MGMT20001: Organisational Behaviour

• Tutorial participation (6% of total)
• Pre-tutorial questions (4% of total)
• Written assignment 1 (10% of total)
• Written assignment 2 (30% of total)
• Final exam (50% of total)

Note that the final exam is a hurdle. (50%+ required on the final exam itself in order to pass the subject.)

The first individual assignment comes almost immediately when you start the course (at least in summer) and consists of applying topics learnt in the first few weeks to a case study. In my case, it was to do with the Victorian Government's handling of COVID-19. This was to be done in a report style. This wasn't too hard but as my first paper at university it was a new and a bit of a daunting experience, but the co-ordinators held a quick tutorial on how to write a research paper to a university level in the first week.

The second assignment is a bit different compared to the ones future and past students may do - for me, this was a similar report to assignment 1 (individual) with another case study with new topics learnt. However, for future students, the second assignment is actually a group assignment. See other reviews for...reviews of this part since I didn't do it. Unfortunately, I think 2021 summer term may be the last time the group assignment is removed. It does make sense as for why there is a group assignment in this subject (which is all about working in teams...).

This leads onto the exam - the exam is usually made up of one question regarding your group assignment, and the other questions about one macro topic and one case study. These were all long-answer based. I felt quite prepared for the subject, given that Joeri does let you know what combinations are not on the exam. Be prepared to write a lot, but time shouldn't be an issue if you had prepared some notes for the cases beforehand.

This subject is compulsory for all commerce students, and the nature of the subject (essay/word-based subjects + a dreaded group report) makes OB one of the most infamous subjects in all of the university...or maybe just amongst commerce students but I'm sure if you have any commerce friends they'll be sure to tell you all about how they *love* the subject! Hence it made sense to me to complete this subject over the summer, even though I think I'm okay at essay writing...but man I am glad I did it over summer

Wasn't as bad as I thought, but I'm happy to have got it out of the way and I can't recommend this as a breadth...good luck to all those doing it!

Yes, with screen capture. Lectures were all pre-recorded (i.e. no live lectures)

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Joeri is one of the more interactive lecturers that I've had, with his amazing life experience anecdotes appearing once in a while. I bring this up since this was my favourite part of the subject. Really though, Joeri's lectures were enjoyable and perhaps my favourite in all of uni right now...he was that good!
Content wise, it is a bit dry and shallow for my taste - albeit this may be the goal of the subject: to introduce behavioual terms to us commerce students and learn how to interact with others in the workplace! Still though, don't expect anything revolutionary - a lot of it is just common sense labelled with jargon. There are some interesting tidbits here and there, and applying it to case studies can be fun, but mostly this subject's content is pretty disjointed and boring. Don't expect to get anything revolutionary from this subject is really what I'm saying.
The most important part to focus is on the last 5 topics of the subject - these are the 'macro' topics (micro for the first few) - they make up 75% of the final exam, where one of them will be applied to one of the five case studies.

Only one past exam (presumably from last year), as well as a new sample exam made especially for this summer term. More on that later

NONE

3.5/5

whoops just realised i put the wrong book! The textbook changes quite frequently, but you are expected to have a copy and for assignments you'll need it as they want you to reference from it. Sorry!

The tutorials in this subject featured a 6% participation mark (0.6% per tutorial) and a 4% pre-tute mark (0.4% per pre-tute). Pre-tutes were actually very helpful, especially in the second-half of the course where you learn about macro topics (which make up 75% of the final exam). Tutorials themselves were alright - worked in groups to answer tutorial questions, and present any findings to the rest of the tutorial. My tutor often enjoyed going on with her little soliloquy but I didn't really pay too much attention. Just complete pre-tutes since they're always useful and turn up to tutes for questions and the important 0.6%!

1x 1 hr lecture, 2x 1 hr tutorial per week.

2021 Summer Term. Note that this subject was held completely online - including the exam.

75

10% Individual Assignment, 30% Group Assignment, 10% Tutorial Participation, 50% 2hr Exam

Content: Micro (topics relevant for small teams such as perception, motivation and conflict) and macro (organisation-based topics such as communication, culture and power) topics.

I actually found the micro topics much more interesting as they talked quite a lot about aspects of behavioural psychology but the structure of Graham’s lectures ruined it – too much wiffle waffle and new concepts seemed to jump out of nowhere. Macro, on the other hand, was very well taught by Zelinna. She uses loads of examples and diagrams to help you understand the frameworks you need to use to apply to the case studies.

