Post Graduate Programme in Management

AY: 2016-17 Term: I

TITLE OF THE COURSE: ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR - I

CREDITS: 4

Name of the Faculty Faculty Block/ Email Telephone Number

Room No.
Prof. Kajari Mukherjee A 102 kajari@iimidr.ac.in +91-731-2439586
Prof. Pawan K. Singh B 106 pawan@iimidr.ac.in +91-731-2439539
Prof. Sumit K. Ghosh A 201 skghosh@iimidr.ac.in +91-731-2439523
Prof. Srinath Jagannathan E 304 srinathj@iimidr.ac.in +91-731-2439486

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Organizational Behavior (OB) investigates the impact that individuals and groups have on behavior
within organization to improve organizational effectiveness. OB is an applied field. It is built on
contributions from a number of behavioral disciplines like psychology, social psychology, sociology,
anthropology and political science. The first discipline helps us to understand individual behavior
whereas the rest contribute to our understanding of group processes and organizational system. The
study of OB equips would-be managers to develop their people skills, such that they are effective in
their jobs. Some of the issues that OB deals with are improving employee productivity, job
satisfaction, motivation and organization engagement; as well as reducing absenteeism, turnover
and deviant workplace behavior.

The first part of OB, spread across 20 sessions, deals with study of self and interpersonal relationship.
It tries to explain why people behave act in response to a stimulus - the way they do.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Through this course, students should be able to develop understanding of:

a. Fundamental factors governing individual behavior at work place;

b. Effective management of self;
c. Bases of interpersonal sensitivity and interpersonal effectiveness;
d. Ethical Decision Making

PEDAGOGY:
Lecture, Discussion, Case, Role Play, Instruments and Reading

Text Book: Organizational Behavior by Stephen P. Robbins, Timothy A. Judge and Neharika Vohra.
14th Edition. Pearson
EVALUATION
Component Weightage
Class Participation 20%
Quizzes 20%
Mid Term Exam 30%
End Term Exam 30%
Total 100%

MODULES AND SESSIONS

Module I: Fundamentals of OB

Module Objective:
Present an overview of course.
Understand the field of OB.
Identify the challenges and opportunities managers have in applying OB concepts.

Sessions and Objective :

Sessions 1 and 2: Fundamentals of Organizational Behavior (OB)
Objective:
To define OB and understand why it is important to know about OB
To understand the fundamental assumption of the discipline
To explore managers roles and skills
Reading:
1. Drucker, P. F. (2005) Managing oneself. Harvard Business Review, 83 (1), pp. 100-109.
2. Mintzberg, H. (1990) The Managers job: Folklore and fact. Harvard Business Review, March-
April, pp. 1-12.
3. Amabile, T. M., & Kramer, S. J. (2007) Inner work life. Harvard Business Review, 85, pp. 72- 83.

Module II: Values, Attitudes and Behavior

Module Objective:
To understand the individual dynamics of OB
To understand the relationship among value, attitude and behavior

Sessions and Objective :

Sessions 3 and 4: Values, Attitudes and Behavior
Objective:
Definition and various components of values, attitudes and behaviors
Managerial implications of values, attitudes and behaviors in workplace
Reading:
1. Athos, A. G. and Gabbaro, J. J. (1976) Understanding another person, Part I The individual
frame of reference, Technical Note, Harvard Business School, 9-473-009.
2. Bolino, M. C., & Turnley, W. H. (2003) Going the extra mile: Cultivating and managing
employee citizenship behavior. The Academy of Management Executive, 17 (3), pp. 60-71.

Case: Noharia, N., Matthew, B. and Wademan, D. 2009. Life stories of recent MBAs: Value and ethical
challenges. Harvard Business School, Case no 9-410-029.
Module III: Perception and Emotions

Module Objective:
Role of perception in understanding the organizational dynamics.
Understanding emotions and its role in organizational life.

Sessions and Objective :

Sessions 5 and 6: Perception

Objective: To study:
Perception and various factors that influence it.
Attribution process.
Linkage between perception and decision making.
Reading: Halvorson, H. G. (2015) Managing yourself: A second chance to make the right impression,
Harvard Business Review, 93 (1/2), pp. 108-111.

Session 7: Emotion
Objective: To study:
Emotion: difference between mood and emotions.
Circumplex model of affect
Emotional intelligence
Reading:
1. Davidson, M. N. (2001) Expressing emotions in interpersonal interactions, Technical Note,
Darden Business Publishing, UV0543.
2. Goleman, D. (1998) What makes a leader? Harvard Business Review, 76 (6), pp. 93-102.
Psychometric test: Emotional intelligence

Module IV: Personality

Module Objective: To understand the various determinants of personality, and its dynamics at an
organizational level.

