Advanced Engineering Management Programme

ORGANIZATIONAL AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

Module: 20 credits
Course code: 07 28806
Aston Webb Building WG5
2016-7 Autumn term
BIRMINGHAM BUSINESS SCHOOL and COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND PHYSICAL
SCIENCES

Module Leader
Martyn Brown (Dr), m.brown.5@bham.ac.uk
Lecturers
Martyn Brown (Dr), m.brown.5@bham.ac.uk

Introduction
This module runs for 1 week in the first semester and is designed to bring you up
to
date with the latest research and thinking in the subject of organizational
behaviour.
The module involves lectures and small group work.

Organizations are fascinating places. They can be a force for good, or cause
great
harm. However, organizations do not do anything only people can act to make
things happen or stop them from happening. This module is about how and why
people do things in organizations (or stop them from happening). We will be
looking
at managers, leaders, those who are managed and led, and the effects that their
behaviours and actions have within the organization and beyond it. It is the most
interesting and challenging way of thinking about management.

The term organizational behaviour is not a managerial position, nor does it

usually

appear in job descriptions or adverts. However, it is a foundation of

understanding
and practicing management. Studying organizational behaviour simply means
exploring the behaviour of people in organizations but this involves thinking
about
psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, and the humanities. It means
thinking and reading about how and why people work, or dont work; individual
and
collective actions and behaviours; performance and motivation; culture and
resistance; and politics.

This module is an opportunity to examine different academic and practical

approaches
to the topic. We explore the research that underpins academic theories that
explain
and predict organizational behaviour, and encourage you to come to your own
well-informed
conclusions about the contribution, positive and negative, that people make
to organizations. We approach the topic in a number of ways:
-

By developing knowledge of organisations through a metaphorical perspective

on organisations and investigating different images to illuminate the practice of
contemporary organization.
By providing an opportunity for students to interpret their own personal
organisational experience.
and

By engaging with relevant ideas and theories in the area through reading
thinking about published academic research.

- By carefully examining how organizational behaviour happens both at and

outside
workplaces.

Module Objectives
By the end of the module, you will be able to:
Explain and critically analyse key concepts in organizational behaviour, and
their application in a range of workplace, social, and cultural contexts.
Critically assess and evaluate approaches to managing organizational

behavior.
Demonstrate critical awareness of the roles of research and practice in
understanding organizational behavior.
Identify and analyse examples of organizational behaviour in organizations.

Assessment
The module is assessed in two ways: by a Group assignment (30%) and 3
hour unseen written examination (70%). Further details will be provided in
the week commencing 24th October 2016 and on Canvas; here are the
key dates:
- Group Assignment submission date 11th November 2016 at 5pm via canvas

- Examination - week commencing 9th January

More details on the coursework and examination will be provided by the end of
the week and opportunities to discuss the work will be provided throughout the
module.

Readings and Set Text

There are key readings associated with each of the weekly sessions. These are
helpful for providing a more detailed analysis of the topic than the lectures, often
from a critical and/or international perspective. The table below suggests reading
to be done prior to to the lectures. This is difficult in a module running over just
one week but do try to do some. You will need to demonstrate reading in the
group work assignment and the examination.

If you are able to buy one of these books, you should:

Hatch, M. J., (2006) Organization Theory Modern, symbolic and postmodern

perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Huczynski, A., & Buchanan, D. (2013). Organizational Behaviour. 8th edition
Harlow: Pearson.

In addition to this book and its associated online resources here

http://managementint.pearsoncmg.com/, there is a wide range of peer-reviewed
academic journals in the field of organizational behaviour; these journals are
where
your supplementary readings come from. The articles published in these journals
can
be challenging to read, but they are wonderful resources for you to think with
as
postgraduate students you are expected to read and engage with them. These
journals
should always be consulted first, before you do any general web searches there
is a
lot written about issues in organizational behaviour that isnt very good so be
careful
when choosing your sources. If in doubt, use the textbook and the journals.

