Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Course Instructor: Rohit Dwivedi
Email: rd@iimshillong.ac.in
Phone: +91 364 230 8042 (O)
Course Title: Behavioral Science I:
Understanding Individuals, Work & Organizations
Credit: 1 Sessions: 20
Course Objective: i. To initiate participants into the process of sensemaking;
ii. Help participants in gaining skills and understanding into
reflective‐learning especially out of their own interpersonal
and group experiences while in the program;
iii. To unravel some of the organizational complexities and how
they are governed by micro processes of the individual and
the interpersonal;
iv. To understand organization as a complex open system that
connect the functioning of organizations to the nature of its
outcomes.
Introduction to the Course Organizational life and living is inevitable in modern times.
Contrived originally as vehicles of development, formal work
organizations exert tremendous impact on the individuals and the
overall society. Their significance, with modernity, has arisen much
higher than any other human purpose ever in the history of
mankind. With organizations determining individual identities and
societal futures, understanding about their functioning and
behavior is assumed to be naturally occurring to people.
Organizations as socially contrived systems and need to be
understood for how they behave and how individuals get socialized
to behave in a particular manner. Their outcomes, in general, are
intended to raise quality of lives and create wealth but it does not
always contribute in the greater benefit. Thus their design and the
modus operandi also need to be decoded for a collective future.
The course is conceptualized to provide a reflective peep into
organizational reality with a purpose to strengthen our capabilities
of managing them for a better future.
Course Outline: The course is divided into four (4) four modules, each of which
focuses on the different levels of organizations:
1. Point of Departure – The Sensemaking Process
2. Individual Level Processes
3. Art and Science of Influencing at Work
4. Group and Organizational Dynamics
Reading Resources Text Book: Organizational Behavior and Work – A Critical
Introduction, Wilson, M., Fiona, Oxford University Press,
UK
Additional Readings: Would be provided as required.
Pedagogy The course is designed to orient participants on critical sensemaking
paradigm wherein learning‐to‐learn is the key!!
It is expected that the participants bring in wide variety of
organizational experiences and the class sessions help them
examine those situations as if done inside a laboratory. A class for
all practical purposes of this course is an organization.
Ensuring that the designated reading is complete before meeting
any class is thus a pre‐requisite. Varied learning methods would be
put to use to facilitate the sensemaking process.
The course is delivered under two assumptions, and as agreed by
the participants:
Learning is your one’s own responsibility;
Managerial learning happens when we engage with a
problem and our colleagues;
Evaluation Keeping in tune with the nature of the course content and the
nature of organizational realities, we would evaluate the class on
the quality of engagement which the members display in the course
along with the outcomes which the groups are able to generate for
themselves and others in the class.
Class discussions, course preparation and quality of team outcome
would be the primary sources of internal assessment. And end term
would still focus on the individual gains out of the entire process.
As an instructor, I assume your ability and sincerity in learning. All
the assignments would require you to meet in your study groups
and further your understanding. We would expect the groups to
meet before and after each session. Assessment would basically be
done on the basis of your Contribution in the group assignments and
the individual performance in the end term.
The following would be used for grading your course performance:
1. Class Attendance
2. Individual’s Contribution to Class Discussion – Instructor
Assessment
3. Study Group Report ‐ Peer Reviewed (Instructor
Moderated)
4. End Term
Weightage of the End Term will be 40%. Remaining all other
components will have equal weightages.
Only letter grades are awarded and conversion is done on a scale to
meet the program office requirements.
Session Plan
Module I Point of Departure – Engaging with the Process of Organizing
Session 1 Introductions…about
Introduction about the content and course design; Evaluation and Course
Expectations; Need for learning about Organizational Behavior; Learning Styles and
Learning in Management; A bias for action vs. Reflective Engagement; Sensemaking
and the Practice of Management; The essential discursive nature of management.
Reading Text Book Chapter 1
Session 2 Historical Perspective to Organizations and Management
Origin of Organizations in the West and India; Origin of Management as a Practice and
Learning; Management as a Science and Art?
From Socially Contrived Systems to Corporate Personhood; What is Organizational
Behavior; Micro, Meso and Macro OB; Changing Nature of Organizations and their
behavior across time; Systems Approach to Understanding Organizations;
Organizations as Information Processing Systems.
Reading Chapters 4 & 5
Session 3 Organizational Socialization and Integration – the onboarding process
Experiencing and Internalizing Organizations and Organizing; Organizing as a process of
socializing for life; Partial Inclusion; Acculturation vs. Socialization; Induction;
Organizational Integration and Organizational Citizenship Behavior. Role Performance
and Individual Effectiveness.
Assignment : Self & Work: An Introduction for the Study Group
Meet and discuss in your own Study Groups about your own Socialization Process at
the Institute. What was the process and what were the consequences? Clearly
describe the behavioral and the emotional outcomes of the entire induction process.
Based on the experiences and understanding of the entire process, prepare a Group’s
Account of the Purpose and Experiences of the entire induction process. Clearly
highlight the impact which the induction process may have had on you.
AND
Participants with experience will need to write their story about their experience of
entering the organization and subsequently becoming a part of that organization.
Whether it was easy/difficult for them to cope with the routines of their work. Write
and Share your story with the remaining group mates.
