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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2024/2025

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : Business School : Business Studies

Undergraduate Course: Organisational Behaviour 2 (BUST08028)

Course Outline
SchoolBusiness School CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 8 (Year 2 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryOrganisational 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 overall aim of the course is to develop in students an understanding of the complex issues involved in the spheres of work, employment and the management of people in an organisational setting.
Course description The purpose of this course is to understand organisations and the factors that make them work effectively. The course covers a wide range of topics to help you understand the principles and processes that underpin effective organisation. In this course we aim to show how organisational behaviour concepts, theories and techniques can be applied in work and management settings.

The lectures emphasise the importance of adopting a critical and analytical stance in understanding and interpreting how people behave in organisations, and the most appropriate means of managing or regulating that behaviour.

Outline Content

- The environment
- Personality
- Communication
- Perception
- Motivation
- Groups and teams
- Leadership
- Power and politics
- Conflict
- Organisational culture
- Organisational structures
- Managing change

Student Learning Experience

High standards of lecture delivery are supported by incorporating, where appropriate, alternative teaching delivery methods such as case studies. In addition, case study teaching (mainly in tutorials) is employed as a means of emphasising the interconnected nature of managerial processes and of drawing on actual organisational experience.

The compulsory weekly tutorials comprise a mixture of practical exercises, case study tasks and analysis of journal articles, and are used to provide opportunities to test and evaluate theories and techniques learned in lectures. In addition, active participation in tutorials will lead to the development of analytical skills (through problem identification, data handling and critical thinking),decision making skills (generating alternative explanations, selecting decision criteria, evaluating alternatives, hypothesising on issues of implementation and consequences), and communication skills (listening to colleagues, constructing arguments, thinking on feet and convincing others).
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Students MUST have passed: Global Challenges for Business (BUST08035) AND The Business of Edinburgh (BUST08036)
Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesVisiting students must have at least 1 introductory level Business Studies course at grade B or above for entry to this course. We will only consider University/College level courses.
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  None
Course Start Semester 1
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 20, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 8, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 168 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) 70% Essay (individual) - 2,500 words
30% Case Study (Individual) -1,500 words

Feedback Formative: Feedback will be provided throughout the course.

Summative: Feedback will be provided on the assessments within agreed deadlines.
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Understand and discuss historical and comparative organisational and managerial processes with respect to labour.
  2. Understand and interpret how people behave in organisations.
  3. Understand and critically discuss the most appropriate means of managing or regulating how people behave in organisations.
  4. Identify and discuss aspects of continuity and change in employee management and the management of organisations.
Reading List
Buchanan, A. and Huczynski, A. (2017) Organizational behaviour, 9th Edition, Harlow: Pearson.

It is strongly recommended that this book should be purchased by all students.

The course also makes extensive use of:

Wilson, F. (2014) Organizational behaviour and work, 4th Edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Further Reading

Further references relating to individual lecture topics will be given in the course booklet. In addition, readings of particular significance will be outlined in the tutorial reading list.

Resource List: https://eu01.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/leganto/public/44UOE_INST/lists/18386215310002466?auth=SAML
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Cognitive Skills
On completion of the course, students should will have:
- demonstrated the development of critical analytical skills, enabling them to identify aspects of continuity and change in employee management and the management of organisations.
- developed the practical skills of summarising theoretical debates, synthesising the results of empirical research, communicating ideas to others, and applying their knowledge both individually and in groups to solve real managerial problems.

Key Skills
On completion of the assessed course essay, students should will have
- demonstrated their ability to undertake a substantial piece of critical analysis of an issue of contemporary significance within the subject area.

Subject Specific Skills
On completion of the course, students should will have:
- gained a critical insight into key aspects of managing people in organisational contexts.
KeywordsNot entered
Contacts
Course organiserDr Belinda Steffan
Tel:
Email: Belinda.Steffan@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Lucy Brady
Tel:
Email: lbrady3@ed.ac.uk
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