After you understand the academic research, you can go to journals that are
designed
for practicing managers to read the best known of these are Harvard Business
Review, California Management Review, and Academy of Management
Perspectives.
All three are US-based, although contributors and readers are global. These
should not
be your first stop, though they exist to translate the peer-reviewed research
published in other journals.

Please bear in mind that further readings, academic and popular, are suggested
under further reading below. These are offered in order that you can look at a
particular topic in
more detail if you wish.

Module details: Day, time, schedule

The module is taught according to the information contained in your timetable
for the w/c 24th October. The venue is the Aston Webb Building room WG5.

Canvas

We will be using the universitys online learning system, Canvas, for this module.
There you will find:
- this document, and other important documents (e.g. assessment) for the
module;
- links to relevant and interesting academic work, news stories, or other
stuff
that will help you study this subject.

Here is the lecture programme:

Lecture
number

Pre-sessional
reading

Lecture

Post-sessional
activity/reading

1.

Hatch, M. J., (2006)

Chapter 10

Lecture Title

- Scan the news as

the week progresses
(BBC News is good),
make brief notes on
issues of the day
that you feel would
be of interest to
scholars of
organisational
behavior. (What
issue and why is it of
interest to scholars
of organisational
behavior.)?

Week
commenci
ng
24th
October
2016

Huczynski &
Buchanan, chapter
1 (Explaining
organizational
behaviour)

Module introduction and

assessment.
What is an organization?
The metaphorical
approach.

Lecture Aims
- To provide an introduction
to the study of
organizational behaviour
and an orientation to the
module as a whole and the
assessment.
- To problematize the
notion of organization.
- To introduce the use of
metaphor to make sense of
complex phenomena.

Seminar Activity
In discussion with your
colleagues identify six
issues you feel will be of
central importance to
managers of the 21st
century. Elect a note taker
and prepare to discuss this

- Choose two
metaphors that you
feel best illuminate
the experience you
had in an
organisation. (any
organization; work or
leisure or other)

in the session.
2.

Hatch, M. J., (2006)

Part I

Week
commenci
ng
24th
October
2016

Lecture Title
The persistence of the leftbrained organisation - An
historical view of
organization theory and
practice
Lecture Aims
- To trace the origins and
development of
organisation theory
-To introduce the idea of
left-brained organisation,
its underlying philosophy
and pathology
- To illuminate the influence
of scientific management
and its detractors

- Again using the

news and your own
experience identify
areas of
organisational
activity that you feel
have been
influenced by the
notion of scientific
management

- Try to come to a
conclusion as to
whether scientific
management is still
applicable in the 21st
century

Seminar Activity
DVD material Scientific
Management
3.

Week
commenci
ng
24th
October
2016

Hatch, M. J., (2006)

Part I

Lecture Title
Modernist and post-modern
understandings of
organization

Lecture Aims
-To explore the distinction
between modern and postmodern understandings of
organisation
- To understand the
implications of the postmodern perspective in
terms of the management
of organisations

Seminar Activity

- Write 200 words on

your understanding
of the distinction
between modernist
and post-modern
perspectives on
organisations giving
examples from
contemporary
experience or your
own.

In discussion with your

colleagues consider what
parameters you would use
to assess whether progress
had taken place in any field
of social science and why.
Elect a note taker and
prepare to discuss this in
the session
4.

Huczynski &
Buchanan, Chapter
4 (Culture)

Week
commenci
ng
24th
October
2016

Lecture Title
National culture,
organisational culture and
management

Lecture Aims
- To explore the notion of
cultures in organisations,
their development and
influence

- With reference to
an organization you
are familiar with
write 200 words on
what you feel are
matters of
organizational
culture. Tell the
reader why and give
examples.

-To present a method for

classifying organizational
cultures
- To draw a link between
organisational and national
cultures
- To explore the
implications of
organisational and national
culture for practical
management

Seminar Activity
DVD material
Organisational culture
5.

Week
commenci
ng
24th
October

Hatch, M. J., (2006)

Chapter 8

Huczynski &
Buchanan, Chapter
22 (Power and
Politics)

Lecture Title
Power, politics and change
dynamics in organisations

Lecture Aims
- To identify the theory
behind political behavior

- Write a brief
response to one of
the following
questions:

1. To what extent
should leaders and
managers permit the

2016

and the exercise of power

in organisations
- To understand the
influence of power and
political behavior in
organizational life.

free reign of political

behavior and the
exercise of power in
organizations?

