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SYLLABUS
Course Title
MLI26C652
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR
6 cr
Instructor
Diya Das
Email address
[email protected]
Office Hours
Monday to Thursday: 1-2pm; Friday – By appointment
Course Description and Learning Outcomes
International organizational behavior attempts to understand, predict, and influence the
behavior in individuals and in organizations operating in the global environment. This course
covers key models and theories of individual behavior and learning in organizations, the
organizational context in which work activities take place, motivation, workplace emotions
and their relations to personality and person perception, values and ethics, communications,
teams and team dynamics, decision-making, conflict and negotiation, leadership, power and
politics in the organizational context, organizational and national culture, stress, the design
of organizations, and organizational change and development.
Learning outcomes for this course, upon successful completion, include the ability to:
1) understand and use the basic theories and models applied to collective behavior in formal
and informal global organizations, 2) predict the behavior in global organizations, and 3)
influence the behavior of individuals in global organizations to achieve mutual benefit.
Required Reading
This course is completely run with the help of cases and articles. Please check the course
outline for the days of the readings.
You are required to buy this course pack (designed for this class) online at the following
url: http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/access/57422617
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Course Schedule
Session
1
Date ‘2017
Monday January 9
Topics
Introduction to International
Organizational Behavior
Group and Work Assignments
Readings
Reading: Making It Overseas
Imp Note: Deduction due to an unexcused
absence on first day of the course: 5 points
(on a 100-point scale) will be deducted from the
student’s final raw score before converting it to
the final grade.
2
Tuesday January 10
Motivation, Attitudes, Perception
Case: Roaring Dragon Hotel
3
Wednesday January 11
Leadership
4
Thursday January 12
Decision Making
Case: Global Leadership of Carlos
Ghosn in Nissan
Reading: Leadership Theories
Case: Mount Everest
5
Friday January 13
Communication and
Interpersonal Skills
Workshop
6
Monday January 16
Power and Influence
Case: Case of Floundering
Expatriate
7
Tuesday January 17
Team Building and
Conflict Resolution
8
Wednesday January 18
Identity, Emotions and Stress
Case: Gregg James at Sun
Microsystems
Case: Futuristech
9
Thursday January 19
Creativity and Innovation
Case: Creativity at Shanghai Tang
10
Friday January 20
Possible Field Trip/Guest Lecture
11
Monday January 23
Clinical session
12
Tuesday January 24
Bringing It All Together Case –
Organizational Culture
13
Wednesday January 25
Group Presentations
14
Thursday January 26
Final Overview
15
Friday January 27
Final Exam
2
Due: Individual Reflections Paper
My Courses by 9am, Jan 20
Case: IKEA in Saudi Arabia
Reading: Note on Organizational
Culture
Project Report and Powerpoints
due on My Courses before class
by 9am, Jan 25
Reading: Managing your career
Aalto University
School of Business, Mikkeli Campus
Grading
Course Requirements and Values
Class Contributions
Final Exam
Group Case Analysis
Individual Styles and Career Analysis
Group Country Project (Report: 10; Presentation: 15)
Case Quizzes
Weighting (%) or
maximum points
15
25
15
10
25
10
Total 100
Final grade
(official scale)
5
4
3
2
1
0
Sample conversion scale
(if student work graded 0-100)*
90 – 100
80 – 89
70 – 79
60 – 69
50 – 59
0 – 49
ECTS GUIDELINES
This course is a 6 ECTS unit course, following the ECTS (European Credit Transfer
System) guidelines of Aalto University School of Business. The number of hours the
average student is expected to work in the course is 160 (including in-class and out-ofclass work).
ECTS Student Workload
Number of Hours
Classroom contact hours
45
Out-of-class hours
Work with course materials, eg required reading
30
Exam preparation
20
Individual research & writing
20
Group projects (meetings, research, preparation, etc.)
45
3
Other (please specify)
Sub-total of out-of-class hours
115
Total of all student workload hours
160
Academic Policy Statements
TEXTBOOK POLICY
All required textbooks and other course materials are the responsibility of the student. It is
the expectation of faculty that all students will have access to the textbooks and other
reading material. If a student is not able to purchase his/her own copy of the textbook or
other required reading materials, it is nonetheless the student’s responsibility to find a way
to complete the reading for the course.
