University of the Cumberlands

Robert W. Plaster Graduate School Business

MBA COURSE SYLLABUS
BADM/BUOL 532
Organizational Behavior

Instructor: Dr. Henry Luckel

Telephone: 719-330-3342
E-Mail: henry.luckel@ucumberlands.edu
Office Hours: Monday – Thursday, 11:00AM – 7:00PM Eastern Time

COURSE WEBSITE:

Access to the course website is required via the iLearn portal on the University of the
Cumberlands website: http://www.ucumberlands.edu/ilearn/

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Credit Hours: 3
BUOL 532/Organizational Behavior

Prerequisite: Successful completion of undergraduate business prerequisites identified for MBA

Program or permission by MBA Director or Chair of HSB.

STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES:

The mission of the Hutton School of Business and the Robert W. Plaster Graduate School of
Business is to foster academic excellence and student achievement at both the undergraduate
and graduate levels. Students are provided with a strong academic foundation in business, and
are prepared to become productive, competent, and ethical professionals. The Hutton School
of Business and Plaster Graduate School of Business provide a learning environment that is
characterized by student-oriented instructional methodologies and the development of
leadership and life-long learning skills in its students.

At the Hutton School of Business and Plaster Graduate School of Business, the following
broad-based goals for students have been developed:
 Students will acquire the relevant disciplinary knowledge and competencies
appropriate to their program of study.
 Students will acquire effective business-related professional skills.
Students will be challenged to assess their personal values and connect them to ethical
behaviors appropriate to their intended endeavors.

Based upon these broad-based goals, the Plaster Graduate School of Business has identified the
following general intended student learning outcomes (MBA ISLO) for students:

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 1. Students will be able to demonstrate well-developed problem-solving skills.
2. Students will be able to identify the major theories and concepts in the areas of
accounting, finance, management, and marketing.
3. Students will be able to apply their findings from the major theories and concepts in the
areas of accounting, finance, management, and marketing to organizational decision
making.
4. Students will be able to analyze the opportunities and challenges of global business
issues.
5. Students will be able to apply standards of ethical behavior in business to managerial
decision making.
6. Students will be able to apply appropriate technological and quantitative methods and
tools to the solution of practical management problems.
7. Students will be able to demonstrate advanced professional business communication
skills.
8. Students will be able to demonstrate well-developed organizational, leadership, and
teamwork skills.
9. Students will be able to integrate theory and practical application across business
functional areas for the purpose of strategic analysis, planning, implementation, and
control.

Linkages to the general intended student learning outcomes and the course objectives are
provided below.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

Upon completion of this course, the student will acquire and demonstrate enhanced:
 Understanding of organizational behavior theories and concepts in the context of diverse
and changing business environments and the challenges of dealing with organizational
change.
 Understanding of everyday challenges faced when dealing with employees.
 Understanding of motivation, values, conflict management, leadership, ethics and social
responsibility.
 Understanding of the complex interactions of the relationships of groups and teams that
form both formally and informally in the business.
 Abilities to identify and solve problems in organizations related to interpersonal
relationships.

REQUIRED TEXT

Robbins, S. & Judge T. (2018). Essentials of Organizational Behavior. Boston, MA: Pearson.

COURSE EXPECTATIONS:

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A. Course Activities and Experiences:

Students are expected to

 Have access to a copy of the required textbook (electronic, paper copy, or otherwise)
 Read the assigned chapters each week and engage each other in the discussion forums
 Conduct research each week via the Internet and/or via UC’s online library
 Type four papers throughout the course in APA format that reflect the student’s
learning and applicable research
 Type one research paper for the course in APA format, which should be a
culmination of the above-mentioned four (reflection/research) papers
 Prepare a power point presentation for the research paper
 Conduct field or phone interviews regarding human resource management issues and
practices where applicable in order to complete the reflection/research papers.

B. Academic Integrity:

At a Christian liberal arts university committed to the pursuit of truth and understanding, any
act of academic dishonesty is especially distressing and cannot be tolerated. In general,
academic dishonesty involves the abuse and misuse of information or people to gain an
undeserved academic advantage or evaluation. The common forms of academic dishonesty
include:
a. cheating - using deception in the taking of tests or the preparation of written work, using
unauthorized materials, copying another person’s work with or without consent, or
assisting another in such activities
b. lying—falsifying, fabricating, or forging information in either written, spoken, or video
presentations
c. plagiarism—using the published writings, data, interpretations, or ideas of another
without proper documentation

Episodes of academic dishonesty are reported to the Vice President for Academic Affairs.
The potential penalty for academic dishonesty includes a failing grade on a particular
assignment, a failing grade for the entire course, or charges against the student with the
appropriate disciplinary body.

