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Organizational Behavior
Concentration Information

Sep 20, 2012 Apply Online Read Cammi Cardon's Blog about her internship at AT&T UC Davis MBA Curriculum

Organizational Behavior is the study and application of knowledge about how people, individuals, and groups act in organizations.  The Organizational Behavior concentration prepares students for a broad range of industries and roles by providing the leadership and management competencies required to progress from mid-level positions in organizations to higher-level positions with increasing managerial responsibility.It complements more technical concentrations in business analytics, finance and marketing by providing a broader managerial decision-making context to apply and integrate specific tools and techniques.

Possible Career Paths

  • Consulting
  • Strategic Planning
  • General Management

Suggested and Related Courses

Elective

215 Business Law

Dec 20, 2011 UC Davis MBA Course List Steven J. Green

Covers the study of the legal environment of business. Subject matter includes an introduction to the American legal system, legal reasoning, contracts, agency, business organizations, and government regulation. Provides students with a basic understanding of the significant legal issues that confront managers and executives.

Elective

223 Power and Influence in Management

Jun 24, 2011 Donald A. Palmer

Most social scientists define power as “the capacity to get what you want over the resistance of others” and influence as “the translation of power into action.” Power and Influence in Management examines the bases of subunit and individual power in organizations, and the means by which subunit and individual power is translated into influence. The course assumes that leaders sometimes must acquire power to be effective, but recognizes that leaders do not always use power in the interests of the organization.

Elective

224 Managing People in Modern Organizations

Jun 24, 2011 Greta Hsu

Modern systems for managing people. Examination of the changing workforce and workplace, emphasizing high-technology and knowledge-intensive organizations. The impact of firms’ environment (competition, product market, regulations) on choices for managing people. The consequences of these choices for firms and managers.

Elective

246 Negotiation in Organizations

Sep 20, 2012

This course is designed to help students develop the ability to effectively negotiate in a competitive business environment. It focuses on negotiation skill-building in the areas of individual conflict management, team management, performance appraisal, corporate impression management and inter-organizational project management.The course will be taught largely through in-class simulations to provide an opportunity for experiential learning.The simulations will also allow students to develop a personal style of negotiation by discovering what works best for them in different situations.

Elective

251 Management of Innovation

Sep 18, 2012 UC Davis MBA Course List Andrew B. Hargadon

This course focuses on the management of technology-based innovation. Topics include the impact of new technologies on industries, dominant designs, incremental and transformative innovations, and the life-cycle of products. The course will examine the organization of highly innovative firms, and the relationship of core competencies to both innovation and rigidity. Cases and field studies are used to address the relationship of innovation to management practices such as leadership, competitive strategic planning and teamwork. Students perform an innovation audit of an area firm.

Elective

267 Teams and Technology

Jun 24, 2011 Beth Bechky

This course teaches the theory and processes of group and team behavior so that you can successfully manage groups and work effectively in a variety of group settings. The first goal of the course is to provide conceptual guidelines for analyzing and diagnosing group dynamics and determining one’s strategic options as a manager. The second goal is to understand how technological change affects team processes in organizations. Finally, this course will impart practical interpersonal skills for implementing effective strategies for group situations.

Elective

268 Articulation and Critical Thinking

Sep 18, 2012 UC Davis MBA Course List

Develop competency in business writing and oral presentations. Build critical thinking skills. Topics include behavioral economics, false claims, deductive and inductive reasoning, correlation/causality, business ethics.Formerly titled “Management Communications”. Course name/description change under review by Academic Senate.

Elective

291 Leadership

Jun 24, 2011 UC Davis MBA Course List

This course will focus on effective strategies for leading and managing companies. CEOs and business leaders are scheduled to speak in class and share their experiences in leadership. The course will include strategies and tools applicable for managers at all organizational levels.

Core Course

268 Articulation and Critical Thinking

Jun 24, 2011 UC Davis MBA Course List Colin Biggs Mitchell Friedman

Develop competency in business writing and oral presentations. Build critical thinking skills. Topics include behavioral economics, false claims, deductive reasoning, correlation/causality, business ethics.

Elective

290 Robert A. Fox Executive-in-Residence

Jun 24, 2011 UC Davis MBA Course List

Course description varies with instructor

About the Robert A. Fox Executive-in-Residence Program:

Elective

291 Leadership

Jun 24, 2011 UC Davis MBA Course List

This course will focus on effective strategies for leading and managing companies. CEOs and business leaders are scheduled to speak in class and share their experiences in leadership. The course will include strategies and tools applicable for managers at all organizational levels.

Elective

291 Topics in Social Entrepreneurship

Sep 20, 2012 UC Davis MBA Course List

Social entrepreneurship is a rapidly developing and changing business field in which business and nonprofit leaders design, grow, and lead mission-driven enterprises. As the traditional lines blur between nonprofit enterprises, government, and business, it is critical that business students understand the opportunities and challenges in this new landscape. Through guest speakers, case discussion, lecture, and student presentations this course will explore this emerging field. Students will be expected to develop a business plan for a social enterprise.

Elective

297 International Study Trip

Dec 20, 2011 UC Davis MBA Course List L. Wilton Agatstein

This course is led by students under a faculty’s supervision. Participating students select a country to study, identify industry sectors to explore, and establish contacts with business executives in various companies to meet during the field trip. The field trip takes place between the winter and spring quarters for Day MBA and September for Working Professional MBA. The class meets every other week to facilitate the learning about international trade, country profiles, industry sectors, and business practices based on student-driven secondary research and presentations.

Elective

291 The Causes of Organizational Wrongdoing

Sep 20, 2012

“The Causes of Organizational Wrongdoing” is motivated by the implicit contradiction between two personal observations. My experience suggests that the overwhelming majority of managers (and management students) aspire to manage in ethical, socially responsible, and law-abiding ways and embrace socially acceptable ideas about the difference between right and wrong. But media reports and academic studies suggest that unethical, socially irresponsible, and illegal behavior is common in organizations.

Elective

290 Corporate Social Responsibility

Sep 20, 2012

The goal in 290 will be to develop a thought process and approach to CSR that students will be able to build on during their post-school leadership roles, whether as corporate executives, entrepreneurs, or NGO leaders. The class will expose students to a broad set of CSR issues in the context of cross-functional business challenges, and then focus on the analysis and critical decisions that managers must make to move their business and their social agenda forward.

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