Organisational Behaviour Essay

Being critical is not about merely making black and white decisions. It means using your judgement on matters that are different shades of grey. This implies that criteria need to be used in ascertaining what it is you want to say about whatever it is that is being adjudicated upon. Assignment 1 is a critical analysis of a concept and various aspects of it in the context of individual behaviour. Analysis is breaking down the concept, like motivation, attitudes, or job satisfaction –any one of the seven mentioned in the course outline under weeks 2-5 will do. In language lab today, Week 2, we searched internet and library for references (textbooks and journals). As a guide, in an assignment at this level I would expect to see as a minimum between 10-15 references, with about 25-30% being texts and the remainder references to journal articles). When a reference is found that may be important or useful then take a note of this, say, in a list using word. Next, take notes of any reaction (agreement and/or disagreement and why) to what these authorities are saying. After that, write a rough content outline. Following on from this reflect on the structure of the essay. Below is a possible structure for the essay. Of course, other structures are possible. At this point write a first draft. In this draft weave the content into and through the structure, remembering to keep both fairly fluid at this stage. Next, write up a second draft that is firmer, checking for grammar, spelling and punctuation. Keep most paragraphs more or less 6-10 lines long; never longer than eleven lines. Make sure there are no follow-on sentences by breaking down long sentences into simpler sentences. Take the words needed to say what needs to be said. To carry on with what was being said in the above about structure, the structure of Assignment 1 may follow something like this: Introduction (tell me what you are going to talk about) (300 words) Aim Scope -limitations and delimitations of the essay and/ or Background – paint a picture of the background, for example, talk here about individual behaviour as a context for job satisfaction. Many kinds of background are possible, including the historical or geographical. Purpose Body (talk about it) (1500 words) 1). To facilitate understanding -Comparison/contrast: that is, mention the similarities then focus on the differences between what Smith (1999) and Jones (2001) say. Outline the differences in their views. These differences may be treated as aspects of the concept chosen for the essay. (500 words) 2). Use reason by explicating (writing down clearly your interpretation of) what each authority is saying. [There may be more than two sides to an argument. Please consider more than two. ]. Write down what each is arguing, for and against, and give your reasons for why they are saying what they are saying. In other words, what is their purpose? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using one point of view over another? (500 words) 3). Which argument is stronger or weaker? Why? (500 words) Conclusion (tell me what you talked about) (200 words) Do not add any new material in this part of the essay.