Faculty Contact Information:
Faculty Member:
Archie Twitchell
Mailing Address: 112 Mariwood Dr. Nicholasville Ky. 40356
Email Address: atwitche@cs.com (preferred) or atwitche@faculty.ed.umuc.edu
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Consultation:
Consultation: by email as needed
Tel and Fax: 859 881 0914 0800 hrs - 2000 hrs EST, 7 days
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Required Texts and Readings:
Text used exclusively in this course--
Robbins, S.P.; Judge, T.A. 2007. Organizational Behavior (12th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Texts used in multiple courses --
Ott, J.S., Parkes, S.J. & Simpson, R.B. 2003. Classic readings in
organizational behavior (3rd ed.). Toronto, Ontario: Thomson Wadsworth.
American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the
American Psychological Association (5th ed.). Washington DC:
Author.
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Supplementary Readings:
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Each instructor has his or her preferences for supplementary reading material that may be added here. In addition, all graduate students should be prepared to utilize the UMUC online library at www.ed.umuc.edu/library . The library contains a large number of full text academic journals that are free of charge and immediately available. The library homepage also contains a number of links related to improving students' research and writing skills.
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Recommended Journals:
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A variety of full-text, online, free-of-charge and pay-per-view academic journals are listed in the UMUC Library. The Journal of Organizational Behavior is especially useful in this course.
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Course Description:
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Prerequisite: Undergraduate principles of management or permission of the program director. Presents basic concepts of formal organizations. Students become acquainted with the major conceptual models that purport to explain organizational behavior, acquire an understanding of the methods used to study organizations, and analyze research that has been produced. While the emphasis is placed on critical analysis of literature that deals with "what is," attention is given to views about "what should be" in order for people to derive maximum satisfaction and other benefits from organizational activity.
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Course Goals:
As one of three foundations courses in the MPA program, a requirement for the Certificate in Public Management, and an elective in the MIS program, this course introduces and analyzes major theories of organizational behavior and the ways in which theses theories inform management of organizations in the public, private and non-profit sectors. Particular attention is given to theories focusing on:
- Individual and group behavior in relation to each other and larger organizations
- Leadership styles, principles and contingencies
- Motivation and Reward Systems
- Values, Attitudes and Job Satisfaction
- Organizational Communication
- Organizational Culture
- Organizational Development and Change
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Course Objectives:
At the conclusion of this course the student will be able to:
- Analyze case material, web sites, public law, and research articles related to organizational behavior and organizational change
- Investigate the relationship between historical and current issues in organizational behavior
- Utilize electronic resources to find primary source documents, data, statements on best practices and research articles related to issues in organizational behavior and organizational change
- Develop and present written and oral arguments, case studies, and/or research papers on current issues in organizational behavior that make reference to and build on factual and expert information.
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Grading Information:
Grades for this course will be assigned as follows:
A 400-450 points
B 350-399
C 300-349
F Below 300 points
Please note that Bowie State University does not use "D" for graduate students. The grade F is used to designate academic failure. F(n) is used to designate failure for non-completion. Grades of Incomplete or Withdrawal are governed by UMUC-Europe policies. For further details, please refer to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog. Hard copies of the catalog are available in your local Education Center.
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Course Requirements:
Midterm Examination..........................100 points
Final Examination: ............................ 100 points
Project: ........……................................ 50 points
Class Participation ............................ 100 points
Term paper …................................... 100 points
Total 450 points
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Description of Course Requirements:
Successful graduate students in American universities dedicate approximately three hours of preparation/study time for every hour spent in the face-to-face classroom. Thus, the following course requirements were developed on the assumption that students would be prepared to spend approximately 150 hours of their own time working on them. Most 14-week graduate distance education courses require at least 10 hours per week of dedicated time, plus time spent in the virtual classroom.
Participate in conference assignments. You are expected to make a substantive response to each conference assignment. A substantive response is a discussion of the question posed in a professional and informed manner.
Write a graduate level paper and a short project. You are required to conduct professional-level research, including appropriately citing works of others and avoiding plagiarism. Citations must be in the format proscribed by the APA Manual. Resubmission of course work from previous classes (whether or not taken at UMUC, UMUC-Europe or BSU), partially or in its entirety, is not acceptable in this course and will result in an automatic failure on the assignment.
Complete a midterm and a final written examination: The exams are essay type and will consist of six questions from which you select three to answer. The examination process in this class will assist you in developing the writing and critical thinking skills necessary to successfully pass the comprehensive exam required of all graduate students. The questions used for this course will either be taken directly from past comprehensive exams or written as though to be included on a comprehensive exam.
Project Description:
The project consists of the analysis of a reading from Ott. The student will select a reading from Ott and the instructors must agree that the reading selected is worthy of the attention of the class. The reading must address one of the following topics: Ethics, motivation, organizational learning, effectiveness or efficiency. Alternatively, it may consist of a critical appraisal of one of the major human behavior theories such as presented by Maslow, Blanchard, etc. The first 2-4 pages must summarize the reading. The next 3-4 pages are the student’s evaluation of the author’s main thesis. For example, has subsequent research or other theories supplanted the original thesis? The project will be posted to a conference for class members to read. The goals is to provide the class with a summary of literature important to OB for preparation for the comps. The project is due Jan.
Term paper:
Identify a organizational problem in your own environment or experience and then act out the role of manager whose responsibility it is to solve the problem.
