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Article
What Do We Teach in Organizational Behavior? An Analysis of MBA Syllabi
Journal of Management Education (2013)
  • Kenneth G. Brown, University of Iowa
  • Steven D. Charlier, Georgia Southern University
  • Sara L. Rynes, Cornell University
  • Andrew Hosmanek, University of Iowa
Abstract
This study examines the syllabi of 241 required organizational behavior (OB) related classes in full-time U.S. MBA programs. Syllabi were coded for information about course title, topics, readings, cases, teaching methods, and learning assessment methods. Results revealed that the most frequent topics listed across courses are leadership and groups or teams. There was considerable diversity in assigned books, readings, and cases, with only a small number of books (2), readings (15), or cases (5) assigned in 10 or more courses within our sample. Assessment of student learning was conducted via (in order of importance for final student grades) testing, individual writing, class participation, group writing, group presentation, and individual presentation. Private, ranked MBA programs were more likely to offer more than one OB-related course, usually management plus leadership, or OB plus leadership. Implications of these findings for OB teaching are discussed, along with suggestions for future research.
Keywords
  • Field of OB,
  • Organizational behavior,
  • MBA programs,
  • Cases,
  • Readings,
  • Grading
Disciplines
Publication Date
April 12, 2013
DOI
10.1177/1052562913486469
Citation Information
Kenneth G. Brown, Steven D. Charlier, Sara L. Rynes and Andrew Hosmanek. "What Do We Teach in Organizational Behavior? An Analysis of MBA Syllabi" Journal of Management Education Vol. 37 Iss. 4 (2013) p. 447 - 471 ISSN: 1052-5629
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/steven-charlier/7/