Human Relations in Organizations: A Skill-building Approach

Lussier's Human Relations in Organizations: Applications and Skill Building employs an applications and skill building approach. It's the most "how to" work with people textbook. This style is perfect for professors that want to incorporate activities and exercises into the classroom, and benefits students who want to understand concepts as well as apply and develop skills that they can use in their daily and professional lives. The text has also been successfully used for online courses. The book and test bank provide a balanced, three-pronged approach: · A clear concise understanding of human relations/ organizational behavior concepts; · The application of HR/OB concepts for critical thinking in the business world; · The development of HR/OB skills.

CASE-Internet with Cumulative Questions - because of the growing use of the Internet, each chapter now has a case study from a real world organization. At the end of the case, the organization's Website address is given so that students can visit the web to get updated information on the case. Chapters 2-15 include cumulative questions. Cumulative questions include concepts from prior chapters. For example, the case for Chapter 11 has five questions related to Chapter 11, which is followed by four questions relating concepts from Chapters 4, 5, 6, 7, and 10. Thus, students continually review concepts from prior chapters.
MG Webzine and Fiscal Fairy Tales' Twelve of the 15 chapters include a Fiscal Fairy Tale (FFT). FFT are cases based on traditional folk tales re-written by Tom Brown, Editor Management General (MG) Website, with a humorous spin to stimulate your thinking and discussion about today's real work world.Internet Exercises - At the end of each chapter, there are three or four Internet Exercises (IE). Students are instructed to go to the Internet for a variety of exercise experiences that enhances the concepts in the textbook.
New Appendices in this edition:
-Appendix B entitled, Internet Exercises, was designed to help students with the MG Webzine - Fiscal Fairy Tales exercise, particularly helpful for the novice Internet user. Explains why you need to use the Internet, gives the Internet novice some basic information about the Net and some of the basic software features, provides six options for doing all Internet exercises in class.
-Appendix C entitled, How to Research Case Material Using the Internet, was designed to help students with the Case-Internet with Cumulative Questions exercise. Discusses online resource accuracy, finding sources, and the proper way to reference Internet material.
8 ½ by 11 paperback/workbook format allows the student to tear out activities to work on and hand in. It is also less expensive than a hardback.
Opening Case - Each chapter opens with a case. Throughout the chapter, how the text concepts apply to the case are presented so that students can understand the application of the concepts to actual people in organizations.
Work Applications - 10'11 questions throughout the chapter (found in the margin) require students to apply concepts to their own work experiences.
Application Situations - Each chapter contains 3 or 4 boxes with 5-10 questions that require students to apply the concept illustrated in a specific short example.
Objective Cases - Short cases at the end of each chapter with multiple choice and open-ended questions requiring students to apply concepts to actual people and organizations.
Video Cases are found at the end of several chapters with critical thinking discussion questions that require students to think critically as they apply the specific text concepts to answer questions about an organization shown in the video.
Self-Assessment Exercises - Each chapter has between one and three exercises to enable students to gain personal knowledge of self. Some of the exercises are tied to skill-building exercises to enhance the impact of the self-assessment. All information for scoring and assessing can be found within each exercise.
Test Bank Assessment of Applications and IM - the test bank includes the work applications from the text and multiple-choice questions, similar to the Application Situations and case questions, to evaluate critical thinking skills. The Instructor's Manual includes the recommended answers for all of the application features above, except the opening case which is illustrated in the text.
Group Skill-Building Exercises - Fourteen of the skill-building exercises primarily focus on small group (2-6 members) activities. Thus, breaking into small groups is required.
Role-Play Skill-Building Exercises - Six of the skill-building exercises primarily focus on developing skills through behavior modeling. Breaking into groups of three and role-playing is required.
Models, Behavior-Model Videos and Icons, and Skill-Building Exercises - Throughout the book are 25 models with step-by-step instructions for handling day-to-day human relations situations. How to use several of the models is illustrated in the behavior-modeling videos.
Behavior Model Videos and Icon - there are one or more behavior model videos (19 total) for the chapters. Behavior model videos 2 through 19 show people successfully handling day-to-day human relations situations.
Video Exercise and Icon - The video exercises are designed to illustrate specific text concepts/styles that the students identify. Each exercise has a place for the students to write their answers.
Individual and Group Skill-Building Exercises - Twenty-seven of the skill-building exercises primarily focus on individual skill building, most of which are out of class as preparation for the exercise. However, in-class work in groups using the concepts and sharing answers can enhance skill building.
Skill Building Objectives and SCANS - Each skill building exercise begins by listing its objective. Listing the Secretary's Commission of Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) competencies developed through the exercise follows the objective.