Organisational behaviour in the workplace

What you will study

The course is composed of eight units:

Unit 1
The first unit looks at how our word choices are important signals of attitudes and possible behaviours, and provides important clues as to how organisations strategically plan and structure themselves. We'll also consider how digital developments are bringing new challenges for how organisations think about themselves, and how they relate to their customers. To do this, we'll blend some classic organisational behavioural ideas with new insights, using retailer John Lewis as a mini case-study.

Unit 2
In this unit, which partners with unit 1, we'll consider organisational cultures as the counterpart of organisational structures. We will use Schein’s model of cultural variation to consider different ways an organisational culture might be surfaced to provide insight on hidden values and behaviours at work.

Unit 3
During this unit we'll switch our focus outward to consider how organisations behave in relation to the external environments they operate in. We'll consider how they set their boundaries and relate to different stakeholder groups, using examples from fast fashion to explore different options of working with staff and suppliers, and what that means for behavioural responsibilities.

Unit 4
This unit works in partnership with unit 3, where we'll take the opportunity to dive into two popular trends as illustration of the types of environmental changes organisations need to interact with. These are business ethics and digital innovation; we'll use case studies from Volkswagen and breast cancer awareness, alongside implications from big data adoption to help you explore some of the issues at play.

Unit 5
In this unit, we'll change focus from organisations as a whole to study the behaviours of actors and groups of actors inside them, specifically introducing the topic of power relations in the workplace. We will consider the implications of power and power relations at work, briefly considering different perspectives on relative contributions at work.

Unit 6
This unit features a case study of the 2008 banking crisis. It partners with the ideas from unit 5 to allow you to both explore how times of difficulty can provide insights on positive and negative organisational behaviours, and also to consider the ability of businesses to impact wider social environments.

Unit 7
There's a slight change of direction with this unit as we look at how we might relate to some of the impacts made on us by organisations, and other social and political bodies such as governments. We'll use a blend of a classic sociology text combined with recent digital insights to help you explore how we might be nudged or boosted in public life.

Unit 8
Our final unit partners with unit 7 in considering impacts of organisational and governmental decisions and technological enhancements. This time we'll take a future-orientated perspective to look at how decisions are being informed and shaped now, and what that means for us as active citizens.

You will learn

By studying this course, you'll learn how to: 

• explain key terms relating to organisational behaviour
• understand the words we choose to define organisations and their behaviour
• compare internal and external organisational behaviours
• understand what is meant by organisational responsibilities and stakeholder theories
• evaluate the importance of ethical responsibilities for organisations
• explore aspects of power and power relations in the workplace
• explore how times of difficulty can provide insight on organisational behaviours
• consider when organisational behaviours go wrong and the wider social impact
• consider impacts from organisational and societal behaviours
• apply insights on behavioural thinking to the way we are managed
• consider future applications of technology to our human and social behaviours.

Regulations