Order Description
Management and Organisational Behaviour – Assignment 1
Organisational Behaviour: Welcome to the Management and Organisational Behaviour module. The module equips managers with a thorough grounding in organisation theory, behaviour and HRM so as to develop their awareness of the processes and problems of general management at an operational and strategic level. Every organisation is made up of individuals whose behaviour, individually or collectively will impact on its ability to succeed. This module considers a range of theories, tools and techniques which will help participants to understand organisational environments and the impact on organisational behaviour
Aims:
To equip participants with a critical understanding of concepts associated
with organisaitonal theory and behaviour, encompassing the management
of people, practices, processes and structures in an international context.
To enable participants to critically evaluate, respond to and lead decision making in the structure and strategy of their organisation through the integration of their knowledge in organisational theory with other functional areas and with contextual challenges and opportunities.
Learning outcomes:
On successful completion of the module, participants will be able to:
Knowledge and understanding
a) Critically analyse the factors contributing to organisational dynamics, their relative merits and impact within different organisational contexts
b) Evaluate and critically assess the different theoretical approaches to organisational behaviour and the impact that it has on both the individual and group dynamics
c) Synthesise the various approaches to organisational form and their implications to the working environment and organisational practice
Subject specific skills
d) Interpret and analyse a selection of models, concepts and techniques associated with Organisational Behaviour.
e) Make evidence-based business judgements about the advantages and disadvantages of different ways of organising work and the consequences of choices which are made
Key Skills
f) Demonstrate problem solving capability in complex and varied organisational scenarios
g) Analyse, evaluate and reflect on complex issues and material
h) Desmonstrate the ability to communicate effectively, in oral or in written form, demonstrating a masters level of academic rigour and the practical and analytic competencies of an organizational leader
Assignment Brief :For this assignment you are required to:
• Select two of the following areas associated with Part 2 of the Human Dimension of the programme, using theories and models from your research
Area 1: Personality and individual differences
Area 2: Attitudes and job satisfaction
Area 3: Motivation at work
• Critically appraise and evaluate the two selected and their relationship to Organisational Behaviour.
The assignment should be in report format and written in a persuasive style that includes critical analysis from relevant literature and research.
Submission Requirements
Familiarise yourself with the writing, structure and presentation of reports and the referencing of material. Your report should not exceed 2,500 words in length, excluding the appendices and the reference list. Appendices should however be used sparingly.
All references to both academic literature and other published sources must be attributed using the Harvard referencing system, which must be used accurately. ( at least 11 different references 5 books & 3 Journals 3 other)
Improper citations or plagiarism will result in work being referred to the School Academic Misconduct Officer who will make a decision about any penalties that may be applied to the grade.
suggested texts:
Huczynski A and Buchanan D (2013) Organisational Behaviour., Pearson, London, 8th edition.
Mullins L (2013) Management and Organisational Behaviour , Pearson, London, 10th edition
Recommended Reading & Other useful references:
Brown A (1998) Organisational Culture, FT Pitman, 2nd edition.
Buchanan Daniels K and Macdonald L (2005) Equality, Diversity and Discrimination: A Student Text, CIPD
Johnson G, Scholes K and Whittington R (2005) Exploring Corporate Strategy, 7th edition, Pearson Education Ltd
Kirton G and Greene A (2005) The Dynamics of Managing Diversity, Butterworth Heinemann
Morgan G (1997) Images of Organisations, Thousand Oaks, Sage
Management and organization: a critical text – Linstead, Stephen, Fulop, Liz, Lilley, Simon c2009
Management and organisational behaviour – Bloisi, Wendy, Cook, Curtis W., Hunsaker, Phillip L.2007
Organising and managing work: organisational, managerial and strategic behaviour in theory and practice – Watson, Tony J. 2006(electronic resource)
Managing & organizations: an introduction to theory and practice – Stewart Clegg, Martin Kornberger, Tyrone Pitsis 2016
Organizational behaviour and management – Martin, John, Martin, John 2005
Journals:
Harvard Business Review Magazine, Articles, Blogs, Case Studies, Books – Harvard Business Review
Research:
ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
assessment for this module. The first is a critical report which encourages students to demonstrate skills of critical organisational analysis in the consideration of concepts and theories in the field.
Each assessment will be underpinned by an assessment scheme which will include a learning outcomes coverage analysis, a marking scheme and worked solutions. This procedure is designed to assure that assessment of all learning outcomes is covered by one or other of the assessment vehicles.
Your assignment will be assessed against the postgraduate marking scheme;
• Achievement of the Assessment Brief (To what extent does the work address the task set?) (25%)
• Content & Analysis (45%)
• Structure, Presentation & expression.(15%)
• Referencing (15%)
Assignment 1 advice – Management and Organisational Behaviour (UAE intake)
This advice is in addition to the assignment brief – make sure you consider all of the points in the assignment brief carefully
Format
Executive summary (about 200 words)
A summary of the entire report (not an introduction – a summary)
Introduction (about 300 words)
An introduction ‘sets the scene’. By that I mean it introduces the topics and tries to engage the reader. For example, why are these topics important to managers and organisations? Then the introduction should state the aim of the assignment and how it will be structured.
Analysis (about 1,500 – 1,800 words)
Select two of the topic areas (personality and individual differences, attitudes and job satisfaction, or motivation at work) and critically appraise and evaluate their relationship to organisational behaviour using relevant theory and models.
Consider, for example, why study the topics? How are they useful to organisations? How are they useful to managers? Critique them i.e. what are the limitations? What might not work in this region? Etc. etc…
Consider a variety of theories and models and use examples
Conclusion (100 – 200 words)
Conclude by summarising the most important points from your analysis
Notes:
• I would like at least 10 references (with at least 3 from journal articles)
• Remember the marking criteria (see the appendix of the programme handbook)
Further general advice – Consider the following:
• What am I expected to find out about – what is the question asking?
• What do I know about this topic? How much information has the tutor already given me?
• How much time can I give to this particular project?
• Develop an outline first
• Must answer the question!
• Must provide an informed answer to questions – not opinions! i.e. arguments and explanations should be supported by reference to relevant evidence (literature)
• Demonstrate critical thinking
• Use examples
• Well referenced
• Always aim for a professional look and ‘feel’ to the report
Use diagrams/tables etc. where appropriate – but apply them.
EXAMPLE of the ASSIGNMENT:
THIS IS A GOOD EXAMPLE ASSIGNMENT. PLEASE NOTE THAT IT IS NOT ALL SHOWN HERE. PARTICULARLY NOTICE HOW THE AUTHOR WRITES CRITICALLY.
INTRODUCTION
Organizations are groups of people who work interdependently toward some purpose and Organization behavior is the study of what those people think, feel and do in an organization (Katz, 1996).
The Organization Behavior theory helps to better understand the situation in which we are and to fulfill our needs (Lawrence & Nohria, 2002). The OB theory can be applied by individuals from any area of specialization i.e., Doctor, Engineer, Banker, Priest, Sportsman, Artish, etc. OB in the current era expects everyone to be a manager and lead (Sharma, 2010).
There are contributing factors to OB and this report focuses on personality, individual differences and motivation. It is interesting to note that though Organization behavior is not a separate function within any organization, it has been widely studied upon for decades (Plato, Confucius, Smith, (Takala, 1998)).
Industrial leaders such as Warren Buffet consider that the quality of leadership and quality of employees to be the two factors that can influence a firm’s financial potential (MacDonald, 2001)
Personality that is characterized by a pattern of thoughts, emotions and behaviors in addition to the psychological processes behind those characters (David, 2001) has its advantages and disadvantages when dealing with individual differences (conflict). Ms. Mary Parker Follet, a well know social worker and political science scholar had proposed that constructive conflict can be beneficial. Scholars have evidenced that when right motivation techniques are applied, positive results are inevitable, and this is evidenced through the success stories of some of the Fortune 500 companies, this will be discussed further in the next sections of this report.
Analyses
Personality
The big five personality factors widely known as five-factor model (FFM) shown in Exhibit 1, had five fundamental dimensions such as Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Emotional Stability (Neuroticism) & Openness to experience (Digman, 1990). As noted by Revelle (1987), there is no theoretical explanation for the above dimensions and (Goldberg, 1966), etc have wondered why there are five dimensions only. Though there is no strong evidences to substantiate the same, John (1998) was able to rest this question through his study that was conducted using college students to rate their own personalities using the Adjective Check List terminologies and found that the five dimensions came from the 60 commonly used term in ACL (Gough & Heilburn, n.d.).
It is noted that the below model is not very popularly practiced.
EXHIBIT 1
Studies indicate that Personal and Behavior have strong relation. It is also observed that Conscientiousness and Emotional stability (low neuroticism) are the dominating factors that determine the individuals performance from any area of specialization (Barrick & Mount, 2005).
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), a personality tool which used to measure the Jungian theory. Southwest Airlines, a Dallas based organization uses MBTI to address personality related differences and thought processes. There is a partial overlap of the topic ‘Conflict’ in this example as this personality measurement tool is noted to be used by the organization to help workplace conflict. There are other organizations such as Hallmark Cards and Health New England who have also used the MBTI model and benefitted from it. Both, the FFM and MBTI shadow the each other but not either of them has been proven to be better than the other according to (Rogers, 2004).
The factors determining one’s Personality includes both Nature and Nurture. Nature refers to one’s genetic inheritance and Nurture refers to one’s social and life experiences. Research conducted on twins revealed that nature has a large effective on personality, upto 50 percent on behavior and 30 percent on temperament is inherited (Segal, 2000).
Motivation
It is the force within an individual that determines the direction, the level of intensity and persistence of voluntary behavior (Warner, 1994). It is considered to be one of the four essential drivers of behavior and performance of any individual. The motivation elements include employee needs, drives, expectancy, engagement, goals, feedback, rewards and recognition.
needs
The below Exhibit 3 is known as the Maslow’s needs hierarchy theory, it is a widely known theory in OB.
Source: Information in Abraham H Maslow, “A Theory of Human Motivation,” Psychological Review (1943)
EXHIBIT 3
The stages defined in the pyramid format can be perceived vividly. Griffin and Gregory (1992) have regarded the bottom three stages are deficiency needs which should be satisfied in order for an individual to be content and the top two stages are considered as growth needs as it focuses on individual’s development. In other words, if the bottom three needs do not exist, the desire to have them gets activated whilst the top two needs continue to grow when they exist.
Critics have viewed Maslow’s theory to be very pessimistic, outdated and biased towards western values. An article by (Rutledge, 2011) indicates that it misses social connection. Rutledge argued the needs have changed from what it used to be during the era when Maslow formed his opinion ion human needs. According to Rutledge the social dependency has increased in the current era and connection is viewed to be the basic requirement to survive, both physically and emotionally. However, it does not indicate the methodology to be followed to achieve the different levels of employee needs in an organization. Maslow’s hierarchy need theory is very famous in the field of Psychology and has also been applied by others in various industries