

d) INTEL in China (on the Conflict Management and Negotiation issue)

e) Blinds To Go: staffing a retail expansion (on the Appreciating Individual Differences issue)

f) Elise Smart (on the Stress and the Management of Stress issue)

g) Martin Brass Company (A) Tom Fuller, Vice-President Manufacturing (on the Stress and the Management of Stress issue)

h) Victoria Hospital Redesign Initiative (on the Organizational design issue)

i) OP4.COM: a dynamic culture (on the Creativity and Innovation issue)

j) Deloitte & Touche: Integrating Arthur Andersen (on the Organizational Change and Development issue).

B) Textbooks for NON-regular attending students (in order to be considered regular attending student a participant should achieve at least an 85% of presence to lectures and case discussions):

R. FINCHAM, P. RHODES, Principles of Organizational Behaviour, Oxford University Press, 2005 (all chapters).

G. H. SEIJTS, Cases in Organizational Behavior (the IVEY casebook series), Sage Publications, Inc, 2005 (all cases).

B) Supplementary textbooks

• Robins S., Judge T.” Organizational behavior” 13 edition, Prentice Hall International, 2005

• Contemporary management” Jones, George, McGraw Hill, 4th edition, 2006

• Managing Organizational Behavior” Jones, George, Prentice Hall International, 2007

• “Organizational change” B. Senior, J. Fleming, Prentice Hall International 3 edition, 2006

• “Management” Hitt, Black, Porter Prentice Hall International, Second Edition, 2008

• Organizational behavior, Debra Nelson, James Campbell Quicl, THOMSON, SOUTH WESTERN, 5th edition

• Managing Behavior in Organizations, Jerald Greenberg, 5th edition Pearson

• Adler, P. S. 1999 International dimensions of organizational behaviour London: International Thopmson

• Argyris, C. 1960 Understanding Organisational behaviour Homewood IL:Dorsey Press (HM300)

• Bandura, A. 1977 Social learning theory New Jersey: Prentice –Hall

• Banard, C. The functions of the executive Cambridge: Harvard University Press

• Beer, M. et al 1984 Managing human Assets New York : Free Press

• Braverman, H .1974 Labour and monopoly capital New York: Monthly Review press (Open shelve)

• Bryman, A. 1986 Leadership and organisations London: Routledge Kegan Paul

• Buchanan, D. A. Organisation in the computer age Aldershot: Gower

• Burns, T & Stalker, G. M. The management of innovation London: Tavistock (Open shelve)

• Child , J. 1972 “Organisational structure, environment and performance : The role of strategic choice” Sociology vol. 6 # 1 pp 1- 22

• Clegg, S. & Dunkerley,D 1980 Organisations, class and control London : Routledge & Kegan Paul

• Conti, R. F. & Warner, M. 1993 “Taylorism, new technology and just-in -time systems in Japanese Manufacturing” New Technology, work and employment, vol 8 # 100 31- 42

• Cyert, R. & March,J. G. 1992 A behavioural theory of the firm NJ: Prentice –Hall Englewoods Cliffs

• Dubin, E. (ed) 1976 Handbook of work, Organisation and Society Chicago Rand McNally

• Drucker, P. F. 1988 Management challenges in the 21st Century London: Heinemann

• _____________1989 The new realities London: Heinemann

• Duncan, R. B. 1974 “Modifications in decision making structures in adapting to the environment: some Implications for organisational learning” Decision sciences vol, 5 pp 704 –25

• Duncan, w. J. 1981 Organisational Behaviour Houghton: Mifflin

• French, J & Raven. B. 1958 “The bases of social power ‘in D. Cartwright Studies in social Power Ann Arbor Institute for Social research (HM301)

• Gibson,J.L. et al 1994 Organisations: Behaviour structure and processes (Reserve)

• Gouldner, A. W. 1954 Patterns of industrial Bureaucracy New York: Free Press

• Gruneberg, M. & Wall, T.(eds) Social Psychology and organisational behaviour Chichester : John Wiley

• Hall, E. T . Understanding Cultural differences Yarmouth: Intercultural Press

• Handy, C 1999 Understanding Organisations 4th ed London: Penguin (Reserve HD31HAN)

• Hofstede, G. 1991 Cultures and Organisations London: McGraw –Hill

• Hodgetts, R. M. 1991 Organisational behaviour: Theory and practice New York: Macmillan company

• Kast, F.E. & Rosenzweig, J.E. Organization &Management11985 4th ed New jersey McGraw-hill (Reserve HD31KAS)

• Kotter, J. P. 1990 “what do leaders really do? ” in Harvard Business review 73 pp59-67

• Mintzberg, H. 1983a Power in and around organisations New York: Prentice Hall

• ___________1983b Structures in fives: designing effective organisations Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

• Moorhead, G. and Griffin, R. w. 1998 Organisational Behaviour 5th edition Houghton: Mifflin Company

• Mullins, L. Management and Organisational behaviour London: Pitman, The financial times (Reserve)

• Perrow, C. 1970 Organisational analysis: A sociological review Belmont: Wadsworth

• Robbins, S. P. 1998 Organisational behaviour: Concepts, controversies and applications NJ: Prentice – Hall (Reserve)

• Simon, H 1957 Administrative behaviour NY: Macmillan

• Schein, E. H. 1975 Organisational culture and Leadership San Francisco: Jossey-bass

• Vecchio, R. P. 1995 organisational behaviour 3rd edition Orland: Dryden Press

Case Discussions

Regular attending students are expected to be fully engaged in the entire learning process. This means that regular attending students are expected to:

1) prepare the assigned readings of the cases prior to each class;

2) prepare as a group work a PowerPoint presentation on the case, based on the specific assignment;

3) come to class prepared to participate and to discuss in order to enhance the learning of the individual and the class.

On the web site of the course students find for each case the relative assignment. Please read carefully the questions before the lesson and use them for preparing the PowerPoint presentation.

Each student will be involved the class discussion on the cases and tie the assigned reading for the session. The objective is to bring all class members into the discussion. The cases are designed to integrate the concepts from the case into the context of the course. The preparation and the discussion of the cases do not exclude the study of the theoretical concepts useful for the discussion of the cases themselves and for the passing of the exam of the course.

With the cases’ discussions in CLASSROOM, each student will develop:

1. The ability to set the parameters for the problem (key concepts from the case).

2. A depth of knowledge about the case subject (understanding of material, good response to the observations of others).

3. The ability to tie-in case with other course concepts.

4. The ability to get others involved in the discussion.

In order to effectively discuss the cases, students do:

· Be prepared with facts and specific quotes from the case.

· Be prepared to make a comment, ask a question, or make an observation about the case.

During the discussion, students do:

· Take a position on a question or a point.

• Ask clarifying questions.

· Help keep the discussion moving and on track.

• Help draw others into the discussion.

· Integrate theories and content from other cases.

During the discussion, students don’t:

· Be unprepared and show your lack of knowledge.

• Monopolize the discussion.
• Make irrelevant comments.

· Be insensitive to other’s desire to speak or to their opinions.

All the regular attending students are kindly invited to build up work groups (MINIMUM 3 PERSONS – MAXIMUM 5 PERSONS). Each work group should prepare a PowerPoint presentation for each case. Into the first slide, the names of the students belonging to the group should be reported.

The structure of the presentation should follow the following outline:

1. One or more introductory slides aimed at describing/reporting the story, the characters, all the necessary elements in order to clearly define the context and the boundaries of the case.

2. One slide mentioning the questions of the assignment and underlining the learning goals of the case.

3. One or more slides reporting the answers to each question of the assignment.

4. One or more slides reporting the final remarks on the case.

5. One closing slide about the lessons learned after the group discussion of the case.

How to prepare the PowerPoint presentation of the case?

Introduction – short presentation of case, short description of the problems and situations that should be coped with the discussion.

Diagnosis – Problem setting of the context and of the situation. Description of the mains facts and elements connected with the concepts and models of Organizational Behavior (e.g. organizational change, conflicts, motivation, satisfaction, leadership, managing people, group dynamics, etc.). What went wrong and which actions/situations, instead, were right? Which elements could be considered for the diagnosis?

Solution – Students should provide a possible solution to questions/problems related with the case and a viable and clear indication on how to approach the situation and how to solve it. The entire proposal should represent a consistent action plan in terms of behaviors and expected results.

Conclusions – Conclusions should not be longer than 300-500 words and should provide a description on how the situation and the problem characterized the case, on how Organizational Behavior schemata might help to solve the case, and what the proposed solution might generate in terms of organizational consequences.

Lessons learned – At the end of the presentation elements/suggestions/advices that we “take home” from the case discussion should be clearly identified and reported.

NOTE: During the case discussion, students should explicitly address the context and the different situations with concepts related with Organizational Behavior and with models and theories of this course.

