Business Administration: Leadership & Org Behavior

How people in organizations think and behave. Focuses on how leadership and motivation affect individuals and teams in the workplace and a global business context. Prerequisites: BUS 1110 or BUS 1120 or ECON 1400 or ECON 1450 with a minimum grade of C-, or Instructor permission; Business Administration, Computer Science & Information Systems, Engineering Management, Dietetics, Nutrition & Food Sciences major; Business Administration minor, Sports Management minor or Instructor permission; minimum Junior standing.

BSAD major and minor, 2BUS Co-Major, CSIS, EMGT, and SMGT minor. Open to degree and PACE students; or instructor permission email gsbcss@uvm.edu. Minimum Junior standing. Prereq enforced by the system: BUS 1110 or BUS 1120 or ECON 1400 or ECON. 1450 with a minimum grade of C-.

This course is an evidence-based exploration of human beings in organizations. It draws on research in traditional organizational contexts and also on more recent findings from the emerging field of positive organizational scholarship, which offers compelling insights into more engaging, human, ethical, and impactful ways of organizing. In this course, we will try to make sense of organizational life using three lenses: 1) People in Organizations: What characteristics, conditions, and practices enable people to flourish at work? How can people experience wellbeing while fulfilling their roles with high levels of commitment and quality? We’ll explore topics like personality, character strengths, motivation, learning, trust, stress, and work design. 2) Teams in Organizations: Most work in organizations happens through teams. What do we know about the relational practices at the heart of flourishing teams? What enables a team to be effective, energized, creative, and just? We’ll explore topics like team learning, diversity, decision-making, high-quality connections, conflict, and feedback. 3)Leadership in Organizations: How can each of us take conscious stewardship of organizational flourishing? How can we find ways to express leadership whatever our individual strengths or organizational position? We’ll explore topics like leadership styles, power & shared leadership, organizational culture, and social-ecological purpose.

The course is a mixture of lecture, dialogue, and experience. We will cover one to two chapters per week from the course text. A significant portion of class time is devoted to team-based practice and experiment. Students should expect to spend approximately four hours per week outside of close on readings and individual and team assignments.

Grades are based on attendance, tests that cover key concepts, reflective papers on individual life experiments, and a team project.