Share the essay with your study group members, and mark your
comments/observations on others’ essays. After the feedback is read and understood,
place the essays in a folder, as the introductory section for the volume.
Reading: Chapter 2 & 3: Employee’s View of the Work and Managerial View of the Work
Session 4 Learning to learn from each other: Class as a Sensemaking Organization
What is sensemaking?
Reading: When Manager’s Become Philosophers
Module II Individual Level Processes
Sessions 5 Personality
Its basic nature; personality and situations: the interactionist approach; person‐job fit;
Big‐Five personality dimensions; Perceptions – understanding others and ourselves;
attribution process; perceptual biases; stereotyping; role of perception in
organizational activities
Reading Chapter 9
Session 6 Values
Understanding nature of human behavior and values; role of values in decision
making; Role of attitude in shaping human behavior;
Reading Case Title Values in Decisions
Reference No. IIMA/CMA0661
Authors Gupta, Ranjit
Session 7 Motivation and Emotions at Work
Theories of Motivation; Understanding Aspirations through Motivations; Individual
differences and motivations at work; Theories of Emotions; Role of Emotions in
Organizations; Emotional Intelligence; Managing Emotions at Workplace
Reading Chapters 6 & 18
Session 8 Perception
What is Perception; Errors in Perception; Person Perception; Perception and Decision
Making
Reading Chapter 8
Module III Organizational Processes
Session 9 Leadership
Theories and Practice of Leadership in Organizations; Early Theories; Recent
Developments etc.
Reading Chapter 7
Session 10 Understanding Power, Influence and Persuasion
Bases of Power; Exercising influence using bases of power; Difference between
Influence and Persuasion;
Reading Case Title Nitish @ Solutions Unlimited
Reference No. IIMA/OB0193
Authors Vohra, Neharika
Session 11 Power, Control and Politics
How is Power and Politics connected? Understanding Power Play at Work; Nature of
Politics in Organizations;
Reading Chapter 15
Session 13 Negative Behavior at Workplace
Negative Behavior and Negative Performance at Workplaces; types; impact and
consequences; measurement and recognition.
Reading Chapter 16
Module IV Group and Organizational Dynamics
Sessions 14 Dynamics of Groups and Teams
Group Formation and Dysfunctionalities in Groups; Importance of Norms, Roles, Status
and Cohesiveness within organization; Group Effectiveness; Group vs. Teams; Nature
of Decision Making in Groups;
Reading Chapter 12
Session 16 Organizational Culture
The basic nature of organizational culture; Forms of organizational culture;
Functionality and Dysfunctionality of culture; Creating and Transmitting Organizational
Culture
Reading Chapter 11
Session 17 Organizational Structure and Change
Reading Chapter 13 & 14
Case: South Asian Games 2016: The Dash to the North East (IIMA)
Session 18, Course Consolidation
19 & 20
Group Presentations on Term Assignment
Course Evaluation Components:
The Course would require you to put in at least equal number of hours as those of the
class sessions for preparing to meet in class. All components would demand personal
study followed by group discussions. Each course component is described as follows:
1. Class Attendance
2. Contribution to Class Discussion
We expect the batch to exercise professional maturity in all their conduct. And
with a sincere believe in the fact that Learning is your own responsibility.
Beginning with the exact number of sessions you attend, I expect from each one
of you to contribute to the class deliberations. With your active class
participation and facilitation of the discussion we will gather an assessment
about how you think and how you can add value to the course.
Any assessment taking place for the component would be subjective. And we
respect subjective assessments as much as those conducted through objective
measures. Mere presence in the class would not guarantee any grades.
3. Study Group Case File/Term Assignment
All respective group members would be required to keep a reflective note of
their own learning process ‐ Events, happenings, discussions and how the group
evolved with time along with the topics discussed in class.
If the study group is able to converge itself into a team, then descriptions
pertaining to how that happened or if it just could not move beyond the PGP’s
attendance sheet, then why? What efforts were made to help the group come
alive; and what reasons did allow the members to honor each other. Problems
and difficulties in group could be treated as one learning opportunity for the
groups to reflect and the possible resolutions which they may adopted.
4. End Term
End term will comprise of questions which may have been left or missed out to
be handled in the class. Individuals would be expected to respond to case
situations or direct questions concerning any concept or problem. Due
acknowledgement would be awarded to original ideas and the depth of thinking
which the individual would display in the respective answers.
As an instructor I respect your ability to read, reflect and understand the text
book and gather your primary understanding of the concepts and the ability to
relate them in real life. Subsequently, your contribution in class discussion and
overall engagement with the subject, as demonstrated by you in your
reflections and assessment points, you would be awarded grades as per the
following:
A+ Excellent Conceptual Clarity and Ability to Go Beyond the Text
A Good Conceptual Clarity and Goes Beyond the Text
A – Average Conceptual Clarity but Goes Beyond the Text
B+ Conceptual Errors and but Goes Beyond the Text
B Conceptual Errors and Remains at the Level of the Text
B ‐ Conceptual Errors and Does not Reach till the Level of the Text
C +/‐>No Demonstrated Understanding of the Subject
D +/‐ Un‐Professional Attitude towards learning