2. Traditionally
- To appreciate the
managers are seen
explanatory ability of the
as having
growth crisis model of
responsibility for
organizational change.
acting to achieve
organizational goals.
Do managers act to
achieve
Seminar Activity
organizational
In discussion with your
goals?
colleagues identify four
advantages to the
existence of political
behavior in organizational
life. Give example from
your experiences. Elect a
note taker and prepare to
discuss in the session.
6.

Week
commenci
ng

Huczynski &
Buchanan,
Chapter 19
(Leadership)

Lecture Title
Managing change or
changing managers? Human psychology and the
management of
organisations

24th
October
2016
Lecture Aims
- To explore the impact of
the psychology of the
individual on the process of
organisation and
management through a
psychoanalytic approach.

Seminar Activity
Argue the case for one of
the following being the
central skill or attribute of
successful managers:

- Consider one
leader or potential
leader of the last
100 years up to
today, write 200
words outlining the
public personas of
leaders and the
extent to which the
organisations they
lead are influenced
by that personality.
Heres a few
examples but choose
your own if possible;
Hilary Clinton,
Donald Trump,
Jeremy Corbin,
Richard Branson,
Teresa May, Adolf
Hitler, Seth Blatter,
Vladimir Putin, Boris
Johnson.

- Political astuteness

and/or

- Emotional intelligence
- Cultural awareness
- Administrative precision
and
focus on efficiency
Elect a note taker and
prepare to discuss this in
the session.

7.

Week
commenci
ng
24th
October
2016

Hatch, M. J., (2006)

Chapter 6

Lecture Title
Symbols, stories, myths
and meaning in
organisations and
management.

Lecture Aims
- To consider organisations
as arenas where meaning is
created and experienced
through the creation of
stories and myths
- To draw parallels between
ancient myths and stories
and contemporary
organisations.
- To understand the
pervasiveness of symbolic
behavior in organisational
life.

Seminar Activity
Consider not-for-profit
(voluntary sector)
organisations and in

- Consider the idea

that growth is
preceded by some
form of crisis or
challenge (as
presented in the
lecture). Write 100
words on the extent
to which this has
been true in your
own experience. You
may refer to your
personal growth or
to the change in an
organisation you are
familiar with.
- Look around the
University of
Birmingham and
consider you own
experience here.
Write 200 words
outlining the
symbols you see.
Remember that does
not mean just logos,
be imaginative.
- Write a further 100
words on what being
a part of this
university, or any
other organisation
means to you.

discussion with you

colleagues; identify the
stakeholders and the
meaning those
organisations have for each
of them. Are they in
conflict? How is that
resolved, if at all. Elect a
note taker and prepare to
discuss this in the session.

Further reading by topic: (dip into this it is not an essential reading list, just a
chance to broaden your understanding)
Module
introduction
and
assessment.
What is an
organization
? The
metaphorical
approach.
The
persistence
of the leftbrained
organisation
- An
historical
view of
organization
theory and
practice

Morgan, G., (1997) Images of Organization London: Sage.

(Chapter 1)

Morgan G (1993) Imaginization, London: Sage.

Hatch, M. J., (2006) Organization Theory Modern, symbolic

and postmodern perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University
Press. (Chapter 1)

Ritzer G (1993) The McDonaldization of Society, Newbury

Park: Pine Forge Press.

Ritzer G (1998) The McDonaldization Thesis, London: Sage.

Taylor F (1911) Principles of Scientific Management, New

York: Harper Row.
Modernist
and postmodern
understandin
gs of
organization

Cole M and Rikowski G (1997) Between postmodernism and

nowhere. The predicament of the postmodernist. British
Journal of Educational Studies 4, 187-200.

Hatch, M. J., (2006) Organization Theory Modern, symbolic

and postmodern perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University
Press. (Chapter 1)

Jackson N & Carter P (2000) Rethinking Organisational

Behaviour, Harlow: Pearson.
National
culture,
organisation
al culture
and
management

Chen M (1995) Asian Management Sytems Chinese, Japanese

and Korean Styles of Business, London: Routledge.

