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OL 342 - Organizational Behavior

This LibGuide organizes Library Resources relative to topics in the field of organizational behavior such as leadership, group dynamics, inter- group dynamics, organizational structure and design, change, culture, power, and politics.

Types of Articles

Articles used for research could come from popular magazines, such as Time or Sports Illustrated, trade journals, such as Advertising Age, or scholarly journals, such as The Journal of Business Ethics.

Popular magazines, like newspapers, are written for around an eighth-grade reading level in order to reach a broad audience. They are often printed on glossy paper, contain advertisements, and could be described as "flashy."

Trade journals combine aspects of popular magazines and scholarly journals. They are written specifically for people working in a particular field or trade, contain advertisements for products important to the trade, and may be printed on glossy paper and have a "flashy" feel.

Scholarly journals are written for a specialized, professional audience using formal, scientific, or complex language.  They contain few advertisements but may contain charts and graphs. Articles are quite lengthy and generally include footnotes or a bibliography. They are often published quarterly or biannually, and page numbers may run continuously through an entire volume rather than start over with each issue.

Many scholarly journals are peer-reviewed, which means the articles have been vetted by professional peers to ensure that they are sufficiently scholarly and original prior to publication.  All peer-reviewed journals are scholarly, but not all scholarly journals are peer-reviewed.

Why is library research important?

We are constantly bombarded with information; it is everywhere, and consists of everything you take in by your senses. But for the purposes of university study, and for these pages, information can be defined as any documentation that can be used to create knowledge. 

Shapiro Library has many electronic and print resources that are helpful in finding research on practices and theories in leadership issues such as those within the field of human resource management. Students can examine topics of motivation, communication, leadership, power and change with practical relation to contemporary issues through the resource content of the Shapiro Library's collections and databases.

What is Research?

Many people are confused about what "research" really is--it's not a report of what ideas are "out there" on a certain topic or to find sources that support your position on a topic; instead, it's a process by which information is used to answer a specific question. 

See the short video linked below for a quick overview of the Research Process:

What are Peer Reviewed Journals?

"Many scholarly journals use a process of peer review prior to publishing an article, whereby other scholars in the author's field or specialty critically assess a draft of the article. Peer-reviewed journals (also called refereed journals) are scholarly journals that only publish articles that have passed through this review process. The review process helps ensure that the published articles reflect solid scholarship in their fields." Source: https://guides.lib.calpoly.edu/c.php?g=902806&p=6549460#s-lg-box-20814068

Check out the video below for more information: