Syllabus Mgb 301

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COURSE WORK AND GRADES

In-Class Exams: There will be three exams given throughout the semester. These three exams will cover topics that have been discussed in class, as well as topics from readings and in-class exercises. Consistent with how things are done in the real-world, there will be no makeup exams except for official absences required by UB (you'll need to submit documentation). However, also consistent with the real-world belief that you can usually still keep your job if you mess up once (and only once), your lowest exam grade will be dropped when computing your average.

I don't do this to give you an easy out to improve your grade or an excuse to skip the third and last exam (in fact, to dissuade you from this, I'll tell you that the third exam is the easiest of the three) - rather, this is meant to cover unforeseen circumstances that might cause you to miss an exam (since, again, I will not do makeup exams unless UB forces me to). If this were a job, odds are you wouldn't just skip an important event, and this class should be the same for you: your best strategy is to take all of the exams and do your best. While you could skip an exam early in the semester, that kind of behavior wouldn't impress your boss at all, and it won't impress me. Worse, it's a really bad idea for your final grade.

Note that although you will have a chance to review your graded exams in class, for test security purposes you are not allowed to keep your graded exam. Any student who takes their graded exam without returning it to me at the end of the session in which it is handed out will receive a zero on that exam, and that grade cannot be dropped.

Class Activities: From time to time throughout the course, you'll take part in activities and simulations and answer written questions. There will be 10 of these activities throughout the semester, and they will be graded on a pass/fail basis. In those instances where you are present and I believe you've put at least some effort into the activity or question (regardless of whether you have the right answer, if there even is one), you'll get full credit. If you are absent for the activity, and/or I don't believe you seriously tried the activity or question, you won't get credit.

Yes, this is my way of seeing if you're attending and participating in class. Since these activities are evidence of your attendance and participation, there is no way to make up these assignments. However, following the same logic as I used for the exams above, the lowest two class activities will be dropped in computing your final score for the semester.

Final Exam: Since there's an awful lot of experimental research showing that repeated exposure increases learning and effectiveness, the final exam will be a comprehensive review of the entire course. The final exam is in addition to the three exams listed previously, and cannot be dropped. No matter how many points you have earned during the semester, you must earn at least a 75% on the final to receive an A as your final grade in the course and at least a 65% to receive a B as your final grade. The idea of a comprehensive final may be intimidating, but you should know that in the past students have scored significantly higher grades on the final than they did on the normal exams, showing that there's actually some learning going on.

Team consulting project: You will work as part of a team of 4 to 6 members to provide consulting services to a local organization experiencing some problem with organizational behavior. This problem might be related to performance, turnover, poor teamwork, leadership development, de-motivation, etc. Your team will use the concepts you've learned in this class to suggest effective and efficient answers to the company's problem. This will involve

(1) sending me a report of your initial team planning meeting (10% of grade),

(2) identifying and interviewing two employees from a company (15% of grade),

(3) developing and presenting a 15 minute presentation on your proposed solutions (30% - note that you must be present for your presentation to receive any credit),

(4) writing a brief report outlining the problem and your suggestions (20%), and

(5) peer evaluations of your performance as an active team member (25%).

I will provide more details on this project as the semester progresses.

Please note that just as a document riddled with spelling and grammatical errors would not impress a prospective employer or a manager considering you for a promotion, I am not impressed by such writing errors from students at one of the world's most prestigious business schools. I therefore reserve the right to deduct points from team reports and presentations for spelling and grammatical errors. If you're not in the habit of writing well, you either need to start that habit or plan for a career that doesn't require a business degree from SUNY-Buffalo.

Additionally, please be certain that you are familiar with the definition of the term “plagiarism,” as this is something you can very swiftly be fired for in corporate America, and something you can very swiftly be failed for in this class. Plagiarism means that you copy another’s work – this could include copying from a friend, or cutting and pasting text from your textbook or readings. Any form of copying another’s work (also known as “stealing”) is as unacceptable in my class as it is in the real world. I was an editor at one point for a major website: I’m very, very good at detecting plagiarism.

RESEARCH ACTIVITY

Most of what we discuss in this class is the direct result of years of research in organizational behavior and psychology. To increase your understanding of the research process, you will conduct an additional research-related activity. You can complete this assignment in one of two ways (choose one or the other—no double or extra credit will be given for doing both).

Option 1: The first way to complete the class research requirement is to participate in approved business research studies/experiments. This may involve one long study or a combination of 2-3 smaller studies, but the total time will not exceed 3 hours. Sometime after the beginning of the semester you will be instructed on how to sign up for the studies.

Option 2: The second way to complete the research requirement is to write a report about an empirical