This course introduces concepts, issues and skills that focus on organisational behaviour and management.

 

The three interrelated perspectives, People, Leadership, and Performance are taken to explore and discuss the nature of organisations and managing in organisations. Types of organisations can include families, religious bodies, schools and universities, workplaces, hospitals, emergency service units, and defence forces.

Organisations do not actually exist as living entities but rather are human constructs that in many cases get legal recognition. As a consequence, organisations are really about people that include managers, workers, suppliers, customers, and financiers - indeed anyone who comes into contact with, or is impacted by, an organisation. We call these groups of people stakeholders (literally because they gain something - "a stake" or claim - in that contact with the organisation).

As a postgraduate student, the chances are you have membership with a number of different types of organisations - your family, this university, sporting teams, clubs etc. You may also be working full-time or part-time and workplace organisations are the real focus for this course. In this sense, the course can provide practical and useful information for you. This course will help form ideas about possibilities and ways of doing things as well as helping not to "reinvent the wheel" by informing us of different ways of managing and motivating people and how these may work (or not work).

The course looks at concepts that can help you understand organisational structure and management, explores people in terms of individual differences and group factors, considers how workplaces can be designed, and then looks at how to manage and lead within organisations. Understanding how people are motivated and how the psychology of individuals and groups may work against or for the goals of an organisation obviously help managers plan to achieve desired outcomes. Likewise, understanding managers and leaders in terms of individual differences and contribution towards organisational development and achieving organisational goals also helps us understand how we may become better at managing, motivating, and mentoring when we take our places as managers in the workplace.

And finally, this course will help assess your current personal and management skills, and help develop plans to improve those skills that need improvement.

We hope you enjoy studying this course.

 

Dr Sunil Savur

 

There are no prerequisite courses to be completed before this course can be undertaken.

There are no corequisite courses to be completed in conjunction with this course.

On completion of this course, students should be able to:

CO1. Aquire critical thinking and problem solving skills to improve the management of one's self and others (e.g., teams) at work.

CO2. Evaluate knowledge for personal development and improved effectiveness individually and in the context of teams and organisations.

CO3. Develop skills to evaluate and produce ethical, responsible, and global perspectives and actions within self, coworkers, leaders, and organisations.

CO4. Demonstrate Business School Enterprise Skills: i) Self-Management (intermediate level); ii) Ethical Awareness (intermediate level); iii) Teamwork (intermediate and advanced levels); iv) Written Communication (intermediate level); and iv) Oral Communication (intermediate and advanced levels)

Upon completion of this course, students will have achieved the following combination of Graduate Qualities and Course Objectives:

A graduate of UniSA:

GQ1. operates effectively with and upon a body of knowledge of sufficient depth to begin professional practice

GQ2. is prepared for life-long learning in pursuit of personal development and excellence in professional practice

GQ3. is an effective problem solver, capable of applying logical, critical, and creative thinking to a range of problems

GQ4. can work both autonomously and collaboratively as a professional

GQ5. is committed to ethical action and social responsibility as a professional and citizen

GQ6. communicates effectively in professional practice and as a member of the community

GQ7. demonstrates international perspectives as a professional and as a citizen

• Soft v. hard skills, problem solving, and other keys to your job and career success
• Employee attributes that drive performance
• Motivation—the engine of performance
• Performance management—the frequent culprit of underperformance and other undesirable outcomes
• Positive organisational behaviour—what’s right with employees and organisations
• Team dynamics, processes, and outcomes
• Power, influence, and politics—getting things done through others
• Leadership—influence in action
• Organisational culture—the fabric of organisational life

4.5 units

You will need continual access to the following text(s) to complete this course. Where possible the Library will make the book available for student use. Please check the Library catalogue before purchasing the book(s). The Library will always seek to purchase resources that allow an unlimited number of concurrent users, however availability is dependent on license arrangements with book publishers and platforms. http://www.library.unisa.edu.au

Kinicki, A & Fugate, M (2016). Organizational Behavior: A Practical, Problem-Solving Approach (1st ed). McGraw-Hill.

Purchasing the course e-book:

 

The link to register and purchase the e-book will be informed to you by your Coordinator.

 

All course related materials can be accessed through your learnonline course site which you will be able to access from the my Courses section in myUniSA.

All study related materials can be accessed through: https://my.unisa.edu.au

Details of assessment submission and return are listed under each assessment task. Assessment tasks will be returned to you within two to three weeks of submission.