CLASS ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION
Class attendance and participation are considered integral parts of teaching and learning
at the BScBA program in Mikkeli. Therefore, regular class attendance is required of all
students and attendance records are kept for each class. Students are also expected to be
in class on time. Late arrivals are seen as being discourteous to the instructor and other
students.
The attendance policy of the BScBA program provides that:
1) A maximum of two unexcused absences is allowed for a 3-week, 6-credit course.
Three or more unexcused absences will result in being dropped from the course.
Note: Whenever taking an unexcused absence, the student bears the risk of
missing class, and the consequences, which may include a lower participation
grade, missing a graded activity, etc.
2) A total maximum of four absences (excused and unexcused) is allowed for a 3week, 6-credit course. Five absences will result in being dropped from the course.
3) Absences are excused by approval of staff and the instructor for legitimate
reasons only (medical certificates or other critical reasons), per the Permission for
Absence Form.
4) An unexcused absence on the first day: an unexcused absence on the first day
of the course will result in 5 points (on a 100-point scale) being deducted from the
student’s final raw score before converting it to the final grade.
5) A student missing a graded activity due to an:
a. excused absence will be given special consideration, eg the chance to
make up an exam;
b. unexcused absence may not be able to compensate for the missed work, in
which case the student will lose the points for that activity.
Students not able to attend class on a day with a graded activity should make every
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effort to inform the instructor ahead of time, regardless of the reason.
6) A student getting to class after the doors are closed will not be able to enter the
classroom until the first break and will get an unexcused absence for the day.
7) The instructor may include class participation as a component of the grade,
up to 15% of the total points that can be earned toward the final grade.
CODES OF CONDUCT
Academic excellence and high achievement levels are only possible in an environment
where the highest standards of academic honesty and integrity are maintained. Students
are expected to abide by the Aalto University Code of Academic Integrity, other relevant
codes and regulations, as well as the canons of ethical conduct within the disciplines of
business and management education. (See Aalto Mikkeli Study Guide for information on
Aalto University codes of conduct.)
In addition, the BScBA Program has strict exam regulations in force which must be
followed in all test-taking situations.
Faculty Profile
Dr. Diya Das is Chair of the Department of Management and Associate Professor of Human
Resource Management and International Business at Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island.
She has received her Ph.D. from Syracuse University, New York in Management. She has worked
and published extensively on issues of International Organizational Behavior with a special focus
on management of identities and attitudes under conditions of globalization of work. Her work
appears in Human Relations, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Human Resource Management
Review, International Journal of Human Resource Management and several others. She was the
recipient of the Carolyn Dexter Award for the Best International Paper from the Organizational
Behavior Division at the Academy of Management in 2007 for her work in Indian international call
centers. She has extensive teaching experience in International Business, Employment Laws,
Human Resource Management and Managing Careers and People across the World. Originally from
India, Diya now lives in Providence, Rhode Island with her husband and 8 year old son.
Additional Information: Important
Class Contribution
The course is designed to be highly interactive since it is based on readings and cases. Thus, you will
be graded based both on the quantity and quality of your participation. Attendance is a necessary but
not a sufficient condition for participation credit.
Everyone is expected to read the assigned material before class and participate in class discussion.
You should expect me to "cold-call" frequently during class. A substantial portion of your grade will
depend on your ability to contribute productively to our collective learning experience. We will be
making extensive use of real business cases and examples that provide a forum for you to apply
concepts and analytical tools. The goals for each case discussion are to understand the strategic nature
of the situation, define key issues, recognize critical assumptions and tradeoffs, and propose sensible
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recommendations. In order to fully benefit from case discussion, you should:
 Come to class well prepared. Analyze the case using the tools you have learned in class, and
come prepared to answer the case assignment questions in class.
 Given the complexities of the real world, there is no single right answer, although some
answers are better than others. To find those, use strategic concepts and tools to analyze a
situation.
On any given day, you may be called upon to state your major conclusions and then to provide
evidence and analysis in support. Even in the most ambiguous situations, it is important to examine
data, reasons, and assumptions that make some answers better than others. For class discussion you
will be expected to draw from all the relevant readings and class discussions to date. In addition,
please remember to listen carefully and respectfully to your classmates and suggest supporting or
alternative views. Thoughtful debate is highly encouraged.