Assessment: Tbh not sure if micro was intentionally unclear because they wanted us to explore the topics ourselves through the assignments. Regardless…

There was a helpful workshop that explained what was expected for the 10% individual assignment. Definitely check it out, look at the sample assignment response they give you, make sure you find lots of sources and answer what you’re being asked for and you’ll be fine. If you end up not being fine, its still… err.. fine for lack of a better word, cause you get a ton of constructive feedback. Beware APA referencing! Its quite easy to drop marks for that, sadly.

The 30% team assignment depends so much on the competency of your team – if possible, make sure you pick the same tutorial as your friends (generally 5 or 6 members in a group WITHIN the tutorial)!! I’ve heard of mean tutors who split up friends into different groups, but at least have one reliable person you know with you or else you might end up having to carry your team.

First up, don’t expect a super great mark for your team assignment. They put the assignment up like two weeks before you’ve actually finished learning the content, so don’t bother starting until then. That being said though, definitely make a timeline and set strict time limits for when shit has to be done by. Be aware of any mid-sem exams or other assignments for other subjects! You’re probably going to be in for a rough ride those last two weeks before its due… Anyway, I think the first and most important task is to draft the structure of your report. Everything else just falls into place. Send it to your tutor for feedback, then continue tweaking it as you start researching, then send it to your tutor again.

Tutorials: I didn’t find tutorials that useful, but I had a really fun tutor and it was basically a chill session. Do go for the tute marks tho – do the pre-tute work and chat with your tutor and you’ll probably get a 10/10.

Exam: Blehh. 4 questions – one based on a micro topic asking for a reflection on your experience for the group assignment, and three based on a macro topic asking you to apply frameworks to a case study that you’ve previously encountered in tutorials.

I didn’t really like exam because the questions were literally one line and super broad, eg. Using theory X analyse what went wrong at ABC Ltd, and it was basically another memorisation exercise in that you have to memorise the frameworks. Make sure you think about each combination before going into the exam because there is quite a lot of content you can potentially address, and the more you do, the higher your mark. Time is an issue though, so don’t elaborate too much.

Overall: Don’t do this if you don’t have to. There are way easier subjects to get good marks with. Please don’t torture yourself with a 30% team assignment and memorising 60% of the course for the exam.

Yes, without screen capture

Graham Sewell and Zelinna Pablo

No, but one sample exam

2 Out of 5

University compiled textbook “Organisational Behaviour” – it is quite useful to have especially for assignments but I just borrowed it from the library. If you do buy it, try textbookexchange.

1x2hr lecture, 1x1hr tute

2014, Semester 2

OB is tricky. Not because of the subject matter, or effort required to order to come out scoring flying colours, but in order to fully ‘juke’ and ‘conquer’ the marking scheme. I’ve heard of many bright students (we’re talking straight H1 averages here) fall sub-70 or stuck in the 70-80 zone in their attempts to tackle this subject.

Firstly, the content is very interesting. It takes on a slightly psychological perspective, as you work through a cross-cut of interesting topics such as Culture, Power, Behaviours and such in the respective Macro and Micro proportion of the course. All the weeks are rather enjoyable, and lectures (although a large chunk is pointless) actually provoke some thinking as the theories trickle into your mind. Although I didn’t do any readings (and I strongly recommend against), I’d imagine they would be worthwhile if you were planning on continuing onto further Management studies – they probably create the backbone of context that underpin higher-level studies.

The lecturers: Graham and Selina are good, effective and concise lecturers. They do go off-topic at times, but for good reason. Tutorials are run by competent tutors, but they can be a tad biased especially with regards to the 10% participation mark. Despite most of the tutors preaching that ‘quality contribution > quantity’, if you raise your hand a solid twice a lesson to pipe in, you should be set for a 9+, regardless of how stupid or pointless your contribution is.

The downfall of OB is assessment. It’s common knowledge that management subjects are difficult subjects to mark, and strict criteria pretty much limits any ‘off-pack’ or ‘indie’ interpretations. So you have to take what you receive as gospel, and be very very selective with the way you control and write your answers in both assignments and the exam.

The first assignment is straightforward, but it does help to source a copy of the textbook to aid your writing. A lot of emphasis is put on correct referencing, so make sure this isn’t compromised when you’re writing. 10%, but I’d say 90% of students hover around the 65-75 mark grade for it.

