New York University



New York University

Stern School of Business

Managing Organizational Behavior

B01.1302.00

Saturday 9:00 – 11:50 am

Spring 2000

K-MEC 265

COURSE SYLLABUS

Professor Stephen Mezias

Office: MEC, Rm. 7-98

Phone: 212-998-0229

Fax: 603-794-7685

Email: smezias@stern.nyu.edu

Office Hours: Saturday 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. and by appointment.

Teaching Assistant: Jag Sriram.

Office and phone: The TA Center.

Email: js1128@stern.nyu.edu

1. ADMINISTRIVIA

There are several learning objectives for this course. First, you must become familiar with basic concepts, theories and approaches that can lead to the effective and efficient management of organizations. The readings play an important role in imparting this type of "technical" learning. This kind of learning is accomplished in the first part of each module of the course. A second learning objective is to synthesize and integrate organizational behavior topics in situations that have important similarities to those you face as a manager. Class discussions, teamwork, and exercises are particularly useful to accomplish this type of learning and take place both as part of the technical learning and in the second part of each module, which has an applications class. The third type of learning is "critical inquiry" where you feel empowered to create and critique thought. Written analyses of real organizational situations and team discussions are particularly useful to accomplish this type of learning. These take place throughout the semester.

1.1 Warnings

1.1.1 Quizzes

In order to ensure that you keep up with the reading, which is vital both to your understanding of lectures and exercises as well as to your successful participation in your teams, there are regular quizzes. Most students do very well on the quizzes; a few do not. If you do not plan to keep up with the reading, are frequently late to class, feel that language might be a problem in a multiple choice format, you might want to consider a section of the course that does not include quizzes. There are no make-ups on quizzes, but you may miss one with no effect on your grade. In addition, if you know in advance that you will not be able to attend a session with a quiz you may take it in advance by prior arrangement with the TA; this can be done by fax or in person, but is not possible by email.

2. On teamwork

There are several other skills required to become effective managers. Foremost among them are communication and interpersonal skills. The assignments and the class teaching style will make you aware of the importance of developing these skills. To underscore the centrality of these skills, your grade in this course will be based on both team and individual outcomes. You will be required to work on multiple team assignments throughout the semester. No substitution of individual work is possible. Teams will be formed during the third class session; if you are going to miss class on this date and wish to be on a team with particular individuals, you must make this known to me. Otherwise, placement on teams will be geared to equalizing team sizes. After these initial assignments, there is a one week period during which you can change teams with the written permission of the team you are joining and provided the team you are leaving still has at least three members. Otherwise, it is not possible to change your team membership. Substantial class time will be allotted for team work. Nonetheless, it is impossible to succeed in this course if you are unable to engage in significant team work outside of class sessions. All persons must be on teams at all points during the semester.

3. On late assignments

All assignments must be handed in at the start of the class in which they are due. Late assignments cannot receive full credit under any circumstances except absolutely dire, completely documented emergencies. In general, grades on these assignments will be lowered a full letter grade for each day of lateness beginning at the start of class when the assignment is due. If you are going to be late or absent, you may email assignments to me, smezias@stern.nyu.edu, have assignments delivered to me at Department of Management, 44 W. 4th Street, NY NY 10012, or you can fax them to me at (603) 794-7685. However, if you use these services, the materials must arrive no later than 15 minutes prior to the start of class in order to avoid being counted as late.

4. On failure to proofread

Written assignments must be proofread with care prior to being given to me. In the worst case scenario, the grade on the paper will be lowered as a result of grammatical and spelling mistakes. If you have a problem with spelling, then I suggest you use both a dictionary and a good program to check your spelling. If you have a problem with grammar, then I suggest that you obtain a copy of The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E. B. White (New York: Macmillan) or a similar text. Cheap paperback copies can be obtained at many bookstores, and copies are in Bobst, Call # PE1408.S87.

1. Course Materials

The principal materials required for this class are the following:

1. The source of almost all course materials is the Reading Packet (RP), available at Print-Mor Copy Shop, 66 Bleecker St., on the south side of the street just east of Broadway (tel: 777-7624). As of the time I called they were open to 7 on weekdays, and 11-5 on Saturdays, but you should call to verify their schedule prior to going there.

2. Internet: Some materials and many of the class cases are available via the internet. Links are posted in the syllabus. You may either go to the syllabus and link directly or use the browser of your choice by entering the URL. It is vital that you access required materials as far in advance as possible. The internet, while a wonderful tool, can also be unreliable. I ensure that all links are viable, but that does not mean that any particular site will be operable if you go to look there at the last minute. Accessing materials from the internet a requirement from this class; failure to do so on a timely basis is your responsibility.

