Postgraduate Course: Organisational Behaviour (CMSE11089)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 15 |
ECTS Credits | 7.5 |
| Summary | Organisational Behaviour (OB) focuses on the behaviour of individuals, groups and organisations and on the factors that determine the performance and effectiveness of teams and organisations.
In our professional lives, most of us get things done by working with others. Hence a good understanding of organisational behaviour is useful to anyone working in any organisation, and particularly for those in managerial or leadership roles.
The organisational , problem-solving, and analytical skills gained in OB complement technical skills derived from subjects such as reward management, economics, accounting and finance.
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| Course description |
The purpose of this course is to understand organisations and the factors that make them work effectively. It also covers how and why things sometimes go wrong in organisations. Organisations harness human effort and ingenuity to achieve outcomes. Done well, organising can produce amazing outcomes, but it can also be a formidable challenge and bad organisation can have very negative consequences.
The course covers a wide range of topics to help you understand the principles and processes that underpin effective organisation. These include: the relationship between strategy and organisation; the role of stakeholders; organisational trade-offs; issues of individual behaviour, identity and narratives; perceiving and making sense of situations; building high performance teams; making decisions; leadership; organisational culture; the design of organisations; organisational learning; and power and conflict in organisations.
Syllabus
Strategy and organisation, trade-offs
Motivation
Sensemaking
Group behaviour and team working
Decision-Making
Leadership
Culture
Managing occupational stress
Organisational design and learning
Power and Conflict
Student Learning Experience
Learning occurs through lectures, workshops, cases, practitioner guest speakers and a substantial team-based business simulation.
The lectures provide an overview of each topic and outline key ideas in a structured way to provide a sound understanding of key concepts and frameworks for thinking about these.
Cases and practical exercises in workshops are used to illustrate how the concepts apply in practice. A team-based business simulation (virtual for 2020-21) provides hand-on experience in dealing with team and organisational issues.
Guest speakers provide further illustration of real-world problems and situations.
The emphasis throughout the course is on developing your ability to analyse organisational issues practically and insightfully.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | For Business School PG students only, or by special permission of the School. Please contact the course secretary. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2020/21, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
150
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 4,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 8,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 3,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
113 )
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| Additional Information (Learning and Teaching) |
63hrs reading advance of lecture and Production Game, 20hrs on essay, 30hrs on final assessment
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
95 %,
Practical Exam
5 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
- Strategic Plan (Group Assessment) 10%: links to LO2, 4, 5.
- Group Presentation (Group Assessment) 5%: links to LO1, 2, 3, 5.
- Peer Evaluation (Production Game) 5%
- Individual Report (Production Game) 80%: links to LO1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
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| Feedback |
Feedback includes:
Provision of team performance data and team diagnostics from the team-based exercise
Feedback on group strategic plans
Feedback on team presentations
Feedback on the individual assignment
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| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Explain and discuss key concepts from the field of Organisational Behaviour
- Understand and discuss the importance of underlying assumptions to problem-solving
- Understand and evaluate models and major theories of phenomena such as individual behaviour, group dynamics, decision-making, leadership, culture, design and learning and conflict and how these may be put into practice
- Ability to switch perspectives on complex organisational issues and problems
- Apply concepts and ideas to real-world issues and problems.
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Reading List
| Huczynski A A & Buchanan D A (2013) Organisational Behaviour (9th edition), FT/ Prentice Hall, Harlow |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Cognitive Skills:
Understand how different models and assumptions may be used to analyse organisational issues and make interventions
Stand back and view complex situations from different perspectives
Summarise complex ideas, synthesise knowledge from different areas, communicate ideas to others, and apply knowledge to address real organisational problems.
Subject Specific Skills:
Understand how to operate effectively within group settings
Apply different models of decision-making to different situations
Identify the characteristics of effective leadership
Recognize the trade-offs inherent in organisational design
Diagnose the root causes of organisational problems
Conduct well-informed analyses of contemporary issues in the field of organisations |
| Keywords | MGMT-OB |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Kristina Potocnik
Tel: (0131 6)50 4307
Email: Kristina.Potocnik@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Lauren Millson
Tel: (0131 6)51 3013
Email: Lauren.Millson@ed.ac.uk |
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