Case Discussions’ Class Participation

We believe that the best way to learn, especially about ODB, is to actively participate in your education. In this class, “participation” is defined in terms of quality contributions to class discussion and exercises. There are four prerequisites for successful participation:

1. Be here on time and prepared. If you’re not here, you can’t contribute much to class discussion. If you need to miss class for a predictable reason (e.g., job interview, athletic competition), please notify us at least 24 hours in advance so that we can make arrangements for any in-class exercises and so that you can obtain the materials distributed during the class. Of course, we realize that in some cases unforeseeable emergencies arise. Although we will not directly penalize you for non-attendance, be aware that multiple absences will indirectly hurt you by preventing you from participating in class, thereby lowering your participation grade. To contribute to class discussion, you must come to class having carefully prepared all assignments (i.e., readings, cases, exercises).

2. Be brave. Everyone in this class is smart, interesting, and has unique life experiences to share. You will get the most out of this course if you ask questions, voice opinions, and express your thoughts to one another. If you feel uncomfortable talking in class, please send me an email or set up an appointment to talk with me early in the semester. We will do everything we can to accommodate each of your individual circumstances, but we can only do so if they are brought to our attention.

3. Be courteous. Successful participation includes treating your classmates in a respectful and professional manner. Listen carefully to the comments and questions that your classmates voice. You may learn something new from their perspectives, and you will be able to avoid simply repeating something that another classmate has said earlier in discussion. Also, it is perfectly acceptable for you to voice disagreement with an opinion provided by another student. Open debate often leads to the most thoughtful and informative class discussions. However, please voice your disagreement in a kind and considerate manner.

4. Be engaged. This class is “unplugged.” Once class starts, all electronics (e.g., computers, cell phones, tablets, etc.) should be turned off and put away. If you need to use a device because of a language or disability issue, you need to secure permission at the beginning of the class. The misuse of an electronic device (e.g., surfing the web or texting) will adversely affect your grade.

In order to facilitate the visioning of its own PowerPoint presentation in classroom, each work group should take a personal computer with PowerPoint installed and an available VGA connection.

By the 8pm of the day before of the case discussion, all regular attending students should send to the course’s Instructors, attaching the case presentation prepared. They have to hand over a hard copy of the PowerPoint presentation. ONLY STUDENTS WHO HAD HANDED OVER ALL THE CASE PRESENTATIONS WILL BE ADMITTED TO THE PRE-EXAM.

Policy for Late Assignments

As in the business world, work must be received on time in order to receive full credit. If you are late on an assignment, your access to the Pre-Exam will be compromised. You are always welcome to hand in an assignment before its due date if you know that you will be busy as the due date approaches. If you think that you will not be able to complete an assignment by the stated due date, please speak with us in advance to make alternative arrangements. Our policy on late assignments will depend on the specific circumstances surrounding the problem, and thus may differ from student to student. Providing advance notice about a late assignment will minimize the penalty you receive on that assignment, but does not guarantee that there will be no penalty for turning the assignment in late.

Other learning sources

Slides and other material will be available under the course web site.

THE SLIDES DO NOT REPRESENT A SUPPORT FOR AN EFFECTIVE AND SUCCESFUL PREPARATION TO THE EXAM OF THE COURSE. THEY REPRESENT ONLY A HELP TO FACILITATE THE TRANSFER OF THE KNOWLEDGES TO STUDENTS DURING THE LESSONS.

Attendance

Because of the concentrated nature of the MScBA program, attendance in class is very important.

Students with less than 85% of attendance to lectures and case discussions (including arriving late or leaving early) will be required to prepare for the exam ALL the chapters of the textbook R. FINCHAM, P. RHODES, Principles Of Organizational Behaviour, Oxford University Press, 2005 and ALL the cases of the textbook G. H. SEIJTS, Cases in Organizational Behavior (the IVEY casebook series), Sage Publications, Inc, 2005.

NOTE : Attendance to the first class session is mandatory. Important information about the course and the instructor’s expectations are given during the first session. If you know that you will have to be absent for one session, please contact your instructor to ensure that absence from a particular session is acceptable.

Exam

The exam is a written exam. The duration is about 3-4 hours and it includes:

a) Case discussion - You may be given a case study to which some questions may pertain in order to lead the discussion. As you respond to the questions, please use specific content and theories (use names to identify theories and models) as the basis of your analysis. You will not receive credit for your personal opinions unless backed by theory, lecture, and/or text material. Also, describe how you see the content/theory applying to the situation. Your answers will be evaluated based upon both quantity and quality. Answers that are more complete and demonstrate a higher level of understanding and analysis will receive more points.

b) Some questions directly connected to the course textbooks – The questions could open, closed (multiple choice), or a combination of the both. You may be asked to discuss the models and the theories presented during the course. You will be asked to interpret some real incidents and to focus your attention to some specific theoretical issues.

Pre-Exam participation and exam grades registering on the booklet

Only regular attending students (85% of attendance to lectures and case discussions, including arriving late or leaving early) that have delivered the hard copies of ALL the case to the Instructors are allowed to take the pre-exam.

Only regular registered students on the DELPHI System will be allowed to register their grade.

The pre-exam grades will be registered on the first official exam date AFTER THE COURSE ENDING. It is compulsory to come on that date of the exam for registering the grade on the Delphi and on the booklet.

Team Project

The purpose of the project is to give your team an opportunity to apply what has been learned in the course (through course lectures, readings, and case discussions) to problems in an organization of your team's choice.

Class members, regular attending students, will work in teams of four (4) people.

To the Team Project regular attending students will be allowed to achieve a -3/+3 extra points to the final grade of the Pre-Exam. Only regular attending students, taking the Pre-Exam will be accepted for the Team Project.

Your team should identify a public, private, or non-profit organization to study (Please, no student groups).

Your team is to gather information from people in an organization through direct contact. You may supplement this information with data from the media, the organization's literature, and other secondary sources. You should identify a relatively recent problem to analyze (i.e., this should not be an historical account of a problem and the company's solution). You should focus your analysis by applying the concepts from the course. While it is acceptable to incorporate several concepts from the course, please aim for depth rather than breadth regarding the use of course concepts. Your goal is to diagnose the mechanisms that are causing the problem or issue of concern in the organization. Initially, you may notice many symptoms (for instance, high turnover, seemingly low morale, low commitment, motivation etc.), but your task is to get to the underlying reason for these symptoms. And beware, sometimes the initial symptoms we think we see are not what they appear to be.

There are three broad goals for this assignment:

1. One goal of this assignment is obviously to take the initiative to make a positive contribution to an organization.

2. Another major goal is to provide an opportunity for you to learn more about organizational behavior first hand and to use your critical thinking and reflection skills to link your experience with this organization to your learning in relation to organizational behavior theory.

3. The final goal is to provide a forum for you to hone your skills as a team member and leader and to reflect on the learning gained from this team experience. Each team will make a presentation and write a paper that describes what you did for the organization, what you learned about organizational behavior, and what you learned about working on a team.

To meet these broad goals, your team should answer the following questions in the assignments detailed below.

a) What are the issues or problems facing the organization?

b) What course concepts can be applied to understand why this problem is occurring?

c) What recommendations can you offer to help improve organizational functioning?

Deliverables of the Team Project:

1. The project proposal e-mail is due by email to Instructors by the date of the 9^th session of the course by 5pm. It should include:

a) the names of your group members

b) your team name

c) the name of the organization

d) the name, contact information and level of your contact person

e) the method you will use to gain access to the organization

f) a brief description (one paragraph) of the problem facing the organization.

2. Your written project is due by email to Instructors by the date of the 18th session of the course by 5pm .

It should contain a maximum of 15 double spaced pages (1 cm margins, 12 point font). You will be penalized significantly for exceeding this limit. The limit does not include appendices, which you are free to use to provide charts, figures, or other background material not necessary in the main body of your analysis. However, appendices that are not directly referenced in the main text will not be read. LATE PROJECT WRITE-UPS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

This written project should summarize what you did for/within the organization, what you have learned about organizational behavior, and what you have learned about working on a team.

Grading of the Team Project:

Your group project will be evaluated on the following criteria:

a) Problem definition: How well (i.e., thoroughly and concisely) do you describe the organizational context, the relevant parties, and the factors that are important to the problem?

b) Accurate and thorough use of course concepts.

c) Integration of course concepts with information about the company and problem, i.e., how well do you integrate course concepts with information about the problem to illuminate the problem in a way that leads to solutions?

d) Extent to which recommendations are consistent with analysis.

e) Quality of written analysis.

Analytical Syllabus

Updated A.Y. 2018-2019

Organizational dynamics

and behavior

(Prof. Luca Gnan)

Teaching Members Responsible for the Course:

Prof. Luca Gnan

Email: luca.gnan@uniroma2.it

Availability: Contact via email

Prof.ssa Giulia Flamini

E-mail: giulia.flamini@uniroma2.it

Availability: Contact via email

We are committed to making this course a valuable learning experience for you. After the first month, we will spend part of a class session evaluating our progress, and we will make any necessary changes to keep us on track. However, we welcome your feedback at any time in the semester. It is easiest to reach us by email or during office hours, but we are always happy to set up an appointment. Additionally, if you have a disability that requires special accommodation, please let us know ASAP so that we can be helpful to you.

