THE CHINESE UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG

Department of Management
MGNT3010A Organizational Behaviour
Venue: Esther Lee Building (ELB)ELB 308 (3/F)
Class Time: Wednesday 2:30 p.m. -- 5:15 p.m.
(First Term, 2024-2025)

INSTRUCTOR

Name: Nan GUO

Office: Room 840 Cheng Yu Tung Building, 12 Chak Cheung Street, Shatin
E-mail: nanguo@cuhk.edu.hk
Office hours: By appointment

TEACHING ASSISTANT

Name: Lai, Shunyi

Office: Room 845 Cheng Yu Tung Building, 12 Chak Cheung Street, Shatin
E-mail: shunyi.lai@link.cuhk.edu.hk
Office hours: By appointment

COURSE OVERVIEW

Welcome to this course! I hope you all had a great summer break and wish you a wonderful semester ahead
in Fall 2024.

“Organizations are not buildings or machinery or financial assets; rather, they are the people in them.
Organizations are human entities – full of life, sometimes fragile, and always exciting”. (McShane, Von
Glinow)

This class focuses on organizational behavior in goal-directed institutions. This is an introductory course that
is intended to help students develop management skills based on key concepts, models, and theories of
organizational behavior. A combination of lecture, discussion, case, videos, and examination techniques will
be used to achieve this objective. Students will be able to apply the skills developed in this class to real
world settings.

The types of management skills focused on in this class are important in the real world, as the people in any
given organization (and the skills they possess) are key levers for competitive advantage. The ability to
manage organizational behavior, and related knowledge and skills possessed by people in organizations, is
an essential process necessary to gain this advantage. No organizations have the same people with the same
skills. Those that are most successful, however, capitalize on the unique abilities of their members, thus
allowing them to deliver unique goods and/or services.

GRADE DESCRIPTORS

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 Grade OUTCOMES
LEARNING Overall course
A Outstanding performance on all learning outcomes.
A- Generally outstanding performance on almost all learning outcomes.
B+ Substantial performance on almost all learning outcomes with only a few less substantial
performance.
B Substantial performance on most of the learning outcomes, OR high performance on some
learning outcomes which compensates for less satisfactory performance on others, resulting
in overall substantial performance.
B- Substantial performance on nearly most of the learning outcomes, OR high performance on
a few learning outcomes which compensates for some less than satisfactory performance on
others.
C+ Satisfactory performance on majority of the learning outcomes, OR fulfil the specified
assessment requirements fairly.
C Satisfactory performance on majority of learning outcomes, possibly with a few weaknesses.
C- Satisfactory performance on majority of learning outcomes, possibly with quite a number of
weaknesses.
D+ Barely satisfactory performance on a number of learning outcomes, possibly with a number
of weaknesses.
D Barely satisfactory performance on a number of learning outcomes, possibly with
substantial weaknesses.
F Unsatisfactory performance on a number of learning outcomes, OR failure to meet specified
assessment requirements.
When you successfully complete this course, you should be able to:

 Describe the basic concepts of individual, group, and organizational behavior.

 Explain how individual, group, and organizational behavior affect individual and organizational
outcomes.
 Apply OB concepts and theories to support and enhance the organizations in which they are/will be
employed.
 Think about, analyze, and discuss OB-related topics based on evidence.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES (optional)

Learning Outcomes (LO) Learning Activities

LO 1, 2, 3, 4 Lectures
LO 1, 2, 3 In-class activities
LO 1, 2, 3, 4 Examinations
LO 2, 3, 4 Team project writing and presentation

ASSESSMENT SCHEME

There are two exams (for 50% of the total possible points), individually completed activities (for 15% of
the points), and team projects (for 35% of the points). We will endeavor to keep turnaround time for all
assessments to no longer than 2 weeks.

Exams
Midterm 25%
Final 25%
Subtotal 50%

Individual Activities

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Class participation 10%
In-class activities 5%
Subtotal 15%

Team Projects
Research report 20%
Presentation 10%
Peer evaluation 5%
Subtotal 35%

Total 100%

Description of assessment tasks

Exams (25% + 25% = 50%)

The midterm exam will be held on October 23, 2024, and will consist of multiple-choice and
short/long questions. All of the content will be from the portion of the course directly
preceding the exam.

The final exam will be held on November 27, 2024. It will consist of multiple-choice and short/long
questions. The final exam is partially cumulative. This means that most of the content will be from the
portion of the course directly preceding the exam (i.e., content post-midterm exam), but some content
will be based on prior material (i.e., content pre-midterm exam). Details will be given in class later.

Research indicates that long-term memory is enhanced by repeated recall, so key ideas from the course
are likely to show up on both exams. To prevent the exam questions from being leaked out, feedback
for both exams will only be available within two weeks after the exams through individual meetings,
either in person or virtual, between the student and me.

