Spring Qtr 2003 Dr. Rogers
GBA 671/2 Course Syllabus “Management Seminar”
I Course Description:
The development and evaluation of alternative corporate strategies drawing upon the functional areas within business and the outside environmental factors that affect business. 3 Seminar. Completion of all MBA prerequisite courses and microcomputer proficiency. Concurrent enrollment with GBA 672 is required. Prerequisites: All required 500-level courses. Unconditional standing required.
II Course Objectives:
The first objective is the principal one for the course; the remaining ones, while important, are secondary.
1. To increase your knowledge about management in different and more complex corporate and other organizational environments.
2. To integrate and build upon what you have learned in previous business courses when analyzing and solving strategic business problems.
3. To improve your ability to design and carry out a research project and present a set of recommendations. You will develop an ability to research unstructured problems, uncertainties, social pressures, expectations, value conflicts, and many aspects of the external environment.
4. To increase your teamwork and team-building skills as you carry out your team projects.
5. To increase your ability to think critically (ask cogent questions), strategically and creatively about issues facing management, with emphases upon business ethics, benefits and costs of technological progress, and the importance of international, social, cultural, economic and political factors.
6. To learn to accept ambiguity, uncertainty, and a lack of needed data as “normal” and to learn how to make the best of it. You will examine and develop your own managerial philosophy, particularly ethical and value dimensions and how your management philosophy is relevant to the changing environment of business.
7. To create a learning environment that is challenging, personally fulfilling, fun, and productive for everyone. You will develop stronger communication skills through oral and written assignments, which require clear articulation of management issues and cogent arguments for and against specific positions regarding those issues.
The Course Experience:
I have been a professor at Cal Poly Pomona for over twenty years teaching a variety of management and international business courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. For the past three years I have been developing and growing as a cyberprof and now teach all of my course offerings as “hybrids,” partially online/virtual, partially actual/physical. All of this has made the instruction stronger and more effective. It is my intent to make GBA 671/2 one of your favorite courses in your MBA program.
My approach is to create the structure of the course and the class environment and then, through your participation and involvement, let you create your own learning experience. It will be one of those courses where the age-old adage, “the more you put into it, the more you get out of it,” applies.
Through the creation of an informal and participatory environment in the class, I encourage questions, comments, and observations all the time. You are encouraged and required to ask questions. Thinking, which underlies all learning, is driven by questions. Besides, because each student benefits from listening to others share their perspectives and recommendations, s/he is obligated to do the same and not just sit passively through every class session (especially foreign students).
I consider this class to be highly applied. We will constantly refer to the actual experience of corporations and other organizations, drawing your own conclusions as to whether to emulate or avoid such behavior. In each topic area, you will research actual corporate examples to validate your conclusions. The class sessions will consist of either discussions or presentations; while I will introduce the various topics, you will notice I will do very little lecturing.
As an elective, this course will strengthen your ability to function as a manager, as a leader, and as a strategic thinker. And because the topics have been selected for their relevance to the work world, it will enhance your competititiveness in the world marketplace.
If you’re ready to be challenged to think, learn, and get involved, then this course is for you. We’ll have a great learning experience together.
III Readings:
Required: Each student will allocate $120.00 for instructional materials.
1. BusinessWeek Online, free electronic subscription, daily reading.
2. Economist Online, free electronic subscription, daily reading.
3. Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble.com trade book dealing with a management topic. The book is selected by the student and approved by the instructor.
Recommended:
1. Management, 6th Edition, 2003, Richard L. Daft, Thomson/South-Western, Online components only.
2. Various newspapers online:
Chicago Tribune
Christian Science Monitor
The Economist
Los Angeles Times
London Times
New York Times
Wall Street Journal
Washington Post
USA Today
CNN News
IV Course Requirements:
1. A team project (written and oral) on one of the following five topics:
Course Topics (based on Daft textbook on Management)
1. Learn about the environment of management:
a. The Environment and Corporate Culture
b. Managing in a Global Environment
c. Managerial Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility
d. Small Business and Internet Start-Ups
…and come up with suggestions for improving the managerial environment.
