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 | Not available to visiting 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. |
| 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 outstanding 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 role of stakeholders; organisational trade-offs; issues of individual behaviour; perceiving and making sense of situations; building high performance teams; making decisions; leadership; organisational culture; the design of organisations; and organisational learning.
Content Outline:
- Stakeholders and organisational trade-offs
- Perception and Sensemaking
- Group behaviour and team working
- Decision-Making
- Leadership
- Culture
- Managing occupational stress
- Power, Politics and Conflict
- Organisational design and learning
Student Learning Experience:
Learning occurs through lectures, workshops, case analyses, and practitioner guest speakers.
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.
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 | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, 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 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 3,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
125 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
70% coursework (individual) - assesses all course Learning Outcomes
30% coursework (group) - assesses course Learning Outcomes 3, 4, 5 |
| Feedback |
Formative: Feedback on different cases used throughout the course.
Summative: Feedback will be provided on individual and group 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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Learning Resources
Huczynski A A & Buchanan D A (2019) Organisational Behaviour (10th edition), FT/ Prentice Hall, Harlow
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Knowledge and Understanding
After completing this course, students should be able to:
Demonstrate a thorough knowledge and understanding of contemporary organisational disciplines; comprehend the role of business within the contemporary world; and critically evaluate and synthesise primary and secondary research and sources of evidence in order to make, and present, well informed and transparent organisation-related decisions, which have a positive global impact.
Identify, define and analyse theoretical and applied business and management problems, and develop approaches, informed by an understanding of appropriate quantitative and/or qualitative techniques, to explore and solve them responsibly.
Cognitive Skills
After completing this course, students should be able to:
Be self-motivated; curious; show initiative; set, achieve and surpass goals; as well as demonstrating adaptability, capable of handling complexity and ambiguity, with a willingness to learn; as well as being able to demonstrate the use digital and other tools to carry out tasks effectively, productively, and with attention to quality.
Communication, ICT, and Numeracy Skills
After completing this course, students should be able to:
Convey meaning and message through a wide range of communication tools, including digital technology and social media; to understand how to use these tools to communicate in ways that sustain positive and responsible relationships.
Critically evaluate and present digital and other sources, research methods, data and information; discern their limitations, accuracy, validity, reliability and suitability; and apply responsibly in a wide variety of organisational contexts.
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| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Mr Jakov Jandric
Tel: (0131 6)51 7112
Email: jakov.jandric@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr Sean Reddie
Tel: (0131 6)50 8074
Email: Sean.Reddie@ed.ac.uk |
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