SMO 322: Lecture

Theory of Organization Behavior

Winter 2017
Instructor:
Chang Lu (Ph.D. Candidate)
Office: BUS 4-27
Office Hours: By appointment
Telephone: N/A
Email: clu5@ualberta.ca

Time and Place:

Tuesday and Thursday
15:30 to 16:50
BUS 4-13

Course Overview:

The purpose of this course is to help students acquire a deep understanding of workplace
attitudes, behaviors and dynamics, and their relationships with individual, team and
organization performance. The course materials are designed by the tradition of industrial
and organizational psychology. In this course, students will not only learn the basic
concepts and their relationships in the field of organizational behavior, but also apply
them in real cases, scenarios or practices. By taking this course, students can be better
equipped to navigate their careers, take leadership responsibilities and address complex
problems at workplace.

The course covers several areas of micro-level organizational concepts and phenomena. It
begins with the important outcomes that managers and employees care most--
performance, commitment and satisfaction, and then discusses how these outcomes can
be explained by concepts such as individual dispositions, motivation, stress,
organizational justice, team dynamics and leadership. Cases and applications will be used
and discussed throughout the course.

Course Materials:

Colquitt, J.A; LePine, J. A; Wesson, M.J; Gellatly, I. R. 2015. Organizational Behavior:

Improving Performance and Commitment in the Workplace. McGrawHill Education
(Third Canadian Edition)

Slides and assignments will be posted on Ulearn.

Grading System:
Class Participation: 15 points
Exploration Assignment 1: 15 points
Exploration Assignment 2: 15 points
Group Presentation on "Work Stress Reduction": 15 points
 Final Exam: 40 points
#Grades will not be curved#
Range Grade : 95 – 100 A+ 90 – 94.5 A 86 – 89.5 A- 82 – 85.5 B+ 78 – 81.5 B
77 – 80.5 B- 73 – 76.5 C+ 69 – 62.5 C 66 – 68.5 C- 62 – 65.5 D+ 58 – 61.5 D
0 - 57.5 F

Grades Breakdown:

Class Participation: Students are encouraged to actively participate in class. Class

participation includes class attendance, carefully and respectfully listening to students
and the instructor when they are speaking, asking questions, answering the instructor's
questions, and providing constructive comments in class discussions.

During the course, students will grade themselves twice (one in the middle of the term
and another in the end of the term) and the instructor will grade students once (at the end
of the term) for their class participation using the rubric in Figure 1. The final class
participation grade will be the average of all the three grades.

Students can use the rubric in Figure 1 to grade themselves, which will be posted on
Ulearn as an EXCEL document. Students can grade themselves in the EXCEL document
and email the document to the instructor. The first self grading should be emailed by
Feb 17th, Noon. The second self grading should be emailed by April 5th, Noon. The
instructor will use the same grading rubric to grade class participation on April 11th.

Exploration Assignment

The two Exploration Assignments are to help students develop their analytical skills in
the realm of organizational behavior (industrial psychology). The first assignment
focuses on personality and the second focuses on diversity. Each student is expected to
conduct a mini research for each assignment and write a report to summarize their
research findings. Figure 2 shows the grading rubric for these two assignments. Students
can submit their reports on ULearn.

1: Ask an acquaintance, close friend, and parent to describe your personality. Compare
and contrast their descriptions. Explain why their descriptions are similar and/or different.
Due on Sunday, Jan 29, Noon. Min 500 words, Max 800 words.

2: Ask three people with working experience identified as minority (racial, sexuality,
cultural etc.) to describe how they experienced "being a minority" when they worked in
teams, and why they experienced that way. Due on Sunday, Mar 19, Noon. Min 500
words, Max 800 words.

Group Presentation on Work Stress Reduction:

The group presentation is to help students develop presentation skills and work in teams.
First, four students form a team. Second, imagine you are a group of business consultants
 that develop "Work Stress Reduction" programs for your clients. Third, search online for
the most updated stress techniques that are being used in organizations, such as
mindfulness, flexible working schedule, "anger wall" etc. Then develop a program you
want to sell to your clients. You can focus on one specific technique, for example,
mindfulness, or make a combination of various techniques. Finally, you need to present
in class the "Work Stress Reduction" program designed by you and your teammates.
Your goal is to convince people to purchase the program. Each presentation will take 15
minutes. After each presentation, we will spend 10 minutes on Q&A.

