Before you start! Keeping up is the name of the game in distance learning. Approaching your study in a structured way helps you keep up. The structure of the assignments below is Professor O’Hara’s best judgment of how to sequence your readings and assignments to minimize wasted motion and maximize your learning. The goal of all we do here is to have each student build a mastery of organization theory week by week so that (1) “term” assignments [your paper & presentation] and (2) exams are easier, rather than harder, because everyone is prepared.
Whatever you do, don’t fall behind. The two main books in this course require your attentive, careful and patient reading. Do this, and you should be a able to make links between your experience at work and/or your study in previous classes. Speed through your readings and your efforts will do little to increase your knowledge, let alone your test and paper scores. Shortchanging yourself, moreover, means shortchanging your fellow students who are depending on your contributions to help them make better sense of organization theory.
About linked or referenced articles, stories and videos: Journal articles, as well as media articles, are assigned for one or more of the following reasons. One reason is to connect the student to primary sources about the concept, theory or framework being discussed by your text (never fully trust textbook authors—they can’t possibly be totally on top of all they write about so its good to be able to go directly to their “sources”). A second reason is to connect to articles and/or news stories that make more real the ideas being discussed by the text--theories about social structures and relationships that can be illuminated by reference to actual events not only make more sense to us, we are also more likely to use those theories. The videos are a light, but serious, attempt by your Professor to amplify concepts in the texts, often in the context of John Jay College. These videos are not always of the best quality since Professor O’Hara, as both an actor and a technician, is learning as he goes along. Bear with him and focus on the message amidst any blurriness and static.
About the work you will do: On-line courses are demanding. You will write EVERY WEEK. Because our class dialogue is in cyberspace, it must be in written form. Because this dialogue helps all of us learn, what every class participant produces in Forums, Chat classes, and Group Chats is a public service visible to us all. Your peers, as well as your instructor, are counting on your contributions to be thoughtful and thoroughly responsive to issues raised in the course of this class.
The promptness of your submissions is crucial to our overall learning and to any one student’s grade in the class. Deadlines for submissions are serious matters—neither the instructor nor your fellow students will benefit if your major contribution to any discussion forum comes after the rest of us have moved on. Accordingly, missing any assignment deadline carries with it an irrevocable penalty of at least a full grade, (e.g., A to B or, in numerical terms, ten points). Furthermore, discussion forums will each “close” on a day certain—generally two to three weeks after the assignment is due, after which no submissions can be made, resulting in a zero assignment grade for students who have failed to post to the forum.
About the Daft Text: Daft is your primer for organization theory. Organization theory contains ideas, concepts, frameworks and prescriptions that allow us to better manage (and better manage ourselves in) organizations. Daft covers most of the territory of organization theory, doing a good job on presenting the important ideas and then illustrating those ideas with mostly private sector examples. This latter emphasis is less than perfect for our public sector purposes but don’t let that stop you from getting as good a handle as possible on what Daft presents. Whether the discussion is of strategy, or communications or culture, the ideas this book presents should be understood by any one who expects to operate effectively in, and rise up through today’s organizations, whether they be public or private.
Because specific ideas that Daft presents are so important, each chapter is covered by a “prep quiz,” which you can access and complete in this on-line course environment. These quizzes contribute positively to your course grade when completed correctly in a timely manner, negatively when not. You may take these quizzes again and again until all answers are correct, since the point is that you be ready for our Forum discussions by understanding Daft’s key points in any given chapter.
About
the Wilson Book: Wilson’s approach to public organizations is
descriptive and analytical—“What government agencies do and why they do
it.” Students in past classes who work
for government have found that Wilson is “on the money.” Students in the class who have yet to work
for government have much to gain from a careful reading of Wilson, and from
grappling with the essay questions and exercises associated with sections of
Wilson’s book. Wilson will be the focus of several class activities, including
“chat classes.” When discussion forums
focus on Wilson, I would ask those in the class who currently work for
government or non-profits focus on assessing the degree to which what Wilson
writes corresponds to the reality of your workplace. These contributions will help all of us better understand how
government agencies work. During weeks
when both Daft and Wilson chapters are assigned, the “Daft” quizzes will also
have some “Wilson” items.
Approaching
your assignments:
Schedule
of Activities:
(NOTE: Every due date here is the LAST DAY for assignment
submissions, and lateness carries a substantial penalty. You are responsible for missed deadlines so
allow yourself time to complete what is required. Also note that the wording “no later than” does not preclude
“much earlier than.” If an assignment
is up you may go ahead and do it, but don’t get so far ahead that, when we get
around to discussing the subject in a chat class or in replies to what you
posted, you forget what you read.)
Week Two: The
activities for this week must be completed and initial posts made to the
appropriate Discussion Forum no later than February 8, 2003
Show up in the virtual classroom for the first of our bi-weekly meetings. The agenda for our discussion will be TEST/DISCUSSION SETS A & B
Week Four: The
activities for this week must be completed and initial posts made to the
appropriate Discussion Forum no later than February 22, 2003
Show up in the virtual classroom for the second of our bi-weekly meetings. The agenda for our discussion will be TEST/DISCUSSION SETS C & D
Week Six: The
activities for this week must be completed and initial posts made to the
appropriate Discussion Forum no later than March 8, 2003
Show up in the virtual classroom for our bi-weekly meeting. The agenda for our discussion will be TEST/DISCUSSION SETS E & F
Week Eight:
The activities for this week must be completed and initial posts made to
the appropriate Discussion Forum no later than March 22, 2003
Show up in the virtual classroom for our bi-weekly meeting. The agenda for our discussion will be TEST/DISCUSSION SETS G & H
Week Ten: The
activities for this week must be completed and initial posts made to the
appropriate Discussion Forum no later than April 5, 2003
Show up in the virtual classroom for our bi-weekly meeting. The agenda for our discussion will be TEST/DISCUSSION SETS I & J
Submit your PowerPoint presentations through the Discussion Forum established for that purpose. You may send drafts of your PowerPoint to Professor O’Hara two weeks before (by March 29th) this submission date in order to get feedback prior to the public posting of your PowerPoint presentation. Drafts received after March 29th may not be reviewed before a public posting is required.
April 16 to April 24th::
Easter/ Passover Holiday
April 24th to April 30th: Examination Period
(See Exam Discussion Forum)
By May 3rd: Make a contribution to the Complexity of
Organization Theory Forum, after reading the article assigned in that Forum.
May 4th: Final Chat Class
May 12th: Term Paper Due