COURSE SYLLABUS

School of Management
The University of Texas at Dallas

Course: OB 6326 Organizations and Organizing

Instructor: Tracey Rockett, PhD
Semester: Fall 2006
Course Start/End Date: August 17 – November 27, 2006

| Course Information | Technical Requirements | Course Access | Communications |

| Student Assessment | Scholastic Dishonesty | Course Evaluation | Course Schedule |

Course Information
Course Description

1) Course Introduction: This class is an upper-level Organizational Behavior course that

focuses on how to best organize individuals for a healthy and efficient organization.
The objective of the class is to provide you with theoretical frameworks and a
vocabulary to give you a toolbox for understanding and managing relationships between
individuals in organizations. The class will be conducted using a variety of methods
including lectures, exercises, cases, class discussions, and videos. Since this is a
graduate course, I expect a great deal of participation from you in the form of written
assignments and class discussions.

2) The prerequisite for this class is OB 6301 (Organizational Behavior)

3) There are four primary learning objectives:

1) Understand how individual differences affect how people relate to others in
the workplace.
2) Understand how to organize a number of individuals into a group or team for
the purpose of achieving organizational goals.
3) Diagnose and fix problems that occur in groups and teams.
4) Use groups and teams to both complete the work of the organization and to
create and maintain a positive culture in the organization.

Instructor Information

1) Bio – I tend to approach organizational issues from a psychological perspective – I have a

B.S. in psychology from Texas A&M University. I completed my doctorate here at UTD in
International Management Studies with a specialization in Organizational Behavior. After
graduating from UTD I spent a year at SMU before returning to teach here. I have taught
organizational behavior classes at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. My research
interests are in the areas of groups & teams and conflict management.

2) Contact Information
The quickest and easiest way to get in touch with me is through WebCT email. If you
have a problem with this, or have a question that cannot be answered adequately via email, you
can call me at 972-883-4747 and leave a voice mail. I only check my voice mail when I am in
the office which will be only once or twice a week. If it is an emergency – email me. I check my
email daily during the week.

3) Online office hours – I will be available online on Tuesdays from 5:00-6:30 p.m.

Course Materials

1) Required text: Making the Team: A Guide for Managers, 2nd ed. by Leigh Thompson,
ISBN: 0-13-141658-8

2) Required readings in a coursepack.

Textbooks and some other bookstore materials can be ordered online through MBS Direct
Virtual Bookstore or Off-Campus Books online ordering site. They are also available in stock at
UTD Bookstore and Off-Campus Books.

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Technical Requirements
In addition to a confident level of computer and Internet literacy, certain minimum technical
requirement must be met to enable a successful learning experience. Please review the
important technical requirements and the web browser configuration information.

Course Access and Navigation

This course was developed using a web course tool called WebCT. It is to be delivered entirely
online. Students will use their UTD NetID account to login to the course at:
http://webct.utdallas.edu. Please see the course access and navigation information.

To get started with a WebCT course, please see the Getting Started: Student WebCT
Orientation.

If you have any problems with your UTD account or with the UTD WebCT server, you may send
an email to: assist@utdallas.edu or call the UTD Computer Helpdesk at: 972-883-2911. If you
encounter any technical difficulties within the course site, please send an email to
gmbasupport@utdallas.edu.

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Communications
Your WebCT course has built-in communication tools which will be used for interaction and
communication. Some external communication tools such as regular email and a web
conferencing tool may also be used during the semester. Please see more details about
communication tool information.

Interaction with Instructor: The instructor will communicate with students mainly using the
Announcements and Discussions tools. Students may send personal concerns or questions to
the instructor using the course Email tool. The instructor will reply to student emails or
Discussion board messages within 3 working days under normal circumstances. I generally
check my email daily during the week. However, please remember that I am human like the
rest of you, with family obligations and outside commitments. So, if I do not respond
immediately to your email, please do not worry. I will get in touch with you as soon as I am able
to. I take weekends off, so do not expect a response until Monday.

The other form of regular interaction with me and other students will be through the discussion
board. I will post one or more questions every week pertaining to the readings for that week.
You will need to participate in the discussion function in order to get credit for participation.