If the Course Coordinator allows submissions in hard copy format, you will be required to attach an Assignment Cover Sheet which is available on the learnonline student help (https://lo.unisa.edu.au/mod/book/view.php?id=1843&chapterid=567) and in myUniSA.

The feedback proforma is available on your course site.

The Continuous Assessment has two parts:


1. Weekly activities (50% weighting):

For every topic from Topics 2 to 9 (total of 8 topics), you need to complete an online quiz (consisting of 10 True/False and 10 Multiple Choice Questions).

Due date for each quiz is shown above.

For each quiz question, you get only one attempt.

Each quiz will be open and available to you from Wednesday 10pm of that week's topic, and will close on the date and time as shown in the due dates above.

Once a quiz is started, it should be completed within 40 minutes of starting.

For example, if you start the Topic-2 quiz at 10 am on 16 March, you need to complete it by 10:40 am on 16 March (the quiz will close automatically at 10:40 am).


2. Take Away Applications (TAAPs) (50% weighting):

Identify and explain how two different concepts of each topic (Topics 2 to 9) can be applied to your jobs/professional life.

Length: about ONE page for each topic.

Due date for each TAAP is shown above.

Details for TAAP:


For each topic, students are expected to identify and explain how they can apply two concepts or theories from that topic as discussed in class to their jobs/professional life.

TAAP for each topic needs to be uploaded to the assessment's Learnonline link by the due dates mentioned above. Penalties of 10% per day will be applied for late submissions.


The explanation needs to clearly describe the concept or theory and specifically how you would apply it in your own world of work. To clarify, identify the concept, describe it, and explain explicitly how you would apply it in your work/business/career.


You are limited to one page, single spaced, 11-point font, to describe the applications of two concepts from each topic. While your explanations must necessarily be concise, bullet points are too vague/simplistic and unacceptable. Include your name and the week the assignment is due on your paper.


Only WORD format will be acceptable - no PDFs please.


Goals for Assignment: First, it will serve as a review of the topic’s material. Second, it will enable you to stay current and to make the material more relevant by applying it throughout the course to your own life/job.

 

Examples are available in the "Materials" section of the course online site.

Case Analysis:

This is an individual assignment. The case for this assignment is available in the "Materials" section of the course online site.

The analysis should follow the instructions below.


Due dates: Your write up is due by 11 pm, 28 April 

For the case analysis, you are asked to apply the 3-Step Problem Solving Approach outlined in Chapter 1 and explained during the first class:

Step 1: Define the Problem. Identify the most important problem in the case. A problem is defined as a gap between the current and desired situation. Please express your problem in terms of the gap. There may be more than one key problem. Please note, however, that cases are selected and assigned to illustrate the concepts for that particular week. Therefore, while many concepts may apply you should give priority to those for the current week’s topics.

Step 2: Identify Important Causes Using OB Concepts. Identify the causes of the problem using the tools and concepts from the topics, readings, and class discussions. Remember, causes lead to problems and they may exist at multiple levels: the individual level (e.g., values, personalities and motivation), at the group/team level (e.g., dysfunctional group dynamics), and at the organisational level (e.g., performance management). Problems tend to disappear when causes are eliminated.

Step 3: Recommended Solution. Recommend and justify a specific solution. Your recommendation may have multiple parts, but the page constraint requires you to prioritize, choose, and explain only the primary or best aspects of your recommendation. Also, please be sure that your recommendations clearly and EXPLICITLY link to the causes (and problems) you identify. Recommendations address causes, which in turn should solve or mitigate problems.


Deliverables:

Word count: 2100 words +/- 10% - does not include reference list

File type: WORD document - no PDFs

Format: Brief introduction (about 200 words), Steps 1, 2, and 3 (560 words each), Conclusion (about 200 words).

References: as required, follow the Harvard UniSA format

Group project:

This assignment has two parts - a in-class group presentation in Weeks 9 and 10 and a report to be submitted on-line by 26 May 2019.

Groups will be formed in Week-1.


Group presentation:


Your team is required to prepare a presentation of approximately 15 minutes in length. Your presentation needs to include 4-5 key topics covered in the course - breadth and depth. To clarify, you must illustrate 4-5 different topics (from the 9 topics in the course) - not 4-5 types of motivation or 3 types of motivation and 2 types of leadership. Please be sure to provide both a sufficient number of concepts and a sufficient level of detail/illustration for each.

