APPLIES TO ACADEMIC YEAR 2014/2015

GRA 2205 Organizational Behaviour

Responsible for the course
Lars Glasø

Department
Department of Leadership and Organizational Behaviour

Term
According to study plan

ECTS Credits
6

Language of instruction
English

Introduction
Organizational behaviour is the study of the structure, functioning and performance of organizations, and the behaviour of groups and individuals within them. This course will provide an overview of contemporary research based knowledge in organizational behaviour, and an overview of the most important topics, concepts, and contributions within this field.

Learning outcome
Knowledge
The students shall obtain a basic understanding of contemporary research based knowledge in organizational behaviour, and get an overview of the most important topics, concepts, and contributions within this field.

Skills
After completing the course, the students should be able to critically examine theories and studies in organizational behaviour. They should know how research in organizational behaviour may be conducted, and see how this knowledge may be applied to “real life situations”.

Reflection
The students should be able to communicate and discuss the major theories and research findings from this field, taking into account both strengths and limitations.

Prerequisites
A Bachelor degree qualifying for admission to the MSc Programme

Compulsory reading
Books:
Huczynski, Andrzej A., David A. Buchanan. 2013. Organizational behaviour. 8th ed. Pearson

Collection of articles:
A collection of research articles will be made available at the start of the course

Other:
During the course there may be hand-outs and other material on additional topics relevant for the course and the examination.


Recommended reading

Course outline
- Social perception, attribution and learning
- Motivation in organizations
- Work-related attitudes
- Group dynamics and team work
- Leadership in organizations
- Communication in organizations
- Prosocial and deviant behavior in organizations
- Influence, power, and politics in organizations

Computer-based tools
Presentation software, It's learning

Learning process and workload
The course is structured as a combination of lectures, discussions, in-class activities, and compulsory student presentations. It requires substantial amount of preparation by the students and active involvement during class. A course of 6 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of 160-180 hours.

Please note that it is the student’s own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class that is not included on the course homepage/It's learning or text book.

Examination
The course grade will be based on the following activities and weights:
Student presentations, cases or research articles (group).The presentation will be graded pass/fail.
Term paper accounts for 100% (group with maximum 3 students). The term paper must be handed in both electronically and in paper.The term paper will be graded from A-F.
To get a final grade in the course, students need to complete and achieve a passing grade in all parts of the evaluation.

In this course class attendance is mandatory. Absences can result in a lower score. Specific Information regarding student evaluation will be provided in class. This information may be relevant to requirements for term papers or other hand-ins, and/or where class participation can be one of several elements of the overall evaluation.

This is a course with continuous assessment (several exam elements) and one final exam code. Each exam element will be graded using points on a scale (e.g. 0-100). The elements will be weighted together according to the information in the course description in order to calculate the final letter grade for the course. You will find detailed information about the point system and the cut off points with reference to the letter grades on the course site in It’s learning.

Examination code(s)
GRA 22051 continuous assessment accounts for 100 % of the final grade in the course GRA 2205.

Examination support materials
Examination support materials at written examiniations are explained under examination information in the student portal @bi. Please note use of calculator and dictionary in the section on support materials.

Re-sit examination
It is only possible to retake an examination when the course is next taught.
The assessment in some courses is based on more than one exam code.
Where this is the case, you may retake only the assessed components of one of these exam codes.
Where this is not the case, all of the assessed components of the course must be retaken.
All retaken examinations will incur an additional fee.

Additional information
Honor Code
Academic honesty and trust are important to all of us as individuals, and represent values that are encouraged and promoted by the honor code system. This is a most significant university tradition. Students are responsible for familiarizing themselves with the ideals of the honor code system, to which the faculty are also deeply committed.

Any violation of the honor code will be dealt with in accordance with BI’s procedures for cheating. These issues are a serious matter to everyone associated with the programs at BI and are at the heart of the honor code and academic integrity. If you have any questions about your responsibilities under the honor code, please ask.