Mt302 Organizational Behavior

Final Project

Brian O’Malley

Kaplan University

MT302 Organizational Behavior

11/23/10

Unit Nine: Final Project

“Managers get things done through other people. They make decisions, allocate resources, and direct the activities of others to attain goals.”(Robbins and Judge. 2007. P. 4) Managers are responsible for organizing, leading, controlling and planning they also require many skill and have many roles to play such as Informational Roles, Decisional Roles, technical skills, human skills and conceptual skills. Being able to master all of these roles and skills is a tall task for even the most skilled manager. Understanding the behavior of the organization where one is managing is very important. Different organizations have different functions and require managers to be skilled in different areas. A manager of an assembly production line that produces pens would need strong technical skills while a manager of a summer camp would need strong human skills. Knowing the objectives and goals of the organization helps you understand the skill sets needed to be effective and successful.

I work for Kaplan University as an Admissions Advisor for almost four years and have been amazed at the organizational structure and behavior from the very first day. The training was intense, detailed and thorough and lasted two full weeks. After the first day, I knew the company was different from any I had worked for before, primarily in the way they treated their employees. Many companies pay training wages at a much lower rate than when an employee hits the floor, this was not true for Kaplan. Another key differentiator was that many companies wait until after ninety days before you can get insurance. With Kaplan, we were insured from the very first day. This set the tone that we as employees were respected and valued as individuals. Throughout the 2-week training period that consisted of readings, role-playing, quizzes, and audio video presentations and games it was...