Organizational Studies 148: The Nature of Work
Fall Semester, 2009

Meeting Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:15 to 2:30 pm		Room: Avery Hall, Room 224
Professor: Jeff Lewis	Office: Fletcher 214 Phone: 607-3069
E-Mail: jeff_lewis@pitzer.edu	Web page: http://www.pitzer.edu/~jlewis
Office hours: Tuesday at 11:00 am and Thursdays at 3:00 pm, or by appointment
Texts: Assorted readings available on the course Sakai website ( http://sakai.claremont.edu ) Wharton, Amy S. (2006). Working in America. San Francisco, CA: McGraw-Hill. Caproni, Paula J. (2005). Management Skills for Every Day Life: The Practical Coach (2^nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Goals of the Course: This course explores psychological and societal issues related to the changing nature of work along with your individual place in the working world. With a primary focus on the human side of organizational life, we will examine how social expectations, multicultural and intercultural relations, and changes in technology shape present and future understanding of work in our contemporary world. In addition, you will be asked to complete individual assessments and explorations to further your understanding and perspective on these topics.

Insights into the workings of organizations can be gained through an examination of the human side of these entities, and these aspects are often realized via the formal and informal practices within a given organizational context. This course is designed as an exploration of the work context and how through individual exploration we can answer questions related to ourselves and work. We will examine the changing nature of work, learn about our own skills, abilities and interests, explore various conceptions of what work entails, and investigate how organizational practices can impact the lives of its members. This course is also designed to prepare students for the internships, assist in career planning, and it should be taken after completing ORST/PSYC135 and ORST100.

Course Requirements
Self Assessment and Analysis Projects (60% of the course grade) - Your work in this class will center upon independent projects (e.g., reflection, in-class exercises, short reviews and interviews) that will form a collection of materials related directly to the topics addressed during the semester. Each week you may be asked to discover or review an article (from a popular or academic source such as a newspaper, magazine or journal) relating to the current topic under discussion and prepare to present a summary and your impressions to the class. In addition, you will be asked to work on cases, exercises or topic presentations related to course material. At the end of the class, you will be asked to turn in your work and an overall reflection of what you have discovered. A more detailed description of this assignment will be distributed separately

Topic presentations (25%) - You will be asked to organize the class discussion for one of the weeks during the semester. You will be expected to lead class discussion, present important points from the reading, and design a project or present an exercise that illustrates important aspects of the week's topic.

Class participation (15%) – Each week you are expected to contribute your thoughts and analysis of the readings and to complete any weekly assignment. While your journal will be the place for a written collection of your work, it is important to interact and support your fellow classmates as we construct our learning environment.
Schedule of Lectures and Readings

Dates and Topic	Readings and assignments
September 1^st & 3^rd: What is work?	Wharton readings 1-3 and Barley & Kunda (2001)
September 8^th & 10^th: What is success?	Career Services visit and Caproni Ch. 1
September 15^th & 17^th: Developing self awareness	Caproni Ch. 2, self-assessment project and end of chapter exercises
September 22^nd & 24^th: The changing work environment	Wharton readings 9 & 10 and Black & Lynch (2004)
Sept. 29^th & Oct. 1^st: Inequality in the workplace	Wharton readings 15-17
October 6^th & 8^th: Trust and Effective Communication	Caproni Chs. 3& 4
October 13^th & 15^th: Jobs and careers as vanishing concepts	Templer & Cawsey (1999)
Fall Break – October 20^th through October 23^rd (no class on October 23^rd)
October 22^nd: Careers (continued)	Sullivan (1999)
October 27^th & 29^th:Politics and ethics	Wharton reading 22, Caproni Ch. 5 and Ferris et al. (2000)
Nov. 3^rd & 5^th: Managing Relationships	Wharton readings 31, 35, & 37, Caproni Ch. 6 and Randall (1987)
November 10^th & 12^th: Managing diversity	Wharton readings 19, 20, & 32 and Caproni Ch. 7
November 17^th & 19^th: High performance teams and organizations	Wharton readings 11-14, Caproni Ch. 8 and Lawler (2005)
November 24^th: Wellness	Wharton readings 30, 41, & 42, and Sparks et al (2001)
Thanksgiving Break November 26^th – 29^th (no class November 26^th)
December 1^st & 3^rd: Managing teams and distances	Wharton reading 43 and Caproni Ch. 9
December 8^th & 10^th: Wrap-up	Caproni Ch. 10