EXC 2953 Organizational Behaviour and Management

EXC 2953 Organizational Behaviour and Management

Course code: 
EXC 2953
Department: 
Leadership and Organizational Behaviour
Credits: 
7.5
Course coordinator: 
Laura E. Mercer Traavik
Course name in Norwegian: 
Organizational Behaviour and Management
Product category: 
Bachelor
Portfolio: 
Bachelor - Common Courses
Semester: 
2018 Spring
Active status: 
Active
Level of study: 
Bachelor
Teaching language: 
English
Course type: 
One semester
Introduction

“The successful twenty-first-century manager will have to make the behavioural and attitudinal adjustments necessary to succeed in dynamic times"
Ray French, Charlotte Rayner, Gary Rees, Sally Rumbles, ”Organizational Behaviour”, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. England 2008 page 38.
Organizational Behaviour (OB) covers a relatively new subject area. It focuses on the behaviour of individuals and groups at work within an ethical frame of values and attitudes.
OB is multidisciplinary, covering social sciences like Psychology, Sociology and Anthropology.
The purpose of OB is multidimensional. Through scientific studies, OB draws on organizational knowledge that creates new and improved leadership and management theories, models and techniques that enhance the probability for managers to succeed in the “human business” of managing and leading organizations.

This course will give the students a good platform for further studies in applied social sciences.

Learning outcomes - Knowledge

This course in Organizational Behaviour and Management provides the students with relevant theoretical background for understanding and influencing organizations. They will learn a number of definitions and get an insight into theories, models and techniques within the Organizational Behaviour (OB) field, and thus achieve an understanding of the eclectic nature of psychology and leadership/management.

Learning outcomes - Skills

After completed course students will be able to:

  • Interpret and understand behaviour and attitudes of individuals and groups in organizations
  • Define organizational problems and to apply OB theory, models and techniques, in order to diagnose and implement changes in organizations
  • Play the role of a 3rd party consultant in OB processes.
Learning Outcome - Reflection

Be aware of the notion that organizations have a responsibility to their employees and to the society that sustain them; and ultimately, the obligation to behave in ethical and moral ways.

Course content
  • What is Organizational Behaviour
  • Individual differences and Their relevance to Work
    • Perception, Personality and Values
    • Learning, reinforcement and self-management
    • Engagement of Employees in the Workplace
  • Managing the Oorganization
    • Changing Worlds and the Design of Work
    • Organizational structure and design
    • Organizational culture
  • People, Processes and Performance
    • Groups and teams
    • Leadership
    • Power, Politics and Decision Making in Organizations
    • Communication, Conflict and Negotiation in Organizations
    • Organizational Change
Learning process and requirements to students

The course consists of 14 lectures each of 3 hours duration, and a number of active individual and group learning processes (role play, teambuilding and self assessment processes, video-case-discussions etc.) The lectures are related to the 12 chapters of the textbook. In the first lecture the students will, through the Internet, get access to a major case that exemplifies how the theory in each lecture may be applied. This approach will be the same throughout the course. The major case will also be the final, graded case for the group assignment. In order to get the necessary case training during the course period, it is important that the students try to establish a group of maximum three participants, already at the beginning of the course.

In order to help the students to help themselves, multiple-choice questions will be available after each lecture. These the students are recommended to answer, since at the end of the course, they will have to attend a one hour, closed book, multiple-choice quiz examination, consisting of 30 questions that have been chosen from the entire question database that has been available throughout the course.

You are required to know how to use BI´s learning support system, It's Learning, and to aquire skills in search processes necessary for dealing with case material and relevant case theory, both on the Internet and through BI´s library information systems.

Software tools
No specified computer-based tools are required.
Qualifications

Higher Education Entrance Qualification.

Required prerequisite knowledge

None

Assessments
Assessments
Exam category: 
Submission
Form of assessment: 
Structured test
Invigilation
Grouping: 
Individual
Support materials: 
  • Bilingual dictionary
Duration: 
1 Hour(s)
Comment: 
Must be passed in order to obtain final grade.
Students that have failed in one of the two examinations, will only have to sit for the examination that they failed.
Exam code: 
EXC29531
Grading scale: 
Pass/fail
Resit: 
Examination every semester
Exam category: 
Submission
Form of assessment: 
Written submission
Weight: 
100
Grouping: 
Group/Individual (1 - 3)
Duration: 
72 Hour(s)
Comment: 
Must be passed in order to obtain final grade.
Students that have failed in one of the two examinations, will only have to sit for the examination that they failed.
Exam code: 
EXC29532
Grading scale: 
ECTS
Resit: 
Examination every semester
Exam organisation: 
Ordinary examination
All exams must be passed to get a grade in this course.
Total weight: 
100
Student workload
ActivityDurationComment
Teaching
42 Hour(s)
Prepare for teaching
36 Hour(s)
Group work / Assignments
97 Hour(s)
Examination
1 Hour(s)
Compulsory multiple-choice examination
Examination
24 Hour(s)
Final case assignment
Sum workload: 
200

A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 7,5 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of at least 200 hours.