Emails, Office Hours & Feedback on Assignments

We endeavor to answer emails within 1 day. If you have not heard from us within that time, please resend the email. Grades & comments will be posted online in the materials section of the course website. We will be happy to give feedback and discuss assignments after all grading is complete for a certain assignment. Office hours are scheduled by email request.

We may answer questions of assignment clarification in class and via emails to benefit the entire class. We may also give extra grades (see below Team Project) during the course that, while generally designed to support learning in the course, will also help your participation grade. These are pass/fail and do not include comments.

Pre-requisites for the Course:

None.

Course description

While many of the courses in the MScBA teach you how to manage money, information and other material resources, this course is unique (and invaluable) in that you will learn how to manage your own performance and career by learning how to work with and through other people-even when you don't want to. Although skills in finance, accounting, marketing, operations, and strategy are crucial for organizational success, the ability to manage an organization, its groups, and its individuals is equally important. In your career, you will depend on people to accomplish tasks, goals, and projects; you will need to work for other people, work with other people, and supervise other people. An understanding of the human side of management is an essential complement to the technical skills you are learning in other courses. Although we will focus primarily on work, you will find that the course concepts have applications to a variety of organizations, including non-profits, athletic teams, social clubs, and religious and political groups.

This is an advanced course in organizational behavior designed to expose you to essential theories and concepts for analyzing, understanding, and managing human behavior in organizations. In this course we will apply concrete organizational situations from our case studies and projects to essential theories and effective management practices. In this class you will learn how to thrive at work by managing your relationships. In this course, we will investigate:

• Individual behavior in organizations, including personality, decision-making, personal networks, and ethics

• Interpersonal behavior, including teamwork, conflict, leadership, and power and influence

• Organizational factors affecting behavior, including reward systems, culture, and organizational design.

Learning Objectives

Explore in a managerial perspective research and practical applications on organizational behavior.

Objective of the training is to provide tools and analytical theory on analysis of individual and behavior in different group and organizational contexts, in order to:

• Understand and use the fundamental theories on organizational behavior
• Develop capacities for applying theories to practice
• Develop problem solving capacities with best practices discussion and case study analysis

The study route is divided into 4 different sections:

• Section I: The Organization Behavior Context and Learning Community
• Section II: Managing Teams
• Section III: Understanding and Managing Individuals
• Section IV: Managing Key Organizational Processes.

At the end of the course students:

1. will have a deeper understanding of how the study of organizational behavior can aid us in improving the performance and wellbeing of people at work;
2. will have understood how models, theories and concepts about organizational behavior can be used to promote the effectiveness of individuals, groups and organizations;
3. will have developed skills for the analysis of individual, group and organizational functioning that enhances their effectiveness as managers;
4. will have developed a richer and more complex representation of organizational behavior, enabling them to contribute more effectively in the workplace.

Teaching methods

Lessons will be characterized by transfer of knowledge and the strong interaction within the classroom; there are analysis of situations problems and business cases in order to facilitate participants in learning.

Regular attending students are strongly recommended to participate to all the lectures and to all the preparations and presentations of the business cases.

To meet its goals, this course uses readings, lectures, exercises, cases, individual and team assignments, and class discussion. Case assignments provide an important foundation for class discussion and must be completed prior to each class session. The due dates for all cases and other assignments are listed in the class schedule at the end of the syllabus. Lectures will be used to highlight key points from the readings and provide additional information to supplement the readings. Cases will provide you with the opportunity to apply what you have learned to real world issues and scenarios. Because each of you brings unique perspectives and experiences to the class, participation in class discussions and activities is essential to your own learning as well as that of other class members. To further enrich your learning, you will also be matched with an MScBA Teaching Assistant.

Main References

A) Textbooks for regular attending students (in order to be considered regular attending student a participant should achieve at least an 85% of presence to lectures and case discussions):

R. Fincham, P. Rhodes, Principles of Organizational Behaviour, Oxford University Press, 2005.

G. H. Seijts , Cases in Organizational Behavior (the IVEY casebook series), Sage Publications, Inc, 2005.

As far as the textbook Principles of Organizational Behaviour (Fincham, Rhodes, 2005) is concerned, regular attending students have to prepare the following parts:

1. Introduction pp. 1 -11 (Organization Behavior: An Overview)
2. Chapter 1 pp.19 - 50 (Expectations and Learning)
3. Chapter 8 pp. 310-359 (Leadership Dynamics)
4. Chapter 6 pp. 243-270 and Chapter 14 pp .500-510 (Team Problem, Decision Making, and Effectiveness)
5. Chapter 7 pp. 275-305 (Group Dynamics and Performance)
6. Chapter 10 pp. 394-417 (Conflict Management and Negotiation)
7. Chapter 3 pp.93-146 (Appreciating Individual Differences)
8. Chapter 4 pp.151-185 (Appreciating Individual Differences)
9. Chapter 5 pp.191-233 (Motivation)
10. Chapter 2 pp. 54-88 (Stress and the Management of Stress)
11. Chapter 12 pp. 445-464 and Chapter 13 pp.468-491 (Organization and Work Design)
12. Chapter 17 pp.570-592 (Creativity and Innovation)
13. Chapter 15 pp.527-544 (Organizational Culture)
14. Chapter 14 pp.513-523 (Organizational Change and Development)

During the course, seven cases (from the Cases in Organizational Behavior textbook, Seijts, 2005) will be discussed:

a) Chuck McKinonn (on the leadership issue)

b) eProcure - the Project (A) (on the leading and managing teams' issue)

c) The Leo Burnett Company LTD.: virtual team management (on the team dynamics issue)

d) INTEL in China (on the Conflict Management and Negotiation issue)

e) Blinds To Go: staffing a retail expansion (on the Appreciating Individual Differences issue)

f) Elise Smart (on the Stress and the Management of Stress issue)

g) Martin Brass Company (A) Tom Fuller, Vice-President Manufacturing (on the Stress and the Management of Stress issue)

h) Victoria Hospital Redesign Initiative (on the Organizational design issue)

i) OP4.COM: a dynamic culture (on the Creativity and Innovation issue)

j) Deloitte & Touche: Integrating Arthur Andersen (on the Organizational Change and Development issue).

B) Textbooks for NON-regular attending students (in order to be considered regular attending student a participant should achieve at least an 85% of presence to lectures and case discussions):

R. FINCHAM, P. RHODES, Principles of Organizational Behaviour, Oxford University Press, 2005 (all chapters).

G. H. SEIJTS, Cases in Organizational Behavior (the IVEY casebook series), Sage Publications, Inc, 2005 (all cases).

B) Supplementary textbooks

• Robins S., Judge T." Organizational behavior" 13 edition, Prentice Hall International, 2005

• Contemporary management" Jones, George, McGraw Hill, 4th edition, 2006

• Managing Organizational Behavior" Jones, George, Prentice Hall International, 2007

• "Organizational change" B. Senior, J. Fleming, Prentice Hall International 3 edition, 2006

• "Management" Hitt, Black, Porter Prentice Hall International, Second Edition, 2008

• Organizational behavior, Debra Nelson, James Campbell Quicl, THOMSON, SOUTH WESTERN, 5th edition

• Managing Behavior in Organizations, Jerald Greenberg, 5th edition Pearson

• Adler, P. S. 1999 International dimensions of organizational behaviour London: International Thopmson

• Argyris, C. 1960 Understanding Organisational behaviour Homewood IL:Dorsey Press (HM300)

• Bandura, A. 1977 Social learning theory New Jersey: Prentice -Hall

• Banard, C. The functions of the executive Cambridge: Harvard University Press

• Beer, M. et al 1984 Managing human Assets New York : Free Press

• Braverman, H .1974 Labour and monopoly capital New York: Monthly Review press (Open shelve)

• Bryman, A. 1986 Leadership and organisations London: Routledge Kegan Paul

• Buchanan, D. A. Organisation in the computer age Aldershot: Gower

• Burns, T & Stalker, G. M. The management of innovation London: Tavistock (Open shelve)

• Child , J. 1972 "Organisational structure, environment and performance : The role of strategic choice" Sociology vol. 6 # 1 pp 1- 22

• Clegg, S. & Dunkerley,D 1980 Organisations, class and control London : Routledge & Kegan Paul

• Conti, R. F. & Warner, M. 1993 "Taylorism, new technology and just-in -time systems in Japanese Manufacturing" New Technology, work and employment, vol 8 # 100 31- 42

• Cyert, R. & March,J. G. 1992 A behavioural theory of the firm NJ: Prentice -Hall Englewoods Cliffs

• Dubin, E. (ed) 1976 Handbook of work, Organisation and Society Chicago Rand McNally

