Syllabus Mgb 301

MGB 301

Organizational Behavior

Spring 2016

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Instructor:                James Lemoine

Office:                        Jacobs Management Center 260

E-mail:                jlemoine@buffalo.edu

Office Hours:                Tues & Thurs, 10-11am, Jacobs 260

                        Other times available by appointment

Class time / location:                

Section S2B – Tues & Thurs, 2:00-3:20pm, Jacobs 110

Section S3B – Tues & Thurs, 3:30-4:50pm, Jacobs 110

Section S7B – Tuesdays, 6:30pm-9:10pm, Norton 218

Note: Most questions I'm asked can be handled efficiently by e-mail. I check my e-mail consistently, so I can usually respond within 24 hours. Please put "MGB 301" in the subject line of your e-mail so I will know to prioritize reading it.

Pre-req: PSY 101 and Junior standing the School of Management.

COURSE OBJECTIVES AND ASSESSMENT:

The goal of this course is to enhance students’ managerial and organizational skills by developing a sound understanding of evidence-based organizational behavior (OB). The course surveys various topics in OB, which are grouped roughly into the individual, group, and organizational levels of analysis. The course uses a variety of instructional techniques, and balances conceptual knowledge with practical application. The conceptual background on topics covered in the course is imparted through the text, any assigned readings, and lectures. Students’ skills in applying this knowledge to practical situations are developed through in-class experiential exercises and a final consulting project in which OB skills are used to solve problems in a local organization.

COURSE OBJECTIVES TRANSLATED:

This course will not teach you how to strategize a long-term profitable approach or avoid costly compliance lawsuits. It will not teach you how to build an amazing marketing plan or minimize business taxation. It will not teach you how to invest for maximum gain, create optimal logistics structures, or deploy new technology to firms. What this course seeks to do is to show you how to work within an organization to do all of these things, and many more, better. Most organizations do a good job of putting thought into issues like the ones listed above; relatively few (about 12%, by one estimate) maximize their organizational behavior (OB) practices to really live up to their potential and get everyone consciously, fully working toward the same goal.

Some businesspeople see organizational behavior as "fluff," less important than other disciplines. Some businesspeople are stupid. They think organizational behavior is just common sense... and as I will attempt to illustrate to you during the first week of class, they are usually wrong. As a general rule, I've found that the more people in the business world think they know about topics like organizational behavior, teamwork, and leadership, the less they actually tend to know. And since most people in the business world don't know OB, any knowledge of OB that you gain from this class can serve as a powerful competitive advantage. Competitive advantages are good.

I have ten years of experience as a manager, entrepreneur, and consultant from my life before I became a professor. My goal as your instructor is to base this course around things you will actually encounter in the "real-world," and to show you why they happen, how they happen, and how they can be leveraged to improve organizations and organizational life. Almost all of the material I teach in this class is scientifically validated - in other words, I won't teach you things that we think might be true, I'll teach you things that we have scientific evidence for, to demonstrate that they are true.

COURSE MATERIALS AND RESOURCES:

Organizational Behavior: Improving Performance and Commitment in the Workplace, first edition, by Colquitt, LePine, and Wesson.  ISBN 978-0073530086. Required. I have chosen this book for two reasons: first, because it's an excellent, readable, and even somewhat entertaining look at practically relevant OB. Second, since it's not the very latest edition of the text, you can find it relatively cheap (I saw a used copy on Amazon for fourteen cents, plus shipping). It is my hope that this will motivate you to actually buy the book instead of renting or (more likely?) just ignoring it. It's a good book, worthy of keeping on your shelf. And it has Alec Baldwin on the cover, which may be a plus for some of you.

Additional readings and materials will be provided occasionally (but not too often). They will be posted to the...

UBLearns site for MGB 301. You can visit UBLearns for class announcements, lecture presentations, additional readings, and grades.

CLASS FORMAT

I will attempt to use the principles of OB to create the best possible class for all of us. For instance, officially this is a lecture course, which implies that you would sit and listen to your instructor for an hour per session, be attentive but passive, and receive grades based solely on exam performance. However, in the business world, those who sit and listen passively without asking questions or thinking for themselves do not get promoted - in fact, they are usually the first to be laid off. With that in mind, it is my hope that this class will be characterized by discussion. Most of you likely have not yet had full-time employment, but you probably have had part-time jobs and/or experience with extracurricular organizations. Those experiences are ripe for exploration in this class. What drove you crazy? What made no sense? Can you believe that ***** said that? What actually worked pretty well? Those are the things I'd like to explore with you.

I will come to class each day prepared to lecture for the full period, and expecting (hoping?) to actually talk a good bit less than that. While listening is an effective method of learning, research shows that discussing, providing examples, and asking and answering questions is even better. I will sometimes run you through simulations and activities to illustrate our topics, and I hope you will also help keep the class interesting and enlightening by asking questions and talking about relevant experiences you have had. Please understand that it is entirely up to you whether this class is 3 hours a week of listening to me talk, or 3 hours a week of engaging discussion.

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