Course Syllabus

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA

STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 820 - Lecture A1

Edmonton Cohort EMBA Entering Class of 2011 of the Alberta Haskayne EMBA Program

SMO 820 -- MANAGING HUMAN RESOURCES

Fall 2011

Instructor: Dr. Richard Field

Office: Business Building Room 4-30M

Telephone: Office 780.492.5921; Fax 780.492.3325

E-mail: Richard.Field@ualberta.ca

 Class Times: Every other weekend Fridays and Saturdays, September to December 2011

Office hours: After class or by appointment.

Textbook: Organizational Behaviour by Gary Johns and Alan M. Saks, Eighth Edition, 2011.

Web Address for Professor: www.business.ualberta.ca/rfield

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." (See http://www.academicintegrity.org/)

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 http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/gfcpolicymanual/content.cfm?ID_page=37633) 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.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/gfcpolicymanual/content.cfm?ID_page=37633#38360) 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."

University Policy on Recording: 

Recording is permitted only with the prior written consent of the professor or if recording is part of an approved accommodation plan.

In the School of Business course calendar the ORG A 820 course is described as: “Understanding interpersonal behavior within organizations; assessing and developing interpersonal effectiveness both as a leader and a team member. This course considers the key challenges leaders face when managing the human side of business. The main objectives are: 1) to help you understand the personal and interpersonal behaviour that surrounds you in organizations, and 2) to help you apply this understanding to be a more effective leader and team member. By analyzing common dilemmas others encounter, students learn how to anticipate and avoid problems and missed opportunities. By engaging in role-plays and self-assessment exercises, students learn more about how they personally interpret and behave in different situations."

Course notes and slides are provided in a course pack to the student by the MBA office.

Course readings are selected from the Fast Company magazine. The purpose of these articles is to supplement the discussion of managing human resources by examining examples from the popular management press. Readings may be provided to the student by the MBA office and are certainly available on the www.fastcompany.com website.

Course Requirements

This is an Executive MBA course that will be run as a seminar. The course components are designed to encourage you to come to class, to share your thoughts with others, and to learn from a variety of sources and methods. To achieve the maximum benefits from this course the student needs an open mind, the willingness to prepare seriously for class, to attend class and participate with the objective of learning as much as possible, and to work with the professor and other students in the class as colleagues.

My course activity goals are for you to: read all materials assigned before class; think about them; and come to class and actively participate and discuss the topic under consideration.

LEARNING GOALS

There are a number of learning goals for this course:

1. Communication Skills - Oral -- the student will have the opportunity to speak to the rest of the class and participate with others.

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 class in teams and apply group concepts and techniques of leadership and conflict resolution toward the effective functioning of the team.

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.

There are three components that will determine the course grade in SMO 820.

1. Midterm Exam 25%. The midterm will cover all course materials, articles, and lectures from meetings 1 through 4 inclusive. The midterm will consist of short answer (a paragraph in length) questions. Expect a question or two for each article and video, a question for most class activities, and several questions per chapter. The midterm will be done individually, is open book, take home, with time limited to three hours. You will receive the exam as a MS-Word document. You may type in your answers and return your exam in electronic form, or you may write answers on a hard copy of the exam and submit the exam by mail or scanned document. The exam will be emailed to you after the fourth class. The due date will be given to you in class.

2. Final Exam 50%. The final will cover all course materials, articles, and lectures from meetings 5 through 8 inclusive. The exam does not cover the first four meetings of the course that were examined on the midterm. The final will consist of short answer (a paragraph in length) questions. Expect a question or two for each article and video, a question for most class activities, and several questions per chapter. The final will be done individually, is open book, take home, with time limited to three hours. You will receive the exam as a MS-Word document. You may type in your answers and return your exam in electronic form, or you may write answers on a hard copy of the exam and submit the exam by mail or scanned document. The exam will be emailed to you after the last class. The due date will be given to you in class.

3. Project Presentation 25%. The project will be a chance to present to the rest of the class about an issue relevant to the course and to your own business and work experience. It may be done individually or in a small group. Presentations may be made in any week. Time allowed is five minutes per member except that one person presenting alone is given ten minutes.

Course Grading

There are no official recommendations for grading at the 800 level. However, the University of Alberta recommends for 600-level courses a mean grade of 3.33, or "B+". Your grade will be based partly on your absolute performance in the class and partly based on your performance relative to the other students in the class. The grades below C+ are failures at the Master's level and are given when there are significant problems with that student's performance in the class.

Course Schedule           

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