Introduction

  

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This site is built as a compendium of information about the Organizational Behavior class to convene at Furman in January-February of 2007.

There will be 21 class sessions, each lasting a couple of hours.

21 Posts will follow, each corresponding to a class session. The order of presentation will likely change.

Day 1: Introduction to Organizational Behavior

  

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We will start with a quick overview of the field of Social Psychology.

There are two viewpoints that Social Psychologists use as lenses for examining the world. We can study the way individuals perceive and understand their social environment. Or we can study people in groups and seek to understand behaviors in the context of the social setting. In our OB class,we'll take both perspectives.

Topics to cover on this day include:

• Kurt Lewin and field theory
• Solomon Asch and conformity
• Stanley Milgram and obedience to authority
• Henry Murray and the TAT
• David McClelland’s nAch, nAff and nPow
• Irving Janis and groupthink
• Robert F. Bales and SYMLOG
• The Story of Kitty Genovese

On Day 1, we'll also discuss therules of engagement for the class, how we'll use technology, and what the group project will be about.

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The Milgram Study

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Poem about the Dutton and Aron study, called Rope Bridge, by Nan Cohen.

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The famous Solomon Asch Study on Conformity.

Day 2: Group Dynamics and Group Facilitation

  

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Topics include:

• Groupthink, the Bay of Pigs, the NASA Challenger disaster, the war in Iraq


• Robert F. Bales, fantasy chains, group facilitation


• The here and now concept


• Stages of team development


• Group polarization and the risky shift phenomenon

Articles and Books:
Personality & Interpersonal Behavior, by Robert F. Bales.
Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals (about the Lincoln admistration)
Groupthink, by Irving Janis,.
Emotions Revealed, by Paul Ekman.

Unmasking the Face, by Paul Ekman
Telling Lies, by Paul Ekman.

Links:
Interview with Doris Kearns Goodwin about Lincoln's leadership style.

Click here for a website featuring a collection of articles about the concept of metaphor. Understanding how metaphors work is the key to understanding group process.

Day 3: Decision-Making

  

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Topics include:
Four phase decision-making model:

• Framing your decision


• Gathering intelligence


• Coming to conclusions


• Learning from experience

The even swaps method
Biases in decision making
Selection and hiring systems in organizations
Decision traps
Analytic versus intuitive decision making
Three types of organizational decisions:

• Strategic decision making


• Operational decision making


• Tactical and micro decision making

Articles and Books:
Even Swaps: A Rational Method for Making Trade-Offs, Harvard Business Review, 1998, by Hammond, Keeney & Raiffa.
Sources of Power, by Gary Klein.
Decision Traps, by Russo & Schoemaker.
Groupthink, by Irving Janis.
The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin.
State of Denial, by Robert Woodward.
Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq by Thomas E. Ricks
Strategy & Decision, Chapter 1: "The Strategic Decision," by Mark Rhodes.
blink, by Malcolm Glaser.

Day 4: Organizational Systems Design

  

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Topics
Some case examples:

• Enron


• Southwest Airlines


• Furman University


• Starbucks

Organizations as open systems
The Organizational Systems Design (OSD) Model

• Mission and purpose


• An organization's external environment


• Oganizational culture


• Desired outcomes


• Guiding principles and values


• Strategy to influence the external environment


• Goals & objectives


• Technical and work systems


• Organzational structure


• Decision-making and information systems


• People systems


• Reward & Recognition


• Renewal and organizational learning

Articles & Books
Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron by Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind

Day 5: Leadership and Interpersonal Influence

  

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Topics:
Leadership - what is it?
Changing minds
Influencing others:

• The rule of reciprocity
• Commitment and consistency
• Social proof
• Liking
• Authority
• Scarcity

How Abraham Lincoln changed the world with words

Articles and Books:
Getting Things Done When You are Not in Charge, by Geoff Bellman.
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, by Robert Cialdini.
Lincoln at Gettysburg, by Garry Wills.
Lincoln on Leadership, by Donald T. Phillips.
On Becoming a Leader, by Warren Bennis.

Changing Minds: The Art and Science of Changing Our Own and Other People's Minds, by Howard Gardner.

Day 5: Personality and Aptitude

  

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Topics:
Understanding Personality

• Freud, Jung, Rogers and others
• The Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)
• The Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument

Thinking About Aptitude

• The theory multiple intelligence
• Assessment instruments

Article and Books

Frames of Mind, by Howard Gardner.
Extraordinary Minds: Portraits of 4 Exceptional Individuals and an Examinination of our Own Extraordinariness, by Howard Gardner

The Accidental Tourist, by Anne Tyler.

Day 6: Brain as Metaphor for Organization

  

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Brain as Metaphor

Day 7: Creativity and Innovation in Organizations

  

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Topics:
Innovation in Organizations
Metaphor and thought
Steps in the creative process
Rollo May and the Courage to Create
Poincare, Salvador Dali and the Theta experience
The role of sleep in the creative process
Lateral thinking and the Six Thinking Hats

Links:
Shipping Up to Boston. The Dropkick Murphys.

Articles and Books
The Courage to Create, by Rollo May.
Creativity in Business, by Ray and Myers.
Mindmapping, by Joyce Wyckoff.
Creativity, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Descartes' Error, by Antonio Damasio
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Here is some Japanese art, called The Wave, a favorite of Matt MacCaughelty
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Day 9: The Art and Practice of Story Telling

  

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Topics:
Story Telling as a High Leverage Communication Straetgy
Story Telling as a Way of Leading
Links:
The General, by Dispatch. Idea submitted by Tori Lambe

The Hurricane, by Bob Dylan.
Articles and Books:
Connecting with Your Audience, Telling Stories, and Assuaging Terror, by Nick Morgan, Harvard Management Communication Letter.

Story Telling that Moves People: A conversation with Screenwriting Coach Robert McKee, Harvard Business Review, June, 2003. --- Here is a link to info about Robert Mckee: http://mckeestory.com/homepage.html