Teaching and Practice Materials
Course Syllabi
Courses at the University of Michigan
Human Behavior and Organizations: Managing for Excellence in Work Organizations – Jane Dutton
University of Michigan, MO/OBHRM 501 Syllabus.
Jane Dutton taught this course on how to create, foster, and manage organizations in which people thrive and perform at their best, assuming that employee and group thriving is the key to organizational excellence.
Please note: This syllabus and its related teaching notes are Microsoft Word documents. Upon clicking the link, you may be presented with a dialog box asking whether you would like to open the file directly in your web browser or save the file to your hard drive. For best results, we recommend that you save the file to your hard drive before viewing it.
Human Behavior and Organizations: Managing for Excellence in Work Organizations - Wayne Baker
University of Michigan, MO/OBHRM 501 Syllabus.
Wayne Baker taught this course on how to create, foster and manage organizations in which people thrive and perform at their best.
Managing Change – Gretchen Spreitzer
University of Michigan, MO 314 Syllabus.
Gretchen Spreitzer taught this undergrad elective on managing change to a mix of students from the Ross School of Business and from other disciplines around the University of Michigan. The course covers individual change, organizational change, and change skills. In addition to the syllabus, in-depth teaching notes are provided on several of the topics that have a distinct POS flavor to them. Please share any reactions you have to the materials.
Please note: This syllabus and its related teaching notes are Microsoft Word documents. Upon clicking the link, you may be presented with a dialog box asking whether you would like to open the file directly in your web browser or save the file to your hard drive. For best results, we recommend that you save the file to your hard drive before viewing it.
Managing Professional Relationships – Jane Dutton
University of Michigan, MO 615 Syllabus.
Jane Dutton taught this course on managing professional relationships from a POS perspective. The course syllabus has embedded teaching notes in it for most classes. Click on each class number to access the teaching notes.
Positive Organizational Scholarship and Positive Psychology: New Frontiers in the Study of Human Flourishing at Work – Jane Dutton and Barb Fredrickson
University of Michigan, cross-listed PSYCH 808.006 and MO899 Syllabus.Jane Dutton and Barbara Fredrickson co-taught a doctoral course on Positive Organizing and Human Flourishing.
Courses at other Universities
Empowerment, Self-management and Alternative Approaches to Leadership
University of Nebraska at Omaha and Agder University College in Norway, ORG 420 Syllabus.
The aim of this course is to enrich the students' perspectives about the relationship between leaders and followers in organizations. While most approaches depict managers as the crucial actors, the perspectives included in this course emphasize the role of the subordinates.
Leadership and Literature - Karen Norum
Gonzaga University, DPLS 758 Syllabus.
Karen Norum taught Leadership and Literature with a theme of Hope and Affirmation. Positive leadership was examined through different kinds of literature (poetry, biography, historical fiction, wisdom stories, etc...)
Gonzaga University Doctoral Program in Leadership Studies
Managing Organizational Change – Karen Golden-Biddle
University of Alberta, OA 633 Syllabus.
Karen Golden-Biddle taught this MBA elective course on "Managing Organizational Change." It has a natural focus on POS through both its content (everyday leading, enacting high quality connections, crafting positive organizing practices, drawing on and changing cultural competences) and its pedagogy of building the learning community's capacity for navigating the dynamics of change.
Organizational Change & Appreciative Inquiry – Karen Norum
Gonzaga University, DPLS 742 Syllabus.
Karen Norum taught Organizational Change and Appreciative Inquiry, which looks at the emerging field of Positive Organizational Scholarship and specifically, Appreciative Inquiry. A highlight of the class is the sharing of the best-self portraits produced during the Reflected Best Self Exercise.
Organizational Resilience – Steven F. Freeman
University of Pennsylvania, DYNM 672 Syllabus.
This course on Organizational Resilience is part of a concentration of courses leading to a Organizational Dynamics Master of Science degree for working professionals.
University of Pennsylvania Organizational Dynamics program
Positive Organizational Analysis and Development: An Appreciative Inquiry Approach to Change Leadership – David Cooperrider
Case Western Reserve University, ORBH 444 Syllabus.
David Cooperrider taught this course on Positive Organizational Analysis and Development to Executive MBAs.
Slides. [2 MB File Size | High-speed Internet Connection Recommended]
Research in Organizational Behavior – Belle Rose Ragins
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, BUSADMIN 996 Syllabus.
Belle Ragins taught this doctoral course in micro-organizational behavior. Belle covers a range of the core OB topics, and integrates POS-related articles where possible.
Selected Issues in Organization Theory – Abraham Carmeli
Bar-Ilan University Graduate School of Business Administration, 70-741-01 Syllabus.
Abraham Carmeli taught this course on positivity in organizational life to MBA students.
