MBA Update: Organizational Behavior

I finished two more foundation classes in the MBA in February and have moved on to the specialization courses in digital marketing, which is exciting! Here’s a bit about one of the two most recent classes, Organizational Behavior. I enjoyed this one a lot, learning about the people/psychology aspects of work and managing was very interesting. The class had some fun choose-your-own-adventure online games, choosing what you would do in certain work leadership situations.

What is Organizational Behavior?

Organizational behavior is the scientific study of human work behavior at the individual, interpersonal, team, and organizational levels. The field of organizational behavior borrows many concepts and methods from the behavioral and social sciences, such as psychology, sociology, political science, and anthropology.  This course develops interpersonal competencies to allow individuals to effectively work as managers or professionals in the rapidly changing, team-oriented, culturally diverse, and technologically integrated global climate facing modern organizations. Topics include personality and attitudes, perception and attribution, motivation, communication, work stress, group and team dynamics, leadership, decision-making, quality, ethics, job and organization design, conflict management, organizational culture and politics, and organizational structure.

Course Goals

1. Provide students with the content specific knowledge that they will need to understand organizational behavior and the importance of organizations in our lives.
2. Review the links between workers, organizations, managers, and the environment and to understand the Human Relations function of organizations in a rapidly changing environment.
3. Provide a theoretical and practical groundwork for the critical decision-making skills essential for effective behavior in organizations today.
4. Develop an understanding of what motivates employees and how to motivate individuals towards the collective goals of an organization; develop an understanding of how leaders influence those whom they lead; develop an understanding of the impact group behavior has on organizational effectiveness; understand the communication processes at the individual, group, and organizational level; develop communication skills using traditional mechanisms and evolving technologies.
5. Learn to apply the skills and theoretical concepts acquired in the course to the planning, growth, and management of their own careers.

Some of the Teachings:

• The Case study analyzed throughout the class was MediSys InstensCore Product Development Team.
• IPIP Personality Test, MBTI Personality Type
  
• Individual difference
• Bias in decision making
• Motivation – yourself and employees
• Teamwork and why teams don’t work
• Leadership vs. management
• Influence and power
• Organizational design and structure

I started the online MBA program at Montclair State University in January 2017.