Reference no: EM132616168 , Length: word count:2500

MB114 Organizational Behaviour

Assessment : Individual application of theory.

Students will select a work of popular culture that makes reference to work and organization then compare and contrast the way that work and organization are represented in the work with management theory learned in this subject.

Length: A maximum of 2500 words.

Students must answer the following question:

Select a work of popular culture that makes reference to work and organization then compare and contrast the way that work and organization are represented in the work with management theory learned in this subject.

This assessment item invokes an interesting approach taken by organization theorists in which we examine the way in which we talk about work. Almost everybody works, or has worked, or will work at some point in their lives. Most will do so in an organization.

As it happens, we don't just work, we talk about work, too. We sing songs about work, we write stories about work, we create movies about work, we tell jokes about work. Sometimes those songs, stories, movies and jokes are happy and positive, sometimes they are sad, sometimes they are subversive, sometimes they are rhetorical, sometimes they are angry, sometimes they convey important lessons.

In this assignment, students will choose a work of popular culture - probably a song, a story or a movie - and write an essay that compares and contrasts the way work is represented in that work with the way that we understand work in management theory.

By way of examples, authors have used cartoons - South Park (Rhodes 2002) and The Simpsons (Rhodes 2001) - to understand how we talk about work. Others have invoked popular music (Jermier 1985; Rhodes 2004) to understand how we talk about work.

Video: "Work", Uncanny X Men

This is a blast from a distant - and possibly embarassing - past! The Uncanny X Men (no relation to the Marvel Comics characters!) were a favourite rock band of mine back when I first started to... work...

Look at the lyrics, what does this song say about social attitudes to work? Why does the singer find the 'fact' that everybody wants to work disturbing'?