JRE 420 - People Management and Organizational Behaviour

Instructor:
Contact:
Office Hours:
Office Location:

Dr. Alexander Garcia Muradov

agarcia.muradov@gmail.com
Before/after class or by appointment
SF3212

Class Time: LEC102: Thursday, 6:00-9:00 pm in GB119

TAs: Anny Fong - anny.fong@mail.utoronto.ca
Maryam Badrizadeh - maryam.badrizadeh@mail.utoronto.ca
Jing Hu - Jing.Hu14@rotman.utoronto.ca
Arpit Garg - arpitmail@gmail.com
Nishant Malhotra nishantmalhotra1010@gmail.com
Tutorial:

PRA0105: Wednesday 5:00 - 6:00 pm in BA2139

PRA0106: Wednesday 5:00 - 6:00 pm in BA2159

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Description

This course examines three inter-related topics: leadership, people management and
organizational behaviour. It provides you with both the theory and practice in how to
design, lead and manage organizations. Topics include theories of leadership, strategy,
ethics, designing organizations for rapid change and differing cultural environments,
communication, job design, managing and motivating people, fostering creativity, and
teamwork.

Course Scope and Mission

Managing people well requires many techniques, including how to increase individual
performance, avoid the pitfalls of biased decision-making, negotiate successfully with
people inside and outside the firm, and align the interests of employees with the
interests of the organization. At its essence, this is leadership: the study of
understanding, predicting, and successfully managing people. What makes leadership a
distinctive skill set is its challenge: few managers and entrepreneurs properly learn how
to manage people, and thus fail to successfully manage individuals as a valued
resource. This course is designed to help you overcome biases and errors in decisionmaking, to defeat fallacies and false practices, so that you can properly lead people as
well as perform well in your organization.
You will learn fundamentals of how to motivate employees, increase productivity,
facilitate team effectiveness, negotiate properly, influence others, and create a work

environment that supports these goals. As it will be taught in an experiential manner,

where you will not only learn the theories behind various leadership skill sets but also
participate in exercises, demonstrations, or case analyses that will complement the
lectures so that you can see what skills work and understand why.
This foundation course provides the necessary skills to take more advanced electives on
these topics (such as courses on Value Based Leadership, Human Resource
Management, Negotiations, Environmental and Social Responsibility, Organization
Design, all of which are available through the Rotman Commerce program).

Format and Required Materials

The course has one weekly lecture and one tutorial hour. In addition to lectures,
exercises, case studies, and online discussion may be used.
In the course, we may use material from a variety of sources such as Fast Company, the
Harvard Business Review, and the Harvard Business School. Any such materials will be
posted on Blackboard.
Our text book itself is interactive1 and has useful features such as podcasts for each
chapter.
The text is Nelson, D. J. Quick, A. Armstrong and J. Condie (2012) ORGB First
Canadian Edition, Toronto: Nelson Education.2

Evaluation and Grades

There are four assignments: a short paper, a group project, a final exam and ongoing
participation. Details about the assignments will be posted on Blackboard
Component

Weight

Timing

1 Although you may find it useful, you are not required to purchase access to the online

content.
2 The 2nd edition is now available, and you may use it, but it will not be required this

semester.

Individual Assignments
Group Project
Final Exam
Participation

25%
30%
35%
10%

Week 6 - (Feb 10)

Week 12 - (March 30)
TBA
Ongoing

Various please note

I grade for content and form. When I assess form, I look at the extent to which your
work is correct, clear, coherent and concise.
Under special circumstances, I will accept late assignments.
I reserve the right to give a mark of zero for the team assignment to any member of a
team who has not contributed appropriately to the team assignment.
Academic Integrity please note
The preservation and promotion of academic integrity at the U of T are critically
important both to uphold the standards of this university and to maintain a community
that exemplifies the values of honesty, trust, respect, fairness and responsibility. -Meric
S. Gertler, Dean, Faculty of Arts and Science
Plagiarism and other academic offences is not tolerated at the University of Toronto.
Academic discipline ranges from a mark of zero on an exam or assignment to dismissal
from the University. The School of Graduate Studies provides important information
(including a link to a document students will find helpful called How Not to
Plagiarize) at
http://www.sgs.utoronto.ca/governance/policies/academicmisconduct.htm.

Term Schedule
Session/Date

Topic

Readings

Part 1 - Individual Processes and Behaviours

Class 1, Jan 6

Introduction

Chapters 1 - 2

Class 2, Jan 13

Personality and Emotion

Chapters 3 - 4

Class 3 , Jan 20

Motivation

Chapters 5 and 14

Class 4, Jan 27

Stress

Chapter 7

Class 5, Feb 3

Learning and Performance

Management
Review and Look Ahead

Chapter 6

Class 6, Feb 10

Ch. 1 - 7, 14

Part 2 - Interpersonal Processes and Behaviours

Class 7, Feb 24
Class 8, March 2

Decision-Making
Power

Chapter 10
Chapter 11

Class 9, March 9

Conflict and Negotiations

Chapter 13

Class 10, March 16

Teams

Chapters 8 - 9

Part 3 - Managing Organizations

Class 11, March 23
Class 12, March 30

Leadership
Organizational Culture

Chapter 12
Chapter 16

Class 13, April 6

Organizational Design and

Change

Chapters 15, 17-18