Why am I here? Why do I need to attend discussion sections?

The discussion sections will supplement as well as complement the lectures and readings. In section, we will be doing the following:

• Covering new material that will add to what you learn in the lectures and readings. Your exams will have questions based on this material.
• Engaging in exercises that will allow you to experience the phenomena you learn about first hand.
• Reviewing, clarifying, and illuminating the topics presented in lecture.
• Working on problems that arise with your group projects and discussing progress on the projects.

 When I come to section, what can I expect to gain? What’s in it for me?

In section, we be looking at the topics introduced in the course from different perspectives, and engaging each other actively so that these concepts become "real" to each of us. There are often many different ways to grasp an idea, and one of our goals in section will be to find ways that help everyone to understand and remember the course material. You will have a better chance of getting a good grade if you expose yourself to as many opportunities for learning as possible.

But learning what you need to do well in the course is only part of it, and it may not even be the most important part. College provides one of life’s few opportunities to explore and exchange ideas in an environment free of threat. The discussion sections will give you a chance to add your voice to the mix, and to develop skill in speaking in the presence of others and defending your opinions to them.

Hearing your own voice is important, and learning to hear those of others, just as important. The discussion sections will allow you to learn about other peoples’ perspectives. This will help you to think about the topics covered in the course more deeply and more critically, to understand the topics more broadly, and to hone your own opinions and arguments, as well as to identify and develop your particular interests.

What will I have to do in section? Will it be difficult or annoying?

Now that we’ve established that you should come to discussion sections and that you want to come, you may be concerned about expectations. The expectations are few and simple:

• that you come to the discussions prepared and on time
• that you respect the opinions and the individuality of others
• that you say what is on your mind and question what is unclear to you
• that you listen to others attentively and with an open mind, and that you actively assist others in expressing their opinions, especially if you notice that they don’t speak often
• that you bring any concerns or problems to my attention
• that you give me honest feedback about my performance as a GSI

How will you grade my performance? Will I do better if I bring baked goods?

Baked goods are not a requirement, and ethical considerations prevent me from rewarding you for exhibiting this skill. You should, however, feel free to bake if you are so inclined. Bring enough for 30.

But seriously ... your grade will be made up of your performance on each of the following:

Exams (2 @ 25% each)

The exams will be multiple choice, short identification, and short essays.

Group project (25%)

This mark will be broken down into:

Project proposal 5%

Midpoint report 5%

Final report 15%

Your grade will be based on how well you incorporate the concepts learned in the course into the project, how insightful and in-depth your analysis is, your team’s originality and creativity in using the resources available to you, and the quality of the writing in all three submissions. Remember that this is an exercise in developing research, writing, and teamwork skills, so do not aim exclusively for a dazzling final product (although you should still have this as your goal), but also try to concentrate on the process, and apply the same high standards to how you complete this work as well as what you produce.

Participation (25%)

A large percentage of your course grade is based on participation. I expect that you will earn these marks by coming to section and by participating in the discussion. The 25% will be divided as follows:

10% for attendance

15% for classroom contribution

(This includes not only how much you speak, but how well you contribute to the learning of others. You can help your classmates by offering quality participation and by actively encouraging others to participate)

Occasionally people are anxious about participating in class. For many of us, speaking in front of others is an uncomfortable experience. Nevertheless, this is an important life skill and one that will serve you well if you take advantage of this opportunity to develop it. If you are having problems with participating, please see me after class or during my office hours: I will be pleased to help you devise ways to increase your participation in class.

Week One: What’s it all about?

Readings: N&M: Chapter 1

      Lecture September 9: Overview
      Section September 13: Introductions

 
Week Two: Personality
 
Readings: N&M: Chapter 4, LCP: “Give me an E, Give me an S”
 
     Lecture September 14: Personality Types
     Lecture September 16: Managing Diversity
     Section September 20: (1) Personality and diversity: The Myers Briggs
                                              Type Inventory
                                        (2) Orientation to group project
 
           **attendance in section is mandatory this week**
 

Week Three: Social Influence

Readings: N&M: Chapter 5, LCP: "The tradeoff of social control and innovation in groups and organizations"

     Lecture September 21: Self presentation
     Lecture September 23: Minority Influence
     Section September 27: Social influence in a jury setting: 12 Angry Men

            **attendance in section is mandatory this week**
 

Week Four: Motivating Others
 
Readings: N&M: Chapter 6, LCP: "Why incentive plans cannot work",
LCP: "On the folly of rewarding A…"
 
     Lecture September 28: Rewards and reinforcement
     Lecture September 30: Intrinsic Motivation
     Section October 4: Formation of groups for group project

