ILRHR 8502 - Organizational Behavior: Managing Change

Spring. 1 credit. Letter grades only (no audit).

Enrollment limited to: students enrolled in the Executive Master of Human Resource Management.

Staff.

This course addresses key issues for general management and organizational change efforts including:creating effective formal structures; managing organizational culture; and dealing with common problems of intergroup interaction.Its primary aims are to help students better understand aspects of organizations that are important drivers of individual and group behavior, and develop their ability to diagnose and manage common problems. In the first part, we consider the trade-offs associated with different structural configurations, and the relationship between formal structure and organizational culture.We discuss strategies managers can use to influence culture, and when different strategies are most likely to be effective. In the second part, we examine factors that affect how well subunits function, including sources of intergroup conflict, common biases in group decisions, and arrangements that affect individual and group-level creativity.