Organizational Behavior

• GSM OB 712: Managing Organizations and People
  This course introduces you to some fundamental concepts, models and frameworks to help you become better acquainted with the organizations for which you work, the teams in which you work, the people with whom you work, and your own personal development. Specifically, this course has five tracks: 1) how to develop yourselves as managers, 2) how to work well within teams, 3) how to develop more effective organizations, 4) how to assess the external environment, and 5) how to initiate change in each one of the above arenas. Tying all of these elements together, we will devote particular attention to the traits, skills and behaviors that are indicative of good leadership and how organizations and managers can be transformed for better alignment with the business demands of the future.
• GSM OB 713: Managing Organizations and People
  This course introduces concepts, models and frameworks to help you become better managers of the organizations you work for, the teams you work in, the people you work with and your own professional development. Emphasis will be on behavioral science concepts and research findings related to the major challenge managers face ? how to organize individuals in order to fulfill the objectives and strategies of the firm. Topics that will be examined include: the nature and dynamics of the organization (organizational structure and culture, performance systems and metrics, reward systems, selection and socialization); the elements of individual leadership and personal development (power, decision-making, emotional intelligence, career development, developmental needs, feedback, and mentoring and coaching); managing change within organizational contexts (the dynamics and stages of organizational change and the skills and tactics employed by change agents); and the relationships between the firm and the external environment in which it operates. The course objective is to provide analytical skills and strategies, substantive knowledge, and a professional sensibility that will increase your ability to take effective action in firms, agencies and other organizations.
• GSM OB 830: Leading the Mission-Driven Organization
  Mission-driven organizations are created in order to accomplish goals that extend beyond profits for stakeholders and owners. Missions vary, ranging from, among many others, educating or protecting youth, safeguarding the planet, healing the sick, eradicating poverty, and enabling spirituality. Such missions occur in the context of various organizations, including non-profit and for-profit, philanthropic and religious, public and private, governmental and non-governmental. This course focuses on leadership theories, frameworks, and practices that take seriously the nature of workers, including both professional staff and volunteers, and their reasons for choosing to work in such organizations. This course is designed to build the capacities of students to use specific tools?related to leadership, conflict, and change?that are particularly useful in leading mission-driven organizations, and enable them to develop particular insights about specific mission-driven organizations of interest, related to their effectiveness and capacities for change. This course is particularly appropriate for students focusing on non-profit organizations, health-care systems and entrepreneurial organizations.
• GSM OB 838: Global Strategic Human Resources Management
  This course focuses on personnel and labor policies that are crucial to the accomplishment of a company's strategy. After introducing a conceptual framework, the course, largely through case studies, emphasizes the policies needed to attract, develop, and motivate an organization's members. Specific topics include the employment relationship, employee relations, contract negotiation and administration, and benefit policies and programs. This course is as concerned with the executive and professional level as it is with the non-exempt work force.
• GSM OB 840: Management Consulting Field Project
  The purpose of this course is to provide students with an in-depth understanding of the management consulting process and its practical application. The course simulates a small consulting firm where students are consultants. Students complete significant fieldwork outside of classroom time. Students explore dimensions of defining and understanding the consulting framework, engagements, work methodology, client relationship management, value creation, developing and delivering presentations and client follow-up. This course includes one primary deliverable: the initiation, scoping and completion of a consulting field project. This class is designed and best suited for second year students who have 3-5 years work experience in the public, private or nonprofit sectors.
• GSM OB 847: Leading High Performance Teams and Project Groups
  This course introduces the challenges of leading and participating in teams and project groups. It emphasizes the role of leadership in composing teams, motivating members, and creating an environment in which teams and their members grow in capacity over time. This course will use cases, experiential exercises, and group projects to help students gain both knowledge of team dynamics and the skills to shape them.
• GSM OB 848: The Leadership Challenge
  This course examines the essence of leadership; its relationship to managing; and the behaviors, attitudes and perspectives that distinguish leaders. Leadership is considered in a variety of ways: leadership in crises, at the top, in the middle, and in groups. Case studies, students' past experiences, instruments, and other learning activities provide opportunities for students to assess and develop their leadership talents.
• GSM OB 853: Negotiations
  This course uses the theory and research on effective negotiating strategies to build students' understanding of, and skills for, managing differences and negotiation situations. The course considers, among other topics, the issues of negotiating across functions, between levels, across national and cultural differences, over race and gender differences, and between organizations. Students examine: 1) problems of influence and self-defense in highly competitive "hardball" negotiations; and 2) the art of using differences for creative problem-solving and "mutual gain" outcomes. The emphasis is on developing practical skills for effective negotiations that can be applied to concrete situations. Students should be prepared to learn from their own experiences and practice in this course.
• SMG OB 221: The Dynamics of Leading Organizations
  Sophomore requirement. This is an experiential learning-based course that studies what people think, feel and do in organizational settings, focusing on individual, interpersonal, group and organizational processes. The primary objective is to help students understand and manage organizational dynamics as effectively as possible. This is done through: analysis of readings; reflecting on hands-on, real-time experiences in organizations and in teamwork here; practice opportunities in class sessions, creative applications and team exercises; and papers written by students and teams. The readings, discussions and lectures provide students with abstract knowledge about organizational behavior processes and structures; the semester-long "OB Team" experiences, working together as an intact team to address real-world problems, will provide skill-building opportunities to help manage one's own and others' behavior in teams and organizations in the future. Major topics include personality, motivation, team dynamics, leadership and organizational change. SMG students must take concurrently with SM411. 4 cr.
• SMG OB 441: Human Resource Management
  Required for Organizational Behavior concentrators. Introduces students to the field of human resource management (HRM). Emphasizes the strategic importance of effective human resource management to the success of any organization. Specific topics covered include: job design and workforce planning, recruiting and selection, training and development, performance management and rewards, employee and labor relations, and retention. Particular attention is paid to the ways in which organizations' strategies and practices around these issues contribute to the strategic objectives of the organization. Individual and group projects enable students to develop skills in making decisions from both the human resource manager's and the general manager's perspectives. 4 cr.
• SMG OB 442: Leading High Performance Teams and Project Groups
  Provides an opportunity for students to develop an in-depth understanding of creating, leading and maintaining high performance teams - and in particular, project groups that have clearly defined goals and deliverables. Students will learn to structure and organize high performance teams, develop and practice team interventions, and use teams effectively in organizational contexts. 4 cr.
• SMG OB 444: International Management
  Examines the many dimensions of managing people in the global organization. Topics include understanding and valuing cultural differences, cross-cultural communication, managing cross-cultural teams, and career management in global organizations. 4 cr.
• SMG OB 448: Negotiations
  Focuses on the problems and possibilities of effective negotiations, conflict management, and power and influence at work and in other settings. Emphasizes developing both intellectual knowledge of approaches to negotiation, conflict and organizational influences and practical skills in applying that knowledge to various situations. 4 cr.
• SMG OB 460: The Leadership Challenge
  Required for Organizational Behavior concentrators. Explores the nature of leadership in theory and practice. Emphasizes the perspective that leaders are needed at all levels in organizations. In addition to studying leaders, this course uses self-assessment as an initial step in creating a plan for personal leadership development. Students practice leadership by designing and executing a team community service project. 4 cr.
• SMG OB 498: Directed Study: Organizational Behavior
  

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