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 (27th - 29th March 2015)

Intensive 2 (17th - 19th April 2015)

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 this course students will be able to:

1.    Interpret key influences and perspectives on the management of organisations to conceive important questions  in relation to the management of organisations

2.    Argue the relationship between individual experience and organisational behaviour

3.    Explain the implications of a systems perspective for organisational dynamics and 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: Causal analysis and managerial judgement
With this context this session we will unpack the concept of judgment and in particular how the results of any analysis will be the groundwork for all decisions that a manager makes. If the analysis is wrong it is highly probable that the decision will also be wrong.

Chapters 1-4 Huczynski and Buchanan
Kim, D. H. (1992) Guidelines for drawing causal loop diagrams. The Systems Thinker, 3(1):5-6. Schumpeter: In praise of laziness. Businesspeople would be better off if they did less and thought more
The Economist. (17 Aug. 2013)
Session 2: 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 Huczynski and Buchanan
Morality: Rose-coloured spectacles? Cheats may or may not prosper, but they despise themselves for
cheating. The Economist, (24 Jan. 2010.)
Lovallo, D and Sibony O. (2010) The case for behavioural strategy. The McKinsey Quarterly March: 1-10.
Schumpeter: In praise of misfits. Why business needs people with Asperger’s syndrome, attention-deficit
disorder and dyslexia, The Economist (2 June 2012)
Business and psychology: How firms should fight rumours. Denial is useless. Spread happy truths instead
The Economist (10 Feb 2011)
Personality, social media and marketing. No hiding place. .A plan to assess people’s personal characteristics from their Twitter-streams The Economist (May 2013.)
Dunning, D. (2013) The paradox of self-knowing, The Psychologist 26(6): 414-17.

Case: Lynndie England (video)
Session 3: 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 Huczynski and Buchanan
Agrawal, V., J. M. Manyika and J.E. Richards. (2003) Matching people and jobs. McKinsey Quarterly Special Edition. 70-8
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.
Free exchange: Making pay work. Why bosses should be careful when using performance-related pay
The Economist (25 May 2013)
Psychology: Time is not money. Thinking about it makes you a better person, not a worse one
The Economist, (5 Oct. 2103)

Case: Jackson Sweets
Session 4: 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, Huczynski and Buchanan
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; Get a life! Using the social network seems to make people more miserable
The Economist, (17 Aug. 2013)
The making of Bonecrusher, Esquire, 1999

Case: Medical Supplies
Session 5: 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 Huczynski and Buchanan
Bryan, L. L., Matson, E. and Weiss, L. M. (2007). Harnessing the power of informal employee networks McKinsey Quarterly (4) 1-10.
How to thrive at work with the minimum of effort The Economist 2014 (25 March)
In the social-media age, bosses careers are more vulnerable than ever, The Economist, 2014 (11 October)
The psychology of power: Absolutely. Power corrupts, but it corrupts only those who think they deserve it
The Economist (21 Jan 2010)
Robertson, I. (2013) How power affects the brain. The Psychologist, 26(3): 186-9.

Case: Piper Alpha (video)
Session 6: 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 Huczynski and Buchanan
Schumpeter: The mindfulness business: Western capitalism is looking for inspiration in eastern mysticism
The Economist (16 Nov. 2013)
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 7: 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 Huczynski and Buchanan
Ghislanzoni et al (2010), Taking organizational redesign from plan to practice. McKinsey Quarterly 1-9
Inflexible organization destroys strategy The Economist, (6 Sept 2014)
Schumpeter: Montessori management. The backlash against running firms like progressive schools has
begun The Economist (7 Sept, 2013)

Case: Newton Engineering
Session 8: Conflict and conflict management
Conflict at the interpersonal, intergroup and inter-organizational level is an inevitable part of organizational life. Whether the conflict between tasks spills over into destructive conflict between people and how this is managed is an integral part of the manager’s day-to-day life.

Chapter 21 Huczynski and Buchanan.
A matter of trust Behaviour such as reciprocity and co-operation is not bred in the bone. Rather, it responds to incentives and experience The Economist 2001 (15 Feb)
Weiss, J. & Hughes, J (2005) Want collaboration? Accept and positively manage conflict, Harvard Business Review, March: 93-101.
Session 9: 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 Huczynski and Buchanan
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 10: 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 Huczynski and Buchanan
Barsch, J., Mogelof, J and Webb, C. (2010) How centred leadership achieves extraordinary results. McKinsey Quarterly, 1-9.
The look of a leader. The Economist (27 Sept 2014)
Personality testing at work: Emotional breakdown. Can leaders be identified by psychometrics?
The Economist (6 Apr. 2013).
Royal Bank of Scotland: What a disaster. Lessons from the collapse The Economist, (26 Oct. 2013)
Schumpeter: Going off the rails Companies need to keep an eye on their bosses for signs of destructive
behaviour. The Economist ( 30 Nov. 2013)
Sutton, B. (2010) Good bosses tune in. McKinsey Quarterly, (August): 2-10.
Schumpeter: Measuring management. It is no longer just a plausible theory that good management boosts
productivity The Economist, (18 Jan, 2014)

Assessment item	Percentage of Total Mark	Relevant learning objective(s)	Due or scheduled date
Individual Assignment (summative/formative)	65	A, B, C, D	17/05/2015
Group Projects (summative/formative)	25	A, B, C, D	In class
Participation (summative/formative)	10	B, C	In class

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.