• Drucker, P. F. 1988 Management challenges in the 21st Century London: Heinemann

• _____________1989 The new realities London: Heinemann

• Duncan, R. B. 1974 "Modifications in decision making structures in adapting to the environment: some Implications for organisational learning" Decision sciences vol, 5 pp 704 -25

• Duncan, w. J. 1981 Organisational Behaviour Houghton: Mifflin

• French, J & Raven. B. 1958 "The bases of social power 'in D. Cartwright Studies in social Power Ann Arbor Institute for Social research (HM301)

• Gibson,J.L. et al 1994 Organisations: Behaviour structure and processes (Reserve)

• Gouldner, A. W. 1954 Patterns of industrial Bureaucracy New York: Free Press

• Gruneberg, M. & Wall, T.(eds) Social Psychology and organisational behaviour Chichester : John Wiley

• Hall, E. T . Understanding Cultural differences Yarmouth: Intercultural Press

• Handy, C 1999 Understanding Organisations 4th ed London: Penguin (Reserve HD31HAN)

• Hofstede, G. 1991 Cultures and Organisations London: McGraw -Hill

• Hodgetts, R. M. 1991 Organisational behaviour: Theory and practice New York: Macmillan company

• Kast, F.E. & Rosenzweig, J.E. Organization &Management11985 4th ed New jersey McGraw-hill (Reserve HD31KAS)

• Kotter, J. P. 1990 "what do leaders really do? " in Harvard Business review 73 pp59-67

• Mintzberg, H. 1983a Power in and around organisations New York: Prentice Hall

• ___________1983b Structures in fives: designing effective organisations Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

• Moorhead, G. and Griffin, R. w. 1998 Organisational Behaviour 5th edition Houghton: Mifflin Company

• Mullins, L. Management and Organisational behaviour London: Pitman, The financial times (Reserve)

• Perrow, C. 1970 Organisational analysis: A sociological review Belmont: Wadsworth

• Robbins, S. P. 1998 Organisational behaviour: Concepts, controversies and applications NJ: Prentice - Hall (Reserve)

• Simon, H 1957 Administrative behaviour NY: Macmillan

• Schein, E. H. 1975 Organisational culture and Leadership San Francisco: Jossey-bass

• Vecchio, R. P. 1995 organisational behaviour 3rd edition Orland: Dryden Press

Case Discussions

Regular attending students are expected to be fully engaged in the entire learning process. This means that regular attending students are expected to:

1) prepare the assigned readings of the cases prior to each class;

2) prepare as a group work a PowerPoint presentation on the case, based on the specific assignment;

3) come to class prepared to participate and to discuss in order to enhance the learning of the individual and the class.

On the web site of the course students find for each case the relative assignment. Please read carefully the questions before the lesson and use them for preparing the PowerPoint presentation.

Each student will be involved the class discussion on the cases and tie the assigned reading for the session. The objective is to bring all class members into the discussion. The cases are designed to integrate the concepts from the case into the context of the course. The preparation and the discussion of the cases do not exclude the study of the theoretical concepts useful for the discussion of the cases themselves and for the passing of the exam of the course.

With the cases' discussions in CLASSROOM, each student will develop:

1. The ability to set the parameters for the problem (key concepts from the case).

2. A depth of knowledge about the case subject (understanding of material, good response to the observations of others).

3. The ability to tie-in case with other course concepts.

4. The ability to get others involved in the discussion.

In order to effectively discuss the cases, students do:

· Be prepared with facts and specific quotes from the case.

· Be prepared to make a comment, ask a question, or make an observation about the case.

During the discussion, students do:

· Take a position on a question or a point.

• Ask clarifying questions.

· Help keep the discussion moving and on track.

• Help draw others into the discussion.

· Integrate theories and content from other cases.

During the discussion, students don't:

· Be unprepared and show your lack of knowledge.

• Monopolize the discussion.
• Make irrelevant comments.

· Be insensitive to other's desire to speak or to their opinions.

All the regular attending students are kindly invited to build up work groups (MINIMUM 3 PERSONS - MAXIMUM 5 PERSONS). Each work group should prepare a PowerPoint presentation for each case. Into the first slide, the names of the students belonging to the group should be reported.

The structure of the presentation should follow the following outline:

1. One or more introductory slides aimed at describing/reporting the story, the characters, all the necessary elements in order to clearly define che context and the boundaries of the case.

2. One slide mentioning the questions of the assignment and underlining the learning goals of the case.

3. One or more slides reporting the answers to each question of the assignment.

4. One or more slides reporting the final remarks on the case.

5. One closing slide about the lessons learned after the group discussion of the case.

How to prepare the PowerPoint presentation of the case?

Introduction - short presentation of case, short description of the problems and situations that should be coped with the discussion.

Diagnosis - Problem setting of the context and of the situation. Description of the mains facts and elements connected with the concepts and models of Organizational Behavior (e.g. organizational change, conflicts, motivation, satisfaction, leadership, managing people, group dynamics, etc.). What went wrong and which actions/situations, instead, were right? Which elements could be considered for the diagnosis?

Solution - Students should provide a possible solution to questions/problems related with the case and a viable and clear indication on how to approach the situation and how to solve it. The entire proposal should represent a consistent action plan in terms of behaviors and expected results.

Conclusions - Conclusions should not be longer than 300-500 words and should provide a description on how the situation and the problem characterized the case, on how Organizational Behavior schemata might help to solve the case, and what the proposed solution might generate in terms of organizational consequences.

Lessons learned - At the end of the presentation elements/suggestions/advices that we "take home" from the case discussion should be clearly identified and reported.

NOTE: During the case discussion, students should explicitly address the context and the different situations with concepts related with Organizational Behavior and with models and theories of this course.

Case Discussions' Class Participation

We believe that the best way to learn, especially about ODB, is to actively participate in your education. In this class, "participation" is defined in terms of quality contributions to class discussion and exercises. There are four prerequisites for successful participation:

1. Be here on time and prepared. If you're not here, you can't contribute much to class discussion. If you need to miss class for a predictable reason (e.g., job interview, athletic competition), please notify us at least 24 hours in advance so that we can make arrangements for any in-class exercises and so that you can obtain the materials distributed during the class. Of course, we realize that in some cases unforeseeable emergencies arise. Although we will not directly penalize you for non-attendance, be aware that multiple absences will indirectly hurt you by preventing you from participating in class, thereby lowering your participation grade. To contribute to class discussion, you must come to class having carefully prepared all assignments (i.e., readings, cases, exercises).

2. Be brave. Everyone in this class is smart, interesting, and has unique life experiences to share. You will get the most out of this course if you ask questions, voice opinions, and express your thoughts to one another. If you feel uncomfortable talking in class, please send me an email or set up an appointment to talk with me early in the semester. We will do everything we can to accommodate each of your individual circumstances, but we can only do so if they are brought to our attention.

3. Be courteous. Successful participation includes treating your classmates in a respectful and professional manner. Listen carefully to the comments and questions that your classmates voice. You may learn something new from their perspectives, and you will be able to avoid simply repeating something that another classmate has said earlier in discussion. Also, it is perfectly acceptable for you to voice disagreement with an opinion provided by another student. Open debate often leads to the most thoughtful and informative class discussions. However, please voice your disagreement in a kind and considerate manner.

4. Be engaged. This class is "unplugged." Once class starts, all electronics (e.g., computers, cell phones, tablets, etc.) should be turned off and put away. If you need to use a device because of a language or disability issue, you need to secure permission at the beginning of the class. The misuse of an electronic device (e.g., surfing the web or texting) will adversely affect your grade.

In order to facilitate the visioning of its own PowerPoint presentation in classroom, each work group should take a personal computer with PowerPoint installed and an available VGA connection.

By the 8pm of the day before of the case discussion, all regular attending students should send an email to the course's Instructors, attaching the case presentation prepared. They have to hand over a hard copy of the PowerPoint presentation. ONLY THE HANDING OVER OF THE HARD COPY CERTIFIES THE PREPARATION OF THE CASE FOR THE DISCUSSION. ONLY STUDENTS WHO HAD HANDED OVER ALL THE CASE PRESENTATIONS WILL BE ADMITTED TO THE PRE-EXAM.

Policy for Late Assignments

As in the business world, work must be received on time in order to receive full credit. If you are late on an assignment, your access to the Pre-Exam will be compromised. You are always welcome to hand in an assignment before its due date if you know that you will be busy as the due date approaches. If you think that you will not be able to complete an assignment by the stated due date, please speak with us in advance to make alternative arrangements. Our policy on late assignments will depend on the specific circumstances surrounding the problem, and thus may differ from student to student. Providing advance notice about a late assignment will minimize the penalty you receive on that assignment, but does not guarantee that there will be no penalty for turning the assignment in late.

Other learning sources

Slides and other material will be available under the course web site.

