Organisational Behaviour

Organisational Behaviour
Number of ECTS credits: 3

Staff Member Responsible for the Module:

Aston Business School Prof Felix Brodbeck, Work & Organisational Psychology Group Phone ++44 (0)121 204 3000 / ext. 3046/3257 Email: f.c.brodbeck@aston.ac.uk Prof Rob Martin, Work Organisation & Psychology Group Phone ++44 (0)121 204 3000 / via ext. 3257 Email: r.martin@aston.ac.uk Ecole de Management de Lyon Prof Tessa Melkonian, phone ++33 4 7833 7793 Email: melkonian@em-lyon.com N. N. Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet Muenchen Prof David Seidl, phone ++49/89/21802988 Email: seidl@bwl.uni-muenchen.de N. N.

Pre-requisites for the Module:

None

Module Objectives and Learning Outcomes:

Organisations consist of the people who work within them. The objectives of this course are therefore * * * to raise the student's awareness of the centrality of organisational behaviour to understanding organisational functioning and effectiveness to show how an understanding of human behaviour via the disciplinary bases of psychology, sociology and anthropology profoundly deepen our analysis of organisations to demonstrate the core value of an understanding of organisational behaviour to a manager's ability to achieve organisational goals

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At the end of the module students: 1. 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 organisations 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 behaviour, enabling them to contribute more effectively in the workplace

2.

3.

4.

Module Content:
Day 1 Session 1 Session 2 Day 2 Session 3 Session 4 Day 3 Session 5 Session 6 Day 4 Session 7 Session 8

(Robbins/Judge 2007, Chapters)

Models of organisational behaviour and the nature of managerial work Individual Level I: Personality, perception, emotions, attitudes

(1) (2, 3, 4, 5)

Individual Level II: Motivation, job design, employee involvement Group Level I: Groups, teams, and leadership in organisations

(6, 7) (9, 10)

Group Level II: Inter-group relations and diversity in organisations Organisational Level I: Power and conflict in organisations

(12, 13) (14, 15)

Organisational Level II: Organisational culture and change Group presentations

(17, 19)

International Dimensions:
The aim of this course is to look at issues like cross-culturalism and globalisation and to put them into a context in which human beings are operating. The course includes criticism of dominant Western approaches and seeks to provide students with details about the applications of theory and alternative approaches by looking at international case studies. The course includes important issues like cultural differences, diversity and ethnicity and the impact this might have within a number of cultures. International perspectives are provided through: the readings that students are provided with examples used by the tutor in the class

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discussion between the students during the sessions drawing on their experiences and making comparisons the cases and seminars that students are expected to prepare

Corporate Connections:
The course teams at Aston Business School, EM Lyon, and LMU Management School have extensive corporate connections with national and international corporations. They draw on these connections to inform the course material, offering insights from work at all levels of more than 1000 partner companies. The lecture content is informed throughout by examples drawn from the corporate connections of all contributing lecturers.

Method of Teaching:
1 Week Seminar: 4 consecutive days, 1.5 hours per session (lecture), plus 3 hs for syndicate group work and individual exercises per day. The course will include lectures, group work, case studies, critical reading, videos, research activities, dialogue and debate.

Method of Assessment:
1. Coursework: Group assignment: group presentation about a training case study (30%) - to be prepared during the week for day 4 Syndicate groups will engage in a collective case study, which serves as training for the assessed take home case study (see below, assignment). After lectures and in between classes, syndicate groups are expected to work on the training case study and prepare an in class presentation (of strictly no more than 10 minutes!). A guide for case study analysis is made available in the course pack and will be discussed in class. In addition to submitting a hard copy of your group presentation (no more than 15 power point slides) to the PG office on day 4 of the week, groups present in class on day 4. Make sure you can deliver the presentation in no more than 10 minutes. You may use the notes page in power point to enhance the information you want to convey by commenting text of no more than half a page. Both, the presentation material and the group presentation will be marked (together 20% of overall mark). It is expected that all group members contribute about equally to preparing the presentation. It suffices when one or two representatives of each group present their work in class. The group work will be marked using the following criteria: Identification of problems (~35%) what are the major issues, how are they related; Application of appropriate theory (~35%) application of lecture and textbook knowledge. Important: Depth rather than breadth; Generating solutions and alternatives (~10%) - feasibility within context; Selection of a Course of Action, Recommendations and Implementation (~20%) - degree of balanced discussion, quality of reasoning, situational realism.

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2. Assignment: Take home case study 2200 words (70%) - case and instructions handed out on day 4 of the seminar week - to be handed in 2 weeks after seminar week. A guide for case study analysis is made available in the course pack and will be discussed in class.

Word Count and Bibliography:

The word limits for the individual take-home case study is 2200 words. The word count must be printed on the cover page. Bibliography, appendices, and cover page do not count towards the word limit. Headings do count. If you use appendices, make sure you do not convey main messages in the appendix. Exceeding the word limit by more than 10% leads to deduction of 10% of the mark achieved. Use Harvard Referencing (see course pack) or APA Style to reference the sources used (http://www.apastyle.org/). The following quick web based APA Style sheet for citation and referencing suffices for your purposes: http://www.docstyles.com/apacrib.htm.

Learning Hours:
Contact hours Directed learning Individual /group work Self-reflection / documentation Total 18 8 18 16 60

Essential Reading:
Robbins, S.P. & Judge, T. A. (2007) Organizational Behavior, 12th ed. New York: Prentice Hall. The resource pack includes the slides/PowerPoint to accompany each session; readings associated with each session; case studies, case study guide, referencing guides, and a guide for using internet based access to course material and discussion boards. Students are required to read the relevant chapters from the course text for each session of the course, any accompanying readings and the case studies prior to the 1 week seminar.

Recommended Further Reading:

Kreitner, R., Kinicki, A. & Buelens, M. (2002). Organisational Behaviour (2nd European Edition). London: McGraw Hill.