Social Relations in the Workplace

Classroom: Peabody 204

This course has four objectives: (1) to provide you with information about work and its social-organizational context; (2) to suggest explanations for the degree of meaning, satisfaction, and autonomy people find in their work; to (3) prepare you for the managerial and executive jobs that you will have in your working careers; and (4) to consider the public policy implications of this information. Material will be presented in readings, lectures, classroom exercises, and films. A great deal of material covered in lectures is not in the readings, and so consistent class attendance is very important.

1. For our next class meeting, please bring in a small photo of yourself, using the form attached at the end of the syllabus.

2. Using your word-processor, prepare a resume to turn in on August 20^th. If you would like to be a Human Resources Team Director, please tell me so in a cover letter attached to your résumé. Follow the format of the sample attached at the end of this syllabus.

3. I will use your résumés to pick the HR Team Directors for the teams that will work on group projects throughout the term. The Team Directors will use the résumés to bid for members of their teams. Each Team Director get s a budget of $100,000 which he/she can use to bid for members. The Team Director submits the bids to me, the VP for HR in this organization, and I will match the bids with members. No one will see the bids but me.

1. We start and end class on time
2. Turn off cell phones, pagers, and beepers
3. No baseball caps worn during class
4. Check your email account daily
5. Check the course Web page daily

You can reach me by email at Howard_Aldrich@unc.edu. For simple questions, that is the fastest and quickest way to reach me. For more difficult questions, please come see me during office hours.

You can read more about my research interests on my Home Page, and also read a copy of the course syllabus and assignments:

http://www.unc.edu/~healdric/Home2.html

First, learn how to use Davis library’s resources, including the on-line databases such as CARL and IAC Infotrac. Second, learn how to use reference databases in the library, such as Lexus/Nexus. Third, learn how to use the Web and especially lea rn how to use one of the Web search engines, such as Excite, Yahoo, or Altavista. If you don’t have an email address, you should get one immediately. All you have to do is go to a computer lab and sign on.

Assignments that are NOT listed in this syllabus will be posted on the Course Web Page. You should get into the habit of checking the Web Page every day.

I have office hours on Monday and Wednesday, from 1:30 to 2:40. If you can't make these hours, please let me know and we'll arrange another time. To make the best use of our time, you should come prepared with some fairly specific questions. E.g., you might have a question about a reading you don't understand, a concept we've covered in class, or something you've heard on the ABC Nightly News. I can't be of much help if you tell me "I don't understand what's going on"! Be specific about ho w I can help you. You don't have to have a problem to come to office hours -- you may just want to chat about something, and that's OK, too.

If you have a fairly simple question, you may want to see me before or after class. I try to be in the classroom at least 10 minutes before class starts, and so you can talk to me then. You can also walk back to my office with me, after class.

Barbara Garson, The Electronic Sweatshop

Coursepak from Copytron (abbreviated as CP in this syllabus)

At least two copies of all readings are on reserve in the undergraduate library. A Coursepak from 1996 contains most of the readings, and one copy of this year’s Coursepak is also on reserve. A few readings are also on electronic reserve. I strongly suggest you buy the Coursepak, if you can.

The assigned readings are preceded by a date -- you should read the material by the date indicated, as classroom discussions/lectures and quizzes are based on the assumption you've done the readings.

There are three (3) examinations: September 24^th, November 5^th, and a final exam on December 10^th at 8 am. Please make your travels plans with these dates in mind. The exam dates cannot be changed.

A sample exam is on the Course Web Page.

All exams will include short essay and multiple choice test questions. You may bring one 3 by 5" index card to the exam. You may write/type anything you wish on the card, but you may not use photocopied or reduced-print text.

We will have a short in-class written assignment every day. Sometimes it will be at the beginning of class, sometimes at the end, and sometimes in the middle.

In 12 randomly chosen class meetings, the written assignment will be a short question on the day's assigned readings. We will call these "quizzes" to distinguish them from the other written assignments. Each quiz is worth a point. The criterion for grading the quiz is simply whether your answer indicates you HAVE done the day's reading.

Your grade for the quizzes is based on the top 10 scores you earn, for a total of up to 10 points. There are NO "excused absences" for pop quizzes. You don't have to come up with "excuses" for me as to why you missed a class. Remember, we onl y meet 26 times, not counting exams, and so every class is almost four percent of our total in-class time together!

