MIS 34185 Fall 2012 Whitmore

Individual and Group Behavior in Organizations

MIS 34185 – 003 - 201280

Thursdays 2:15 5:00:  Business Admin Bldg.  Room 206

 INSTRUCTOR

Dr. Mark Whitmore

Phone:  330-410-3841 (cell)

E-mail address: mwhitmo4@kent.edu, or  markwhitmore8@gmail.com

Office hours:   Thurs 1:30-2:15 (or other times by appointment)

 TEXT / READINGS

 The required text for this course Organizational Behavior by Steven L. McShane and Mary Ann Von Glinow. It is possible that some readings will be assigned during the semester; students will be informed about such readings via e-mail or class handouts.

FOCUS/PURPOSE OF THE COURSE

 This course was designed for undergraduates.  This is a survey course of the broad field know as Organizational Behavior.  It encompasses knowledge and application in the areas of individual human, team and organizational performance.  At times the course will take a deep dive into areas critical for understanding behavior in organizations such as human motivation, conflict management and organizational structure.  The course will provide students with a blend of both research based knowledge and popular applications.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

1.      Students will gain a general understanding of the area of Organizational Behavior (OB).

2.      Students will gain an understanding of the applications or organizational research commonly practiced in organizations.

3.      Students will learn to distinguish between sound research based applications of OB and other popular non-researched based applications.

4.      Students will increase their teamwork, communication, and presentation skills.

 GRADING

Final grades will be comprised of the following:

            Class Participation                                         5%

            Team Presentation                                        20%

            Three multiple choice tests                           75%

I will use +/- grades for this course.  Assignment of final grades will most likely be:  92+ A, 90-91 A-, 88-89 B+, 82-87 B, 80-81 B-, 78-79 C+, 72-77 B, 70-71 C-, 68-69 D+, 60-67 D, 0-59 F.  I reserve the right to curve these final grades, up or down, based on overall class performance.

 ATTENDANCE

If you must miss class, you must contact me before class (by phone, e-mail, in person, etc.).  Your attendance will be excused only if you have a university-approved reason. 

Note: If you have more than 2 excused absences, or more than 1 unexcused absence, you will not receive an A in the course. 

 HR RESEARCH PROJECT / PRESENTATION

Students will conduct extensive research in one area of Organizational Behavior covered in the text book.  Students will work in their groups of 5 or 6 throughout the semester to do in-depth research on their topic area. Students will organize their findings into a 20 minute PowerPoint presentation, with an additional 10 minutes for questions/answers.  Projects will be presented class during the last 2 weeks of classes (November 30 or December 6). All group members will participate in the presentations, and excellent presentation skills will be expected.

 Hand in to the professor at the time of presentation (available to students electronically):

-          PowerPoint presentation (slides 3 to a page)

-          A well-organized list of main points and full set of references (five references minimum)

MULTIPLE CHOICE EXAMS

Throughout the semester three 25 item multiple choice exams will be given that cover Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of the course.  See the course/topic agenda for the book chapters and topics for Parts 1,2, and 3.  Questions will cover a selection of the topics presented in the book and by lecture up to the date of the test.  Each exam will also contain a short answer extra credit question (worth 5 points).  See the course schedule of exam reviews and exam dates.

COURSE FORMAT

 The format of this course will be in the form of PowerPoint lectures and interactive class activities.  Because of the quick pace of  the course it will not be possible to cover every topic in the lecture, so students are required and should expected to be tested on areas in the book chapters which are not covered by lecture.  Therefor keeping up with the reading assignments is imperative.  All of the slides, exam reviews and many of the in-class assignments are on Blackboard. 

 COURSE TOPIC  SCHEDULE

 Date               Topic                                                  Readings                      Assignments/Tests

 Information from the KSU College of Business Administration

The Following Policies Apply to All Students in this Course

 A.     Students attending the course who do not have the proper prerequisite risk being deregistered from the class.

B.    Students have responsibility to ensure they are properly enrolled in classes.  Should you find an error in your class schedule, you need to correct the error with your advising office no later than Sunday, September 9, 2012.   If registration errors are not corrected by these dates and you continue to attend and participate in classes for which you are not officially enrolled, you are advised now that you will not receive a grade at the conclusion of the semester for any class in which you are not properly registered.

For flexibly scheduled courses, faculty should contact the Registrar’s Office (330.672.3131) directly for the specific dates if they are unable to determine based on information in Self Service Banner.

 C.     Academic Honesty:  Cheating means to misrepresent the source, nature, or other conditions of your academic work (e.g., tests, papers, projects, assignments) so as to get undeserved credit.  The use of the intellectual property of others without giving them appropriate credit is a serious academic offense.  It is the University's policy that cheating or plagiarism result in receiving a failing grade for the work or course.  Repeat offenses result in dismissal from the University.

D.     For Fall 2012, the course withdrawal deadline is Sunday, November 4, 2012.   Withdrawal before the deadline results in a "W" on the official transcript; after the deadline a grade must be calculated and reported.

E.     University policy 3342-3-01.3 requires that students with disabilities be provided reasonable accommodations to ensure their equal access to course content. If you have a documented disability and require accommodations, please contact the instructor at the beginning of the semester to make arrangements for necessary classroom adjustments. Please note, you must first verify your eligibility for these through Student Accessibility Services (contact 330-672-3391 or visit http://www.registrars.kent.edu/disability/ for more information on registration procedures).

F. GRADUATION INFORMATION FOR SENIORS:  It is your responsibility to apply for graduation before the set deadline. If you apply after the deadline you will be assessed a $200 late fee. Please see your academic advisor as soon as possible if you are uncertain as to your progress toward graduation.  The graduation application deadlines are follows:

Graduation Application Deadlines:

May Graduation: Apply before September 15^th

August Graduation: Apply before December 15^th

December Graduation: Apply before March 15^th

To apply for graduation complete the following steps:

Log onto your Flashline account

1.       Click on the Student Tools tab

2.       Look in the Graduation Planning Tool Box

3.       Click on Application for Graduation

**If an error message appears, you must contact your advisor.