Dr. Chris Smith
Email: dr.chris.smith@adelaide.edu.au
Website: www.myuni.adelaide.edu.au  

Chris started his working life as a clinical psychologist in the psychiatric unit of a general hospital. After several years he moved into the business sector and, via a corporate HR role, occupied a number of general management/CEO positions across a variety of industries in Australia and the UK. In the mid-90s he left the business world for the academic one and joined Warwick Business School (UK) where he is currently an Associate Fellow of the Marketing and Strategic Management Group. In 2002 he moved to South Australia and became a full-time faculty member of the University of Adelaide Business School. He teaches on MBA and executive education programmes across a variety of international settings. 

Intensive 1 (28th - 30th March 2014)

Intensive 2 (25th - 27th April 2014)

The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from the Course Planner at http://access.adelaide.edu.au/courses/search.asp?year=2010

On successful completion of the course will be able to:

Analyse complex organizational environments, cases and issues by reference to and application of relevant theories, concepts and models i.e.

1. Students will be exposed to some key influences and perspectives on the management of organisations
2. Students will identify important questions in relation to the management of organisations, for which they need to develop their own ‘right’ answers
3. Students will explore the relationship between individual experience and organisational behaviour
4. Students will be introduced to a systems view of organisational dynamics and will explore the implications of a systems perspective for the role and challenges of management

The text for this course is

• Huczynski, A. A. and Buchanan, D. (2013) Organizational Behavior 8th Ed. Prentice-Hall/Pearson Education. 

No specific online learning facilities are part of the course other than the usual communication and sharing of information/papers via MyUni.
Please ensure that your MyUni email address is one through which you can be contacted. 

The sessions will comprise input from the lecturer and group/individual work based on case studies, videos and supplied topics.

This is a standard ‘3 Unit’ MBA course which requires about 156 hours of student effort. These 156 hours includes the time spent in class and undertaking assessment as well as the reading and assignment preparation you must undertake outside of the class hours.

Session 1: The individual

There are a variety of individual processes including intelligence, personality, perception, attitudes and thinking that influence our behaviour, the decisions we make, our views of the other people, our perspectives on why other people behave as they do compared with ourselves, etc. Physical and social ‘genetics’ give us habitual ways of responding in particular situations.

Chapters 5- 8 Buchanan and Huczynski
Cheats may or may not prosper.  The Economist, Jan 24th 2010.
Lovallo, D and Sibony O. (2010) The case for behavioural strategy. The McKinsey Quarterly March: 1-10.
In praise of misfits, The Economist June 2nd 2012
How firms should fight rumours The Economist Feb. 10 2011
Personality and Twitter feed The Economist

Case: Lynndie England (video) 

Session 2: Motivation and Job Design

Why do people do some things and not others? Why do some people work until midnight each day while others get off work as soon as they can? Why? One of the key requirements of effective management is that the manager’s subordinates continue to work efficiently and effectively, and even to improve their efficiency and effectiveness when their manager is not present.

Chapter 9 Buchanan and Huczynski
Dewhurst, M., Guthridge, M. and Mohr, E. (2009). Motivating People – getting beyond money
McKinsey Quarterly (November): 1-5.
Ordonez, L.D., Schweltzer, E., Galinsky, A.D. & Bazerman, A.H. (2009). Goals gone wild: the systematic effects of over-prescribing goal setting, Academy of Management Practice, (February): 6-16.
Pfeffer, J. (1998) Six dangerous myths about pay, Harvard Business Review, (May-June), 109-119.
Why bosses should be careful with performance related pay. Economist

Case: Fab Sweets

Session 3: Groups, roles and norms

In this session examine the structure and development of groups. The norms of the group and the roles we chose or are chosen to play demand particular behaviours and attitudes from us. For most of us the choice between being part of the group and being excluded by it is taken in the direction of group membership.

Chapter 10-13, Buchanan and Huczynski
Casciaro, T., and M. S. Lobo. (2005) Competent jerks, lovable fools, and the formation of social networks.
Harvard Business Review, May-June: 92-99.
Facebook is bad for you. The Economist, Aug 17 2013
The making of Bonecrusher, Esquire, 1999

Case: Medical Supplies

Session 4: Social influence processes

Being with others has a major impact on how people behave and think as we (unknowingly at times) conform to group pressure and norms. Similarly we are always influenced by the rules and policies of the organization we are in and in particular by the commands of our bosses and of ‘the system’.

Chapter 10-13 Buchanan and Huczynski
Bryan, L. L., Matson, E. and Weiss, L. M. (2007). Harnessing the power of informal employee networks
McKinsey Quarterly (4) 1-10.
Power corrupts, The Economist Jan 21 2010
Robertson, I. (2013) How power affects the brain. The Psychologist, 26(3): 186-9.

Case: Piper Alpha (video)

Session 5: The context

In this session we will establish an overview of the organization as the prime context (environment) within which to understand the people (including ourselves) who work within those organizations.