            **attendance in section is mandatory this week**
 

Week Five: Power and Politics

 Readings: N&M: Chapter 11, LCP: "Managing up, down, and sideways"

 Lecture October 5: What is power?
 Lecture October 7: Networks and networking
 Section October 11: (1) Mapping out and understanding your
                                       personal network
                                 (2) Finding material for next week’s exercise
 
Project Proposal Due October 11
 

Week Six: Communication

Readings: N&M: Chapter 12
LCP: "Good communication that blocks leaning"

    Lecture October 12: Barriers to Communication
    Lecture October 14: Open communication
    Section October 18: Exercise in authentic communication
 

Week Seven: Leadership

Readings: N&M: Chapter 9
LCP: "Profiles of strategic vision: Levesque and Iacocca"

    Lecture October19: Theories of leadership
    Lecture October 21: Functional leadership
    Section  October 25: Review for first exam
 

Week Eight: From Individuals to Groups

    Lecture October 26: Exam 1
    Lecture October 28: Beyond individuals to groups
    Section November 1: 10,000 mile checkup: how is the group project going?
 

Week Nine: Group development
 
Readings: N&M: Chapter 7
LCP: "Airline cockpit crew"

    Lecture November 2: Group beginnings
    Lecture November 4: Stages of development
    November 5: Project Midpoint Report Due
    Section November 8: Group development: The Larry Williams case
 

Week Ten: Group decision making

Readings: N&M: Chapter 10
LCP: "The trouble with teams"

     Lecture November 9: Content: What groups do
     Lecture November 11: Process: Gains and losses
     Section November 15: Group decision making: The desert survival exercise
 

Week Eleven: Group effectiveness
 
Readings: N&M: Chapter 15, N&M: Chapter 8

     Lecture November 16:Conditions for effectiveness
     Lecture November 18: Mood and group behavior
    Section November 22: Negotiation exercise: Sally Soprano and the Lyric Opera
 

Week Twelve: Intergroup dynamics

 Readings: LCP: "An intergroup perspective on individual behavior"

 Lecture November 23: Intergroup dynamics
               November 25: THANKSGIVING
                          November 29: No Section (in lieu of Thanksgiving)
 

Week Thirteen: Reducing intergroup conflict
 
Readings: N&M: Chapter 13, LCP: "Managing conflict among groups"

    Lecture November 30: Process interventions
    Lecture December 2: Negotiation
    Section December 6: Review for second exam
 

Week Fourteen: Culture in organizations

Readings: N&M: Chapter 3

    Lecture December 7: Culture in organizations
    Lecture December 9: Exam 2

December 17:  Project Final Report Due
 
 
 

Levels at which a problem must be examined (or a situation analysed)
     Personality
     Relationships
     Group
     Context

Personality
    Big five personality dimensions:
          Conscientiousness
          Extroversion / introversion
          Openness to experience
          Emotional stability
          Agreeableness
     Locus of control (internal vs. external)
     Type A / Type B
     Self monitoring
     Myers-Briggs
          Extroversion / introversion
          Feeling / thinking
          Sensing / intuiting
          Judging / perceiving
    Machiavellianism
Gender
Race
Religion
Sexual orientation
Culture
    Local culture
    Regional culture
    National culture
Situational aspects
Values
    Terminal values
    Instrumental values
Attitudes
Skills
Interactions among all of the above
 

Schemas
Attributions
    Internal
        Effort
        Ability
    External
        Task difficulty
        Luck
    Information we use to make attributions using multiple samples of the behavior
        Distinctiveness
        Consistency
        Consensus
    Overjustification
Perceptual biases
    Halo effect
    Similar-to-me effect
    Primacy and recency effects
    Self serving attributions
    Fundamental attribution error
Uniformity / Consensus (Nemeth and Staw in the coursepack)
    Ways to achieve uniformity
        Development of norms and agreement via compromise
            (Sherrif’s autokinetic effect studies)
        Perpetuation of norms (norms continue without question; akin to culture?)
        Power & status
            (Milgram’s “learning” experiments)
        Conformity to majority views
            (Asch’s line studies)
        Uniformity via dissenting, minority views
    Success of minority views
        Clear objective
        Minorities must be consistent
        Perceived confidence
        Stronger with one ally (keep coalition intact)
        Latent vs. manifest influence (or private vs. public compliance)
        Avoid being labeled as institutional deviant
    Costs & benefits of uniformity
        Greater harmony
        Unreflective adoption of majority viewpoint
        Trouble adjusting to shifts in environment
        Rush to judgment due to pressures toward uniformity
    Exposure to minority opinion stimulates thinking even when the minority is
    wrong. Minority opinion breaks up conformity & generates more creative
    solutions
Norms
        What are they?
        Range of tolerable behavior
        Intensity
        Crystallization
    Who complies to norms (not everybody complies – how to understand this?)
        Asch’s line studies (1/3 conformed)
        Willis – dimensions of conformity – non-conformity and variability –
                     independence
        Hollander’s idiosyncrasy credits
    How do groups deal with deviants?
        Correct
        Reject
        Institutionalize
        Accommodate
Self presentation
    Is behavior natural or deliberate? manipulative or authentic?
    Facework (naturally constructing your image)
    Ingratiation (trying to reach your goals by getting others to think of you
         favorably)
 