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Student Assessments
Grading Information

List point values and weights for all assessment tasks

Case 1 100 25%

Case 2 100 25%
Quizzes 3 points each 20%
Experiential discussion 10 points each 20%
postings
Participation 10 10%

Total 100 100%

List grade criteria for course

Scaled Score Letter Equivalent

90 -100 A
80-89 B
70-79 C
Less than 70 F

Students can check their grades by clicking “My Grade” under My Tools on the course menu
after the grade for each assessment task is released.

Participation
The rules for participation in the discussion are as follows:
1) Participation points will be given for both responses to discussion postings by
students and for responses to questions submitted by professor.
2) When a question is posted, the first five replies can answer the question directly,
posts after that need to respond to the answers given by other students to mimic an in class
discussion. Look at this as a conversation with one another rather than trying to impress me
with the “right” answer.
3) I am grading on quality of responses, not quantity. So, posts such as “I agree” or
“sounds good to me” do not count towards participation (although you can certainly use these to
advance the conversation. In order to count as participation your post has to be well thought
our and pertain to the topic for the week. You should reference some of the concepts we are
currently examining in class, not just offer vague assessments such as “there was a problem
motivation”. You can also refer back to previous weeks material if relevant. Integration of
concepts is key since none of the issues operate completely independent of one another. For
example, conflict is often caused by miscommunication, so you might refer to both in a
discussion even if the question is about conflict.
4) Keep discussion on topic and factual in nature. No flaming allowed. Opinions are
fine as long as they are supported by facts. For example, stating that you think that a specific
course of action is correct because of x, y, z is acceptable. Stating that the previous poster is
an idiot is not.
5) Grammar and spelling are not graded in the discussion section, so don’t feel that you
have to spend hours editing your response. However, please use full words, not acronyms and
abbreviations – not everyone is familiar with the text message language.
6) Limit your response to 250 words – any more than that and readers lose the point
(and interest).
7) In order to receive full participation points you must post 1-2 value-added comments
to at least 5 discussions.

Assignments

You will be assigned two cases to analyze during the semester. Each case will be worth 100
points each and will count for 25% of your grade. You can think of these as take home exams,
since they will be looking for both knowledge of the key ideas and the ability to integrate them.
A grading rubric will be available when the assignment is given.

Quizzes will consist of three questions, worth one point each, that will test your understanding of
key concepts from each module. The maximum amount of points that you can obtain is 20
points. Therefore, if you take 7 quizzes and score 3 points each, you will have achieved the top
score. If you only score 2 points each, you will need to complete all ten quizzes. You can
continue to take quizzes after you have scored the maximum value, in order to self-test, but you
are not required to.

Experiential discussion postings

A very important part of this course is the experience that you bring to the course. In order to
draw on some of your experience, you will be required to write two discussion postings over the
course of the semester. These are not intended to be major research papers. These are
intended to be short papers in which you are asked to describe an experience that you have
had in an organization and to apply the readings for the week to explain the experience from a
theoretical standpoint.

For each week I have listed the question(s) that could be answered for each unit, with the date
due. You only need to write on two topics. Therefore, you have a choice of which topics you
would like to write about. The posting should be around 900-1200 words. It should include a
description of your experience and a careful analysis of how the material from our class
helps you understand your experience from a broader perspective. This means that you
need to write it using information, ideas, and terminology learned in this class.

We will be using your experiences as part of the class, to further everyone’s understanding of
the material we are discussing. Because these experience papers are going to be an integral
part of class, I will ask for you to post your paper to the weeks experiential discussion topic for
the entire class to read and discuss. As a matter of fact, these papers will often form the basis
of our discussions for the week. Experience papers are due online at noon (CST) the Monday
of the week of the topic. So, if you want to write on motivation, it is due at 12:00 p.m. on
Monday, September 11, the beginning of the week we are learning about motivation. Each
paper will be worth 10 points, or 10 percent of your grade.

Assignment submission instructions: You will submit your assignments (in the required file
format with a simple file name and a file extension) by using the Assignments tool on the course
site. Please see the Assignments link on the course menu or see the icon on the designated
page. You can click each assignment name link and follow the on-screen instructions to upload
and submit your file(s). Please refer to the Help menu for more information on using this tool.
Please note: each assignment link will be deactivated after the assignment due time. After your
submission is graded, you may click each assignment’s “Graded” tab to check the results and
feedback.