Chapters 1-4 Buchanan and Huczynski
Heywood et al (2007) Cracking the complexity code. McKinsey Quarterly (2): 85-95.
Seel, R (1999) Complexity and OD-An Introduction

Case: The Iran Hostage Case

Session 6: Organizational structure and design

It is often suggested, "structure follows strategy" in that organizations are theoretically designed and structured in the best way to deliver the planned strategy. From bureaucracies to the N-form there are intended and unintended consequences of structure. The challenge of developing the "best" structure is even greater in this era of globalization and the Internet.

Chapter 14-17 Buchanan and Huczynski
Agrawal, V., J. M. Manyika and J.E. Richards. (2003) Matching people and jobs. McKinsey Quarterly Special Edition. 70-8
Ghislanzoni et al (2010), Taking organizational redesign from plan to practice. McKinsey Quarterly 1-9

Case: Ander Engineering

Session 7: Decisions and Decision-making

Managers continuously make decisions individually and in groups; in fact the most important decisions in organizations, e.g. capital expenditure, brand campaigns, product development, whether to launch or not launch a space shuttle, etc. are always taken by groups. Unfortunately the most important decisions are often the ones that are the most uncertain both with respect to required expertise, the processes of deciding and the ranking of outcomes.

Chapter 20 Buchanan and Huczynski
How companies make good decisions. McKinsey Quarterly Dec. 2008: 1-7
Lovallo, D. P and Sibony, O. (2006) Distortions and deceptions in strategic decisions. The hidden traps in decision making. McKinsey Quarterly (1), September-October, 19-29.

Case: The Launch of space flight shuttle 51L (Written and video)

Session 8: Management and Leadership

In the good times the business press praises top business people as charismatic, decisive, and transformational and in the bad times (i.e. now!) as greedy, incompetent and overpaid. And each year there are new books in the airport bookstalls giving advice on how to be a great leader and/or manager. In this session we examine leadership and management and try and discover some of the simpler ‘truth’.

Chapter 19 Buchanan and Huczynski
Barsch, J., Mogelof, J and Webb, C. (2010) How centred leadership achieves extraordinary results.
McKinsey Quarterly, 1-9.
Can leaders be identified by psychometrics? The Economist Apr. 6th 2013.
Companies need to keep an eye on their bosses for signs of destructive behaviour. The Economist Nov. 30 2013
Managers would be better off if they did less and thought more, The Economist Aug.17 2013
Sutton, B. (2010) Good bosses tune in. McKinsey Quarterly, (August): 2-10.

Assessment item	Percentage of Total Mark	Relevant learning objective(s)	Due or scheduled date
Individual Assignment (summative/formative)	50	A, B, C, D
Group Projects (summative/formative)	20	A, B, C, D	In class
Final Exam (summative)	30	A, B, C	As per timetable

Attendance

Statutory obligations in Singapore are such that attendance in person is a compulsory condition of passing a course. Our specific requirements are that students must attend at least 80% of class sessions to be graded for that course. For these purposes each intensive weekend is defined as comprising 5 sessions with 1 on Friday evening and 2 on each of Saturday and Sunday. Each course in total comprises 10 sessions; Students must attend a minimum of 8 sessions to be eligible to be given a grade for the course. Students failing to meet these requirements will be automatically graded 0% Fail (F) on their transcripts.

Grade minimum

To gain a pass for this course, a student must achieve at least 50% overall with a minimum of 45% for the overall individual components. Students not achieving this requirement will have a fail (F) recorded as their final grade
The individual component is the weighted average of the assignment and the exam grades.

GROUP ASSIGNMENT (20%) DUE DATE: 25TH APRIL 2014 (HAND IN VIA THUMB DRIVE IN CLASS)
Using the case studies and the theory discussed during the first 3 days of the course design a PowerPoint presentation entitled ‘The five core practices underpinning successful management’.
The maximum numbers of slides is 20 which include the title slide, the slide with the names of the group members and a final slide containing your 5 major practices. You will not be making the presentation however your final slide of your five points will be shown in the final session of the course and you will be asked to speak to the slide (from your seats in the class). More details will be given at the start of the course but your presentations will be expected to demonstrate the theoretical (and case based) principles underpinning your five practices. 

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT (50%) DUE DATE: 11TH MAY 2014
Write a reflective journal on you in your role in an organization you have worked for. Use models from the course to analyse, the various dynamics involving you and your organization. End your journal with a synthesis (i.e. a weighted integration) of these dynamics and an evaluation (strengths and weaknesses) of your organization from this perspective.

The journal should be 2000-3000 words and should be correctly referenced to specific articles or parts of the textbook (do not reference ‘slides handouts’)

INDIVIDUAL EXAMINATION (30%)
This will comprise a 3-hour open book examination on the date in your timetable. It will be based on questions around a case and examples will be given and worked through in class.

The individual assignment, with the appropriate coversheet and declaration is to be submitted via MyUni by the deadline date. Please submit your assignment in ‘Word’ format and not pdf.

Students are expected to submit their work by the due date to maintain a fair and equitable system. Extensions will generally only be given for medical or other serious reasons. All requests for extensions must be emailed to the lecturer in charge of the course before the due date. Each request will be assessed on its merits. A late assignment (without prior arrangement) may be penalised by a 5% mark reduction for each day that it is late.