Please note that in the great trade-off between substance and presentation, I have gone heavily for substance. I hasten to add that this was driven by concern about the rising costs of textbooks. Typical texts, which are hard-covered and full of glossy photographs, cost over $60. The reading packet for this course, which is noticeably lacking in both photographs and flashy graphics, costs far less than one-third the price of a typical text. The missing graphics will be more than made up for in the lecture slide handouts. We will spend at least one session during each module in applications classes, which will more than make-up for the missing war stories. Finally, the moving images of video will compensate you frequently for the pictures that do not appear in your low cost reading packet.

2. GRADING

Your grade will be determined as a combination of both individual and team work. Please note that these distributions are approximate; adjustments due to pedagogical circumstance are possible.

1. Team Work: 50%

(a) Presentation: 10%

(b) Midterm Case Analysis: 20%

(c) Final Case Analysis: 20%

2. Individual Work: 50%

(a) Class participation: 20%

(b) Weekly Quizzes: 30%

1. Team Work

From the time that teams are formed in the third class session until the end of the semester, a large part of the learning experience in this course is focused on teams and teamwork. During the third class session, you will be assigned to a team based on the feedback you have given me at the end of the second class session regarding your availability during the week for team meetings and your preference for a location for those meetings to be held. It will also be possible for each of you to nominate one person to be on your team with you. Please note that this nomination will be ignored unless the person you nominated reports the same preference for meeting times and locations as others that might be in your team. For persons who do not give me information, placement on teams will be geared to equalizing team sizes. Presuming enrollment in the class approaches the limit, teams will be formed with either 5 or 6 persons; unless enrollment deviates significantly from the limit, neither teams smaller than 5 nor larger than 6 are possible at the outset.

Up until the end of the third class session, you may change teams with the written permission of the team you are entering; a note indicating such permission signed by all current members of a team must be submitted to me with your written notification of a team change. This can be done on the back of a 3 Minute Memo or submitted separately. Subsequent to this date, no further changes in team membership are possible. It is imperative that you understand that it is impossible to succeed in this course if you are unable to engage in significant team work outside of class sessions. The case of abject failure in teamwork is so extraordinary as to negate the structure of normal percentage allocations of credit to specific tasks. The consequences of freeloading, shirking, or otherwise missing team work are substantial; it is your responsibility to ensure that the other members of your team are satisfied with your contribution. By closely monitoring teamwork, most directly by structuring the leadership roles, and by collecting peer evaluations at the end of the semester as well, I will have good information concerning what has happened in the teams. Extreme, negative information will severely impact your grade; please act accordingly.

2.1.1 Team case analyses

Both the midterm and the final are team case analyses, which should respond to specific questions that will be distributed and discussed in class. The length of your case analysis is left to the judgement of you and your group. However, lengthy answers full of irrelevant or poorly organized material will receive lower grades. Of course, team members must be aware that the entire team is responsible for completing all team work. The Midterm and Final Case Analyses each constitute 20% of the final grade.

There are many different ways that groups may interact; some are more likely to ensure success than others. Two things are clear: (1) attention to group process leads to greater group effectiveness, and (2) following a process that leads to greater participation and the eliciting of multiple opinions will lead to greater group effectiveness.

For this reason, I suggest that the team adopt the following process in preparing the case analyses. The team may modify this method as you see fit given the experience of your team in using it:

1. Divide the team into pairs, assigning all the required aspects of the case assignment to a pair of persons to prepare a very rough outline of an answer.

2. These two individuals should read the case prior to meeting with one another to brainstorm about the question they have been assigned. The results of this meeting between this pair of persons will be the basis of their outline of an answer to the question to be presented at a subsequent meeting of the team as a whole.

3. The team should reconvene to have an ordinary group discussion (see p. 461 of Conducting meetings) of the presentation of the proposed answers by the pairs of members. To avoid preliminary closure on an inappropriate or incomplete answer, one person should play "devil's advocate" to facilitate a dialectical inquiry (see p. 471 of Conducting meetings) about each issue.

4. A pair of persons should then be assigned to write up a first draft of the outline. One of the pair can do a first draft and the other can finalize the written answer and do a careful proofreading.

