Introduction
Organisational behaviour is concerned with understanding, explaining and predicting the behaviour of individuals in the workplace and can assist in the development of practical solutions to organisational and managerial problems. Individuals, whether acting in isolation or collectively as part of a group, engage in actions and behaviours that can have a positive or negative impact on company performance and the achievement of strategic goals. It is therefore essential that those who are involved in managing and leading people in organisations, acquire insight and expertise in organisational behaviour.
The aim of this unit is to develop knowledge and understanding of how organisational behaviour concepts, theories and techniques can be applied in work and management settings in order to enhance individual, team and organisational performance. Students will be able to apply this knowledge in a variety of business situations. They will appreciate how effective application of organisational behaviour principles can be used to explain why people behave and act in particular ways and to predict how employees will respond to certain demands. The unit also develops student understanding of the influence of culture, the operation of power and politics in organisations and how these variables influence the actions and behaviour of people in an organisational context.
On successful completion of this unit, students will have developed a range of transferable skills and knowledge. This includes core people management skills used to achieve positive organisational outcomes and to create value by recognising individual difference, team working and the creation of inclusive organisational cultures.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this unit a student will be able to:
LO1 Reflect on own personality and perceptions to understand how individual difference informs and influences management approaches
LO2 Apply content and process theories of motivation to create and maintain an effective workforce
LO3 Participate in a group team activity for a given business situation to demonstrate effective team skills
LO4 Examine how power, politics and culture can be used to influence employee behaviour and accomplish organisational goals.
|
Submission Format |
|
This is an individual report and PowerPoint presentation. The report should be written in a concise, formal business style using single spacing, Arial font style and font size 12 while the presentation should be in the apporopriate format with accompanying speaker note. The recommended word limit is 3,500 words, although you will not be penalised for exceeding the total word limit. You are required to make use of headings, paragraphs, subsections and illustrations as appropriate, and all work must be supported with research and referenced using the Harvard referencing system. Provide a list of references and bibliography using the Harvard referencing system. |
|
Activity and scenario |
|
A reputable UK based retailer (options given below) is having series of customer complaints which borders on staff skills and professionalism and is affecting sales. The CEO is focused on enhancing customer satisfaction through internal restructuring and training and requires you as the operations manager to produce a report in the next three months on how to improve results. Considering the importance of skills, personality and traits to managing people, the report must adapt personal perspectives, traits and attributes to justify improvements that influence and enhance employee motivation and create an effective workforce. This must clearly show the importance and evaluation of your own perspectives, personality traits and attributes towards the justification of the influence they have on your approach to management and building relationships to improve results, and create an effective workforce. Additionally, use specific organisational examples to critically assess the extent that employee motivation can be enhanced and maintained by practical application of content and process theories of motivation. As part of a developmental plan, demonstrate your ability to work effectively towards the development and management of a team. You should revise personal contribution and skills for the creation, group behaviour, dynamics, and the management of effective teams to make justified recommendations for own improvement. This will be effective if you also investigate relevant group and team theories and their implication on the creation and management of effective teams. Further to the above, evaluate and make justified recommendations on how power, politics and culture can be used effectively to influence and direct employee behaviour towards the accomplishment of organisational goals. In order to do all the above, you will need to choose a reference company to complete this unit. Although, not restricted to, however, you may choose from one of the following companies. You must get an approval from your teacher. 1. Tesco 2. John Lewis 3. Asda 4. Marks and Spenser 5. Amazon 6. Boots 7. Next 8. Primark 9. Boohoo 10. Sainsburys 11. Lidl 12. Aldi 13. Boots
Or for other ideas, look through the Times 100 top companies
Note Quite Urgent: The students are required to a presentation for the LO3 . The presentation will, and should be recorded in the class and uploaded on moodle as an evidence for the IV, LV EE. |
|
Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria |
||
|
Pass |
Merit |
Distinction |
|
LO1 Reflect on own personality and perceptions to understand how individual difference informs and influences management approaches |
LO1 and LO2 D1 Adapt personal perspectives, traits and attributes to justify improvements that influence and enhance employee motivation and create an effective workforce. |
|
|
P1 Assess own personality traits and attributes in terms of them having a positive or negative effect on management approaches and company performance. P2 Reflect on the value and importance of personality and perception for effective managerial relationships.
|
M1 Challenge own perspectives and individual traits and attributes to influence and improve managerial relationships. |
|
|
LO2 Apply content and process theories of motivation to create and maintain an effective workforce |
||
|
P3 Apply content and process theories of motivation for enhancing and maintaining an effective organisational workforce, providing specific examples. |
M2 Critically assess the extent that employee motivation can be enhanced and maintained by practical application of content and process theories of motivation.
|
|
|
LO3 Participate in a group team activity for a given business situation to demonstrate effective team skills |
D2 Revise personal contribution and skills for effective teams to make justified recommendations for own improvement. |
|
|
P4 Contribute to the creation and management of effective teamworking in a given business situation. P5 Explore the relevance of group behaviour and team theory in the creation and management of effective teamworking.
|
M3 Reflect on personal contribution to group behaviour and dynamics in the creation and management of effective teamworking. |
|
|
LO4 Examine how power, politics and culture can be used to influence employee behaviour and accomplish organisational goals. |
D3 Make justified recommendations on how power, politics and culture can be used effectively to influence and direct employee behaviour towards the accomplishment of organisational goals.
|
|
|
P6 Examine how the operation of power, politics and culture in an organisation affect employee behaviour and the accomplishment of organisational goals. |
M4 Evaluate how the operation of power, politics and culture affect employee behaviour and the accomplishment of organisational goals. |
|
Grading Details:
The assessment criteria for a unit are hierarchical and holistic. For example, if an M criterion requires the student to show ‘analysis’ and the related P criterion requires the student to ‘explain’, then to satisfy the M criterion a student will need to cover both ‘explain’ and ‘analyse’. The unit assessment grid shows the relationships among the criteria so that assessors can apply all the criteria to the student’s evidence at the same time.