 

What is it?
Components of performance – ability X motivation
Sources of motivation
    Extrinsic
        Principles of learning theory (consequences of a behavior will determine
        future behavior)
            Reinforcers
                Positive
                Negative
            Punishment
        Problems with extrinsic motivation?
    Intrinsic
        Three types of models:
            Need based
                Maslow
                Hertzberg
                Theory of X and Y (and Z)
            Goal setting
            Job characteristics
                    *** Hackman & Oldham’s job design theory ***
                            meaningfulness
                            responsibility
                            knowledge of results
Expectancy theory
    Motivation is a function of expectancies, instrumentalities, & valence
On the folly of rewarding A… (coursepack)
    What is being rewarded (i.e. what behavior is being reinforced)? Is it
    different from what the rewarder really wants?
Why incentive plans cannot work.. (coursepack)
    Six reasons why incentives are not good
 

Power, authority, & politics (what are they, how do they differ?)
Individual models of power: Bases of social power
    Reward
    Referent
    Expert
    Legitimate
Consequences of individual sources of power
    Commitment
    Compliance
    Resistance
    (How do these line up with the sources of power?)
Relational model
    Held in the relationship / explained by dependence
Activities model : Strategic contingency model (what determines whether people depend on you –     based on what you do, not who you are or relations to others). Note that the text refers to these as organizational sources of power, because they originate from the structure of the organization. You would look at these within the context of the organization, NOT as they are vested in the individual.
    Uncertainty (power higher if you have knowledge)
    Criticality (power higher if you are critical / central)
    Scarcity (low substitutability)
Abuse of power
    How does it start? (access to resources / lack of accountability)
Political tactics
    Legitimate if:
        Goals focus on organization, not self
        Behavior respects rights of others (does no harm)
        Behavior is fair and equitable to all involved
Formal vs. informal networks
Networks
    When are they more important for career?
    What are they good for?
    Constraints of networks (closed, redundant, dense, stratified, homogeneous)
    Strength of weak ties
 

Elements of communication 
    Encoding
    Noise
    Decoding
    Feedback
Nonverbal communication
    Occulesics
    Paralinguistics
    Proxemics
        Primary territories
        Secondary territories
        Public territories
    Tactilics
Direction of communication
    Upwards
    Downwards
    Laterally
Internal vs. external communication (what goes on inside the firm will not be the same as external communication)
    Public relations
    Marketing and advertising
    Lobbying
    Surveys
Barriers to effective communication 
    Individual barriers: perceptual biases
    Interpersonal barriers: tendency toward facework
    Organizational barriers: structural
        Upward communication: how does it fail?
        Downward communicatio: how does it fail?
        Lateral communication: how does it fail?
    Inauthentic vs. authentic communication
    Problems with interpreting non-verbals
Overcoming barriers
    Think about how all barriers above can be overcome
Technology and communication
    How does technology affect the way we communicate in organizational contexts?
Ethics in communication: Basic rules:
    Be honest
    Do no harm
    Be fair and just to all stakeholders
Differences across cultures (refer differences btw Koreans and Americans, & men and women mentioned in letcture)
Communication tools
    T – groups
        Modeled on Rogerian principles
        Unfreezing habitual routines & refreezing
    Model II communication (Argyris)
        Ladder of inferences
    Military model (Cypress Semiconducter)
        Relies on hierarchy
    Precision questioning (Microsoft)
        7 categories of basic questions

Approaches to understanding leadership
    Trait approach
    Behavior approach
    Contingency approach
        Fiedler’s contingency model
            Leader style (least preferred coworker)
            Situational control
                Leader-member relations
                Task structure
                Position power
        Normative decision model
            Leader’s decision style
            Contingency variables
        Path-goal theory
        Leader-member exchange
Substitutes for leadership
Change-oriented leadership
    Charismatic leaders
    Transformational leadership
        Transactional leadership
        Transformational leadership
    Visionary and exemplary leadership