UPDATED - MGT309: Principles of Management and Organization

Read Chapter 9 – Organizational Behavior
This chapter is important because it covers the challenging and interesting study of organizational behavior. You will learn about groups of people and individual’s behavior when working toward a common goal. This is a complex area in management due to situational factors. The focus of organizational behavior is to increase productivity, job satisfaction, absenteeism, and attrition. Organizational behavior includes the use of psychology, political science, sociology, social psychology, and anthropology.

Read Chapter 10 – Understanding and Managing Individual Behavior
This chapter is important because it covers the behavior of individuals beginning with attitude. This chapter discusses the types of attitudes; attitude is a combination of emotions and thought processes resulting in the adopted attitude. There are three types of attitudes: positive attitude, negative attitude, and a neutral attitude. An individual’s behavior is thought to result from an individual’s attitude. This chapter is very helpful for managers to understand and apply.

Read Chapter 11 – Group and Group Dynamics
This chapter is important because it focuses on group dynamics in organizations. Groups have a wide range of impacts on projects and ultimately the organization. A group is defined as two or more people who collaborate to achieve specific goals. Groups can be formal or informal. Members of a group act differently than they would as an individual. This chapter is important for managers to understand.

Read Chapter 12 – Team and Teamwork
Teamwork is utilized more and more in organizations with the thought that teams are more innovative and creative. Additionally, teams reach organizational goals more efficiently and effectively. Teams are tasks with helping each other since all members do not perform the same and have different skills. Communication plays a vital role in being successful. Methods for forming teams are covered in detail in the chapter.