The presentation will be graded by the rubric in Figure 3.

Final Exam:

The final exam is to test how much students have understood the course material. The
exam covers all the slides from the beginning to the end of the course. It consists of three
types of questions :True/False question (10 questions, 1 point per question), Multiple
Choice Questions (10 questions, 1.5 point per question), Short Answer Questions (5
questions, 3 point per question).

Academic Policies

Plagiarism and other forms of cheating will not be tolerated! “The University of Alberta
is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty. Students are
expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold
the policies of the University in this respect. Students are particularly urged to familiarize
themselves with the provisions of the Code of Student Behavior and avoid any behavior
which could potentially result in suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of
facts and/or participation in an offence (online at www.ualberta.ca/secretariat/
appeals.htm).

Course Timetable

Date Topics Readings and Activities

Jan 10 Syllabus and Course Introduction Class discussion
Jan 12 Job Performance Chapter 2 and slides
Jan 17 Job Performance Chapter 2 and slides
Jan 19 Organizational Commitment Chapter 3 and slides
Jan 24 Organizational Commitment Chapter 3 and slides
Jan 31 Personality and Ability Chapter 4 and slides
Feb 2 Personality and Ability Chapter 4 and slides
Feb 7 Job Satisfaction Chapter 5 and slides
Feb 9 Job Satisfaction Chapter 5 and slides
Feb 14 Stress Chapter 6 and slides
Feb 16 Stress Chapter 6 and slides
Feb 21 Reading Week (No class)
Feb 23 Reading Week (No class)
Feb 28 "Work Stress Reduction" Group Presentation
Mar 2 "Work Stress Reduction" Group Presentation
Mar 7 Motivation Chapter 7 and slides
Mar 9 Motivation Chapter 7 and slides
Mar 14 Trust, Justice and Ethics Chapter 8 and slides
Mar 16 Trust, Justice and Ethics Chapter 8 and slides
Mar 21 Team Characteristics, processes and diversity Chapter 11 and slides
Mar 23 Team Characteristics, processes and diversity Chapter 11 and slides
Mar 28 Team Characteristics, processes and diversity Chapter 11 and slides
Mar 30 Leadership Chapter 13 and slides
April 4 Leadership Chapter 13 and slides
April 6 No class
April 11 Final Review
 Figure 1 Grading Rubric For Class Participation

Name Date

Level 1 (0-1 point)
Attendance Barely present in class;often late
and leaves early;when
present,attention is often out of
class; indifferent to class activities
Listening Projects a lack of interest or
disrespect for others when they
speak; often disrupt others; ingore
others' opinion in class discussions.
Level 2 (1-2 point)
Present in most of classes; arrive mostly on
time and stay through the class;
demonstrate a relative high level of
concentration in class; being part of class
activities
Mostly displays interest for others when
they speak; rarely disrupts others' speaking;
frequently taking notes when listening;
paying attention to others' opinion in class
discussions
Level 3(2-3 point) Score Plans for Improvement
Rarely miss any class; always arrive on
time and barely leaves early;highly
concentrated in class; non-presence
makes class lack energy
Always shows great cuoristy when others
speak; displaying respect for others in
different ways; constanly taking notes;
comprehensively understand others'
opinion in class discussions

Inquiring Barely ask the instructor questions; Sometimes ask the instructor questions; Actively ask the instructor questions;
when asking, questions are questions are relevant to class but not questions are relevant, well elaborated,
irrelevant or distracting to class neccesarily clear or well elaborated; and creative, and bring discussions to
sometimes ask students questions in class another level; frequently ask students
discussions questions in class discussions in a
constructive way
Answering Barely answer the instructor's Sometimes answer the instructors' Frequently answer the instructor's
questions questions; and the answers are relevant and questions; answers are often correct and
clear. creative, and may lead to further class
discussion
Commenting Barely comment on class Sometimes comment on class discussions; Frequently comment on class discussions;
discussions and the comments are well elaborated; comments are clear and relevant;
Sometimes comments are constructive comments can inspire students and
instructors; in class discussion, comments
sythesizes others' opinions
Total:

Figure 2 Grading Rubric For Exploration Assignment

Information Collection
Level 1 (0-2 point)
information is often superficial,
inconsistent, inaccurate or incomplete;
desmontrated little effort to explore
information to a deeper level
Level 2 (2-4 point)
Gathers and examines relevant information;
information from different sources are presented
and organized; information is relatively in-rich, in-
depth, consistent and complete.
Level 3(5 point) Score
Selects and prioritizes information ;
accurately and appropriately presents
relevant information; information is
meaningful,coherent, and complete

Analytical and Critical Shows little ability to compare and
thinking constrat information from different
sources; Limited synthesis of various
informationl; presents few conclusions;
conclusions are often not well supported,
vague or rudimentary
Writing Skills The written report exhibits multiple errors
in grammar, sentence structure, and/or
spelling; inadequate writing skills (e.g.,
weaknesses in language facility and
mechanics) hinder readability and
contribute to an ineffective report
Exhibits satisfactory analysis of various
information; satisfactorily presents and appraises
information with only minor inconsistencies,
irrelevancies, or omissions; outlines conclusions
that are logical and consistent with the analysis
and evidence.
Written report displays good word choice,
language conventions, and mechanics with a few
minor errors in spelling, grammar, sentence
structure, and/or punctuation; errors do not
represent a major distraction or obscure meaning
Demonstrates well-developed
ability to integrate different sources of
information. Accurately and
appropriately analyzes and interprets
relevant information; precisely and
effectively justifies multiple
conclusions; conclusions are insightful,
well supported, and logically consistent.
Readability of the report is enhanced by
facility in language use/word choice,
excellent mechanics, and syntactic variety;
uses language conventions effectively (e.g.,
spelling, punctuation, sentence structure,
paragraphing, grammar, etc.)

Total:
 Figure 3 Grading Rubric For Group Presentation

Level 1 (0-1 point)
Information Collection information is often superficial,
inconsistent, inaccurate or incomplete;
desmontrated little effort to explore
information to a deeper level
Level 2 (1-2 point)
Gathers and examines relevant information;
information from different sources are presented
and organized; information is relatively in-rich, in-
depth, consistent and complete.
Level 3(2-3 point) Score
Selects and prioritizes information ;
accurately and appropriately presents
relevant information; information is
meaningful,coherent, and complete

Analytical and Critical Shows little ability to compare and
thinking constrat information from different
sources; Limited synthesis of various
informationl; presents few conclusions;
conclusions are often not well supported,
vague or rudimentary
Conceptual Engagement Makes little or no connection between the
issues and problems in the case and
relevant theories and concepts, or the
connections identified are weak or
inaccurate in many respects
Exhibits satisfactory analysis of various
information; satisfactorily presents and appraises
information with only minor inconsistencies,
irrelevancies, or omissions; outlines conclusions
that are logical and consistent with the analysis
and evidence.
Identifies and outlines connections between some
of the issues and problems in the case and
relevant theories and concepts; the connections
identified are adequately elucidated
Demonstrates well-developed
ability to integrate different sources of
information. Accurately and
appropriately analyzes and interprets
relevant information; precisely and
effectively justifies multiple
conclusions; conclusions are insightful,
well supported, and logically consistent.
Makes appropriate, insightful, and
powerful connections between the issues
and problems in the case and relevant
theories and concepts; effectively
integrates multiple sources of knowledge
with case information

Presentation Skills Slides are poorly crafted and difficult to Slides are sufficiently crafted and clear; frequent Slides are effectively crafted to intrigue
understand; ineffective use of media; use of media; speaking clearly; somewhat audience; fluent use of media; speaking in
unclear and confusing speaking; very little interaction with the audience an engaging and enthuastic way; frequent
interaction with the audience interaction with the audience.

Creativity Demonstrates little effort to be different Demonstrates some effort to be different; Ideas Demonstrates great effort to be different;
are somewhat new; materials are somewhat insightful yet innovative ideas; unqiue and
unique; presentation of the ideas is somewhat valuable materials; unconventional way of
creative presentation yet clear and coordinated.

Total: