Course Title:                 AC 602 Organizational Behavior

Responsible Unit:          Master of Accounting Program

Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy

Course Instructors:       Dr. Jeffrey M. Wachtel, M.A., M.S., Ph. D.

Professor

Contact:                       [email protected]

Time:                            Sundays, 9 to 4, February 13 to April 3, 2005, Room 310

Course Description:      AC 602, Organizational Behavior describes the principles and application of human resource management and control.  It emphasizes the role of management in creating an attractive environment for working and effective remuneration, motivating the work force as well as maintaining talented personnel in the corporation.

Course Delivery Style:

1.      Lecture, Power Point Presentations, Socratic Method, Video Case Studies and Brainstorming, Written Case Studies, Skill Development Exercises.

2.      Interactive discussion in large and small groups

3.      Student controlled learning through secondary research of current issues .

4.      Participation through presentation as a learning method.

5.      Team project preparation, investigation culminating in a team written report.

6.      Customer Service Group will make decisions regarding the above styles and make suggestions/decisions.

Instructional Media: Textbook, handouts, video, Power Point, white board.

Course Evaluation: Students will be asked to do an anonymous mid-course evaluation.

Course Objectives:

1.      To be familiar with organizational behavior theory and research findings.

2.      To improve interpersonal knowledge and skills for use in managing the accounting process as well as other organizational processes.

3.      To gain knowledge, skills and attitudes regarding work groups and teams.

4.      To gain skills and knowledge for influencing behavior through leadership, communication, conflict management and related organizational processes.

5.      To understand and be able to influence the creation and change of organization structures and cultures.

6.      Understand ethical management principles and practices.

Class Organization:

We will divide the class into teams based on system’s theory.

All class members are members of the organization’s overall team and are also member’s of process teams. 

Team decision making will go on throughout the course. 

Team management will be the preferred management system style for the course and consensus is the preferred way for reaching team decisions.

When we enter the classroom we are also entering an organization that values, and rewards, a team attitude, and on-time presence and active participation.

Course Requires Text and Learning Materials: Robbins, Stephen, Organizational Behavior, Prentice Hall, 11^th Edition.

Supplemental Textbooks: A booklet of readings regarding specific Accounting organizational behavior issues and topics will be distributed during the first few weeks of class.

Handouts: There will be many hand out copies given out as teaching aids and informational aids during this course.

Possible Reward Structure:

1. On-time Attendance, Class Participation       (HR/A) 20 %

2. Hot Topics in OB Assignment(s)                   (I) (O)  10%

3. Team Process Report                                                15%

4. Team Project Report and Presentation          (O)       30%

5. Final Examination:                                         (O)       25%

“Hot Topics” in Accounting Management (10%): The goal of this assignment is for you to be up to date with the current issues regarding leadership and management of business organizations with special emphasis on accounting functions and processes.  It is hoped that you may be able to relate the concepts you’ve learned during the course to news articles that you read during the course.   Each class associate will be responsible for bringing in a copy of an article, a summary or a recent publication on a current issue and providing a 2-5 minute presentation/discussion of the relevant issues to their team.  This assignment is designed to give you an opportunity to read widely and keep everyone current on real world applications of the issues we discuss in class as well as to familiarize you with various periodicals (including but not limited to The Bangkok Post, The Nation, The Asian Wall Street Journal, Business Week, or interviews with local business owners/managers). See additional sources below.  Be creative!  You should prepare one article for each day where Hot Topics is assigned by the decision of Input/Customer Service teams.  Your team will use the “nominal group technique” to rate the relevance, creativity and effectiveness of your presentation.  Please make copies for each person on your team and one copy to hand in.  Sorry, there is no make-up opportunity for this assignment as HR/Accounting Team will record only those who are present into their payroll sheets (class records).

Other Business Journals of interest

            Bangkok Post, The Nation, International Newspapers or news services accessed online (e.g.,  www.drudgereport.com has links to many international newpapers, columnists, as well as news services).

AWSJ

            Fortune

            Forbes

            Business Week

            HBR

            Fast Company

            Wired

            INC

            Business 2.0

            Business People

            Entrepreneur

            Smart Business

Guidelines for Team Projects*

Learning Objectives

The learning objectives for of this project are for you to:

1.      Develop skills in finding important problems in organizations;

2.      Apply key concepts from organizational theory to the practices of an organization;

3.      Develop the ability to identify practical recommendations for improvement of managerial practices through the systematic analysis of an organization;

4.      Reflect on how organizations behave as systems of human behavior.

5.      Learn to work effectively in a self-managing team to produce a quality product under time constraints.

Selecting the Problem

Select a problem in an organization that seems suitable for analysis from an OB perspective. The problem could relate to corporate culture, organizational climate, absenteeism or turnover, stress, managerial roles, organizational change, attitudes, values or personality types of staff, or leadership. A suitable problem would have the following characteristics:

·        Limited in scope;

·        Open access for your investigation;

·        Data is available or could be collected to better understand the nature of the problem;

·        Time will not be a problem in collecting and analyzing information;

·        You have some knowledge and interest in learning more about this type of problem.

For the purposes of data collection this project, we would expect you to collect information – data – that would help you to better understand the nature and scope of the problem as well as potential approaches to solution. Data could be collected by means of:

·        Survey (e.g., organizational climate survey, personality type survey etc.);

·        Interviews with key informants;

·        Company documents;

·        Observation.

You might use one or more of the following methods of data collection. In many cases you may, in fact, wish to use more than one (e.g., documents plus interviews or surveys).

Regardless of the specific method you use, we would not expect an extensive amount of data. We would only expect enough to inform you about the scope of the problem. Therefore, it is important to get feedback from your instructor in order to limit the scope of the study!

It is, however, important that you be systematic in your approach to the study. This would mean:

·        Paying careful attention to identification of the problem focus for the study;

·        Careful development of whatever means you devise to collect and analyze the data;

·        Systematic reporting of what you did and what you found. (See following section).

The Written Report

Please divide the written report into the following major sections:

·        Background

o       Purpose of the Study

o       Company Background

o       Relevant Literature

·        Procedures

o       Data Collection

o       Data Analysis

·        Findings

·        Conclusions and Recommendations

The paper should be submitted in double-spaced 12 point Times Roman font, spell-checked and grammar-checked. The body of the paper would normally be 10 to 15 pages in length followed by a list of references and attachment of survey or interview forms.

The Power Point Presentation

Please prepare a 20-30 minute team presentation of your results in which each team member presents part of the presentation in the following major sections:

·        Brief aspects of the Background (as delineated above)

·        Brief explanation of the Procedures (as delineated above)

·        Brief report of Findings:  the quantitative and/or qualitative results

·        Your Team's Conclusions and Recommendations: Spend more time on giving your conclusions and practical recommendations as to how to solve the problem, illustrating how your recommendations are related to the literature and data.

*this project specification was written by Dr. Philip Hallinger and has been adopted by Dr. Jeffrey Wachtel.

Class Structure and Cultural Values and Attitudes:

1.      The class will use brainstorming, class participation, discussion and sharing of ideas to the whole class and within groups. 

2.      Although there will be lecture/discussion, about half of each class will be devoted to experiential exercises, group work, role play and activities with applicability to the real world.

3.      Emphasis will be on understanding concepts and being able to apply them but some memorization of terminology and concepts in necessary.

4.      Instructor will provide explanations of theory by giving real life experience examples.  It is hoped that students will also share their experiences.

5.      Instructor will keep a good sense of humor and endeavor to create a positive, relaxed, flexible and not too serious environment.  Instructor believes that a relaxed, fun and positive environment helps learning and work organization productivity.  The research results support this view.

6.      Students will be serious about their individual productivity toward helping the class achieve its course/organization mission.  They will participate in their team discussions, meetings and activities and agree not to engage in “social loafing.”  Students will not use outside work obligations as an excuse to be absent, late or not hand in assignments. 

7.      English is the international language of business.  All class activities will be conducted in English.  Instructor will endeavor to speak clearly, loudly, and slowly.