Final Exam
There will be one final exam consisting of multiple choice, and essay questions. The objective is to
ensure understanding of critical, fundamental concepts of the course.
Case Discussion
I will form groups for this class and you will do the Country Project and the Case Discussions in
your assigned groups. Each group will be expected to lead a class discussion on one/two of the
assigned cases (depending on the class size). The discussion should be led through posing questions
to the class. The class is expected to actively participate in these discussions. The groups will
provide their own analysis and recommendations to the class at the end of the discussion. The group
will be graded not only on the basis of the quality of analysis, but their ability to lead the discussion
in class. The groups will be expected to demonstrate more research on the industry and the problem
that is presented in the case. Each group is expected to provide questions to the class on the case in
the class before their presentation so the class can prepare for the discussion. Please post a copy of
the power points used by the group for the case discussion on My Courses before the start of class,
by 9am on the day of the presentation.
Case Quizzes
In every class that we discuss a case, we will start with a short quiz (combination of multiple choice
and 1-2 line answer open-ended questions). The questions will be based on the facts of the case and
also looking for analytical answers. There will be 8 quizzes through the semester and I will count
the 7 highest scores for your final grade (so drop the lowest or if you missed a quiz that will
considered as the dropped one). I will convert your total out of 70 into out of 10 points for the
calculation of the final grade, i.e., your total quiz points divided by 70, and then multiplied by 10.
Following are the list of cases there will be a quiz for:
1. Roaring Dragon Hotel
2. Global Leadership of Carlos Ghosn Nissan
3. Mount Everest
4. Case of a Floundering Expatriate
5. Greg James at Sun Microsystems
6. Managing creativity at Shanghai Tang
7. Futuristech
8. IKEA in Saudi Arabia
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Individual Styles and Career Reflections Paper
You are required to write a reflections paper on your own personal styles of behavior. The
reflections essay should include an analysis of your own communication styles, what you do you
think motivates you, what kind of a leadership style do you have? We will conduct several
workshops through the course that will provide opportunities for you to develop more selfawareness and also get feedback from your peers. The main idea behind this stems from studies in
organizational behavior that shows how self-awareness is the most important step towards
developing effective interpersonal and communication skills that are needed for becoming global
managers. Please post your paper on My Courses before the start of class, i.e., by 9am, Friday
January 20, 2017.
Group Country Project
For this project, each group needs to do extensive research on any one of the following countries.
They are required to do a presentation and a project report. Both the slides for the presentation and
the report should be submitted on My Courses by 9am on January 25, 2017.
Countries: China, India, Russia, Brazil, South Africa, Germany. Note: Some of these countries may
change depending on the prior projects students have conducted in other courses.
The aim of this project is to develop an analysis of the concepts in this class for the specific country
you selected amongst the alternatives suggested. It has several pieces to the report:
1. Overview of the country, economic indicators, demographics and brief history
2. Cultural and institutional context analysis to provide a background for patterns of human
behavior.
3. What are some of the challenges that international managers can face in this country?
4. Leadership analysis in context: Select a famous leader in this context (can be a political,
cultural or business leader) and analyze their leadership style. What makes this kind of
leadership work in this context?
5. Developing skills for this context:
a. What kinds of communication skills do you think would work in this context?
b. What should foreign managers be aware of in terms of interpersonal skills in this
country?
c. Popular culture analysis: In order to understand a society, one of the biggest
recommendations made in theory is to connect with people about what they care
about – especially in terms of popular culture. What are specific elements of popular
culture are important in this country? How does this help us understand this country
better?
6. Overall recommendations to international firms that are planning on managing in that
country about organizational behavior specificities of that country that should be important
when creating policies about that country
7. Overall recommendations to individuals who are planning to go and work in this country as
an expatriate from Finland
Each group needs to meet with me at least once with their country research the week before the
presentations are due. I will schedule appointments during office hours for this and will provide
more guidelines and give feedback based on the specific countries selected. Pictures, video and
audio clips are strongly encouraged to be included in this presentation to make the point. There will
be an in-class Clinical Session on the group project in class on Monday, January 23, 2017
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