5. If you have subdivided this assignment or others into separate written responses to specific issues or questions, then a pair of persons should be assigned to get the individual ‘pieces’ and put them into a complete package. Once again, one person should put together the final package and the other do a very careful proofreading.

2. Team presentations

All teams must make at least one presentation to the class during the semester, which will constitute ten percent of your grade. We will explicitly focus on the topic of effective oral presentation during the second class. The aspects of doing this will be evaluated directly using an instrument that we will discuss at that time. Design your presentations to match the criteria that we discuss.

2.2 Individual Work

2.2.1 Class participation

As much of the course is based on class activities and discussions, attendance and participation are crucial. Students are expected to prepare for class and to participate actively in discussions. To facilitate student discussion, classes are structured to elicit participation to the extent possible given the lecture format of introductory classes and the size.

1. During the lecture on conceptual material, students will be prompted to supply examples of various ways in which the material applies to real life situations. Examples from your own experience are especially welcome.

2. During the review of videos and exercises, discussion is the central activity. Students should be prepared to discuss their assessments of videos and experiential exercises.

3. Students can ask questions of the student groups at the end of their presentations.

4. Any student, who is fearful of attempting to speak spontaneously, perhaps due to fear of public speaking or not having English as a first language, should see me. We can schedule participation in discussions in advance so that you will know what points will be raised and you can prepare your comments.

While it is true that class participation is only fifteen percent of the normal credit portfolio, the case of abject failure in participation is so extraordinary as to negate the structure of normal percentage allocations of credit to specific tasks. Students cannot pass this course without participating in the intellectual community that this class strives to create. In this regard, it is important to note that more than TWO ABSENCES will adversely affect your grade for class participation. Under extraordinary circumstances, documented illnesses, religious holidays, and documented emergencies will be taken into consideration, but this only occurs if such circumstances explain all of your absences including the four for which no excuse is normally required. Documented emergencies will be the first counted against your allocation of four; any additional unexcused absences will adversely impact your grade despite the fact that you have some documentation for some of these absences. Closer examination of how participation is graded reveals at least three ways in which absence hurts your class participation grade.

1. If you are not present, you cannot participate. Thus, while your grade is not affected because you are absent, it is affected by your failure to participate in class discussions both during team and general class discussions.

2. At the end of every class where new material is presented, you will be asked to write a 3 minute memo. The purpose of these 3 minute memos is to establish a direct line of communication from you to me. To encourage frankness and freedom of expression, these memos are graded PASS/FAIL. PASS means simply that you handed in something. FAIL means you handed in nothing. Thus, your grade is not affected by what you communicate to me on these memos. However, this communication is a required part of class participation; if you are not present, there will be no 3 minute memo from you, and your grade for participation will be affected.

2.2.2 Class Quizzes

All quizzes are multiple choice and completely open book and open note. Quizzes occur throughout the semester. If you know ahead of time that you will not be present for a quiz, you may make arrangements with the teaching assistant to take the quiz in advance. There are no make-ups on quizzes that are missed. Your average grade on these quizzes, after dropping your single lowest grade, will constitute 30% of your final grade for the semester.

COURSE SCHEDULE: B1302.00 Room 2-65 KMC, Saturday mornings, 9:00 am to 11:50 am. Spring Semester, 2002.

I. Introduction to the course

Class 1: Theories of Organizations, 1: A brief history.

Date: 2 February 2002

1. Ready for class:

a) Even I won’t ask you to prepare anything the first day!

2. Administrative issues and introductions.

3. Forming groups for the semester.

4. Video: Modern Times.

5. Assumptions about workers: Group discussion.

6. Class discussion: Assumptions about workers and organizations.

Class 2: Theories of Organizations 2: Systems theories of Organizations.

Date: 9 February 2002

1. Weekly quiz covering:

a) Open systems.

b) Choosing an involvement strategy.

c) Making effective oral presentations.

d) Conducting effective meetings.

2. Video: Mary Kay Cosmetics

3. What leads to a high involvement workplace?

4. Decision quiz: Not graded, strictly to earn participation points.

II. Individuals, Teams, and Workgroups as System Components

Class 3: Individuals and Decision-Making

Date: 16 February 2002

1. Weekly Quiz covering:

a) Decisions in organizations and theories of choice.

b) Individual self-interest versus social adaptation and decision making.

c) Rethinking thinking.

2. Lecture: Readings and theories of individuals.

3. Video: Israeli Air Force

4. How to create contexts that make individuals feel involved?

Class 4: Understanding teams and work groups.