THE SLIDES DO NOT REPRESENT A SUPPORT FOR AN EFFECTIVE AND SUCCESFUL PREPARATION TO THE EXAM OF THE COURSE. THEY REPRESENT ONLY A HELP TO FACILITATE THE TRANSFER OF THE KNOWLEDGES TO STUDENTS DURING THE LESSONS.

Attendance

Because of the concentrated nature of the MScBA program, attendance in class is very important.

Students with less than 85% of attendance to lectures and case discussions (including arriving late or leaving early) will be required to prepare for the exam ALL the chapters of the textbook R. FINCHAM, P. RHODES, Principles Of Organizational Behaviour, Oxford University Press, 2005 and ALL the cases of the textbook G. H. SEIJTS, Cases in Organizational Behavior (the IVEY casebook series), Sage Publications, Inc, 2005.

NOTE : Attendance to the first class session is mandatory. Important information about the course and the instructor's expectations are given during the first session. If you know that you will have to be absent for one session, please contact your instructor to ensure that absence from a particular session is acceptable.

Exam

The exam is a written exam. The duration is about 3-4 hours and it includes:

a) Case discussion - You may be given a case study to which some questions may pertain in order to lead the discussion. As you respond to the questions, please use specific content and theories (use names to identify theories and models) as the basis of your analysis. You will not receive credit for your personal opinions unless backed by theory, lecture, and/or text material. Also, describe how you see the content/theory applying to the situation. Your answers will be evaluated based upon both quantity and quality. Answers that are more complete and demonstrate a higher level of understanding and analysis will receive more points.

b) Some questions directly connected to the course textbooks - The questions could open, closed (multiple choice), or a combination of the both. You may be asked to discuss the models and the theories presented during the course. You will be asked to interpret some real incidents and to focus your attention to some specific theoretical issues.

Pre-Exam participation and exam grades registering on the booklet

Only regular attending students (85% of attendance to lectures and case discussions, including arriving late or leaving early) that have delivered the hard copies of ALL the case to the Instructors are allowed to take the pre-exam.

Only regular registered students on the DELPHI System will be allowed to register their grade.

The pre-exam grades will be registered on the first official exam date AFTER THE COURSE ENDING. It is compulsory to come on that date of the exam for registering the grade on the Delphi and on the booklet.

Team Project

The purpose of the project is to give your team an opportunity to apply what has been learned in the course (through course lectures, readings, and case discussions) to problems in an organization of your team's choice.

Class members, regular attending students, will work in teams of four (4) people.

To the Team Project regular attending students will be allowed to achieve a -3/+3 extra points to the final grade of the Pre-Exam. Only regular attending students, taking the Pre-Exam will be accepted for the Team Project.

Your team should identify a public, private, or non-profit organization to study (Please, no student groups).

Your team is to gather information from people in an organization through direct contact. You may supplement this information with data from the media, the organization's literature, and other secondary sources. You should identify a relatively recent problem to analyze (i.e., this should not be an historical account of a problem and the company's solution). You should focus your analysis by applying the concepts from the course. While it is acceptable to incorporate several concepts from the course, please aim for depth rather than breadth regarding the use of course concepts. Your goal is to diagnose the mechanisms that are causing the problem or issue of concern in the organization. Initially, you may notice many symptoms (for instance, high turnover, seemingly low morale, low commitment, motivation etc.), but your task is to get to the underlying reason for these symptoms. And beware, sometimes the initial symptoms we think we see are not what they appear to be.

There are three broad goals for this assignment:

1. One goal of this assignment is obviously to take the initiative to make a positive contribution to an organization.

2. Another major goal is to provide an opportunity for you to learn more about organizational behavior first hand and to use your critical thinking and reflection skills to link your experience with this organization to your learning in relation to organizational behavior theory.

3. The final goal is to provide a forum for you to hone your skills as a team member and leader and to reflect on the learning gained from this team experience. Each team will make a presentation to the class and write a paper that describes what you did for the organization, what you learned about organizational behavior, and what you learned about working on a team.

To meet these broad goals, your team should answer the following questions in the assignments detailed below.

a) What are the issues or problems facing the organization?

b) What course concepts can be applied to understand why this problem is occurring?

c) What recommendations can you offer to help improve organizational functioning?

Deliverables of the Team Project:

1. The project proposal e-mail is due by email to Instructors by the date of the 9^th session of the course by 5pm. It should include:

a) the names of your group members

b) your team name

c) the name of the organization

d) the name, contact information and level of your contact person

e) the method you will use to gain access to the organization

f) a brief description (one paragraph) of the problem facing the organization.

2. Your written project is due by email to Instructors by the date of the 18th session of the course by 5pm .

It should contain a maximum of 15 double spaced pages (1 cm margins, 12 point font). You will be penalized significantly for exceeding this limit. The limit does not include appendices, which you are free to use to provide charts, figures, or other background material not necessary in the main body of your analysis. However, appendices that are not directly referenced in the main text will not be read. LATE PROJECT WRITE-UPS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

This written project should summarize what you did for/within the organization, what you have learned about organizational behavior, and what you have learned about working on a team.

Grading of the Team Project:

Your group project will be evaluated on the following criteria:

a) Problem definition: How well (i.e., thoroughly and concisely) do you describe the organizational context, the relevant parties, and the factors that are important to the problem?

b) Accurate and thorough use of course concepts.

c) Integration of course concepts with information about the company and problem, i.e., how well do you integrate course concepts with information about the problem to illuminate the problem in a way that leads to solutions?

d) Extent to which recommendations are consistent with analysis.

e) Quality of written analysis.

Analytical Syllabus

Updated A.Y. 2017-2018

Organizational dynamics

and behavior

(Prof. Luca Gnan)

Teaching Members Responsible for the Course:

Prof. Luca Gnan

Email: luca.gnan@uniroma2.it

Availability: Contact via email

Prof.ssa Giulia Flamini

E-mail: giulia.flamini@uniroma2.it

Availability: Contact via email

We are committed to making this course a valuable learning experience for you. After the first month, we will spend part of a class session evaluating our progress, and we will make any necessary changes to keep us on track. However, we welcome your feedback at any time in the semester. It is easiest to reach us by email or during office hours, but we are always happy to set up an appointment. Additionally, if you have a disability that requires special accommodation, please let us know ASAP so that we can be helpful to you.

Emails, Office Hours & Feedback on Assignments

We endeavor to answer emails within 1 day. If you have not heard from us within that time, please resend the email. Grades & comments will be posted online in the materials section of the course website. We will be happy to give feedback and discuss assignments after all grading is complete for a certain assignment. Office hours are scheduled by email request.

We may answer questions of assignment clarification in class and via emails to benefit the entire class. We may also give extra grades (see below Team Project) during the course that, while generally designed to support learning in the course, will also help your participation grade. These are pass/fail and do not include comments.

Pre-requisites for the Course:

None.

Course description

While many of the courses in the MScBA teach you how to manage money, information and other material resources, this course is unique (and invaluable) in that you will learn how to manage your own performance and career by learning how to work with and through other people-even when you don't want to. Although skills in finance, accounting, marketing, operations, and strategy are crucial for organizational success, the ability to manage an organization, its groups, and its individuals is equally important. In your career, you will depend on people to accomplish tasks, goals, and projects; you will need to work for other people, work with other people, and supervise other people. An understanding of the human side of management is an essential complement to the technical skills you are learning in other courses. Although we will focus primarily on work, you will find that the course concepts have applications to a variety of organizations, including non-profits, athletic teams, social clubs, and religious and political groups.

This is an advanced course in organizational behavior designed to expose you to essential theories and concepts for analyzing, understanding, and managing human behavior in organizations. In this course we will apply concrete organizational situations from our case studies and projects to essential theories and effective management practices. In this class you will learn how to thrive at work by managing your relationships. In this course, we will investigate:

• Individual behavior in organizations, including personality, decision-making, personal networks, and ethics

• Interpersonal behavior, including teamwork, conflict, leadership, and power and influence

• Organizational factors affecting behavior, including reward systems, culture, and organizational design.

Learning Objectives

Explore in a managerial perspective research and practical applications on organizational behavior.

Objective of the training is to provide tools and analytical theory on analysis of individual and behavior in different group and organizational contexts, in order to:

• Understand and use the fundamental theories on organizational behavior
• Develop capacities for applying theories to practice
• Develop problem solving capacities with best practices discussion and case study analysis

The study route is divided into 4 different sections:

• Section I: The Organization Behavior Context and Learning Community
• Section II: Managing Teams
• Section III: Understanding and Managing Individuals
• Section IV: Managing Key Organizational Processes.

At the end of the course students:

1. will have a deeper understanding of how the study of organizational behavior can aid us in improving the performance and wellbeing of people at work;
2. will have understood how models, theories and concepts about organizational behavior can be used to promote the effectiveness of individuals, groups and organizations;
3. will have developed skills for the analysis of individual, group and organizational functioning that enhances their effectiveness as managers;
4. will have developed a richer and more complex representation of organizational behavior, enabling them to contribute more effectively in the workplace.