Assessors must show how they have reached their decisions using the criteria in the assessment records. When a student has completed all the assessment for a unit then the assessment team will give a grade for the unit. This is given simply according to the highest level for which the student is judged to have met all the criteria. Therefore:
To achieve a Pass, a student must have satisfied all the Pass criteria for the learning outcomes, showing coverage of the unit content and therefore attainment at Level 4 or 5 of the national framework.
To achieve a Merit, a student must have satisfied all the Merit criteria (and therefore the Pass criteria) through high performance in each learning outcome.
To achieve a Distinction, a student must have satisfied all the Distinction criteria (and therefore the Pass and Merit criteria), and these define outstanding performance across the unit as a whole.
The award of a Pass is a defined level of performance and cannot be given solely on the basis of a student completing assignments. Students who do not satisfy the Pass criteria should be reported as Unclassified.
Recommended Resources
Textbooks
BROOKS, I. (2018) Organisational Behaviour: Individuals, Groups and Organisation. 5th Ed. Harlow: Pearson.
BUCHANAN, D. and HUCZYNSKI, A. (2019) Organizational Behaviour. 10th Ed. Harlow: Pearson.
MULLINS, L. J. (2019) Organisational Behaviour in the Workplace. 12th Ed. Harlow: Pearson.
WILSON, F. M. (2018) Organizational Behaviour and Work: A Critical Introduction. 5th Ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Links
This unit links to the following related units:
Unit 4: Leadership and management
Unit 24: Understanding and leading change
Unit 25: Global Business Environment
Unit 17: Understanding and Leading Change
Unit 46: Developing Individuals, Teams and Organisations
Specification of Assessment
- Your assignment submission should include the following :
o front page (given in the assignment brief), filled in with required details.
o table of contents, reference list, foot or end notes and appendices if any
o footer with your name and college ID on every page, and page number ( at the bottom right hand side)
o header with unit name and assignment brief code.
- Spell-check the document and make sure there are no grammatical errors.
- Complete all the activities.
- Produce clear specific reasoning and arguments in support of your answers.
- As per Pearson policy, you are only allowed two submissions per module. One for final submission and another one for referral. Failure to achieve a grade pass after a second submission will result in you having to repeat the module in the next term.
- Any re-submission or late submission (unless authorised due to mitigating circumstances) will be capped at a PASS grade only.
|
Extension and Late Submission
|
· If an extension is necessary for a valid reason, requests must be made in writing using a course work extension request form to the head of department.
· Please note that the lecturers do not have the authority to extend the coursework deadlines and therefore do not ask them to award a coursework extension.
· The completed form must be accompanied by evidence such as a medical certificate in the event of you being sick.
|
Plagiarism and Collusion
|
Any act of plagiarism and collusion will be seriously dealt with according to the regulations. In this context, the definition and scope of plagiarism are presented below:
‘Plagiarism occurs when a student misrepresents, as his/her own work, the work, written or otherwise, of any other person (including another student) or of any institution. Examples of forms of plagiarism include[1]:
· the verbatim (word for word) copying of another’s work without appropriate and correctly presented acknowledgement;
· the close paraphrasing of another’s work by simply changing a few words or altering the order of presentation, without appropriate and correctly presented acknowledgement;
· unacknowledged quotation of phrases from another’s work;
· The deliberate and detailed presentation of another’s concept as one’s own.’
All types of work submitted by students are covered by this definition, including, written work, diagrams, designs, engineering drawings and pictures.
‘Collusion occurs when, unless with official approval (e.g. in the case of group projects), two or more students consciously collaborate in the preparation and production of work which is ultimately submitted by each in an identical, or substantially similar, form and/or is represented by each to be the product of his or her individual efforts. Collusion also occurs where there is unauthorised co-operation between a student and another person in the preparation and production of work which is presented as the student’s own.’ (’Carroll, J and Appleton, J. (2001) Plagiarism – A Good Practice Guide. Oxford Brookes University/JISC, Oxford)
For more details, please refer to academic misconduct policy.
All work for assessment must be submitted with a Turnitin Report on plagiarism. The Maximum Turnitin score admissible is 15% (after deduction of 1% & 2% records). Assignments with more that this 15% score will be automatically referred for reworking and resubmission.
In case a student has special requirements, they should contact the MRC Welfare section (MRH 1st floor) seeking guidance.
The student should ensure to submit a self-prepared, authentic piece of work. The students will be advised at a later stage about MRC policy about similarity with Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools/resources.
Any student might be called to seat through a viva with the lecturer to confirm any parts of the module through an interview which will then form part of the summative assessment.
To access any feedback (formative/summative) you will have to access Moodle and open your assignment. You will have to click on the blue comment box in the righthand side and the feedback will appear within the text. You might have to click on the blue bubbles to see the feedback.
All grades are provisional until internally verified and until externally certified by Pearson. This means that a grade can be changed at any point until Pearson certifies it.
Assignment Resubmission Policy
A Resubmission is any work handed in for final assessment a second time.
The Final Deadline is the date on which the whole assignment must be completed and submitted (usually in week 12 at the end of the semester).
Work submitted To be Resubmitted
1 Referred after Final Deadline Please see key dates section.
2 Missed Final Deadline End of next semester
3 Missed formative assessment(s) and
Referred after Final Deadline End of next semester