Reference no: EM132834990

1. What is organizational behavior (OB)?

2. Why does organizational behavior matter?

3. How can I maximize my learning in this course?

4. What research methods are used to study organizational behavior?

5. What challenges and opportunities exist for OB?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Which competitive advantages does Unnamed Publisher seem to possess?
2. Which learning styles might be most effective for individuals in entrepreneurial firms? Explain your answer.
3. How might the extensive textbook industry experience that the
4. Unnamed Publisher founders possess help or hinder the company's ultimate success or failure?
5. If you were one of the Unnamed Publisher founders, how would you prioritize how you spent your time in the first weeks on the job after getting the venture capital funding?

Putting Common Sense to the Test

Please answer the following 10 questions by noting whether you believe the sentence is true or false.

1. Brainstorming in a group is more effective than brainstorming alone. _____
2. The first 5 minutes of a negotiation are just a warm-up to the actual negotiation and don't matter much. _____
3. The best way to help someone reach their goals is to tell them to do their best. _____
4. If you pay someone to do a task they routinely enjoy, they'I'll do it even more often in the future. _____
5. Pay is a major determinant of how hard someone will work. _____
6. If a person fails the first time, they try harder the next time. _____
7. People perform better if goals are easier. _____
8. Most people within organizations make effective decisions. _____
9. Positive people are more likely to withdraw from their jobs when they are dissatisfied. _____
10. Teams with one smart person outperform teams in which everyone is average in intelligence. ______
11. You may check your answers with your instructor.______

EXERCISES

1. Which type of organizations did you have the most experience with?
2. How did that affect your understanding of the issues in this chapter?
3. Which skills do you think are the most important ones for being an effective employee?
4. What are the three key levels of analysis for OB?
5. Have you ever used journaling before? If so, were your experiences positive?
6. Do you think you will use journaling as a tool in the future?
7. How do you plan on using the OB Toolboxes in this book? Creating a plan now can help to make you more effective throughout the term.

EXERCISES

1. Were you surprised by your primary learning style? Why or why not?
2. How does your learning style affect the kinds of classes you take?
3. Try out a few of the suggestions for your learning style over the next week and see how they work.
4. Now that you've learned more about your own learning style, are there some things you might consider doing to expand on your other styles? If so, what steps might you take to do this?

EXERCISES

1. Create hypothesis about people at work. Now that you have one in mind, which method do you think would be most effective in helping you test your hypothesis?
2. Have you used any of the OB research methods before? If not, what can you do to become more familiar with them?
3. Give an example of a reliable measure.
4. Give an example of a valid measure.
5. How can you know if a relationship is causal or correlational?

EXERCISES

1. Share an ethical dilemma you have observed at work or school to someone in your class. What do you think should have been done differently and why?
2. How has the technology and the flattening world affected you in the last 10 years? Please share examples of this.
3. Do you think the sustainability movement in business is a trend that's here to stay or a business fad? Why or why not?
4. Do you see the aging (and retiring) workforce as an opportunity or a threat for businesses? How do you think this will affect your career?

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What benefits might result from becoming a part of a larger organization?
2. What are the benefits of maintaining the autonomy of a small company?
3. How does globalization affect Nau's business strategy?
4. What ethical dilemmas might employees at Nau and Horny Toad face during their day-to-day experience?

INDIVIDUAL EXERCISE

1. Hopefully, you have already completed reading this chapter. If not, wait until you've done so to complete this individual exercise.
2. If you have not done so already, please take the learning styles survey at https://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=questionnaire.
3. In addition, please be sure you have reviewed the table of contents for this organizational behavior textbook.
4. What themes do you see? How do you think these topics affect your interactions with others? How might your learning style affect how you'll approach this course? Have you ever considered journaling as a technique for self-improvement and reflection?
5. Now, write down five action steps that you plan to take as you work through this book. Refer to these steps throughout the term and modify them as needed.