ALS 451
Organizational Behavior

This course will be taught via distance learning

You have already spent a significant amount of your life in an organization (e.g. school). Very likely, you will spend many future years of your life in organizations. This Organizational Behavior course addresses contemporary management challenges arising from complex workplace dynamics, “irrational” human behavior, multifaceted organizational processes, and increasingly diverse workforces. The focus of this course is on the scientific study of behavioral processes in organizations. It highlights critical management issues involved in planning, organizing, controlling, and leading an organization. This course aims to strengthen students’ managerial potential by providing general frameworks, or “foundations,” for analyzing, diagnosing, and responding to complex organizational situations. It strives to challenge students’ existing notion of management pedagogy by using evidence-based theoretical and practical knowledge to rigorously dissect organizations as changing social systems. It also provides opportunities for students to enhance their communication and interpersonal skills, which are essential to effective management.

The structure of the course encourages learning at multiple levels: through in-class lectures, exercises, cases and discussions, in small teams carrying out projects, and in individual reading, study, and analysis. The assigned readings provide basic concepts, theories, and approaches that identify important organizational issues and describe effective and efficient management practices. Lectures and class discussions will review and extend this material. Exercises and case analyses will provide rich examples to anchor and guide class discussions. In-class activities in combination with individual study and team projects are designed to enable students to critically evaluate and synthesize diverse information and to develop their own management perspectives.

Reading Materials
Required readings, which are to be completed before arriving to class, are available from Sakai. Readings will consist of articles, book chapters, handouts, cases and exercises. Assignments for this course include both individual and team requirements.

Textbooks

Mandatory for first year students

The primary objectives of this course are to help you:

1. have a clearer understanding of how to become an effective management leader and decision-maker;
2. learn how to better manage your relationships with members of your organization;
3. be better equipped with an arsenal of analytical skills;
4. hone your skills to think critically and inquisitively about complex and ambiguous organizational issues.