Sociology 361-01                                  

M 1:15 p.m.-3:55 p.m.                                    

Fall 2004                                             

Dr. Theresa Morris

Office: 97-99 Crescent Street, #210

Office Hours:  M 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m., and by appt.

Phone: 297-2348

e-mail:  theresa.morris@trincoll.edu

COURSE OBJECTIVES:  The purpose of this course is to acquaint students with concepts and explanations that are used to understand organizations and to equip students with the critical skills necessary to apply these concepts and explanations to “real-world” organizations.  We will examine a wide-range of material on organizations, including knowledge gained from administrative, management, economic, and sociological traditions.  The class will include a number of examples and applications from organizations in both the private and public sectors. 

COMMUNITY LEARNING COMPONENT:  This course includes a community-learning component.  Students will complete a volunteer assignment of at least 30 hours with one of four organizations:  (1) Artists Collective, Inc.; (2) Broad-Park Development Corporation, Inc.; (3) Caring Families Coalition; or (4) South Meadows Problem Solving Committee. 

REQUIRED BOOKS:

Biggart, Nicole Woolsey. 1990. Charismatic Capitalism: Direct Selling Organizations in America. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Handel, Michael J. (ed). 2003. The Sociology of Organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Hamper, Ben. 1991. Rivethead: Tales from the Assembly Line. New York: Warner Books

Jaffee, David. 2001. Organization Theory: Tension and Change. Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Leidner, Robin. 1993. Fast Food, Fast Talk: Service Work and the Routinization of Everyday Life. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Ritzer, George. 2000. The McDonaldization of Society: An Investigation into the Changing Character of Contemporary Social Life. New Century ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.

These books are available at the Trinity College Bookstore.  I will distribute selected readings. 

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:  Students are expected to complete the readings for each class and come prepared to discuss them.  There will be two take-home exams consisting of short- and long-essay questions.  In addition, students will complete a 30-hour community-learning experience.  Students will turn in a journal describing and a 7-10 page paper analyzing their experiences. 

GRADES:  The exams are each worth 20% of the final grade, classroom participation 20%, and the community-learning project 40%.

CLASS PARTICIPATION:  In order for this course to work, everyone must give his/her full effort during every class.  We can all gain and learn from each other’s understanding, comments, questions, insights, and resources.

ATTENDANCE:  Students are required to attend class on a regular basis.  Class attendance will be taken at the beginning of each class.  Poor attendance will be reflected in one’s class participation grade.  Further, excessive absences will result in failure of the course.

MAKE-UP EXAMS:  Because the exams are take-home exams, make-up exams should generally not be an issue.  However, if this does become an issue, my general policy is that make-up exams will be given only with a documented legitimate excuse (e.g. death in the family, serious illness).  The student will have one week to take the make-up exam. 

OUT OF CLASS HELP:  Students are encouraged to see me about questions or concerns regarding the course.  Please do not hesitate to visit me during my office hours or to telephone or e-mail.  Also, please feel free to set up an appointment for a time other than during my office hours. 

INTELLECTUAL HONESTY:  In accordance with the Trinity College Student Integrity Contract, students are expected to abide by the highest standards of intellectual honesty in all academic exercises.  Intellectual honesty assumes that students do their own work and that they credit properly those upon whose work and thought they draw.  It is the responsibility of each student to make sure that he or she is fully aware of what constitutes intellectually honest work in every examination, quiz, paper, laboratory report, or other academic exercise submitted for evaluation in a course at Trinity College.

ADA POLICY:  Any student in this course who has a disability that prevents the fullest expression of his/her academic achievement should contact the instructor as soon as possible in order to discuss class requirements.  The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal anti-discrimination statute that provides comprehensive civil rights protection for persons with disabilities.  Among other things, this legislation requires that all students with disabilities be guaranteed a learning environment that provides for reasonable accommodations of their disabilities.

THE COMMUNITY LEARNING EXPERIENCE*

The community learning experience for this course will be coordinated through the Office of Urban Initiatives.  Students will spend 30 hours volunteering with one of the following organizations:  (1) Artists Collective, Inc.; (2) Broad-Park Development Corporation, Inc.; (3) Caring Families Coalition; or (4) South Meadows Problem Solving Committee.  A significant portion of the service experience must take place off campus.

OBJECTIVES:  The objectives for the community learning experience include:

(1)     Enhancement of learning about organizations from a sociological perspective

a.      Students gain first-hand experience with organizational structures and processes which we will discuss.

b.      Students test the applications of organizational theories to their own experiences:  To what extent do they help us make sense of our experiences?  To what extent do they help us understand organizational issues with which sociologists are concerned?

(2)     Enhancement of personal and career development

a.      This experience promotes self-understanding, self-reliance, self-worth, and self-confidence.

b.      Students gain first-hand experience with sociology in an applied setting.

(3)     Development of other community-college relationships

a.      Students see themselves as part of the larger Hartford community of which Trinity College is a part.

b.      Students discover ways to contribute to the Hartford community

EVALUATION OF THE COMMUNITY-LEARNING EXPERIENCE:  Students must complete the experience to receive a grade in the course.  Each student will turn in a journal and a 7-10 page paper about his/her volunteer experiences.  The journal and paper will count towards 40% of the course grade. 

THE COMMUNITY-LEARNING JOURNAL:  Each student will keep a weekly journal about the community service experience in a spiral-bound notebook.  Bring your notebook with you to each class.  You should plan to write in your journal immediately following your weekly community-learning experience.  You should describe what happens and your reactions to what happens, including what connections you see between your experience and the materials we discuss in class, how you feel about the experience and your assessment of it, and your intellectual reactions to your experience.  Journals will be collected periodically for evaluation and feedback (but won’t be graded until the end of the semester).  Omissions will be noted.

FINAL PROJECT:  In this paper, you will be asked to apply a number of concepts (e.g. power, structure, environment, etc.) discussed in the lectures and/or readings to your Community-Learning organization.  (You will be given a list of concepts from which to choose at a later date.)  To facilitate your understanding of the material and your ability to write a clear and coherent paper, it would be advisable to apply concepts to your organization as you write in your journal.  The paper will be 7-10 pages in lengths and due on December 8.

* Much of the discussion of this component of the class is adapted from Prof. Richard Kendrick’s (SUNY-Cortland) service-learning component in his Introduction to Sociology course syllabus.

TENTATIVE CLASS SCHEDULE