Course Outline of Organizational behaviour and Design Essay

Organizational behavior is concerned with the study and application of the human side of management and organization. Although, the traditional writers like Douglas McGregor’s 1960 classic Human Side of Enterprise take a cognitive, humanistic approach to the subject , this course is intended to be much more eclectic and wide ranging drawing from fields of psychology, sociology, social psychology and anthropology. The underlying aim is to use all these fields to better understand the complex phenomenon called the Human Behavior. The course will draw from the cognitive school analyzing perceptual process, personality attributes, attitude formation, motivational theories and their operational significance. Then the behaviorist school is covered drawing from the works of Pavlov, Watson and Skinner and the practical application of these theories especially in reward system and organizational processes. Moving from the Individual the area next covered is the dynamics of group behavior and the operational issues of the modern day work teams. The course then moves to a macro perspective of the overall organization covering the areas of Culture, Power, Leadership and the nature of politics. Finally the clinical and operational issues of occupational stress are covered. Finally, in terms of organizational design, the broad variables of organizational structure, environmental complexity and strategy effectiveness will be explored. Course Objectives The overall objective of the course is to understand human behavior in organizations so as to equip the students with the theoretical and operational tools to better predict, control and manage the contemporary human resource. In addition, the course aims to enable students to get an insight and appreciation of how organizational theory may contribute towards improving the design and management of organizations. An in-depth examination of certain concepts (e. g. , environmental complexity, Organizational Structure) will also be undertaken. The course will use an integrative macro framework to diagnose and analyze the interaction of organizations, their environments, and people within and outside of the organizations. Generally the most important asset of the organization is overlooked in organizations-human resources. The performance of the organization depends upon the drive of each and every employee working behind a product or a service that it offers to the consumer, thus organization works similar to a social community. Thus if organizations are comparable to a micro-society with its own set of culture, beliefs, norms and behaviors, it naturally follows that to keep organization competitive (especially in today’s cut throat competition), it is imperative to dissect and understand human behavior within organization. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link! Similarly an organization is only as strong or powerful as its weakest person. Learning Outcomes Define and understand organizations as ‘Social Systems’ and to discuss its implications Understand and explain the theoretical frameworks used to understand human behavior Understand the perceptual processes and principles and to examine the impact of these principles on attribution, decision making, conflict resolution and other organizational areas. Dissect the psychology of attitudes and understand the significance and impact of attitudes in an organizational context Define, differentiate and compare the major motivational theories along with the utility of these theories in modern organizations Define the basic nature of groups, the dynamics of formal and informal groups and various types of groups Analyze the elements of intra group and inter group behavior and to discuss the variables that make these groups effective Understand the principles of reinforcement and punishment in the context of organizational reward system and productivity Understand the multiple facets of organizational justice and its complex relationship to organizational commitment Understand the critical importance of organizational culture and the mechanisms of its perpetuation, typologies, contextualization with national culture and layers Define the various basis of power and understand the effective use of influence methods for modern managers Understand the dynamics of organizational politicking and its underlying causalities Defin e leadership, discuss the various theories of leadership and analyze the emerging trends in the broad debate of leadership.