Sessions and Objective :

Sessions 8 and 9: Personality

Objective: To study:
Personality and its basic nature.
Determinants of personality
Interactionist perspective
Trait vs non-trait theories
Linking an individuals personality to workplace
Reading:
1. Jordan, K. (2003) Analyze this: Can personality theory help you lead your unit? Harvard
Management Update, 8(2), pp. 3-5.
2. Barrick, M. R. (2005) Yes, personality matters: Moving on to more important matters. Human
performance, 18(4), pp. 359-372.
Psychometric test - MBTI Instrument
Module V: Motivation

Module Objective:
To understand the various theories of motivation and evaluate their applicability in todays
scenario.
To identify the relation between motivation and performance.

Sessions and Objective :

Sessions 10: Introduction to Motivation

Objective: To study:
Definition
Concept of Content vs Process Theories
Reading: A brief note on social motives. (1980). Technical Note. Harvard Business School, 9-477-053

Sessions 11 and 12: Application of motivation theory at workplace

Objective: To study:
Various theories of motivation
Integrating various theories of motivation.
Impact of motivation theories in work place.
Reading:
1. Steers, R. M., Mowday, R. T. & Shapiro, D. L. (2004) Introduction to special topic forum: The
future of work motivation theory. The Academy of Management Review, pp. 379-387.
2. Nohria, N., Groysberg, B. and Lee, L. (2008). Employee Motivation: A powerful new model.
Harvard Business Review, 86(10), 134-135.
Case: Yemen, G. & and Issabella, L.A. (2011) Robert Knowlton II (A). Darden Business Publishing.
Case no UV5854.

Module VI: Individual Decision Making

Module Objective:
To understand individual decision making in organizational context with respect to rationality
vis-a-vis heuristic perspectives
To understand the importance of ethical framework for decision making within an
organizational context

Sessions and Objective :

Sessions 13: Heuristics and Biases
Objective:
To understand role of heuristics and biases in individual judgment and decision making with
special reference to Prospects Theory
Factors affecting decisions in organization
Reading:
1. Staw, Barry and Ross, Jerry. (1987). Knowing When to Pull the Plug. Harvard Business Review,
65(2), pp. 68-74.
2. Certo, S. T., Connelly, B. L., & Tihanyi, L. (2008). Managers and their not-so rational decisions.
Business Horizons, 51(2), pp. 113-119.
Session 14: Ethical Decision Making
Objective: To understand concepts and framework of ethical decision making
Reading: Wicks, A.C, and Parmar, B. (2009). An Introduction to Ethics. Darden Business Publishing. No.
UV1040.
Case: Mukherjee, K. (2012). Razors Edge: Challenges of Ethical Decision Making
Module VII: Interpersonal Issues at Work
Module Objective:
To understand the importance of interpersonal interactions at an organizational level.
To demonstrate the importance of interpersonal effectiveness and skills in the work place.
To develop interpersonal skills

Sessions and Objective :

Sessions 15 and 16: Interpersonal Issues at Work
Objective: To study:
Interpersonal relationship at work place
Issues related with the interpersonal interaction
Reading: Building effective one-on-one work relationship. (1996). Technical Note. Harvard Business
School. 9-497-028.
Sessions 17: Transactional Analysis
Objective: To study:
Concepts of Transactional Analysis
Influence and influence tactics
Case: Hill, L.A. (1994) Lisa Benton (A). Harvard Business School. Case no 9-494-114.

Sessions 18: FIRO-B

Objective: To study:
Interpersonal undercurrents in dyadic relations at workplace
Reading: Schutz, William C. 1958. Interpersonal Underworld. Harvard Business Review. 36(4), pp.
123-135.
Psychometric test: FIRO-B
Module VIII: Managing Interpersonal Conflict
Module Objective: Understanding conflict and various ways of handling it effectively
Sessions and Objective :
Sessions 19 and 20: Managing Interpersonal Conflict Effectively
Objective: To study:
Interpersonal conflict Result of incompatible interest at organizational level.
Effective handling of conflict within an organization.
Reading: Managing interpersonal conflicts. 1985. Technical Note. Harvard Business Publishing. 9-
479-004
Psychometric instrument: Conflict management style.
Case: Padmanabham, V. 2011. Conflict management at TKC consulting. Richard Ivey School of
Business. Case no 910C30.

Additional Reading: As distributed in class from time to time.

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