Professor: Dr. Richard Field

Office: Faculty of Business Building, Room 4-30M

Contact: Telephone 780-492-5921; Fax 780-492-3325

E-mail: Richard.Field@ualberta.ca

Professor's Home Page: http://www.business.ualberta.ca/rfield

Course Syllabus: http://www.business.ualberta.ca/rfield/Courses/SMO200/smo200syllabusspring2012.htm

Textbook: Organizational Behavior V1.1 by Talya Bauer and Berrin Erdogan, ISBN: 978-1-4533-0084-8

Go To: http://students.flatworldknowledge.com/course/813651

Grades: Check your grades online at https://ulearn.ualberta.ca  Sign in with your campus computing id and password. If you have trouble you may need to go to the campus computing site and change your password.

Class Times: Monday and Wednesday 2:00 – 4:50 p.m., May 7 to June 13, 2012, in Business 3-06.

Office Hours: Call or email for an appointment. Before or after class is always a good time.

Notes from General Faculties Council: 

1. “Policy about course outlines can be found in Section 23.4(2) of the University Calendar.” Specifically, "At the beginning of each course, instructors are required by GFC to provide a course outline which must include the following: (1) a statement of the course objectives and general content; (2) a list of the required textbooks and other major course materials; (3) an indication of how and when students have access to the instructor; (4) the distribution of weight between term work and final examination; (5) identification of all course activities worth 10% or more of the overall course mark; (6) whether marks are given for class participation and other in-class activities as well as the weight of such participation; (7) dates of any examination and course assignments with a weight of 10% or more of the overall course mark; (8) the manner in which the official University grading system is to be implemented in that particular course or section, i.e., whether a particular distribution is to be used to determine grades, or whether there are absolute measures or marks which will determine them, or whether a combination of the two will be used. Instructors should refer to the University of Alberta Marking and Grading Guidelines.

2. From the University of Alberta Libraries website "Imagine that you were about to get surgery and just as you were going under, you discovered that your surgeon had cheated throughout his/her university career. Would you feel betrayed? What if it was your lawyer? Your accountant? Your child's teacher? All the above scenarios are reflective of a concept called academic integrity. As the above examples illustrate, academic integrity not only affects the climate at the university but it can also affect every other area of your life." http://www.library.ualberta.ca/guides/plagiarism/academic/index.cfm

The Centre for Academic Integrity at Duke University defines academic integrity "as a commitment, even in the face of adversity, to five fundamental values: honesty, trust, fairness, respect, and responsibility. From these values flow principles of behaviour that enable academic communities to translate ideals into action." http://www.academicintegrity.org/fundamental.asp

From General Faculties Council: “The University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty. Students are expected to be familiar with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold the policies of the University in this respect. Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Code of Student Behaviour (online at www.ualberta.ca/secretariat/appeals.htm) and avoid any behaviour which could potentially result in suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or participation in an offence. Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University.”

3. The University of Alberta Code of Student Behaviour (online at http://www.ualberta.ca/~unisecr/policy/sec30.html) specifies in Section 30.3.4 Inappropriate Behaviour towards Members of the University Community, subsection 30.3.4(1) Disruption, paragraph 30.3.4(1)a that "No Student shall disrupt a Class in such a way that interferes with the normal process of the session or the learning of other Students." Under Section 30.4.3 Levels of Sanction, subsection 30.4.3(1) Minor Sanctions, paragraph 30.4.3(1)a "Instructors have the authority to dismiss a Student from Class for no more than 3 hours of Class time for Disruption of a Class. In cases where a single class meeting is longer than 3 hours the student may be excluded from that entire class."

4. Students may wish to view past blank copies of SCHEDULED FINAL EXAMS for this course by visiting the SU Exam Registry in person, at 0-26 Students Union Building (SUB), or online at http://www.su.ualberta.ca/services/infolink/exam/

University Policy on Recording: 

Audio or video recording of lectures, labs, seminars or any other teaching environment by students is allowed only with the prior written consent of the instructor or as a part of an approved accommodation plan. Recorded material is to be used solely for personal study, and is not to be used or distributed for any other purpose without prior written consent from the instructor.