The team assignment is a bit of a nightmare. You’ve probably heard of countless horror stories of students completely disappearing overseas, or just slacking off hard during crunch time. It really isn’t too bad, but do be wary that you stick strictly to the criteria and don’t deviate from the questions posed at hand, which is the key factor in dropping marks. Do try find a competent bunch of kids to work with, but make sure you don’t get a bunch of kids that are either crazy obsessed with success, or tooooo lazy.

Don’t try go off on your own tangent and make profound discoveries into OB; you’ll only be setting yourself up for disaster. ‘Stick to the status quo’ (aka. Criteria and question sheet), and you’ll be set for another 70+. It’s very difficult to score a H1 or above for this assignment, so just focus on having a moderately strong assignment (don’t ‘over-dedicate’ time to this assignment, you’ll fall flat on your face like my group), as once again, everything is going to hover around the 65-75 mark.

Onto the exam. I personally disliked the exam format A LOT. There is a big luck factor that comes with studying for the OB exam. You pretty much only get a cross-section of 2 weeks that are examined in detail for the exam. Even though the lecturers stressed on the importance of holistic learning, and putting everything together, having an exam that really only touches on two weeks is poor. Therefore, cramming for this subject actually works wonders. You don’t really need to study till the final weeks of the semester.

Although it’s only supposed to be around 55% percent of your score, excelling in this exam is the ONLY way to get H1. Perfect, concise, and straightforward answers will put you on sail to the H1. Don’t deviate and spiral off into your little world of OB.
For non-commerce students, OB should be an enjoyable breadth to take even if you possess little to no commerce background. I suggest commerce students to take on OB when they are in need of a rather cruisey 3rd/4th subject in second year.

OB is good fun, but don’t let marking be the bitch it can turn out to be. Treat OB well, and it will treat you right.

3 Out of 5

2014, Semester 1

H1

Participation and tutorial marks are worth 10%. It's an easy 8 or 9 out of 10 if you show up to your tutes, answer a few questions here and there, and complete the pre-tute work. The individual assignment is worth 10%. It's a 1000-word essay and due pretty early on in the semester (week 3 from memory). A targeted skill-building workshop is conducted for this first assignment - definitely very helpful. The group assignment is the biggie, it is a key part of OB and worth 30% of the overall mark. It can get more tedious than it needs to be, as a 'team contract' has to be created and presented to your tutor, and things can be tricky when some group members' work isn't up to scratch. Having said this, the group assignment is definitely the most well-coordinated and organised assignment - team evaluations are done throughout the semester and tutors/OLT are more than willing to assist. The group assignment is important for the final exam as well. Final exam is worth 50% and isn't a hurdle. 4 questions on the exam - 1 question is on a 'micro' topic and asks you to draw examples from your group assignment experience, the other 3 questions are on a 'macro' topic and a case study you've looked at during the semester.

Overall, this is a great core unit. The lecturers and coordinators really care about making this a good subject. The link between lectures and tutorials is seamless, and they will outline exactly what will be on the exam very clearly. Tutorials are excellent and well-structured, provided that you have a good tutor. Make sure you have a strong group for the team assignment, otherwise there will be a lot of pressure on the exam. I have found that the marking of assignments can be quite strict, particularly with regards to APA referencing.

Yes, without screen capture. The bad thing about this subject is that the online lecture system is just shocking. You have to download the lecture as an MP3 file and there's no screen capture. Crazy considering this is a compulsory 2nd year unit.

No past exams available. However, the good thing with OB is that closer to the end of sem, the lecturer will tell you what to study for. For example, for this semester, they have told us which topics may be examined. 6 topics definitely will not come up. They also provide a matrix where you can work out possible combinations of case study to macro question.

While they didn't provide actual past exams, they did provide 1 sample exam paper with a guide to writing answers for these sample questions.

4.5 Out of 5

The university-compiled textbook called Organisational Behaviour is definitely worth buying. It compiles various chapters from various textbooks into 1. I bought might secondhand for $50 on textbookexchange.com.au.

1x 2-hour lecture and 1x 1-hour tutorial every week. The first half of the unit covers 'micro' topics while the second half covers 'macro' topics. A lot of case studies, reading and theory for this subject.

Semester 2, 2013.

90 (H1)