MBA 505 · Organizational Behavior & Leadership
Build a team that performs without you in the room
In about six weeks at nine hours a week, learn to design the work, rewards and team habits that bring out your people's best.
For managers whose team only delivers when they're watching, or keeps losing good people.
One-time paymentInstant access14-day money-back guarantee
What you will produce
Diagnosing the Barista ProblemAn Evidence-Based People Memo for Starbucks
You analyze Starbucks from its public information and write an evidence-based people memo on its barista problem. It is marked against this rubric, with written feedback on every criterion, usually within the hour. You finish with work you can show.
- 01Evidence Quality and Attribution Analysis20%
- 02Job Design and Motivation Analysis20%
- 03Performance System and Equity Evaluation15%
- 04Team Conditions and Psychological Safety15%
- 05Integrated Recommendation20%
- 06Format, APA 7, and Integrity10%
Each criterion is judged Exemplary, Proficient, Developing or Beginning.
Who it is for
Sound familiar?
“I was promoted for being good at the work. Now I'm supposed to lead the people I worked beside.”
What changesYou'll move from doing the work to shaping how the team works, and adapt your style to each person.
“Everything still goes through me. If I step away for a week, things stall.”
What changesYou'll redesign roles and decision rights so the team moves without you.
“My best people keep leaving, and the exit interviews don't tell me why.”
What changesYou'll diagnose motivation and fairness problems with evidence, and fix the job before the next resignation.
Not for you ifyou want live lectures or a study group. Everything here is self-paced.
What you will be able to do
By the end, you will be able to:
- 01
See why good people underperform
Separate the person from the situation, so you fix the conditions instead of blaming character.
- 02
Redesign jobs people want to do well
Score a role's motivating potential and change the one dimension holding it back.
- 03
Build rewards that can't be gamed
Run Kerr's test on a metric before it ships, and catch Wells Fargo-style gaming early.
- 04
Make it safe to speak up
Invite input, respond well to mistakes and model fallibility, so problems surface while they're small.
- 05
Hire on evidence, not gut feel
Use structured interviews, anchored rubrics and independent scorers to cut halo and first-impression bias.
- 06
Lead change without breaking the team
Diagnose culture, adjust structure and align incentives so a reorganization sticks.
Look inside
See a class, a study card and the marking before you pay.
Watch the opening of class one, flip a real study card, and see exactly how your work is judged.
One of 48. Each returns just before you would forget it, so the course stays with you.
Case 2: People Plan for a Turnaround. You see the rubric before you start, and get written feedback on every criterion.
The full textbook and the study guide written to it, so you can look anything up after you finish.
The ten classes
Ten classes, in the order you will need them.
01Organizational Behavior and the Growing OrganizationDiagnose problems at individual, group, or organizational level using Greiner's crises and span-of-control math.
- Every Plan So Far Assumed People Would Deliver It
- Behavior Comes From People Meeting Situations
- Four Parts, One Question About People
- What Organizational Behavior Studies
- Person and Situation, Not Person Alone
02Perception, Judgment, and Decision-MakingCorrect perception errors using evidence hierarchies, premortems, and checklists instead of relying on judgment alone.
- Judgment fails before facts do
- Why capable people misjudge people and decisions
- Four parts to today's plan
- Perception interprets; it does not record
- Attribution: the person or the situation
03Motivation and the Design of WorkScore jobs on autonomy, task identity, and feedback to find MPS and identify your highest-lever redesign lever.
- From catching errors to designing wanted work
- What makes people want to do good work
- Four parts to today's plan
- Motivation: direction, intensity, persistence
- Needs theories, and where they run out
04Performance, Rewards, and FairnessDesign performance systems that measure the right outcome, then run Kerr's test to catch unintended consequences.
- From a well-designed job to a well-designed reward
- What to reward, and what rewarding it does
- Four parts to today's plan
- Behavior and results are not the same thing
- Setting a goal that holds up
05Teams and Psychological SafetyBuild teams that surface mistakes by creating safety through invitation, productive response, and model fallibility.
- From what we reward to who we can trust
- What turns a group into a team that works
- Four parts to today's plan
- Groups, teams, and the cost of coordinating
- The stages a team passes through
06Communication, Conflict, and NegotiationResolve conflicts by matching communication richness to ambiguity and trading across differently valued issues.
- From a safe team to a team that can disagree well
- Turning a conflict into an agreement
- Four parts to today's plan
- Communication as a process, not an event
- Where communication breaks down
07LeadershipShift your time from doing to leading and adapt your style to each person's readiness using situational models.
- From dividing the surplus to who divides the work
- What a leader does that nobody else can
- Four parts to today's plan
- Leadership and management: related, not the same
- Trait approaches: what they explain, and what they miss
08Power, Politics, and Ethical VoiceMap power sources and defend ethical voice so the truth reaches decision-makers, not just what feels safe.
- From building people to hearing them
- Why silence, and what fixes it
- Four parts to today's plan
- Power as dependence
- Five sources of power
09Culture, Structure, and Leading ChangeDiagnose culture, redesign structure without breaking it, and align incentives during structural change.
- From who gets heard to how the organization is built
- How to change an organization without breaking it
- Four parts to today's plan
- Culture at three levels
- The roaster's culture, at three levels
10Integrated Case, Ethics, and Individual AssessmentApply the full framework to a real case: diagnose the problem, defend your analysis, and implement the redesign.
- Design the situations, then tell the truth
- Can you diagnose it, and can you defend it
- Five parts to today's plan
- One finding from every earlier class
- Turnover, scheduling, and a shaky forecast
When you will see results
You will use it at work before you finish.
- After class 1
Calculate your span of control and name your Greiner crisis, replacing vague frustration with testable diagnosis.
- After class 3
Score your team's jobs using MPS and identify which multiplier (autonomy or feedback) moves motivation highest.
- After class 5
Measure psychological safety and calculate the cost of silence in defects, turnover, and conflict avoidance.
- After class 10
Diagnose and defend a people redesign using evidence at every step, from perception through outcome.
Your time
Built to fit around a full-time job.
About 53 hours in total, at whatever pace your week allows. Nothing is live, the portal remembers exactly where you stopped, and study cards take about five minutes a day.
Before you decide
You don't need an HR background, a psychology degree or a bigger budget. The tools work with the team you already have.
- Each class ends with a short quiz, so you know it stuck before you move on.
- Study cards bring back what you would forget, five minutes a day.
- The portal always shows your next step, so a busy week never becomes a lost month.
What $149 gets you
The complete MBA 505 module, sold on its own.
- Ten filmed classes you can fit around workPause anywhere and pick up on any device. Captions on every class, so you can study with the sound off.
- The full Organizational Behavior & Leadership textbook, yours to keepPDF and EPUB, so you can look things up long after you finish.
- A study guide that covers every classThe key ideas, models and worked examples in one place, so you never write your own summary notes.
- 12 quizzes and exams, marked instantlyThe reasoning behind every answer, so you know what stuck and what to revisit.
- Two real-company cases with written feedbackStarting with Starbucks. You finish with analysis you can show, marked against a published rubric.
- 48 study cards that keep it freshFive minutes a day. Each card returns just before you would forget it.
- Your progress, saved everywhereThe portal remembers exactly where you stopped, so a busy week never sets you back.
- Lifetime access and updatesIt is there when the real decision arrives, including every future improvement to the course.
One payment. No subscription, no hidden fees.
What keeping one good person is worth
If replacing one team member costs you $15,000 in hiring and lost output, and better job design keeps one person from leaving, that is $15,000 saved. The course costs $149, once.
One-time paymentInstant access14-day money-back guarantee
Questions
What people ask before they buy.
How much time will it take?
About 53 hours in total: ten classes, the readings, 12 quizzes and exams, and two case assignments. At nine hours a week that is about six weeks. Nothing is scheduled, so you set the pace.
Is this right for beginners?
Yes. The course assumes you've led people or observed leadership up close; you don't need psychology, statistics, or MBA prerequisites. Every concept builds from first principles, and we practice each on real cases.
What if I'm too busy?
Nothing is live and nothing expires. Each class stands on its own, the portal remembers exactly where you stopped, and your study cards take about five minutes a day. Pause for a month and pick up where you left off.
I've started online courses before and never finished. Why is this different?
It is built so you finish. Every class ends with a short quiz, study cards bring back what you would otherwise forget, and the portal always shows your next step. Two graded cases give you a reason to apply it, not just watch it.
When will I see results?
Class 1 gives you a framework to name the growth crisis your team is in. In class 3 you score a real job's motivating potential, and by class 5 you can measure psychological safety.
Why is it worth $149?
You get the complete MBA 505 module: ten classes, the full textbook and study guide, twelve marked quizzes and exams, and two cases with written feedback. Keeping one good person can be worth far more than $149.
What if it isn't right for me?
If the course isn't right for you, ask within 14 days of buying for a full refund. It applies as long as you've watched fewer than three classes and haven't submitted an assignment.
How is this different from general management training?
Every concept is backed by evidence and applied to real cases. You see the research, its limits and how to test it yourself, then audit pay fairness, score job motivation and measure what silence costs.
Will this help me with my current team problems?
Yes, by teaching diagnosis instead of guessing. Class 2 shows why perception fails predictably. Class 5 isolates psychological safety. Class 9 teaches you to redesign structure. Class 10 walks you through defending a real redesign.
How do I get access?
Straight after checkout you are signed in to the CBI student portal and can start class one. We also email you a sign-in link so you can come back from any device.
Is this the same as MBA 505 in the CBI MBA?
Yes. It is the same ten classes, textbook, study guide, exams and case assignments that MBA students take for MBA 505, sold on its own.
MBA 505 · Organizational Behavior & Leadership
Build a team that performs without you in the room
Start tonight. If it isn't right for you, ask within 14 days for a full refund.
One-time paymentInstant access14-day money-back guarantee