MGT2382 Learning Journal: Norms, Values, and Finding the Needle

Category: MGT2382 Learning Journal

Date: May 12

Today I ran a quick first pass through the opening assignment for MGT2382 – Organizational Behaviour, mostly just to get a feel for what the course is asking of me. What stood out immediately was the language. Some of it is familiar, but it is not always being used in the way my mind first wants to interpret it.

When the assignment referred to “norms and values,” my first thought went back to sociology: mores and folkways. That is where my brain naturally went. But after sitting with the assignment for a bit, I realized that is not quite what is being asked here.

In this organizational behaviour context, norms and values seem closer to the practical operating rules of a workplace: the expected behaviours, shared standards, and ways people are supposed to act together inside an organization.

That made me think of SOPs — standard operating procedures — and then the course material started connecting with ideas like ISO standards.

I remember ISO.

I also remember why I hated it.

Under ISO-style systems, if a mistake is embedded in the standard, the organization can end up repeating that same mistake over and over until someone formally reviews the standard, the review passes consensus, and a new process is approved. In theory, this creates consistency. In practice, it can also trap people inside a bad procedure if the system is too slow to admit that the standard itself is the problem.

That connects strongly to some of the themes I have already been working with: evidence versus shame, responsibility without authority, and the idea that conflict is not always about personality.

Sometimes the conflict is between the work people are responsible for and the authority, information, tools, or permission they are actually given.

The assignment also seems to touch on conflict resolution and something like the Third Side model, where the goal is not just to decide who is right or wrong, but to create a shared structure that helps the group function better.

Running the Assignment First

One thing I am learning already is that I may need to approach these assignments differently.

Instead of reading the course material first and then trying to understand the assignment afterward, it may help me to run the assignment first, even roughly, so I know what I am looking for when I read.

Then, when I go through the textbook or course notes, I can watch for the eye of the needle — the specific piece of knowledge that unlocks what the assignment is really asking.

That may be the better strategy for me. Not because the reading does not matter, but because the assignment gives the reading a target. It tells me what kind of knowledge I need to recognize when I see it.

What I Am Taking From This

The key learning point for me today is that workplace values and norms are not just abstract ideals. They are the bridge between what an organization says it believes and what people actually do every day.

If the values are not connected to real procedures, metrics, accountability, and conflict resolution, then they are just words.

But if they are too rigid, like a bad standard that cannot be questioned, they can become another source of pressure.

That is the tension I am starting to see already.

Organizations need shared standards. People need to know what is expected. Teams need common ground. But standards also need review, correction, and room for evidence. Otherwise, the system can end up protecting the procedure instead of protecting the people or the work.

Closing Reflection

For me, the challenge will be learning the course language well enough to translate what I already understand from lived experience, sociology, conflict, and systems thinking into the terms Organizational Behaviour expects.

I do not think I am starting from zero.

I think I am learning a new vocabulary for things I have already been watching for years.

Godspeed.