COURSE NAME AND NUMBER: Bus 272 Introduction to Organizational Behaviour

SEMESTER:

Spring 2015

INSTRUCTOR:

Sarb Hovey

EMAIL:

hovs@learning.fraseric.ca

OFFICE HOURS:

To be confirmed

PREREQUISITES
Open to continuing students only.

OBJECTIVES/COURSE OVERVIEW
Throughout the course of our lives, we spend a significant amount of our time in organizations (e.g.,
profit-making companies, universities, churches). This course is designed to help you understand how
you and others function in that context. In this course we examine intra-individual factors related to
organizational behaviour, influences from the social context on the individual, and the factors affecting
how individuals cooperate with, conflict with, and influence others in organizations.

REQUIRED TEXT
McShane, Steven L. & Sandra L. Steen. Canadian Organizational Behaviour, 8th. Ed., McGraw-Hill
Ryerson Ltd., 2012.

COURSE ASSESSMENT
Evaluation components and their weights are as follows:

Final exam

35%

Mid-term exam

25%

2 Quizzes (5% each)

10%

Individual presentation and one written assignment

Group case presentation

10%

One additional written assignment

Participation %
Total

10%

5%

5%

100%
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Exams (25% mid-term and 35% final exam)

There will be two exams during the semester. Each exam will be closed book and will be composed of a
combination of multiple-choice and short-answer questions. The breakdown of questions will be
provided in class. The final exam will not be cumulative. The mid-term is 2 hours and will be worth 25%
of your final mark and the final exam will be 3 hours and worth 35% of your final mark. You must bring
picture identification to exams. See the policy below for information on missed exams.

Quizzes (5% each quiz-10% total)

These quizzes will assess your understanding of the course material and provide you with feedback on
how you are doing in the course, prior to the mid-term and final exam. Each quiz will include questions
in the true/false and/or multiple-choice format. You should be current on your assigned reading, up to
and including the assigned reading for the week of the quiz. Please refer to the semester schedule for
the dates of the quizzes.
Individual Presentation (10%)
Being able to share and articulate your message is critical for personal and professional development. In
the future, you will be called upon to present information in a team or organizational setting and this
may be internal or external to the organization. It is critical that you gain valuable insight on how to
represent and present yourself when provided an opportunity.
During the course of the semester, all class participants will be called upon to present 5-7 minutes
maximum. The topic will be provided in class and you will have an opportunity to speak about any one
of three areas of focus. The evaluation criteria will be shared with you in advance so you know what to
address. There will be support and resources provided to help you prepare for this presentation.

In addition to an individual presentation, the class participants will submit a maximum two page paper
on the process they went through to build and deliver their presentation.

Group Case Presentation (10%)

You will also be given the opportunity to work in a team in order to prepare a case study. Each group will
prepare and present the case study to the class and the instructor. The case presentation is an
opportunity for you to learn about a real life organization and to gain some practical experience working
in a team setting. Students will be able to purchase cases once the semester has commenced.
The purpose of the case presentation is threefold. First, presentation skills are foundational for both
academia and business. There is simply no substitute for gaining practice at giving presentations in front
of a group. You should see your case study presentation as an opportunity to develop your presentation
skills in a safe setting: you will have your group members up there with you and I will provide you with
developmental feedback. Second, the case study is an opportunity for you to apply the concepts you will
have learned in the class to a real organization. As you prepare the case, you will likely be amazed at the
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amount you have learned about organizational behaviour over the course of one semester. Third, the
case presentation will allow you to develop your skills in working with others. Teamwork is becoming an
increasingly important part of how work is managed in organizations and the case presentation will help
you to develop the ability to organize and manage a team project.
You will be assigned to groups of three-four students early during the semester. Each team member is
expected to contribute equally to the group effort. Groups should attempt to resolve problems with
non-contributing members themselves learning to manage group process problems is part of your
assignment. In the event that the group has been unable to resolve the problem after several
reasonable attempts, they should report the problem to the instructor. Problems in teams will be
resolved on a case-by-case basis, but all students should be aware that, in the event someone fails to
contribute, all team members may be required to fill out an intra-team evaluation, rating the
contribution of each group member to the case study itself. The grade of any non-contributing team
member may be lowered.
A separate hand out will be provided that outlines the requirements for the case presentation and how
you will be graded.

Written Assignment
You are asked to prepare a written assignment for the class as a hands-on method of learning about the
topic for the course. It also reinforces the idea that one can continue to learn in their job through
reflections. The assignment need to be between one and two pages in length (double
spaced). Assignments for all classes must be handed in at the beginning of the class it is due.
Written assignments will be graded according to two criteria: the quality of your ideas and the quality of
your writings. Less emphasis will be placed on the quality of your writing than the quality of your ideas.
What are good ideas? A good idea is one that takes a concept from the course and applies it or explores
it clearly and in a way that goes beyond the ideas expressed in the textbook and in lecture. An average
idea is one that takes a concept from the course and applies it in a way that is consistent with ideas
expressed in the course. An idea that could have been good, but is not expressed clearly, will also be
considered to be average. A poor idea is one that does not include concepts from the course or does
not apply or analyze them in a clear fashion.
What is good writing? A paper with good writing will be clear, well-organized, and have few or no
grammatical errors. Average writing is deficient on one of these dimensions: either unclear, not wellorganized, or having numerous grammatical errors. Poor writing is deficient on two or three of these
dimensions.

