Knowledge in organizational behavior, work psychology, group dynamics, organizational design/theory, strategy, leadership or human resources management, will help students to better understand the contents of the program detailed below. However, the course is designed for students with a basic or moderate level of expertise in the subject.

In this course the students will learn to understand, analyze and assess the behavior of both individuals and groups in organizations. The learning objectives are aggregated into three levels of analysis: individual, group and organization. 1) At the individual level: - Understand the processes of perception and decision making and the several personal and situational factors that affect them. - Explain the role of personality, attitudes and social values in the behavior of employees. - Identify the determinants of work motivation, designing interventions to improve it. 2) At the group level: - Understand the determinants of group effectiveness, suggesting strategies to develop high-performance teams. - Identify the key factors of effective communication, developing the managerial skills to be a successful communicator. - Analyze the different types of conflict, using negotiation and mediation strategies to deal with it effectively. - Summarize the main perspectives (treats, behaviors) and styles of leadership (transactional/transformational). - Analyze the new challenges of today´s corporate leaders, choosing the best practices to deal with them. - Explain the impact of leadership on the performance, satisfaction and growth of work groups. 3) At the organizational level: - Understand how organizational culture is created, maintained and changed over time. - Design programs for organizational change and development. Additionally, the students will improve their skills to analyze complex human situations in the workplace, making decisions concerning people, and collaborating in teams.

The objective of the course is to provide foundation knowledge in Organizational Behavior from classic and contemporary theories, through ongoing controversies, to sound empirical studies. In so doing, we will explore the main research domains that will offer you enough lay on the ground. I am committed to help you to gain broad familiarity with theory and research concerned with OB from a multilevel perspective, and to help you in developing the analytical skills necessary to critically evaluate and integrate research in this field. I will also encourage you to use this course as an excuse for developing your own research agenda by writing a short term paper. Intensive reading by your side is a must to accomplish such objectives. Reading materials before class is absolutely necessary, as well as thinking for a while about the implications of the readings. In the course schedule, you will find a set of assigned readings for each class. I suggest that you read them in the order listed. Optional readings are listed providing you with examples of other manuscripts on the topic that you could explore for the session or the term paper. It will be your responsibility to locate the material on-line or in the library. Outline of classes: Session 1. Setting the Stage: What is OB? Session 2. Mood and Emotion in Organizations Sessions 3-4. Motivation in the Workplace Sessions 5-6. Leadership Sessions 7-8. Diversity Management Sessions 9-10. Teams that Work Sessions 11-12. Organizational Culture and Climate Session 13. Student Presentations Session 14. Final Assessment

This course is a seminar, utilizing a mix of little lecture and a lot of discussion. I will serve as the class coordinator and facilitator, but most of the time the students will be directing the discussion. My main role will be to critique the presentations, moderate the general class discussion, and integrate across articles. Each session will begin with a short introduction of the key concepts and a discussion of central questions on the topic (30-45min). Next, we will engage in a collective discussion of the required readings guided by the assigned session leader and moderated by the professor. Class participation covers (1) active engagement in class discussions, and (2) performing as a session¿s leader. Evaluation of active participation will be based on both quantity and quality of participation (e.g., Does the student demonstrate a good understanding of the reading material? Can the student identify common themes across the readings? Does the student use the readings as a foundation to develop new theoretical ideas and research proposals?). Except when you take the role of the session leader, you will submit a 1-page double spaced typed assignment that synthesizes the required readings for each session. Please send your synthesis via email by 5:00pm on the day before class. The term paper is a research proposal due in our last session. This proposal provides the students with the opportunity to conceive and plan an empirical study on an issue within the OB domain. You need to develop a new idea inspired by the course readings, providing a brief literature review of the related work-to-date, a theoretical framework including a few hypotheses, and the suggested methodology for testing the hypotheses (please conform to Academy of Management Journal standards and style guide). The paper may include maximum 15 double-spaced pages. Students will give oral presentations of their papers in the last session, which will be followed by feedback from the professor and classmates.