Internal students: Presentations should be made by teams in class in Weeks 9 & 10. Exact schedule will be informed later.


Format of Presentation:

Identify a scenario or an experience from your workplace or work experience. Describe whether the scenario/experience is a problem or a success, Illustrate/explain the scenario/experience using 4-5 topics from the course. Provide a recommendation or a summary at the end of the presentation.

The following scenario is only an example. You may choose to assume your group is comprised of employees who had tuition reimbursed by their employers. In return for this benefit, your managers expect you to illustrate the value of your education to them by presenting how they might apply what you learned for your company’s benefit (i.e., what is their ROI). During your presentation you need to explain using 4-5 course topics to your managers and provide compelling applications in the context of the company.


Please use PowerPoint slides for your presentation. Within the delivery of your presentation, you can use role-play, games, skits or any other creative and professional format - just be certain to clearly communicate the content.The format is your choice. It is necessary to have everybody in the group participate in the presentation - group member’s respective roles depend on what you choose to do. But whatever you choose, every team member is expected to make significant contributions.


Important:

Each team member is expected to present at least one out of the 4-5 chosen topics within the overall team presentation.

For example, the presentation could be composed as follows:

Slides 1,2,3: introduction of the scenario, introduction of team members, structure of the presentation
Slide 4: first team member's presentation
Slide 5: second team member's presentation
etc.
etc.
3rd last slide: Summary & conclusion
2nd last slide: Recommendations
Last slide: Reference list


Focus of Presentation:

The emphasis should be on the application of the concepts instead of regurgitation of the details of the chosen topics. To clarify, please do not spend excessive (or any) time defining or regurgitating concepts or book content - do enough to demonstrate you know what you are talking about and focus mainly on application/illustration.


Grading Criteria:

Presentations will be graded based on the factors noted below:

Relevance to Course Content
Captivating Presentation
Illustration of Feasible Applications

Report:

Each group also needs to submit a Report (in Word format - max 1500 words). As in a typical report format, it should consist of a front page (with your names, ID, assessment name, and a title of the report), an executive summary, an introduction, the main body (consisting of descriptions of scenario, applications of the 4-5 topics to the scenario), recommendations/summary, and references (as necessary and applicable). The report is due on 26 May 11 pm.

Word count: 1500 words +/- 10%. Executive summary and reference list are excluded from the word count

Submission:

The presentation and the report files should be uploaded (by any one member of a group) in the Assessment Learnonline link by 26 May 11 pm.

Peer evaluations:

Within-group evaluation - where each member of a group evaluates the contribution of the other members in their group - to be submitted online by each student by 26 May 11 pm.

The evaluation quality will affect the final marks of each student.

Further, students do not get additional marks for submitting the evaluation. However, if the evaluation is not submitted, two marks will be deducted from your assessment marks.

See above under Assessment details.

This course does not have an exam.

Variation to exam arrangements does not apply to this course.

Supplementary assessment or examination offers students an opportunity to gain a supplementary pass (SP) and is available to all students under the following conditions unless supplementary assessment or examination has not been approved for the course:

1. if the student has achieved a final grade between 45-49 per cent (F1) in a course
2. if a student who has successfully completed all of the courses within their program, with the exception of two courses in which they were enrolled in their final study period, a supplementary assessment or examination may be granted where the final grade in either or both of these courses, is less than 45 percent (F1 or F2) and all assessments in the courses were attempted by the student. Supplementary assessment will not be available for a course under investigation for academic integrity until the investigation is completed, and determined that it did not constitute academic misconduct.

More information about supplementary assessment is available in section 7.5 of the Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual.
http://i.unisa.edu.au/policies-and-procedures/codes/assessment-policies/

All students must adhere to the University of South Australia's policies about assessment:
http://i.unisa.edu.au/policies-and-procedures/codes/assessment-policies/.

There are no additional assessment requirements identified for this course.

Students with disabilities or medical conditions or students who are carers of a person with a disability may be entitled to a variation or modification to standard assessment arrangements.  See Section 7 of the Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual (APPM) at:  http://i.unisa.edu.au/policies-and-procedures/codes/assessment-policies/

 

Students who require variations or modifications to standard assessment arrangements should make contact with their Course Coordinator as early as possible in order to ensure that appropriate supports can be implemented or arranged in a timely manner.