You will define the problem, propose alternative solutions to the problem, and then select a change plan or intervention appropriate to addressing the challenges posed by the problem.
The problem must be stated in such a way that evaluation criteria acceptable to the "client" can be developed. Your evaluation criteria will serve in demonstrating that the planned strategy did, in fact, succeed or was effective.
The criteria for evaluation of the paper include the quality of the English and the quality of the analysis.
Student and instructor will work together to select an organizational problem.
The paper will count 100 points towards your final grade.
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Course Schedule:
This schedule presents 12 units or modules, with each unit corresponding to a regular three-hour weekday meeting, a half-day on weekends, or a full week of DE.
Term Dates: 30 Oct. to 28 Jan. 2007
WEEK ONE Oct. 30-Nov. 5
1) Read Robbins Chapter 1.
2) Post Short Bio.
3) Explore Webtycho classroom
4) A weekly Internet assignment will be posted in the Conference on Tuesdays.
WEEK TWO Nov. 6-12
1. Read Robbins Chapters 2,3
2. Read Appendix B (pp. 606-613)
3. Read Ott: "Introduction" pp. 1-28.
4. "The Hawthorne Experiments" pp. 142-151.
WEEK THREE Nov. 13-19
Note: The Ott reading assignments follow and study questions for them will be posted in a conference but there is NO specific DUE DATE.
1. Robbins, Chapters 4,5.
2. Ott: "Effects of Group Pressure Upon .." pp. 313-320.
3. Ott: "A Theory of Human Motivation" pp. 152-162
4. Select paper #1 topic if possible. Submit to atwitche@cs.com.
WEEK FOUR Nov. 20-26
1. Robbins, Chapters 6,7.
2. Ott, "The Human Side of Enterprise" pp. 163-168.
WEEK FIVE Nov. 27-Dec. 3
1. Robbins, Chapter 8.
2. Ott, "The Motivating Effect of Cognitive Dissonance" pp. 169-174.
3. Ott, "Work and Motivation" pp.175-181.
4. Ott, "One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?" pp.182-190.
5. Ott, "Work Motivation: The Incorporation of Self-Concept-Based Processes" pp. 191-207.
WEEK SIX Dec. 4-10
1. Robbins 9, 10.
2. Ott, "Self-Set Goals and Self-Efficacy as Mediators of Incentives and Personality" pp. 210-218.
WEEK SEVEN Dec. 11-17
1. Discussion of Fiedler’s "..Contingency Model" Ott, Pp. 65-75,
WEEK EIGHT Dec. 17-23
1. Midterm Exam Due 23 Dec.
TERM BREAK Dec. 23-Jan. 1
WEEK NINE Jan. 2-7
l. Robbins, 11.
2. Ott: The following readings are pertinent to the next weeks. Read them in any order you like. I'll provide a few conference questions for us. If you have any issues you would like to discuss, bring them to the conference area and create a topic to which we can respond.
Pp. 56-64, "Life Cycle Theory .." (Hersey/Blanchard)
Pp. 77-86, "Call for Transformational LDR." (Tichy/Ulrich)
Pp. 87-95, ".Learning Leader ..." (Schein)
Pp. 97-104, "What Makes a Leader?" (Goleman's EQ hypothesis)
Pp. 105-112, "Leadership as the Legitimation of Doubt." (Weick)
WEEK TEN Jan. 8-14
1. Robbins, 12,13
2. Ott: Pp.114-128, "Efficacy and Effectiveness: Integrating Models of Leadership and Intelligence." (Chemers)
3. Term papers due midnight Jan. 14
WEEK ELEVEN Jan.15-21
1. Robbins, 14,15.
2. Final exam posted
WEEK TWELVE Jan. 22-28
1. Final Exam due 24 Jan. Late exams are penalized five points.
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Academic Policies:
The University has a license agreement with Turnitin.com, a service that helps prevent plagiarism from internet resources. I may be using this service in this class by either requiring students to submit their papers electronically to Turnitin.com or by submitting questionable text on behalf of a student. If you or I submit part or all of your paper, it will be stored by Turnitin.com in their database throughout the term of the University's contract with Turnitin.com. If you object to this temporary storage of your paper, you must let me know no later than two weeks after the start of this class. Please Note: If you object to the storage of your paper on Turnitin.com, I may utilize other services to check your work for plagiarism.
The official university policy on Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty can be found at http://www.umuc.edu/policy/aa15025.shtml. Section I.C. states: Faculty may determine if the resubmission of course work from previous classes (whether or not taken at UMUC), partially or in its entirety, is acceptable when assigning a grade on that piece of course work. Faculty must provide this information in their written syllabi. If the resubmission of course work is deemed to be unacceptable, a charge may not be brought under this Policy and will be handled as indicated in the written syllabi.
Please refer to Description of Course Requirements for specific information on how resubmissions will be treated in this course and to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog for information on the following:
Academic Integrity
Course Load
Exception to Policy
Grade Appeal Process
Make-up Examinations
Nondiscrimination
Students with Disabilities
Hard copies of the catalog are available at your local Education Center.
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Faculty Bio:
Faculty Bio:
Dr. Twitchell holds a doctorate in public administration from the University of Southern California. He served as a city manager for 11 years and another four working for the federal government in the field of environmental protection. He has taught graduate courses for since 1990. He authored a training manual in financial administration for the World Food Programme as well as numerous training manuals for the Office of Personnel Management.
His hobbies are: reading military history, bridge, hiking, cooking.
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