| Course | MAN-3110 Organizational Behavior |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 1 |
| Paper type | Written exercise: managing and understanding organizational behavior |
| Length | About 867 words, 6 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Thomas Edison State University |
| Program | B.S.B.A. in Human Resources/Organizational Management |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for MAN 3110 Module 1
Organizational Behavior Behind the Curtain: Three Questions Answered at a Regional Theater
Student Name
B.S.B.A. in Human Resources/Organizational Management, Thomas Edison State University
MAN-3110: Organizational Behavior
Mentor Name
Month Day, Year
Organizational Behavior Behind the Curtain: Three Questions Answered at a Regional Theater
The answers below use one composite organization, the Raritan Stage Company, a nonprofit regional theater in New Brunswick, New Jersey, with 45 year-round staff, about 120 seasonal actors, designers and crew each year, and a budget of roughly $9 million. Theaters are useful for studying organizational behavior because they combine creative professionals, technical crews, administrators and volunteers who must deliver a finished product, a performance, on a fixed date.
Question 1: What Does Organizational Behavior Study, and at What Levels?
Organizational behavior is the study of the factors that affect how individuals and groups act in organizations and how organizations manage their environments (George & Jones, 2012). It examines behavior at three levels. At the individual level, it looks at personality, attitudes, perception, motivation and stress. At Raritan Stage, an individual-level question might be why a talented lighting designer misses deadlines in technical rehearsal week. At the group level, it looks at how teams form, communicate, make decisions and manage conflict, such as how the production team of director, designers and stage manager coordinates a new play under time pressure. At the organizational level, it looks at structure, culture and change, such as how the theater's board, artistic director and managing director divide authority, or how the organization adapts to falling subscription sales.
The three levels interact. A designer's missed deadline may reflect individual stress, a team norm that tolerates lateness, or an organizational structure that assigns too many productions to one person. Organizational behavior gives managers a vocabulary for separating those explanations and choosing the right response.
Managers use these levels to choose interventions. If the designer's lateness is individual, coaching or a different assignment may help; if it is a group norm, the production team must reset expectations together; if it is structural, the theater must change workloads. Diagnosing the level first prevents a manager from blaming a person for a system problem, or redesigning a system to fix one person's habit.
Question 2: Why Should Managers Care About Employee Attitudes?
It is tempting to treat job satisfaction and engagement as pleasant extras. The evidence says otherwise. Harter et al. (2002) combined data from nearly 8,000 business units in 36 companies and found that units where employees were more satisfied and engaged tended to have better customer satisfaction, productivity and profit and lower turnover and accident rates, with relationships large enough to matter in practice. Because the study was correlational, it does not prove that engagement causes better results, but it supports treating attitudes as part of performance rather than separate from it.
Pfeffer and Veiga (1999) went further, reviewing evidence that organizations which put people first, through practices such as selective hiring, extensive training, sharing information and teams with real authority, tended to outperform competitors that treated employees as costs to be minimized. Their argument is that such practices work together; adopting one or two in isolation rarely produces the same results.
At Raritan Stage the connection is visible. The box office staff's mood shapes patrons' first impression of an evening, and the stage crew's commitment determines whether a complex scene change is safe. Turnover is costly too: when an experienced production manager left last year, two shows ran over budget while a replacement learned the theater's systems. The managing director now surveys staff twice a year, shares the results and acts on two issues each time, a modest practice that treats attitudes as information managers can use.
Question 3: What Challenges Does This Organization Face?
The textbook identifies several challenges for organizations today, including managing a diverse workforce, acting ethically, competing in a changing environment and using new technology (George & Jones, 2012). Three stand out at Raritan Stage.
The first is a two-tier workforce. Year-round staff build long relationships and institutional knowledge, while seasonal artists arrive for six to eight weeks, often from other cities, and must become productive immediately. Onboarding, communication and a sense of belonging are harder when half the people in the building will leave in two months. The second is diversity and inclusion. The theater has committed to programming that reflects New Brunswick's diverse population, which requires hiring artists and staff from a wider range of backgrounds and building a culture where they feel respected, not tokenized. The third is technology and change: ticket sales have moved online, younger audiences buy single tickets instead of subscriptions, and the marketing and box office teams must learn new tools while managing the old system's last subscribers.
Each challenge is an organizational behavior problem as much as a business problem. Integrating seasonal workers depends on group processes, inclusion depends on culture and leadership, and adopting new technology depends on motivation and how change is managed. Later modules in the course provide tools for each.