Hampden-Turner C and Trompenaars F (1994) The Seven

Cultures of Capitalism, Value systems for creating Wealth in the
United States, Britain, Japan, Germany, France, Sweden and the
Netherlands, London: Piatkus.

Lindholm, N. National culture and performance management in

MNC subsidiaries. International Studies of Management &
Organization 29.4 (Winter 1999/2000): 45-66.
http://search.proquest.com/docview/224066277/141407D6EA0
3CCE349/23?accountid=10749

Newman, K. L; Nollen, S. D. Culture and congruence: The fit

between management practices and national culture Journal of
International Business Studies 27.4(Fourth Quarter 1996): 753779
http://search.proquest.com/docview/197158901/141407D6EA0
3CCE349/28?accountid=10749

Power,
politics and
change
dynamics in
organisation

Buchanan, D. A., You Stab My Back, I'll Stab Yours: Management

Experience and Perceptions of Organization Political Behaviour
British Journal of Management 19.1 (Mar 2008): 49.
http://search.proquest.com/docview/229456772/14140FC07782
CCCEAC3/6?accountid=10749

Farrell, D; Petersen, J. C. Patterns of Political Behavior in

Organizations Academy of Management. The Academy of
Management Review 7.3 (Jul 1982): 403
http://search.proquest.com/docview/210936270/14140FC07782
CCCEAC3/18?accountid=10749

Ferris, G. R; Rogers, L M; Blass, F R; Hochwarter, W. A.

Interaction of job-limiting pain and political skill on job
satisfaction and organizational citizenship behavior. Journal of
Managerial Psychology 24.7 (2009): 584-608.
http://search.proquest.com/docview/215868427/14140FC07782

CCCEAC3/5?accountid=10749

Fineman S and Gabriel Y (1996) Experiencing Organisations, .

London: Sage.

Greiner L E (1972) Evolution and Revolution as Organisations

Grow. Harvard Business Review July-August

Heider J (1985) The Tao of Leadership. Leadership Strategies

for a New Age, London : Bantam.

Latif, A; Abideen, Z U; Nazar, M. S. Individual Political Behavior

in Organizational Relationship. Journal of Politics and Law 4.1
(Mar 2011): 199-210.
http://search.proquest.com/docview/859013471/14140F9E7115
EB2B7CE/2?accountid=10749

Stacey R D (2003) Strategic Management and Organisational

Dynamics The Challenge of Complexity, 4th edn. Harlow:
Prentice Hall.

Zohar D (1997) Rewiring the Corporate Brain. Using Science

to Rethink how we structure and lead organisations, San
Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.

Managing
change or
changing
managers? Human
psychology
and the
management
of
organisations

Denhardt R B (1981) In the Shadow of Organsation, Kansas:

University Press of Kansas.

Symbols,
stories,
myths and
meaning in
organisations
and

Bowles M. L., (1993) The Gods and Goddesses. Organization

Studies 14 , 395-418.

Judge W Q (1999) The Leader's Shadow. Exploring and

Developing Executive Character, Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Maccoby M (2000) Narcissistic leaders: The incredible pros, the

inevitable cons. Harvard Business Review 78, 68-77.

Bowles M. L., (1993) Logos and Eros: The Vital Syzergy for

management
.

Understanding Human Relations and Organizational Action.

Human Relations 46, 1271-1289.

Bowles M. L., (1997) The Myth of Management: Direction and

Failure in Contemporary Organizations. Human Relations 50,
779-803.

Bowles M. L., (1991) The Organisation Shadow. Organization

Studies 12, 387-404.

Gabriel Y (2000) Storytelling in Organizations. Facts, fictions,

and Fantasies, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Jones M O (1996) Studying Organisational Symbolism, London:

Sage.

McEwan T (2001) Managing Values and Beliefs in

Organisations, Harlow : Pearson.

Pattison S (1997) The Faith of the Managers. When

management becomes religion, London: Cassell.