Date: 23 February 2002

1. Ready for class:

a) Completed individual ranking for desert survival.

2. Weekly quiz covering:

a) Restructuring teams for the reengineered organization.

b) Building collaborative cross-functional new product development teams.

c) Delegation.

3. Video: Clip from The Lion King.

4. Lecture to review video and readings.

5. Team exercise: Desert survival.

III. Changing Environments:

Understanding System Inputs

Class 5: Environments 1: Managing Cultural Diversity.

Date: 2 March 2002

1. Ready for class: Teamwork Inventories from Desert Survival.

2. Weekly quiz covering:

a) Cultural constraints in management theories.

b) The multicultural organization.

c) Building a business case for diversity.

d) Kidder Peabody and Company.

3. Video: Getting a taxi in Manhattan.

4. Lecture to review video and readings.

5. Review of midterm questions.

6. Country presentations (No more than two).

Class 6: Environments 2: Managing Stakeholder Groups.

Date: 9 March 2002

1. Ready for class: Teamwork inventories for class 5 presentations.

2. Weekly quiz covering:

a) Strategies for assessing and managing organizational stakeholders.

b) Managing and partnering with external stakeholders.

3. Video: JIAN and the virtual enterprise.

4. Team Presentation: Employee ownership: .

5. Team Presentation: Corporate governance: .

Spring Break

Date: 16 March 2002

Group work session:

Date: 23 March 2002

Team work is central to this course. Take the entire session to work on group process and upcoming group work. Most critical tasks are wrapping up the midterm and getting a start on the final.

IV. Organizational Systems and Outputs

Class 7: Strategy and Communication: Linking Organizations with their Environments

Date: 30 March 2002

1. Ready for Class:

a) Midterm case analysis is due at the start of class.

b) Teamwork inventories for Class 6 presentations.

2. Weekly quiz covering:

a) Coping with hypercompetition.

b) The selection of communication media as an executive skill.

c) Package on the internet as a medium of communication.

3. Video: The future of US airlines (1991).

4. Exercise: The Telephone Game.

5. Lecture on readings, video, and new developments in communication media.

6. Decision making quiz.

7. Team Presentation: Competitive intelligence: .

8. Team Presentation: Surveys as a form of communication: .

Class 8: Designing Flexible Structures.

Date: 6 April 2002

1. Ready for class:

a) Teamwork Inventories from the midterm case.

b) Teamwork Inventories for Class 7 presentations.

2. Weekly Quiz covering:

c) Design Principles for the innovating company.

d) Building better bureaucracies.

3. Exercise: The Puzzle Game.

4. Lecture: Readings and the puzzle game.

5. Team presentation: Organizational Development and Building Flexible Structures:

6. Team presentation: Business Process Reengineering:

Class 9: Human Resource Management and Organizational Culture.

Date: 13 April 2002

1. Ready for class:

a) Teamwork Inventories from Class 8 presentations.

2. Weekly quiz covering:

a) Putting people first for organizational success.

b) Managing corporate culture through reward systems.

c) Wachtell, Lipton.

3. Video: David Letterman visits GE.

4. Lecture: Control through rewards and culture.

5. Team Presentation: Total quality, human resource management, and motivation: .

6. Team presentation: Culture in organizations:

Class 10: Leadership and motivation.

Date: 20 April 2002

1. Ready for class:

a) Teamwork inventories for Class 9 presentations.

2. Weekly quiz covering:

a) The language of leadership.

b) Empowerment: Rejuvenating a potent idea.

3. Video: I have a dream.

4. Lecture about leadership and motivation.

5. Team Presentation: Leadership oratory and rhetoric: .

6. Team Presentation: Performance Management: p-.

Class 11: Organizational change and corporate social responsibility.

Date: 27 April 2002

1. Ready for Class:

a) Teamwork inventories for Class 10 presentations.

2. Weekly quiz covering:

a) Creating earthquakes.

b) Managing cynicism.

c) Ethics tool kit.

3. Video: Clip from Broadcast News.

4. Lecture on two forests: changing systems and changing demands for outputs.

5. Team Presentation: Sustainability: .

6. Team Presentation: Downsizing:

Class 12: Understanding and Managing Social Systems: Final Lecture

Date: 4 May 2002

1. Ready for class:

a) Nothing! Come and relax. Bring your knowledge from this semester.

2. Video Case: Waters of Ayole.

3. Video: Clip from Toy Story.

4. Final Lecture: Things that matter!

5. Questions about the final.

6. Course evaluations.

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