The purpose of this course is to help you attain greater personal effectiveness in organizations. It will help you to understand how organizations operate, how to motivate yourself and others toward the attainment of your own and organizational goals, how to work with others, how to make better decisions, how to cope with stress and change, and how to plan your future career as an organizational participant.

From a former student: "This course is not about learning information, but about how to process information. We are learning to approach familiar topics and situations critically. We are learning to think. We are learning to think about our actions, even when completing simple everyday activities, in fact especially when completing everyday activities. We have to think about the things we don't think about. For me this is the most important message conveyed in this course. We have to be aware of the things we, and others do, and why we do such things. Otherwise you may fall victim to easily avoidable problems."

LEARNING GOALS

There are a number of learning goals for this course:

1. Business fundamentals -- the student will become more aware of and appreciative of the nature of organizations, different organizational types such as for profit, not-for-profit, governmental, and non-governmental.

2. Critical Thinking -- Students will be exposed to issues and ideas from the business press and this will help to develop their ability to analyze problems, situations and issues in a clear-minded, rigorous intellectual manner.

3. Ethical Awareness -- Students will develop a high degree of awareness of ethical concepts and issues in the world of business and will begin to learn to develop strategies to both recognize and deal with ethical problems.

4. Global Awareness -- Students will develop an awareness of the global community in which business operates and how management and business operations are likely to vary between countries and cultures.

5. Information Literacy -- Students will read articles from the business press and learn to extract the key lessons from those articles. 

6. Practical Experience -- Students will develop the ability to apply academic knowledge to their own real-world work situations.

7. Teamwork -- Students will have the opportunity to work in teams.

8. Leadership Skills -- Students will be encouraged to develop an understanding of leadership roles and skills and how leadership methods may change depending on organizational circumstances.

9. Problem Solving -- Students will be given the opportunity to use problem-solving and decision-making tools to better understand organizational problems and issues.

The class will examine current questions about how organizations work, how people act in organizations, and how to be more personally effective in organizations. Current articles from the business press will be studied to aid understanding of business.

Grading

There will be a midterm exam and a final exam, each worth 40% of the final grade. The exams will be composed of multiple choice questions and/or short answer questions. Students who miss the midterm will not have the weight added to the final but will write a makeup exam at the final exam time. The final exam covers material since the midterm.

Participation will be worth 20% of the final grade. Being in class is the major part of participation (11% total accumulated as 1% per class), preparation is a strong element, and contributing to class is the third element. Being in class will be evaluated as the percentage of time that the student is in class. Preparation and contribution will be evaluated on a rubric of 9=outstanding; 8=excellent; 7=very good; 6=good; 5=fair; 4=adequate; 3=poor; 2=very poor; 1=deficient; 0=very deficient.

The University of Alberta recommends for second year courses a mean grade of 2.83, or between a "B-" and a "B". Shown in the table below are the university recommended percentages of students who should receive each grade. Course grades will in general be determined by ordering students from high to low and in general assigning the top 5% the grade of A+, the next 7% the grade of A, the next 12% the grade of A-, and so on down to the bottom 2% of students who may receive the F grade. In a small class these rules cannot be followed precisely.

The date/time of the final is expected to be Friday June 15th from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.. It will require knowledge of the course notes, class lectures and any readings assigned, activities, videos, and any team project presentations and discussions. The final exam will consist of Multiple Choice and/or Short Answer (each answer is a few sentences) questions.

You may have your laptops, cell phones, and Blackberries with you. Laptop e-mail, texting, tweeting, and Internet access via iPod touch, Blackberry, or similar device is not allowed in the classroom. Your cell phone may be on vibrate and calls received may be taken in the hallway. Laptops may only be open in class when you are using yours to access electronic versions of the SMO200 course text and articles or taking course related notes. No poker, no email, no Facebook, no texting, no Twitter, no Internet access.

Eating hot food in class is not allowed. Hot food in class changes the atmosphere from one of professional level work to that of a lunchroom. Disruption of the class in any way is not allowed. Coffee/tea/hot chocolate are ok. No pizza, no French fries, nothing that will pervade the room with the smell of your food.