Fundamentals of Organizational Behaviour Syllabus - BCIS (PU)

Course Objectives

Managers need to know why people behave as they do in relation to their jobs, their work groups and their organizations. This knowledge of individuals' perceptions, motivational attitudes and behaviour will enable managers to not only understand themselves better, but also to adopt appropriate managerial policies and leadership styles to increase their effectiveness. The goal of this course is, therefore, to help students develop a conceptual understanding of OB theories and to provide them with skills to put those ideas and theories into practice.

Course Description

Students are first exposed to fundamentals of organizational behavior such as working with people, the nature of organizations, communication, leadership, and motivation of people.  They will then be provided with the knowledge and skills to deal with group behavior, leadership, communication, conflict management, and organizational development issues. The focus of instruction will move progressively through the individual, group and organizational levels of behaviour and will examine the interrelationships of behaviourial phenomena among these levels.

Course Outcomes

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

• explain the determinants of behavior and the emerging concepts in organizational behaviour;
• understand the importance of organizational behavior in managerial functions;
• understand the definition and concepts of behavior, group and teams, organizational structure, employee motivation, organizational communication, leadership, conflict and stress, organizational change and development;
• form an appreciation of the complexities and uncertainties of organizational behaviour by examining managerial roles;
• demonstrate clear understanding of the concepts and established theories relating to organizational behavior;
• explain and evaluate the key assumptions on which behaviour in organizations is managed and assess the effects of these ideas on employee attitudes and actions.

Course Contents

Unit I: Introduction to Organizational Behaviour                                                5 hours

Concept and significance, OB system; basic assumptions, levels of OB analysis, contributing disciplines, emerging trends and challenges in OB, determinants of behaviour – beliefs, attitudes, values, emotions and behaviour.

Unit II: Perception, Personality and Learning                                                      10 hours

Perceptual process, factors influencing perception, perception and individual decision making; Learning – concept and significance of learning, factors influencing learning, major models of learning – classical conditioning, operant conditioning, cognitive learning and social learning; Behaviour modification; Personality – concept, types, determinants, individual differences, personality attributes influencing behavior.

Unit III: Organization Stucture, Group Dynamics and Team Development     8 hours

Organization - foundations of organization structure, job design; Human factors in organizing; Organizational Culture - meaning, importance and characteristics of organization culture. Group dynamics – definition and importance, types of groups, group formation, group development, group composition; Work teams – types, team performance factors, building effective work teams, group decision making, issues in managing work teams.

Unit IV: Motivation and Leadership                                                                      10 hours

Motivation: process of motivation, theories of motivation – need hierarchy theory, two factor theory, ERG theory, expectancy theory, equity theory; Leadership - concept; Leadership styles; Leadership theories – trait theory, behavioural theory, Fielder’s contingency theory, Managerial Grid, Path-Goal theory; Emerging issues in motivation and leadership.

Unit V: Organizational Conflict and Stress                                                           5 hours

Concept, sources, patterns, levels, and types of conflict; traditional and modern approaches to conflict management, functional and dysfunctional organizational conflicts, resolution of organizational conflicts; Organizational Stress – concept, causes, consequences, managing stress.

Unit VI: Interpersonal and Organizational Communication                               5 hours

Concept of two-way communication, communication process, barriers to effective communication, types of organizational communication, improving communication, transactional analysis in communication.

Unit VII: Organizational Change and Development                                             5 hours

Concept, need for change, resistance to change, theories of planned change, organizational diagnosis; OD intervention; Learning organizations – concept, characteristics and model of learning organization.

Basic Texts

1. Robbins, Stephen P. Organizational Behaviour, Prentice Hall, New Delhi.
2. McShane, S.L., M.A.V. Glinow and R.R. Sharma, Organizational Behaviour, Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi.
3. King, Daniel & Lawley, Scott, Organiztional Behaiour, Oxford University Press.

References

1. Adhikari, D. R. Organizational Behaviour, Buddha Publications, Kathmandu.
2. Acharya, B. S. Organizational Behaviour, Asmita, Kathmandu.
3. Arnold, H. J. and D. C. Feldman, Organizational Behaviour, Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi.
4. Newstrom, John W. and Keith Davis. Organizational Behaviour: Human Behaviour at Work, Tata McGraw-Hill, New Delhi.
5. Luthans, Fred. Organization Behaviour, Tata McGraw-Hill, New Delhi.
6. Bhattacharya, D. K. Organizational Behaviour. Oxford University Press, New Delhi.