C. Attendance:

Attendance and participation in the weekly discussions is expected. Regular and timely
participation in the weekly discussions is a key measure of student attendance. It is also
required for the effective delivery of course material, discussion of key concepts, and
development of cooperative and collegial relationships between students and faculty. Regular
and punctual attendance provides the opportunity for meaningful contribution to the learning
environment and will yield academic results and longer-term success in professional
development. The attendance policy for this course requires that a student receive an
automatic “F” when that student’s absences (as defined above) exceeds 20%. Three
tardies constitutes one absence.

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 Students with Disabilities:

Students who may have a disability meriting an academic accommodation should contact
Mr. Jacob Ratliff (jacob.ratliff@ucumberlands.edu) in the Boswell Campus Center to ensure
that their needs are properly evaluated and that documentation is on file. Any
accommodations for disabilities must be re-certified each semester by the Academic
Affairs Office before course adjustments are made by individual instructors.

D. Student Responsibilities:

 Students should check for e-mail and class announcements using iLearn (primary) and
University of the Cumberlands webmail (secondary).
 Students are expected to find out class assignments for missed classes and make up
missed work. If you are absent from class, you are still responsible for the material
covered and any announcements made by your instructor.
 Students are expected to find out if any changes have been made in the class or
assignment schedule.
 Written work must be presented in a professional manner. Work that is not
submitted in a professional manner will not be evaluated and will be returned as
unacceptable.
 Students are expected to take the examinations on the designated dates. If you are unable
to take the exam on the scheduled date and know in advance, you are to make
arrangements with your professor before the designated date. If you miss the exam, you
must have a legitimate reason as determined by your professor.

E. Deadlines and Dues Dates: Recognizing that a large part of professional life is meeting
deadlines, it is necessary to develop time management and organizational skills. Failure to
meet the course deadlines may result in penalties. No work is accepted after it is 3 days
late and all work that is late is subject to late penalties (deductions in points).

COURSE ASSIGNMENTS AND EVALUATION:

Course Evaluation:
The student will be evaluated on the following basis:

Discussion Forums 240 points

Reflection and Discussion Forums 160 points
1 Research Paper 150 points
1 Power Point 50 points
Midterm Exam 200 points
Final Exam 200 points

Total Possible Points 1000 points

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Grading Scale:
A 90 – 100%
B 80 - 89%
C 70 - 79%
D 60 - 69%
F 0 - 59%

ASSIGNMENT DESCRIPTIONS. Each Unit (week) of Study includes the following:

Welcome Discussion (10 points): Students will complete a welcome discussion designed to
help the students and instructor to get to know each other a bit. These 10 points are bonus
points.

Discussion (30 points each): Every other week multiple chapters in the textbook will be covered
as reading assignments. The assignments will help students digest the material required for each
week. Discussion posts and replies should be substantive and demonstrate insight gained from
the course material. The initial discussion post is to be no less than 500 words, must reference
material from the textbook, and is to be posted no later than Wednesday at 11:55 p.m. In addition
to an initial post to the discussion, students are required to respond to the posts of
TWO other students in the class. These responses should be a minimum of 200 words and be
substantive. A response such as “I agree with her,” or “I liked what he said about that” is not
considered a substantive post and will not be counted for course credit. To enable consistent
flow of online discussion and to allow discussion to unfold over the course of the week, the
response posts should be made on TWO different days of the week. (A student cannot post
an initial discussion post and a response post(s) to peers in the same day to get credit. In
addition, the response posts must be completed on at least two separate days). Although
students may post several responses in a given day, the student cannot be given credit for more
than two posts in a given day. This is essential to maintaining ongoing discussion over the
course of the week and it will allow the discussion to take on a life of its own as it would in a
face-to-face learning environment. If a student posts more than twice in the same day, only two
posts will count toward the weekly grade. The student is still responsible for an additional post
on a different day. Students must complete two response posts by Sunday night at 11:55 p.m.

Students are expected to answer questions posed to them by other students and are
expected to read everyone’s posts. The instructor can easily tell whether or not a student is
reading the posts of others by questions going unanswered, when posed either by peers or
by the instructor. If the course instructor and peers pose questions to students that go
unanswered on the discussion board, the assumption will be made that the student did not
read the post and points may be deducted from the discussion score for not answering
questions. The total points awarded for a discussion question in a given week is 30 points
(20 for the student’s initial post, 5 points each for both response posts).

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Enthusiastic agreement and respectful disagreement with others in the class is expected.
Disrespect will not be acceptable communication on the discussion boards and severe final
course grade reduction will be the consequence if it occurs. Learning to accurately communicate
values, attitudes, and emotions about important issues is a crucial part of personal and
professional development, particularly when others don’t see them as you do.