Class Participation
The in-class exercises will serve primarily as a forum for student participation in discussion around topics
covered in the lectures and text. Classroom contribution grades will be based on attendance,
performance in the class exercises and discussions. Both the quantity and quality of your contribution
will influence your contribution grade.
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As per Fraser International College policies, attendance in class is mandatory. Students who do not
attend the first class of the semester will not be able to remain in the course, except in extenuating
circumstances that are approved by the instructor and the FIC administration. Classes missed or
attended late throughout the semester without a valid instructor approved reason will be reflected in
your classroom contribution mark ( 1% will be deducted from your final grade for each class that is
missed and .5% will be deducted for each class that is attended late). You may also be referred to the FIC
counselling staff for poor attendance.

GRADE DISTRIBUTION
Grading for the course will follow the norms typical for the Faculty of Business at Simon Fraser
University using a bell curve. Your standing in the class will influence the ultimate grade you
receive. The distribution of grades will be approximately as follows for a class of 36 students:

Grade

Approximate Number of Students Assigned a Given Grade

12

12

D, F, N 8

COMMUNICATION
Students wishing to reach me for office hours or meetings outside of classroom time are requested to
arrange appointment times by emailing hovs@learning.fraseric.ca and include FIC Request to Meet in
the subject line.

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MAKE-UP EXAMS
FIC does not offer any make-up opportunities for missed final exams. Please be sure to check your exam
schedule very carefully. If you miss an exam for any reason, please see an advisor immediately. If you
have documented reasons for exam accommodations, please see an advisor immediately.
Unless you have a serious illness (substantiated by a Doctor's note from a BC Registered Doctor), or
there are serious family complications that FIC Administration is advised of, there will be no opportunity
to make up the Quizzes, missed assignments, missed presentations, or Mid-Term.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY

Academic Integrity refers to the values on which good academic work must be founded: honesty, trust,
fairness, respect and responsibility. Academic integrity includes a commitment not to engage in or
tolerate acts of falsification, misrepresentation or deception. Such acts of dishonesty violate the
fundamental ethical principles of the College community and compromise the worth of work completed
by others.

Students found to have breached the regulations related to any form of academic misconduct including
but not limited to plagiarism and cheating will be subject to the following measures:

First Offence: Awarded 0 for the assessment and given a permanent record on their file

Second Offence: Awarded 0 for the course, regardless whether the offence was committed in
the same course or another course

Third Offence: Risk expulsion from FIC and the cancellation of Study Permit

It is solely the students responsibility to be aware of Academic Integrity Policy and consequences of
violating it. The policy is available at: http://85401dc13f6ba5867f46aacfababc729cd49a24606938417f53d.r33.cf6.rackcdn.com/FIC_Academic_Integrity_Policy.pdf

HOW CAN YOU DO WELL IN THIS COURSE?

1. Do the homework ... plus. Practice, practice, practice. And start in the first week, don't wait until
exam time.
2. Take smart notes. The lecture outlines are on the web. Print those off and bring them to the lecture
to follow. I challenge you to bring just a single sheet of additional paper to class. With this, just take the
bare minimum of notes. At the end of class, your sheet should be just chicken scratch. Just get the
critical points. THEN, THAT DAY, write out a nice set of notes from the class, using your memory, outline,
and small notes. Elaborate, explain, and use more than one color on the graphs. By the end of the
semester you'll have wonderful notes that will help in future classes. You'll also have no need to study

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for the exam. It takes a little bit of work each day, but in the end the payoffs are enormous. The way
most students take notes is a waste of time.
3. Understand ... don't memorize. Most of you are just out of high school. You've done a lot of colouring
and memorizing. Now it's time to start understanding. Understanding means you have to think about a
concept. It is a skill that takes practice. You'll know you understand an idea when you can apply it to a
context that is different from the one used to learn it.
4. Come to class. The ideas in this class are sequential. If you miss lecture 4, you'll have a hard time
understanding the rest of the course. The course follows the book, but the lecture is full of material not
in the book (and vice versa).
5. Read the book ahead of time. Read the relevant chapter before the lecture, and then read it again
after, you'll learn a lot more in this course.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
N/A.

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SCHEDULE
Week

Date

Readings/pre-study

Assignment Due
Please read Chapter 1 before the
first class

January 8 and 9

Introduction to the Field of OB

January 15 and 16

Individual Behaviour, Personality,

Chapter 2 reading
and Values

January 22 and 23

Perceiving Ourselves and Others

in Orgs

January 29 and 30

Emotions, Attitudes, Stress

Chapter 4 reading
Quiz 1 - on Chapter 1,2,3

February 5 and 6

Foundations of Employee
Motivation

Chapter 5 reading
Written Assignment 1 Due

February 12 and 13

Applied Performance Practices

and Decision Making

Chapter 6 and pages 181-194 of

Chapter 7

February 19 and 20

Mid-term exam

Mid-term exam - on Chapters 1, 2,

3, 4, 5, 6, 7

February 26 and 27

Team Dynamics

Chapter 8 reading

March 5 and 6

Communicating in Teams and

Organizations

Chapter 9 reading

10

March 12 and 13

Power and Influence

Chapter 10 reading
Quiz 2 - on Chapters 8, 9 and 10

11

March 19 and 20

Conflict and Negotiation

Chapter 11 reading

12

March 26 and 27

Designing Organizational
Structures

Chapter 13 reading
Group Case Presentations

13

April 2 and 3

Organizational Culture

Chapter 14 reading
Group Case Presentations

Chapter 3 reading

Final Exam Information

Please note that the final exam schedule will not be released until later in the semester. Please make
sure to check the schedule on your student portal. If you do not see your exam scheduled please contact
me directly.
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