 

Students can register for an Access Plan with UniSA Access & Inclusion Service. It is important to make contact early to ensure that appropriate support can be implemented or arranged in a timely manner. See the Disability Hub for more information:  http://www.unisa.edu.au/Disability/Current-students

Students are advised there is a deadline to finalise Access Plan arrangements for examinations. Further information is available at:  http://i.unisa.edu.au/campus-central/Exams_R/Before-the-Exam/Alternative-exam-arrangements/

Deferred assessment or examination is available for the course.

Special consideration is not available for this course. APPM 7.7.4

Variation to assessment methods, tasks and timelines may be provided in:

Unexpected or exceptional circumstances, for example bereavement, unexpected illness (details of unexpected or exceptional circumstances for which variation may be considered are discussed in clauses 7.8 - 7.10 of the Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual). Variation to assessment in unexpected or exceptional circumstances should be discussed with your course coordinator as soon as possible.

Special circumstances, for example religious observance grounds, or community services (details of special circumstances for which variation can be considered are discussed in clause 7.11 of the Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual). Variations to assessment in expected circumstances must be requested within the first two weeks of the course (or equivalent for accelerated or intensive teaching).

 

Students with disabilities or medical conditions please refer to Students with disabilities or medical conditions.

The University policy and procedures are in the current Assessment Policies and Procedures Manual, whichcan be found at: http://w3.unisa.edu.au/policies/manual/default.asp

 

All grades are provisional until confirmed by the UniSA Business School Program Committee.

 

Academic integrity is the foundation of university life and is fundamental to the reputation of UniSA and its staff and students. Academic integrity means a commitment by all staff and students to act with honesty, trustworthiness, fairness, respect and responsibility in all academic work.

An important part of practising integrity in academic work is showing respect for other people's ideas, and being honest about how they have contributed to your work. This means taking care not to represent the work of others as your own. Using another person's work without proper acknowledgement is considered Academic Misconduct, and the University takes this very seriously.

The University of South Australia expects students to demonstrate the highest standards of academic integrity so that its degrees are earned honestly and are trusted and valued by its students and their employers. To ensure this happens, the University has policies and procedures in place to promote academic integrity and manage academic misconduct. For example, work submitted electronically by students for assessment will be examined for copied and un-referenced text using the text comparison software Turnitin http://www.turnitin.com.

More information about academic integrity and what constitutes academic misconduct can be found in Section 9 of the Assessment Policies and Procedures Manual (APPM): http://i.unisa.edu.au/policies-and-procedures/codes/assessment-policies/. The Academic Integrity Module explains in more detail how students can work with integrity at the University: https://lo.unisa.edu.au/mod/book/view.php?id=252142

Referencing

You are required to use the Harvard Referencing system. Please refer to the Referencing LearnOnline site http://resource.unisa.edu.au/course/view.php?id=1572

 

Marking Criteria
Please refer to Assessment Feedback Forms for a guide on the marking criteria.

 

Group Work
When a group of students work collaboratively on a task or an assignment that is graded as part of the course assessment, it is a requirement that each student in the group report on his/her perception of the contribution of others in the group, via the Peer Assessment Form available at: http://resource.unisa.edu.au/file.php/930/Group_Assignment_Peer_Assessment.docx. A poor contribution by any member, as reported by other members, may result in a reduced grade for that member.

Final Grades
Final grades for this course will normally be made available via the MyUniSA portal within three weeks of final assessment.

 

You will be asked to provide anonymous feedback regarding all aspects of your course. Your honest, constructive feedback allows the University to improve the teaching and learning environment as well as
outcomes for all concerned.

 

If you have a complaint or grievance regarding academic programs, decisions of committees and administrative operations or individual staff members, please refer to the following website for the procedures for the
resolution of student grievances: http://www.unisa.edu.au/policies/policies/corporate/C17.asp

 

The University will take all reasonable steps to resolve student complaints in an expeditious and satisfactory manner in all matters.

The information below show the suggested alterations/considerations for assessment items and exam dependent on the duration of the unplanned  outage

 

less than 1 hour outage. No impact on either assessment or examination

 

1 to 4 hour outage.     Assessment  - Consider an extension. Examination - No impact.

 

4 to 24 hour outage.     Assessment - 24 hour extension. Examination - Be mindful of outage when marking

 

Over 24 hour outage.   Assessment - 48 hour extension. Examination- Be mindful of outage when marking