Teaching methods

Lessons will be characterized by transfer of knowledge and the strong interaction within the classroom; there are analysis of situations problems and business cases in order to facilitate participants in learning.

Regular attending students are strongly recommended to participate to all the lectures and to all the preparations and presentations of the business cases.

To meet its goals, this course uses readings, lectures, exercises, cases, individual and team assignments, and class discussion. Case assignments provide an important foundation for class discussion and must be completed prior to each class session. The due dates for all cases and other assignments are listed in the class schedule at the end of the syllabus. Lectures will be used to highlight key points from the readings and provide additional information to supplement the readings. Cases will provide you with the opportunity to apply what you have learned to real world issues and scenarios. Because each of you brings unique perspectives and experiences to the class, participation in class discussions and activities is essential to your own learning as well as that of other class members. To further enrich your learning, you will also be matched with an MScBA Teaching Assistant.

Main References

A) Textbooks for regular attending students (in order to be considered regular attending student a participant should achieve at least an 85% of presence to lectures and case discussions):

R. Fincham, P. Rhodes, Principles of Organizational Behaviour, Oxford University Press, 2005.

G. H. Seijts , Cases in Organizational Behavior (the IVEY casebook series), Sage Publications, Inc, 2005.

As far as the textbook Principles of Organizational Behaviour (Fincham, Rhodes, 2005) is concerned, regular attending students have to prepare the following parts:

1. Introduction pp. 1 -11 (Organization Behavior: An Overview)
2. Chapter 1 pp.19 - 50 (Expectations and Learning)
3. Chapter 8 pp. 310-359 (Leadership Dynamics)
4. Chapter 6 pp. 243-270 and Chapter 14 pp .500-510 (Team Problem, Decision Making, and Effectiveness)
5. Chapter 7 pp. 275-305 (Group Dynamics and Performance)
6. Chapter 10 pp. 394-417 (Conflict Management and Negotiation)
7. Chapter 3 pp.93-146 (Appreciating Individual Differences)
8. Chapter 4 pp.151-185 (Appreciating Individual Differences)
9. Chapter 5 pp.191-233 (Motivation)
10. Chapter 2 pp. 54-88 (Stress and the Management of Stress)
11. Chapter 12 pp. 445-464 and Chapter 13 pp.468-491 (Organization and Work Design)
12. Chapter 17 pp.570-592 (Creativity and Innovation)
13. Chapter 15 pp.527-544 (Organizational Culture)
14. Chapter 14 pp.513-523 (Organizational Change and Development)

During the course, seven cases (from the Cases in Organizational Behavior textbook, Seijts, 2005) will be discussed:

a) Chuck McKinonn (on the leadership issue)

b) eProcure - the Project (A) (on the leading and managing teams' issue)

c) The Leo Burnett Company LTD.: virtual team management (on the team dynamics issue)

d) INTEL in China (on the Conflict Management and Negotiation issue)

e) Blinds To Go: staffing a retail expansion (on the Appreciating Individual Differences issue)

f) Elise Smart (on the Stress and the Management of Stress issue)

g) Martin Brass Company (A) Tom Fuller, Vice-President Manufacturing (on the Stress and the Management of Stress issue)

h) Victoria Hospital Redesign Initiative (on the Organizational design issue)

i) OP4.COM: a dynamic culture (on the Creativity and Innovation issue)

j) Deloitte & Touche: Integrating Arthur Andersen (on the Organizational Change and Development issue).

B) Textbooks for NON-regular attending students (in order to be considered regular attending student a participant should achieve at least an 85% of presence to lectures and case discussions):

R. FINCHAM, P. RHODES, Principles of Organizational Behaviour, Oxford University Press, 2005 (all chapters).

G. H. SEIJTS, Cases in Organizational Behavior (the IVEY casebook series), Sage Publications, Inc, 2005 (all cases).

B) Supplementary textbooks

• Robins S., Judge T." Organizational behavior" 13 edition, Prentice Hall International, 2005

• Contemporary management" Jones, George, McGraw Hill, 4th edition, 2006

• Managing Organizational Behavior" Jones, George, Prentice Hall International, 2007

• "Organizational change" B. Senior, J. Fleming, Prentice Hall International 3 edition, 2006

• "Management" Hitt, Black, Porter Prentice Hall International, Second Edition, 2008

• Organizational behavior, Debra Nelson, James Campbell Quicl, THOMSON, SOUTH WESTERN, 5th edition

• Managing Behavior in Organizations, Jerald Greenberg, 5th edition Pearson

• Adler, P. S. 1999 International dimensions of organizational behaviour London: International Thopmson

• Argyris, C. 1960 Understanding Organisational behaviour Homewood IL:Dorsey Press (HM300)

• Bandura, A. 1977 Social learning theory New Jersey: Prentice -Hall

• Banard, C. The functions of the executive Cambridge: Harvard University Press

• Beer, M. et al 1984 Managing human Assets New York : Free Press

• Braverman, H .1974 Labour and monopoly capital New York: Monthly Review press (Open shelve)

• Bryman, A. 1986 Leadership and organisations London: Routledge Kegan Paul

• Buchanan, D. A. Organisation in the computer age Aldershot: Gower

• Burns, T & Stalker, G. M. The management of innovation London: Tavistock (Open shelve)

• Child , J. 1972 "Organisational structure, environment and performance : The role of strategic choice" Sociology vol. 6 # 1 pp 1- 22

• Clegg, S. & Dunkerley,D 1980 Organisations, class and control London : Routledge & Kegan Paul

• Conti, R. F. & Warner, M. 1993 "Taylorism, new technology and just-in -time systems in Japanese Manufacturing" New Technology, work and employment, vol 8 # 100 31- 42

• Cyert, R. & March,J. G. 1992 A behavioural theory of the firm NJ: Prentice -Hall Englewoods Cliffs

• Dubin, E. (ed) 1976 Handbook of work, Organisation and Society Chicago Rand McNally

• Drucker, P. F. 1988 Management challenges in the 21st Century London: Heinemann

• _____________1989 The new realities London: Heinemann

• Duncan, R. B. 1974 "Modifications in decision making structures in adapting to the environment: some Implications for organisational learning" Decision sciences vol, 5 pp 704 -25

• Duncan, w. J. 1981 Organisational Behaviour Houghton: Mifflin

• French, J & Raven. B. 1958 "The bases of social power 'in D. Cartwright Studies in social Power Ann Arbor Institute for Social research (HM301)

• Gibson,J.L. et al 1994 Organisations: Behaviour structure and processes (Reserve)

• Gouldner, A. W. 1954 Patterns of industrial Bureaucracy New York: Free Press

• Gruneberg, M. & Wall, T.(eds) Social Psychology and organisational behaviour Chichester : John Wiley

• Hall, E. T . Understanding Cultural differences Yarmouth: Intercultural Press

• Handy, C 1999 Understanding Organisations 4th ed London: Penguin (Reserve HD31HAN)

• Hofstede, G. 1991 Cultures and Organisations London: McGraw -Hill

• Hodgetts, R. M. 1991 Organisational behaviour: Theory and practice New York: Macmillan company

• Kast, F.E. & Rosenzweig, J.E. Organization &Management11985 4th ed New jersey McGraw-hill (Reserve HD31KAS)

• Kotter, J. P. 1990 "what do leaders really do? " in Harvard Business review 73 pp59-67

• Mintzberg, H. 1983a Power in and around organisations New York: Prentice Hall

• ___________1983b Structures in fives: designing effective organisations Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

• Moorhead, G. and Griffin, R. w. 1998 Organisational Behaviour 5th edition Houghton: Mifflin Company

• Mullins, L. Management and Organisational behaviour London: Pitman, The financial times (Reserve)

• Perrow, C. 1970 Organisational analysis: A sociological review Belmont: Wadsworth

• Robbins, S. P. 1998 Organisational behaviour: Concepts, controversies and applications NJ: Prentice - Hall (Reserve)

• Simon, H 1957 Administrative behaviour NY: Macmillan

• Schein, E. H. 1975 Organisational culture and Leadership San Francisco: Jossey-bass

• Vecchio, R. P. 1995 organisational behaviour 3rd edition Orland: Dryden Press

Case Discussions

Regular attending students are expected to be fully engaged in the entire learning process. This means that regular attending students are expected to:

1) prepare the assigned readings of the cases prior to each class;

2) prepare as a group work a PowerPoint presentation on the case, based on the specific assignment;

3) come to class prepared to participate and to discuss in order to enhance the learning of the individual and the class.

On the web site of the course students find for each case the relative assignment. Please read carefully the questions before the lesson and use them for preparing the PowerPoint presentation.

Each student will be involved the class discussion on the cases and tie the assigned reading for the session. The objective is to bring all class members into the discussion. The cases are designed to integrate the concepts from the case into the context of the course. The preparation and the discussion of the cases do not exclude the study of the theoretical concepts useful for the discussion of the cases themselves and for the passing of the exam of the course.