2. Learn about organizational/corporate planning:
a. Organizational Planning and Goal Setting
b. Strategy Formulation and Implementation
c. Managerial Decision Making
…and suggest ways of improving the planning process.
3. Learn about organizing:
a. Fundamentals of Organizing
b. Using Structural Design to Achieve Strategic Goals
c. Change and Development
d. Human Resource Management
e. Managing Diverse Employees
…suggest ways of improving the organizing process.
4. Learn about leading:
a. Foundations of Behavior in Organizations
b. Leadership in Organizations
c. Motivation in Organizations
d. Communicating in Organizations
e. Teamwork in Organizations
…and develop means to improve leading in the corporate sector.
5. Learn about controlling in organizations:
a. The Importance of Control
b. Information Technology and E-Business
c. Operations and Service Management
…and suggest guidelines for companies wishing to improve control.
While we will use the Daft book as a guide there is no one text that covers all these topics and there are many resources available on each topic. In this class we will be covering the topics using Harvard Business School cases as well as other materials, including from the Internet.
I will take one class session to give you an overview of management and its various components and tie the above five (5) topics of the course together. Accordingly, you (i.e. all class members, not just the team who is discussing its particular topic) must do your best to research and read as much as you can about the topics to prepare for each class session.
There will be five groups formed to handle the instruction on one each of the five topics above (group numbers will match the topic numbers) and they will be responsible for the coverage of that topic in the class session. A Harvard case study is recommended as a component of that instruction and will also include your team’s insights into:
· What you have learned about the particular topic.
· Specific corporate examples that illustrate the key points made.
· Conclusions that include the called-for suggestions and what you
as a group got out of doing the assignment.
Note: I expect each student group to assist all other groups with resource material, insights, examples, and even criticism through the quarter. This course is collaborative, not competitive. The idea is to maximize each other’s learning. One suggestion is to find an article or two (or more) that pertains to the topic scheduled for discussion on a particular evening, read it, come prepared to share it during the discussion, and then give it to the group assigned to that topic before it comes up in class. By helping each group, you will contribute to better research papers, which are among the things you get to take away with your from the course. With the later topics, it would help the teams in question if you were to give copies of these materials to them a week or two earlier.
Each group should post their final presentation on WebCT at the Discussion location indicated. A PowerPoint presentation, according to guidance furnished, should be available for presentation on the assigned topic day.
2. A team or individual project related to Inquiry of Students
on Day 1 of instruction.
This final project report will receive a separate grade for the one-unit GBA
672. This project will be presented in Week 9 and 10 of course, and Week 11
if necessary.
3. Book Review on a management trade book. Format and presentation guidance to be provided.
4. Class Participation:
· Leading class discussions (team)
· In-class participation
· WebCT participation – based on number of individual “postings”
See “Postings and Repostings Guidance”
V Method of Evaluation:
GBA 671 - 3 units:
Assignment Type Points Total
Topic Project* Group 40 40
Book Review* Individual 20 20
Participation
In-class part Individual 20 20
WebCT part Individual 20 20
*Instructor assigns 50% of each grade; students the other 50%
Totals: 100 100
GBA 672 – 1 unit:
Group or Individual Inquiry Paper/Project:
Written* 65 65
Oral* 35 35
* Instructor assigns 50% of each grade, students the other 50%
Totals: 100 100
VI Method of Assigning Letter Grades:
A: 93.0 and above
A-: 90.0-92.9
B+: 87.0-89.9
B: 83.0-86.9
B-: 80.0-82.9
C: 70.0-79.9
F: 69.9 and below
VII Policy on Attendance and Assignments:
Attendance and class participation are extremely important because of the need for interaction, teamwork, and making contributions to the furtherance of one’s own as well as others’ knowledge. Roll will be taken at both actual/physical classes as well as in the online/virtual mode. Late written assignments will be graded down.
VIII Responsibilities and Guidelines:
The GBA 672 project will be presented in format suitable to the topic being presented.
IX Academic Integrity:
Any instances of academic dishonesty to include plagiarism or cheating will result in an automatic failure of the assignment as well as the course. Such instances will be reported to the Cal Poly Pomona Office of Judicial Affairs of the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs for disciplinary action. An “Academic Integrity Statement” is required of all students to cover their written work in this class.