Online Tests/Quizzes

You can access quizzes/exams by clicking the Assessments link on the course menu or see the
quiz/exam icon on the designated page. Each quiz is timed and can usually be accessed only
one time within the scheduled time window. The time window for quizzes is the week of the unit
(from Monday until Friday). Please read the on-screen instructions carefully before you click
“Begin Assessment”. After each quiz is graded and released, you may go back to the quizzes
page and click “View All Submissions” to review your exam results.

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Scholastic Dishonesty
The University has policies and discipline procedures regarding scholastic dishonesty. Detailed
information is available on the Scholastic Dishonesty web page. All students are expected to
maintain a high level of responsibility with respect to academic honesty. Students who violate
University rules on scholastic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the
possibility of failure in the course and/or dismissal from the University. Since such dishonesty
harms the individual, all students and the integrity of the University, policies on scholastic
dishonesty will be strictly enforced.

Course Evaluation
As required by UTD academic regulations, every student must complete an evaluation for each
enrolled course at the end of the semester. An online instructional assessment form will be
made available for your confidential use. Please look for the course evaluation link on the
course Homepage towards the end of the course.

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Course Outline/Schedule

WEEK STARTING TOPIC/LECTURE READING ASSESSMENT /

DATE ACTIVITY

0 Aug 17 Course Access and Syllabus • Syllabus

Self-Orientation Quiz
• Intro. Video
1 Aug 21 Introduction to Module
1 – Individuals on Read Chapters 1 & 2 • Lecture
Teams
• Quiz 1
Unit 1:
Basics of Teamwork
2 Aug 28 Unit 2: Building the Read Chapter 4 • Experience
Team posting due
(Aug 28)*

• Lecture

3 Sep 4 Unit 2 cont Read “The Power of • Lecture

Social Information in
the Workplace” • Activity:
http://www.
humanmetri
cs.com/cgi-
win/JTypes
1.htm

• Quiz 2
4 Sep 11 Unit 3: Motivation Read Chapter 3 & • Experience
posting due
“On the Folly of (Sep 11)*
Rewarding A While
Hoping for B” • Lecture

• Quiz 3
5 Sep 18 Case Analysis 1 Read “Do Something Answer case
He is About to Snap” questions and
Introduction to Module compare to
2 – Great Group answer key – self-
Process assessment (not
graded) (Sep 22)
6 Sep 25 Unit 4: Generating, Read Ch. 5 • Experience
Sharing and Using posting due
 Information (Sep 25)*

• Lecture

7 Oct 2 Unit 4 cont Reach Ch. 6 & • Lecture

“When Good Teams • Quiz 4

Go Wrong”
8 Oct 9 Unit 5: Conflict Read Ch. 7 & • Experience
posting due
“How Management (Oct 9)*
teams can have a
good fight” • Lecture

• Quiz 5

9 Oct 16 Unit 6: Leadership Read Ch. 10 • Experience

posting due
(Oct 16)*

• Lecture

• Quiz 6
10 Oct 23 Unit 7: Having Fun Read Ch. 8 & • Experience
and Rhythm & Pacing posting due
“Hot Groups” (Oct 23)*

• Lecture

• Quiz 7
11 Oct 30 Case Analysis 2 Read “The Team that Answer and
Wasn’t” submit case
Introduction to Module analysis
3 questions (Nov 3)
12 Nov 6 Unit 8: Networking Read Ch. 9 • Experience
Across Teams posting due
(Nov 6)*

• Lecture

• Quiz 8
13 Nov 13 Unit 9: Balancing Read Ch. 11 • Experience
Cooperation and posting due
Competition (Nov 13)*
 • Lecture

• Quiz 9
14 Nov 20 Unit 10: Teams and Read Ch. 12 • Experience
Technology posting due
(Nov 20)*

• Lecture

• Quiz 10
15 Nov 27 Case Analysis 3 Read “How Do You Answer and
Manage an Off-site submit case
Team?” analysis
questions (Dec 1)

* REMINDER – You only have to write on two of the experience topics. You do NOT need to post every
week

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