With the cases' discussions in CLASSROOM, each student will develop:

1. The ability to set the parameters for the problem (key concepts from the case).

2. A depth of knowledge about the case subject (understanding of material, good response to the observations of others).

3. The ability to tie-in case with other course concepts.

4. The ability to get others involved in the discussion.

In order to effectively discuss the cases, students do:

· Be prepared with facts and specific quotes from the case.

· Be prepared to make a comment, ask a question, or make an observation about the case.

During the discussion, students do:

· Take a position on a question or a point.

• Ask clarifying questions.

· Help keep the discussion moving and on track.

• Help draw others into the discussion.

· Integrate theories and content from other cases.

During the discussion, students don't:

· Be unprepared and show your lack of knowledge.

• Monopolize the discussion.
• Make irrelevant comments.

· Be insensitive to other's desire to speak or to their opinions.

All the regular attending students are kindly invited to build up work groups (MINIMUM 3 PERSONS - MAXIMUM 5 PERSONS). Each work group should prepare a PowerPoint presentation for each case. Into the first slide, the names of the students belonging to the group should be reported.

The structure of the presentation should follow the following outline:

1. One or more introductory slides aimed at describing/reporting the story, the characters, all the necessary elements in order to clearly define che context and the boundaries of the case.

2. One slide mentioning the questions of the assignment and underlining the learning goals of the case.

3. One or more slides reporting the answers to each question of the assignment.

4. One or more slides reporting the final remarks on the case.

5. One closing slide about the lessons learned after the group discussion of the case.

How to prepare the PowerPoint presentation of the case?

Introduction - short presentation of case, short description of the problems and situations that should be coped with the discussion.

Diagnosis - Problem setting of the context and of the situation. Description of the mains facts and elements connected with the concepts and models of Organizational Behavior (e.g. organizational change, conflicts, motivation, satisfaction, leadership, managing people, group dynamics, etc.). What went wrong and which actions/situations, instead, were right? Which elements could be considered for the diagnosis?

Solution - Students should provide a possible solution to questions/problems related with the case and a viable and clear indication on how to approach the situation and how to solve it. The entire proposal should represent a consistent action plan in terms of behaviors and expected results.

Conclusions - Conclusions should not be longer than 300-500 words and should provide a description on how the situation and the problem characterized the case, on how Organizational Behavior schemata might help to solve the case, and what the proposed solution might generate in terms of organizational consequences.

Lessons learned - At the end of the presentation elements/suggestions/advices that we "take home" from the case discussion should be clearly identified and reported.

NOTE: During the case discussion, students should explicitly address the context and the different situations with concepts related with Organizational Behavior and with models and theories of this course.

Case Discussions' Class Participation

We believe that the best way to learn, especially about ODB, is to actively participate in your education. In this class, "participation" is defined in terms of quality contributions to class discussion and exercises. There are four prerequisites for successful participation:

1. Be here on time and prepared. If you're not here, you can't contribute much to class discussion. If you need to miss class for a predictable reason (e.g., job interview, athletic competition), please notify us at least 24 hours in advance so that we can make arrangements for any in-class exercises and so that you can obtain the materials distributed during the class. Of course, we realize that in some cases unforeseeable emergencies arise. Although we will not directly penalize you for non-attendance, be aware that multiple absences will indirectly hurt you by preventing you from participating in class, thereby lowering your participation grade. To contribute to class discussion, you must come to class having carefully prepared all assignments (i.e., readings, cases, exercises).

2. Be brave. Everyone in this class is smart, interesting, and has unique life experiences to share. You will get the most out of this course if you ask questions, voice opinions, and express your thoughts to one another. If you feel uncomfortable talking in class, please send me an email or set up an appointment to talk with me early in the semester. We will do everything we can to accommodate each of your individual circumstances, but we can only do so if they are brought to our attention.

3. Be courteous. Successful participation includes treating your classmates in a respectful and professional manner. Listen carefully to the comments and questions that your classmates voice. You may learn something new from their perspectives, and you will be able to avoid simply repeating something that another classmate has said earlier in discussion. Also, it is perfectly acceptable for you to voice disagreement with an opinion provided by another student. Open debate often leads to the most thoughtful and informative class discussions. However, please voice your disagreement in a kind and considerate manner.

4. Be engaged. This class is "unplugged." Once class starts, all electronics (e.g., computers, cell phones, tablets, etc.) should be turned off and put away. If you need to use a device because of a language or disability issue, you need to secure permission at the beginning of the class. The misuse of an electronic device (e.g., surfing the web or texting) will adversely affect your grade.

In order to facilitate the visioning of its own PowerPoint presentation in classroom, each work group should take a personal computer with PowerPoint installed and an available VGA connection.

By the 8pm of the day before of the case discussion, all regular attending students should send an email to the course's Instructors, attaching the case presentation prepared. They have to hand over a hard copy of the PowerPoint presentation. ONLY THE HANDING OVER OF THE HARD COPY CERTIFIES THE PREPARATION OF THE CASE FOR THE DISCUSSION. ONLY STUDENTS WHO HAD HANDED OVER ALL THE CASE PRESENTATIONS WILL BE ADMITTED TO THE PRE-EXAM.

Policy for Late Assignments

As in the business world, work must be received on time in order to receive full credit. If you are late on an assignment, your access to the Pre-Exam will be compromised. You are always welcome to hand in an assignment before its due date if you know that you will be busy as the due date approaches. If you think that you will not be able to complete an assignment by the stated due date, please speak with us in advance to make alternative arrangements. Our policy on late assignments will depend on the specific circumstances surrounding the problem, and thus may differ from student to student. Providing advance notice about a late assignment will minimize the penalty you receive on that assignment, but does not guarantee that there will be no penalty for turning the assignment in late.

Other learning sources

Slides and other material will be available under the course web site.

THE SLIDES DO NOT REPRESENT A SUPPORT FOR AN EFFECTIVE AND SUCCESFUL PREPARATION TO THE EXAM OF THE COURSE. THEY REPRESENT ONLY A HELP TO FACILITATE THE TRANSFER OF THE KNOWLEDGES TO STUDENTS DURING THE LESSONS.

Attendance

Because of the concentrated nature of the MScBA program, attendance in class is very important.

Students with less than 85% of attendance to lectures and case discussions (including arriving late or leaving early) will be required to prepare for the exam ALL the chapters of the textbook R. FINCHAM, P. RHODES, Principles Of Organizational Behaviour, Oxford University Press, 2005 and ALL the cases of the textbook G. H. SEIJTS, Cases in Organizational Behavior (the IVEY casebook series), Sage Publications, Inc, 2005.

NOTE : Attendance to the first class session is mandatory. Important information about the course and the instructor's expectations are given during the first session. If you know that you will have to be absent for one session, please contact your instructor to ensure that absence from a particular session is acceptable.

Exam

The exam is a written exam. The duration is about 3-4 hours and it includes:

a) Case discussion - You may be given a case study to which some questions may pertain in order to lead the discussion. As you respond to the questions, please use specific content and theories (use names to identify theories and models) as the basis of your analysis. You will not receive credit for your personal opinions unless backed by theory, lecture, and/or text material. Also, describe how you see the content/theory applying to the situation. Your answers will be evaluated based upon both quantity and quality. Answers that are more complete and demonstrate a higher level of understanding and analysis will receive more points.

b) Some questions directly connected to the course textbooks - The questions could open, closed (multiple choice), or a combination of the both. You may be asked to discuss the models and the theories presented during the course. You will be asked to interpret some real incidents and to focus your attention to some specific theoretical issues.

Pre-Exam participation and exam grades registering on the booklet

Only regular attending students (85% of attendance to lectures and case discussions, including arriving late or leaving early) that have delivered the hard copies of ALL the case to the Instructors are allowed to take the pre-exam.

Only regular registered students on the DELPHI System will be allowed to register their grade.

The pre-exam grades will be registered on the first official exam date AFTER THE COURSE ENDING. It is compulsory to come on that date of the exam for registering the grade on the Delphi and on the booklet.

Team Project

The purpose of the project is to give your team an opportunity to apply what has been learned in the course (through course lectures, readings, and case discussions) to problems in an organization of your team's choice.

Class members, regular attending students, will work in teams of four (4) people.

To the Team Project regular attending students will be allowed to achieve a -3/+3 extra points to the final grade of the Pre-Exam. Only regular attending students, taking the Pre-Exam will be accepted for the Team Project.

Your team should identify a public, private, or non-profit organization to study (Please, no student groups).

Your team is to gather information from people in an organization through direct contact. You may supplement this information with data from the media, the organization's literature, and other secondary sources. You should identify a relatively recent problem to analyze (i.e., this should not be an historical account of a problem and the company's solution). You should focus your analysis by applying the concepts from the course. While it is acceptable to incorporate several concepts from the course, please aim for depth rather than breadth regarding the use of course concepts. Your goal is to diagnose the mechanisms that are causing the problem or issue of concern in the organization. Initially, you may notice many symptoms (for instance, high turnover, seemingly low morale, low commitment, motivation etc.), but your task is to get to the underlying reason for these symptoms. And beware, sometimes the initial symptoms we think we see are not what they appear to be.