The challenges also reinforce one another. A seasonal artist from a different background, arriving for six weeks in a building where full-time staff share long histories, can easily feel like an outsider. Practices that welcome newcomers, such as a first-day orientation led by peers and a shared meal at the start of each rehearsal period, address the two-tier workforce and inclusion at the same time.
References
George, J. M., & Jones, G. R. (2012). Understanding and managing organizational behavior (6th ed.). Pearson Prentice Hall.
Harter, J. K., Schmidt, F. L., & Hayes, T. L. (2002). Business-unit-level relationship between employee satisfaction, employee engagement, and business outcomes: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(2), 268-279. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.87.2.268
Pfeffer, J., & Veiga, J. F. (1999). Putting people first for organizational success. Academy of Management Executive, 13(2), 37-48. https://doi.org/10.5465/ame.1999.1899547
What the MAN 3110 Module 1 instructions ask for
MAN-3110 grades several kinds of written activities: written exercises made of questions on chapter concepts, each needing several sentences or paragraphs; application activities, 1 to 2 page papers applying concepts to a situation; and self-awareness exercises that examine concepts in light of your own experience. There are also module discussions, quizzes and a capstone paper. Answers should be developed fully enough to show you have absorbed the chapters, and the page should open with your identifying details. Module 1's exercise usually covers what organizational behavior is and the challenges managers face. Answer the questions in the order given and number them so the mentor can match each answer to its question.
Inside the MAN 3110 Module 1 example
The exercise introduces one organization in a short paragraph and uses it in every answer, so concepts are always applied. The first answer defines organizational behavior with the textbook, explains its three levels with a theater example for each and shows how the levels interact. The second uses a large meta-analysis to argue that attitudes affect results, notes that the evidence is correlational, and describes a practical survey practice. The third selects three challenges from the textbook's list, explains each in the theater's terms and links each to a later course module. Each answer runs a few paragraphs, matching the syllabus guidance. Each answer is a few paragraphs long, the depth the syllabus asks for, and none relies on definitions alone.
Where the marks sit in the MAN 3110 Module 1 rubric
Mentors evaluate MAN-3110 written exercises on whether answers are well developed, show understanding of the readings and concepts, and adequately answer each question, as the syllabus states. Applying concepts to a real or realistic organization demonstrates understanding better than restating definitions. Accurate use of research, including its limits, signals critical thinking. Clear organization, correct grammar and proper citations matter, and the heading information the syllabus lists should be present. Answers that run only a sentence or two usually lose points for lack of development. Answers that connect two or more levels of analysis, such as an individual's stress and a group norm, show particularly strong understanding.
MAN 3110 Module 1 help: mistakes that cost marks
A frequent mistake in the first exercise is answering with textbook definitions alone. Use an organization you know and show each concept at work. Another is treating organizational behavior as only about individuals; include groups and the organization. Avoid asserting that contented staff always work better; cite the studies and say how far their findings reach. Keep each answer focused on its question. Include the identifying information the syllabus asks for at the top of the page. Our writers can prepare MAN 3110 written exercise answers set in a workplace you choose, following your module's questions. If a question has several parts, address each part explicitly, since partial answers are a common source of lost points.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Thomas Edison State University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
More MAN 3110 and B.S.B.A. in Human Resources/Organizational Management sample papers
- MAN 3110 Module 2: Self-Awareness Exercise
- MAN 3110 Module 3: Group Processes Application Activity
- MAN 3110 Module 4: Leadership Written Exercise
- MAN 3110 Module 5: Capstone Paper
- MAN 3310 Module 2: Fair Hiring Discussion
- PSY 3630 Module 2: Selection Methods Paper: Weighing Validity and Adverse Impact
- MAN 4250 Module 3: Written Assignment: How the Firm's Leaders Embed Their Assumptions
MAN 3110 Module 1 questions, answered
Where can I find a free MAN 3110 Module 1 sample paper?
The Module 1 written exercise is reproduced in full above: three answers on the levels of organizational behavior, why attitudes matter and current challenges, set at a composite regional theater, with sources and notes.
What kinds of written activities does MAN-3110 include?
Written exercises with questions on chapter concepts, application activities of 1 to 2 pages, and self-awareness exercises, along with discussions, quizzes and a capstone paper.
What are the levels of organizational behavior?
The individual, group and organizational levels. Each explains behavior differently, and problems often involve more than one.
Do employee attitudes affect business results?
A meta-analysis of nearly 8,000 business units found satisfaction and engagement associated with better customer satisfaction, productivity, profit and lower turnover, though the data were correlational.
What should appear at the top of a MAN-3110 written activity?
Your name, MAN-3110 with its title, and your term of enrollment, per the syllabus.