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Good afternoon,

I write to ask your advice and thoughts.  I have been invited to teach the 3 credit course (described below) at our local community college on Saturdays (six hours).  It has been described as a first college class for those who aspire to be leaders in a manufacturing setting.   While I have taught classes with similar content to seniors and to MBA students, teaching it to beginners makes this a first for me.     

Organizational Behavior and Management

Introduces the major elements of managerial and supervisory functions in business organizations and studies the dynamics of human behavior that affect their success. Topics include motivation, leadership, job and organizational design as well as the managerial functions of business planning, staffing, compliance, finance, compensation, and training. Examines the

history of management science and explores such contemporary concepts as employee involvement, cultural diversity, and globalization.

My goal is to have this course be a very worthwhile learning experience for students as well as engagingly interesting.   Your thoughts and ideas will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Best,

Cecile

Cecile G. Betit Ph.D.

www.cecilegbetit.org

Pure Water for the World provides clean water to families in Haiti and Honduras. Visit  www.purewaterfortheworld.org.

See Senator Bernie Sanders' new legislation supporting employee-ownership http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sanders-unveils-employee-ownership-legislation

See "A Better Way to Save Jobs: Employee Stock Ownership Plans"  http://www.governing.com/gov-institute/funkhouser/gov-a-better-way-to-save-jobs.html  Article states that only Vermont and Ohio have programs supporting conversion to employee ownership.

Dear Cecile,

I write with two general suggestions.

First, I find that scalable activities work best at all levels.  By "scalable," I mean activities that could be used to present multiple layers of complexity such that I can always move on to a more advanced or challenging one should the class easily grasp or solve the initial simpler ones. At present, I only have a few that I have developed, but hope to find and develop more.  If you'd like to exchange notes off list, please let me know.

Second, I would recommend also sending your note to the organizational behavior teaching society's listserv (obts-l@obts.org).  Though there is certainly overlap in membership between the two email lists, I find that this list is more research-oriented whereas the OBTS is almost exclusively dedicated to teaching.

Best wishes with the course it sounds a like a great opportunity.

Jason

Jason R. Pierce

Assistant Professor

Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez

jason.pierce@uai.cl

Good afternoon,

I write to ask your advice and thoughts.  I have been invited to teach the 3 credit course (described below) at our local community college on Saturdays (six hours).  It has been described as a first college class for those who aspire to be leaders in a manufacturing setting.   While I have taught classes with similar content to seniors and to MBA students, teaching it to beginners makes this a first for me.     

Organizational Behavior and Management

Introduces the major elements of managerial and supervisory functions in business organizations and studies the dynamics of human behavior that affect their success. Topics include motivation, leadership, job and organizational design as well as the managerial functions of business planning, staffing, compliance, finance, compensation, and training. Examines the

history of management science and explores such contemporary concepts as employee involvement, cultural diversity, and globalization.

My goal is to have this course be a very worthwhile learning experience for students as well as engagingly interesting.   Your thoughts and ideas will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Best,

Cecile

Cecile G. Betit Ph.D.

www.cecilegbetit.org

Pure Water for the World provides clean water to families in Haiti and Honduras. Visit  www.purewaterfortheworld.org.

See Senator Bernie Sanders' new legislation supporting employee-ownership http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sanders-unveils-employee-ownership-legislation

See "A Better Way to Save Jobs: Employee Stock Ownership Plans"  http://www.governing.com/gov-institute/funkhouser/gov-a-better-way-to-save-jobs.html  Article states that only Vermont and Ohio have programs supporting conversion to employee ownership.

Thank you so much Jason for the idea of submitting the request to the OBTS list and scalable activities.

I wonder if I am the only one on the list who doesn't know much about scalable activities.  As I read your post, the idea seems a wonderful teaching tool.   I would appreciate more information on or off the list.

I am grateful for your response.

Best,

Cecile

Dear Cecile,

I write with two general suggestions.

First, I find that scalable activities work best at all levels.  By "scalable," I mean activities that could be used to present multiple layers of complexity such that I can always move on to a more advanced or challenging one should the class easily grasp or solve the initial simpler ones. At present, I only have a few that I have developed, but hope to find and develop more.  If you'd like to exchange notes off list, please let me know.

Second, I would recommend also sending your note to the organizational behavior teaching society's listserv (obts-l@obts.org).  Though there is certainly overlap in membership between the two email lists, I find that this list is more research-oriented whereas the OBTS is almost exclusively dedicated to teaching.

Best wishes with the course it sounds a like a great opportunity.

Jason

Jason R. Pierce

Assistant Professor

Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez

jason.pierce@uai.cl

Good afternoon,

I write to ask your advice and thoughts.  I have been invited to teach the 3 credit course (described below) at our local community college on Saturdays (six hours).  It has been described as a first college class for those who aspire to be leaders in a manufacturing setting.   While I have taught classes with similar content to seniors and to MBA students, teaching it to beginners makes this a first for me.     

Organizational Behavior and Management

Introduces the major elements of managerial and supervisory functions in business organizations and studies the dynamics of human behavior that affect their success. Topics include motivation, leadership, job and organizational design as well as the managerial functions of business planning, staffing, compliance, finance, compensation, and training. Examines the

history of management science and explores such contemporary concepts as employee involvement, cultural diversity, and globalization.

My goal is to have this course be a very worthwhile learning experience for students as well as engagingly interesting.   Your thoughts and ideas will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

Best,

Cecile

Cecile G. Betit Ph.D.

www.cecilegbetit.org

Pure Water for the World provides clean water to families in Haiti and Honduras. Visit  www.purewaterfortheworld.org.

See Senator Bernie Sanders' new legislation supporting employee-ownership http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sanders-unveils-employee-ownership-legislation

See "A Better Way to Save Jobs: Employee Stock Ownership Plans"  http://www.governing.com/gov-institute/funkhouser/gov-a-better-way-to-save-jobs.html  Article states that only Vermont and Ohio have programs supporting conversion to employee ownership.

Friends,

Scalable activities is similar to what is done in many elementary schools in the U.S., and some other parts of the world. I believe that Alverno College in Milwaukee relies very heavily on scalable activities or a system that looks pretty much like it!  In theory, it is what we should be dong in many areas in Business! The student should master the basic notions of management, before she goes up in scale to learn about other aspects!

Thanks,

Ivan