There are three broad goals for this assignment:

1. One goal of this assignment is obviously to take the initiative to make a positive contribution to an organization.

2. Another major goal is to provide an opportunity for you to learn more about organizational behavior first hand and to use your critical thinking and reflection skills to link your experience with this organization to your learning in relation to organizational behavior theory.

3. The final goal is to provide a forum for you to hone your skills as a team member and leader and to reflect on the learning gained from this team experience. Each team will make a presentation to the class and write a paper that describes what you did for the organization, what you learned about organizational behavior, and what you learned about working on a team.

To meet these broad goals, your team should answer the following questions in the assignments detailed below.

a) What are the issues or problems facing the organization?

b) What course concepts can be applied to understand why this problem is occurring?

c) What recommendations can you offer to help improve organizational functioning?

Deliverables of the Team Project:

1. The project proposal e-mail is due by email to Instructors by the date of the 9^th session of the course by 5pm. It should include:

a) the names of your group members

b) your team name

c) the name of the organization

d) the name, contact information and level of your contact person

e) the method you will use to gain access to the organization

f) a brief description (one paragraph) of the problem facing the organization.

2. Your written project is due by email to Instructors by the date of the 18th session of the course by 5pm .

It should contain a maximum of 15 double spaced pages (1 cm margins, 12 point font). You will be penalized significantly for exceeding this limit. The limit does not include appendices, which you are free to use to provide charts, figures, or other background material not necessary in the main body of your analysis. However, appendices that are not directly referenced in the main text will not be read. LATE PROJECT WRITE-UPS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.

This written project should summarize what you did for/within the organization, what you have learned about organizational behavior, and what you have learned about working on a team.

Grading of the Team Project:

Your group project will be evaluated on the following criteria:

a) Problem definition: How well (i.e., thoroughly and concisely) do you describe the organizational context, the relevant parties, and the factors that are important to the problem?

b) Accurate and thorough use of course concepts.

c) Integration of course concepts with information about the company and problem, i.e., how well do you integrate course concepts with information about the problem to illuminate the problem in a way that leads to solutions?

d) Extent to which recommendations are consistent with analysis.

e) Quality of written analysis.

Analytical Syllabus

Updated A.Y. 2016-2017

ORGANIZATIONAL DYNAMICS

AND BEHAVIOR

(Prof. Luca Gnan)

TEACHING MEMBERS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE COURSE:

Prof. Luca Gnan

Email: luca.gnan@uniroma2.it

Availability: Contact via email

PRE-REQUISITES FOR THE COURSE:

None.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Explore in a managerial perspective research and practical applications on organizational behavior.

Objective of the training is to provide tools and analytical theory on analysis of  individual and behavior in different group and organizational contexts, in order to:

Understand and use the fundamental theories on organizational behaviour
Develop capacities for applying theories to practice
Develop problem solving capacities with best practices discussion and case study analysis

The study route is divided into 4 different sections:

Section I : The Organization Behavior Context and Learning Community
Section II : Managing Teams
Section III : Understanding and Managing Individuals
Section IV : Managing Key Organizational Processes.

At the end of the module students:

will have a deeper understanding of how the study of organisational behaviour can aid us in improving the performance and well being of people at work;
will have understood how models, theories and concepts about organisational behaviour can be used to promote the effectiveness of individuals, groups and organizations;
will have developed skills for the analysis of individual, group and organisational functioning that enhances their effectiveness as managers;
will have developed a richer and more complex representation of organisational behavior, enabling them to contribute more effectively in the workplace.

TEACHING METHODS

Lessons will be characterized by transfer of knowledge and the strong interaction within the classroom; there are analysis of situations problems and business cases in order to facilitate participants in learning.

MAIN REFERENCES

R. FINCHAM, P. RHODES, Principles Of Organizational Behaviour, Oxford University Press, 2005.

G. H. SEIJTS, Cases in Organizational Behavior (the IVEY casebook series), Sage Publications, Inc, 2005.

As far as the textbook Principles Of Organizational Behaviour (FINCHAM, RHODES, 2005) is concerned, students have to prepare the following parts:

Introduction pp. 1 -11 (Organization Behavior: An Overview)
Chapter 1 pp.19 – 50 (Expectations and Learning)
Chapter 8 pp. 310-359 (Leadership Dynamics)
Chapter 6 pp. 243-270 and Chapter 14 pp .500-510 (Team Problem, Decision Making, and Effectiveness)
Chapter 7 pp. 275-305 (Group Dynamics and Performance)
Chapter 10 pp. 394-417 (Conflict Management and Negotiation)
Chapter 3 pp.93-146 (Appreciating Individual Differences)
Chapter 4 pp.151-185 (Appreciating Individual Differences)
Chapter 5 pp.191-233 (Motivation)
Chapter 2 pp. 54-88 (Stress and the Management of Stress)
Chapter 12 pp. 445-464 and Chapter 13 pp.468-491 (Organization and Work Design)
Chapter 17 pp.570-592 (Creativity and Innovation)
Chapter 15 pp.527-544 (Organizational Culture)
Chapter 14 pp.513-523 (Organizational Change and Development)

During the course, seven cases (from the Cases in Organizational Behavior textbook, SEIJTS, 2005) will be discussed:

a)      Chuck McKinonn (on the leadership issue)

b)      eProcure – the Project (A) (on the leading and managing teams’ issue)

c)      The Leo Burnett Company LTD.: virtual team management (on the team dynamics issue)

d)     INTEL in China (on the Conflict Management and Negotiation issue)

e)      Blinds To Go: staffing a retail expansion (on the Appreciating Individual Differences issue)

f)       Elise Smart (on the Stress and the Management of Stress issue)

g)      Martin Brass Company (A) Tom Fuller, Vice-President Manufacturing (on the Stress and the Management of Stress issue)

h)      Victoria Hospital Redesign Initiative (on the Organizational design issue)

i)        OP4.COM: a dynamic culture (on the Creativity and Innovation issue)

j)        Deloitte & Touche: Integrating Arthur Andersen (on the Organizational Change and Development issue)

CASE DISCUSSIONS

Students are expected to be fully engaged in the entire learning process. This means that students are expected to prepare the assigned readings of the cases prior to each class and come to class prepare to participate in group work and or discussions to enhance the learning of the individual and the class. On the web site of the course students find for each case the relative assignment. Please read carefully the questions before the lesson.

Each student will be involved the class discussion on the cases and tie the assigned reading for the session. The objective is to bring all class members into the discussion. The cases are designed to integrate the concepts from the case into the context of the course.

With the cases’ discussions, each student will develop:

1.      The ability to set the parameters for the problem (key concepts from the case).

2.      A depth of knowledge about the case subject (understanding of material, good response to the observations of others).

3.      The ability to tie-in case with other course concepts.

4.      The ability to get others involved in the discussion.

In order to effectively discuss the cases, students do:

·         Be prepared with facts and specific quotes from the case.

·         Be prepared to make a comment, ask a question, or make an observation about the case.

During the discussion, students do:

·         Take a position on a question or a point.

·         Ask clarifying questions.

·         Help keep the discussion moving and on track.

·         Help draw others into the discussion.

·         Integrate theories and content from other cases.

During the discussion, students don’t:

·         Be unprepared and show your lack of knowledge.

·         Monopolize the discussion.

·         Make irrelevant comments.

·         Be insensitive to other’s desire to speak or to their opinions.

OTHER LEARNING SOURCES

Slides and other material will be available under the course web site.

ATTENDANCE

Because of the concentrated nature of the MScBA program, attendance in class is very important. Students who miss more than 6 hours (including arriving late or leaving early) will be required to prepare for the exam ALL the chapters of the textbook R. FINCHAM, P. RHODES, Principles Of Organizational Behaviour, Oxford University Press, 2005.

NOTE: Attendance for the first class session is mandatory. Important information about the course and the instructor’s expectations are given during the first. If you know that you will have to be absent for one session, please contact your instructor to ensure that absence from a particular session is acceptable.

EXAM

The exam, depending on the number of the registered student, is a written exam or an oral exam.

I° - Written exam) You may be given a case study to which some questions may pertain. As you respond to the questions, please use specific content and theories (use names to identify theories and models) as the basis of your analysis. You will not receive credit for your personal opinions unless backed by theory, lecture, and/or text material. Also, describe how you see the content/theory applying to the situation. Your answers will be evaluated based upon both quantity and quality. Answers that are more complete and

demonstrate a higher level of understanding and analysis will receive more points.

II° - Oral exam) You may be asked to discuss the model and the theories presented during the course. You will be asked to interpret some real incidents and to focus your attention to some specific theoretical issues.

Updated A.Y. 2015-2016