If you must miss an exam because of illness, a religious obligation, official university activities, or
other circumstances, you must notify me before the exam begins. Failure to do so will result in an
automatic 0 for that exam.

Make-up Exams. Make-up exams will only be allowed for serious medical or personal issues and the
student is responsible for contacting the instructor at least 24 hours in advance of the exam. Written
proof of why the student could not take the exam (i.e., doctor’s note) will be needed. Make-up exams
will not be allowed without appropriate documentation.

Class participation (10%)

Students are expected to arrive on time and prepare for each session by completing all textbook
readings (and other additional readings as assigned) prior to the class in which they are to be
discussed. In addition, students are expected to actively participate in class discussions while
contributing to a civil and engaging classroom environment.

Class participation will be evaluated based on the quality of the comments you raised in class
discussion acknowledged by the instructor. When raising comments in discussion groups,
comments that apply theoretical concepts are valuable. Comments that tie together previous points
and move the discussion forward are appreciated. Please note that mere class attendance is
necessary but not sufficient for getting high participation marks.

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Late Work. Late work will only be accepted for serious medical or personal issues. Written proof of
why the student could not turn in the work on time (i.e., doctor’s note) will be needed. Late work will
not be accepted without appropriate documentation.

In-class activities (5%)

In-class activities may consist of individual and/or group activities. For instance, in some lectures you may
be asked to debate with your classmates on a topic. As long as you participate in these activities, you
will get the corresponding points. However, attendance is required to earn in-class activity points for the
week.

If you need to miss a class because of an illness, mandatory religious obligations, or other unavoidable
circumstances, you need to email me before class. I can give you a make-up assignment, which will
protect you from losing points for in-class activities. If you miss a class without advance notice or
without a university approved reason, there is no option to make up for in-class activity points.

Classroom Citizenship. Everyone in this class has unique life experiences and valuable perspectives
to share. You are encouraged to ask questions as well as express your thoughts and ideas to one
another. Best class comments and questions should be relevant to the current focus of the class. To
create a comfortable and psychologically safe environment, you need to treat everyone in the class in
a respectful and professional manner. Listen carefully to the comments and questions that your
classmates voice. It is perfectly acceptable for you to voice disagreement with an opinion provided by
another student. Open debate often leads to the most thoughtful and informative class discussions.
However, please voice your disagreement in a kind and considerate manner. Take the ideas offered by
others into consideration and use concepts and theories, facts, examples, or data to support arguments.

Research report (20%)

Students will form groups to complete an evidence-based research report, in which you will be asked to
discuss an issue from the “movies or dramas” that you select (I attach a list of titles of examples
movies in Appendix A). You will be asked to create at least one OB-related research question based on
the movie or drama, describe the OB-related scenario in the movies or dramas (e.g., Is it a good thing
for employees to work from home?), analyze the scenario, search for credible evidence, and then use the
evidence you found to reach your conclusion. You will be graded on the following aspects: the quality
of your search/external sources, the quality of explanation for how the sources strengthen your position,
the clarity and cohesiveness of the writing, and professionalism (i.e., an untidy report that has many
typos or spelling errors, does not follow format requirements, misses one or more sections, or misses
references will lose part or all of the points for professionalism). Feedback will be available on
Blackboard in around two weeks.

Grade Criterion
A/A- The report is clear and cohesive. A thorough search has been conducted to find evidence
and the sources of evidence are credible. A detailed and clear explanation for how the
sources strengthen your position is provided. The report is written professionally.
B+/B/B- The report is clear and cohesive for the most part. The thoroughness of the search and
credibility of the sources of evidence need improvement. An explanation for how the
sources strengthen your position is provided, but with some logical flaws. The report has
2-3 typos, errors, or missing references.
C+/C/C- The report is unclear and incohesive in a few places. The thoroughness of the search and
credibility of the sources of evidence are mediocre. An explanation for how the sources
strengthen your position is provided, but with some logical flaws. The report has 4-5
typos, errors, or missing references.
D The report is unclear and incohesive in many places. The thoroughness of the search and
credibility of the sources of evidence are insufficient. An explanation for how the sources

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 strengthen your position is provided, but with many logical flaws. The report has 6-10
typos, errors, or missing references.
F The report is unclear and incohesive. The thoroughness of the search and credibility of the
sources of evidence are insufficient. An explanation for how the sources strengthen your
position is provided, but with many logical flaws. The report has more than 10 typos,
errors, or missing references.

Presentation (10%)

At the conclusion of the semester, each group will give a 15-minute PowerPoint presentation
detailing the results of the team project and be prepared to answer questions from the audience.
Feedback will be available on Blackboard in around two weeks.

