The University Is an Organization: Teaching Organizational Behavior by Relying on Students’ University Experience

Abstract

One of the primary challenges in teaching Organizational Behavior concepts is that undergraduate business students often have little or no work experience. We propose a method that utilizes students’ experience in the university as the basis for understanding these concepts. This understanding is achieved by highlighting the fact that the university is an organization and that students are members of this organization. Students are encouraged to think about how the material applies to them in the university. This approach, we believe, has increased students’ interest in the material and helped them reflect on the concepts, thus providing opportunities to grow and develop both as students and as individuals. We used surveys that were distributed in the university and answered by the students. Students participated in experiments, and in many instance, they were surprised by the results.