Reflection and Discussion Forum (20 points each). Every other week, the student will be
responsible for reading and reviewing the assigned chapters; after which, the student will type a
two page paper reflecting on the material that was read and on what was discussed in the
Discussion Forums. The student will answer type the two page paper answering the question,
“What do I feel are the most important aspects of my learning in these assignments?” and “What
about this learning was really worthy of my time and understanding?”
--Define and describe what you thought was worthy of your understanding in half a page,
and then explain why you felt it was important, how you will use it, and/or how important
it is in society or business. After submitting your two page paper as an initial post in the
"Reflection and Discussion Forum," then type at least two peer replies in response to
your classmates posts (200 word minimum each).

Research Paper (150 points): Each student will be expected to complete one main research
paper wherein the student will select an organizational behavior topic from the textbook. The
topic must be approved by the instructor and must contain viable scholarly sources. The student
will be expected to connect his or her topic to modern day business and organizational behavior.

The Research Paper, along with the power point, will be completed in APA format and should
contain a minimum of 12 pages total. It will be due at the end of Week 7.

Power Point Presentation (50 points): Each student will be required to create a power point
(ppt) presentation regarding their chosen Research Paper topic. The ppt presentation should be a
minimum of 15 slides, to include the title/introductory slide and the reference slide.

Midterm Exam (200 points). Week 4

Final Exam (200). Week 8

Student Questions Link

The student questions discussion forum has been set up under Content. If you have questions
about an assignment or are confused about something, most likely others in the class are having
the same struggle. By posting here, you will enable all students to see the instructor’s response.
Please check the student questions link as needed for clarification or to post questions.

General Policies: If references are required or used, citation of such references is mandatory. If
lengthy papers are assigned, they should be submitted in APA format (12 point Times New
Roman font, 1 inch margins. A specific style guide for APA format can be found at
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/.

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Syllabus Disclaimer:

This syllabus is intended as a set of guidelines for this course and the professor reserves the right
to make modifications in content, schedule, and requirements as necessary to promote the best
education possible within conditions affecting this course. Any changes to the syllabus will be
discussed with the students.

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 _______________________________________________
Course Schedule

Linkage Points Projected

Week Topic
to SLO Possible Feedback
Week 1 (All chapter readings are from the assigned
text book, Robbins, S. & Judge T. (2018)
Essentials of Organizational Behavior. Boston,
MA: Pearson.)

Read
Chapters 1, 2, 3

Assignments 1, 2, 3, 4
Welcome Discussion/Due Wednesday

Discussion Forum Initial Post Due

30
Wednesday/Peer Replies Due by Sunday

Reflection and Discussion Forum Posts/Replies 20

Select and Submit a Research Topic
Week 2 Read
Chapters 4 and 5

Assignments
Discussion Forum Initial Post Due 1, 2, 3, 4 30
Wednesday/Peer Replies Due by Sunday

Reflection and Discussion Forum Posts/Replies 20

Week 3 Read
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Assignments 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Discussion Forum Initial Post Due 30
Wednesday/Peer Replies Due by Sunday
20
Reflection and Discussion Forum Posts/Replies

Week 4 Read
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Assignments
Discussion Forum Initial Post Due 30
Wednesday/Peer Replies Due by Sunday

1, 2, 3, 4, 5
20
Reflection and Discussion Forum Posts/Replies

Midterm Exam 200

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 Week 5 Read
Chapters 11 and 12
Assignments
Discussion Forum Initial Post Due 1, 2, 3, 4, 6
Wednesday/Peer Replies Due by Sunday 30

Reflection and Discussion Forum Posts/Replies 20

Week 6 Read
Chapters 13 and 14
Assignments
Discussion Forum Initial Post Due 1, 2, 3, 4 6 30
Wednesday/Peer Replies Due by Sunday
20
Reflection and Discussion Forum Posts/Replies
Week 7 Read
Chapters 15 and 16
Discussion Forum Initial Post Due
Wednesday/Peer Replies Due by Sunday
30
1, 3, 4, 5, 8
Reflection and Discussion Forum Posts/Replies 20

Submit the Research Paper 150

And PPT 50
Week 8 Read
Chapter 17
Assignments
Discussion Forum Initial Post Due
30
Wednesday/Peer Replies Due by Sunday 1, 3, 4, 5, 8
Reflection and Discussion Forum Posts/Replies 20

Final Exam 200

Total Points 1000

**Schedule is tentative in that your professor has the discretion to change the schedule with prior
notification to the class.

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