Grade Criterion
A/A- Actively engage the audience; share with the audience, instead of reading the slides to
them; provide exceptionally good answers to questions from the audience.
B+/B/B- Engage the audience for the most part; sometimes read the slides to them; provide good
answers to questions from the audience.
C+/C/C- Rely on the notes or read the slides to the audience half of the time; provide relevant
answers to questions from the audience.
D Heavily rely on the notes or basically read the slides to the audience; provide irrelevant
answers to questions from the audience.
F Completely rely on the notes and read the slides verbatim to the audience; do not respond
to questions from the audience.

Peer evaluation (5%)

Effective teamwork is crucial for achieving high levels of collective performance. While teamwork
enhances quality of output, it hinges on the condition that everyone contributes to the teamwork. To
avoid problems of free riding, there will be a peer evaluation of the contribution by each individual team
member on all other team members at the end of the course. I attached the peer evaluation form as the
Appendix B. The evaluation is confidential and will be processed by the instructors only. A student’s
score on peer evaluation is calculated as the average of the ratings from all of his/her team members
after removing the lowest rating from the peers. Feedback will be available on Blackboard in around two
weeks.

Late Assignment Policy: The deadline for each assignment will be announced in the class and posted
on Blackboard. Missing a deadline will result in an automatic 10% penalty on the total points awarded
for that assignment. If an assignment is more than 24 hours late, then an extra 10% will be taken off
for each day past the deadline. No assignment will be accepted after it is one week late. Any exception
to this policy must be discussed with and approved by me prior to the assignment’s due date.

Policy Regarding the Use of AI Tools (e.g., ChatGPT): You are allowed to use AI tools
for all assessments in this course EXCEPT FOR the exams, which are in closed-book
format.

RECOMMENDED LEARNING RESOURCES

Recommended Textbook (not compulsory to buy; online access available via the CUHK Library):
• Colquitt, LePine & Wesson (2020). Organizational Behavior: Improving Performance and
Commitment in the Workplace. 7th Ed. McGraw Hill Publishing.

Please refer to the class schedule for the assigned reading and in-class activities each week.

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COURSE SCHEDULE

Class Date Topic (With contents / fundamental Requirements

concepts)
1 September 4 Introduction OB 1
2 September 11 Job performance 2
3 September 18 No class /
4 September 25 Organizational commitment 3
5 October 2 Job satisfaction 4
6 October 9 Motivation 6
7 October 16 Personality, Ability, and cultural values 9 & 10
8 October 23 Midterm exam /
9 October 30 Decision-making/Leadership 8 & 14
10 November 6 Team characteristics & team processes 11 & 12
11 November 13 Presentation /
12 November 20 Presentation /
13 November 27 Final exam /

POLICY ON ACADEMIC HONESTY AND PLAGIARISM

The Chinese University of Hong Kong places very high importance on honesty in academic work submitted
by students, and adopts a policy of zero tolerance on cheating and plagiarism. Any related offence will lead
to disciplinary action including termination of studies at the University. Attention is drawn to University
policy and regulations on honesty in academic work, and to the disciplinary guidelines and procedures
applicable to breaches of such policy and regulations. Details may be found at
http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/policy/academichonesty/.

With each assignment, students will be required to submit a signed declaration that they are aware of these
policies, regulations, guidelines and procedures. In the case of group projects, all students of the same group
should be asked to sign the declaration, each of whom is responsible should there be any plagiarized contents
in the group project, irrespective of whether he/she has signed the declaration and whether he/she has
contributed directly or indirectly to the plagiarized contents.

For assignments in the form of a computer-generated document that is principally text-based and submitted
via VeriGuide, the statement, in the form of a receipt, will be issued by the system upon students' uploading
of the soft copy of the assignment. Assignments without the properly signed declaration will not be graded
by teachers. Only the final version of the assignment should be submitted via VeriGuide.

The submission of a piece of work, or a part of a piece of work, for more than one purpose (e.g. to satisfy the
requirements in two different courses) without declaration to this effect shall be regarded as having
committed undeclared multiple submission. It is common and acceptable to reuse a turn of phrase or a
sentence or two from one’s own work; but wholesale reuse is problematic. In any case, agreement from the
course teacher(s) concerned should be obtained prior to the submission of the piece of work.

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 Appendix A
1. The devil wears Prada
2. Horrible boss
3. Intern
4. Steve jobs
5. Suits
6. The inventor out for blood in Silicon Valley
7. The wolf of walls street
8. Mad men
9. Parks and recreation
10. Social network
11. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5f8bqYYwps Steve jobs
12. The office
13. Undercover boss
14. Shark tank
15. Emily in Paris
16. Inside out
17. … (You can choose others by yourself.)

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 Appendix B: Peer Evaluation Form

Group #______
Name ___________________________

Name Score (1 to 5 scale) Rationale