The University Honor Code will be in effect through all exams, pop quizzes, and written assignments. Please read carefully the provisions of the Honor Code, make certain you understand and adhere to them, and ask me to clarify any questions yo u have regarding the Code. The Code is a long and valuable tradition at UNC -- protect it!

After meeting in your teams during the regularly scheduled class period on September 3rd and discussing the readings and videos from the first two weeks of class, you should write a two-page answer to the following question:

Explain yourself. The paper is due on September 8^th. It should be typed and doubled-spaced, and fill just about all of two pages. A 3^rd page should list all the articles found by the team. Each person in a team should write his/her own paper.

Choose a job and, based on observations of a worker in that job as well as an interview with the worker, write an eight-page paper. The theme of the paper is the autonomy and control, meaning, and satisfaction of persons in the job, compared t o other jobs we will read about this semester. You should identify the organizational sources of the autonomy and control, meaning, and satisfaction you observe/learn about. See the separate handout describing the paper.

We will form four-person teams that will cooperate together, throughout the semester, on in-class exercises and the term project. Meeting in teams and discussing your projects will give you ideas about your own paper, and give you an opportunity to co ntribute to your classmate's projects.

Your peers in previous classes have set a very high standard of excellence for these papers. Papers by former students are included in your Coursepak (CP 1 through 10). We will be reading them for class assignments during the semester, so you will ha ve a better idea of what is possible in these papers. It might also be a good idea to skim over all of them early in the term, before starting on your own project.

August 27^th -- Turn in a list of jobs you are considering studying, with some indication of what kind of access you have to a person in that job. You should have at least two possibilities. I wi ll return the list to you, giving suggestions on which job seems most feasible to me.

October 6^th -- Meet in teams this week to discuss the jobs you have chosen to study..

October 22^nd -- Turn in at least two pages, describing what the person you observed/interviewed told you about his/her job, and indicating how you are considering interpreting what you have learned ab out the job.

November 12^th -- Meet in teams this week to compare and contrast results from your field work, and to exchange ideas about writing up your results.

Anytime during the semester before November 12^th -- Turn in, if you wish, an outline of your proposed paper, showing which jobs you will compare your observed job to, and what factors you identify as the key to understanding the job. My TA and I will give you feedback on this outline, but ONLY if you do this before November 12^th .

I do not grade on a curve. I use a scale with 10 point intervals, modified occasionally to correct for tests/assignments that are too difficult (or too easy). At the end of the term, you will receive a letter grade, based on the following per formance levels:

A = 90-100

B = 80-89

C = 70-79

D = 60-69

F = BELOW 60

Your final grade is computed as follows:

Exam 1 18%

Exam 2 21%

Final Exam 24%

Team Work. 2%

Daily Quizzes 10%

September 8^th Paper 5%

Term Paper 20%

100%

No "extra credit" work is given. I do not grant extensions or give makeup tests except in what I consider very extreme circumstances.

If you know you'll be out of town and have to miss a class, please let me know ahead of time. Also, if a family emergency comes up, please let my TA or me know.

In this class, we'll practice several aspects of the "new" management for the 1990s: Kaizen (continuous improvement) and cooperative learning. Kaizen will be facilitated by pop quizzes, ungraded assignments, exercises, and in-cl ass minute papers. Cooperative learning will be facilitated by group work in class and study groups.

For every hour that we spend in class, I recommend you set aside two hours for careful reading of the texts, preparation for each class session, and reviewing your notes. I recommend that you do the reading as soon as you can before the day it is assi gned, and then skim it once more before class. You will find class discussions much more meaningful if you spend some time before class, writing out two or three questions that the readings address or several statements that present "leading ideas" in th e reading.

When doing the readings in our textbook, Hodson and Sullivan, be sure to read and tentatively answer the review questions that have put at the end of chapter. See if you can define the concepts they have listed at the end of the chapter.

If you find an article in a current newspaper or magazine that is relevant to this course, please bring it to my attention -- clip the article and bring it in, or give me the reference. Some of the best material in the Coursepak was gathered in this w ay.

During class, we will be practicing important concepts and skills in small work groups of four to six students. This strategy is known as cooperative learning and is designed to increase your mastery of the course content. You will be expected to act ively participate in an effort to ensure your own and your teammates' understanding of the ideas presented in class. We need your commitment to demonstrate a willingness to contribute ideas, to listen to others, and to be a constructive force in the lear ning process.

Video: Two Factories

· Heidi Burris, "A Baker’s Delight." CP 2.

Video: NUMMI

TERM WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT: TURN IN LIST OF JOBS