SYLLABUS
Principles of Management
BA 321--5 credits--Online Course


Course:
Instructor:
About the course: The objective of this course is to introduce the business student to the conceptual base of the study of management--perhaps THE core competency of the operational manager. Management is a central topic for study for any student of business since business is conducted by organizations and organizations are made up of groups of people who must work together for the organization to succeed. We will examine various topics including leadership, ethics, motivation, organizational culture and many others. A student in the course may expect to read extensively; write clearly, concisely, and thoughtfully; watch a movie or two; and take a few tests.

The course is designed to be completed in an 11 week period. A longer period will disadvantage the student in that the material the examinations cover will become 'stale' and, consequently, the exams will be more difficult. More importantly, the topics in the course blend together much better with a regular application of thought, insight, and effort. Plan on completing the course during this time frame. As a minimum, be sure to complete all the exams in the scheduled term.

Prerequisites: Junior standing--though some level of experience in the managerial world would make the experience richer.

Objectives:

The course structure will also allow students to explore the ideas of a significant chinese writer(s) and to contrast their concepts of management practice with western ideas. We will look especially hard at leadership. After all, we all know that:

"The wise leader speaks rarely and briefly. After all, no other natural outpouring goes on and on. It rains and then it stops. It thunders and it stops. The leader teaches more through being than by doing."
don't we?
Management is the central functional area in the study of business. ALL managers make use of (or neglect to make intelligent use of) the concepts you will study in this class. Any organization larger than a single individual is governed and driven by these concepts and your understanding of them and their proper application will determine if you are to be a successful manager or leader...it makes little difference if you aspire to be a coach, a bank president, an accountant, a governor, a hrm specialist, a military officer, a rancher, or any other profession....you will need what you can get from this class. Think about it.

Texts:
Testing, assignments, and grading:
Five examinations are scheduled within the course. The exams are conducted on Blackboard within our course shell. The exams will be composed of multiple choice, fill in, and case questions. Tests will be based on the unit/Parts of the text and should be taken as the student progresses to the end of the unit. Tests will be organized as follows:

  1. Test 1--on Part 1--chapters 1 and 2 of the text. The test is a 30 minute/30 point test consisting of 30 questions equally chosen from the two chapters. This test (and ONLY this test) may be taken twice with the higher grade being kept. This will give you a sense of the level of questions and testing procedures without any penalty.

  2. Test 2--on Part 2--chapters 3 and 4 of the text. The test is a 30 minute/30 point test consisting of 30 questions equally chosen from the two chapters. You only take the test once.

  3. Test 3--on Part 3--chapters 5,6, and 7 of the text. This is a 45 minute/45 point test consisting of 45 questions equally chosen from the three chapters. You only take the test once.

  4. Test 4--on Part 4--on chapters 8,9,10,11, and 12. This is an 85 minute/85 point test consisting of 85 questions taken from the three chapters. Chapters 10 and 11 will have five more questions that the other three chapters..otherwise the questions are equally taken from the chapters. Take only once.

  5. Test 5--on Part 5--on chapters 13 and 14. This is a 30 minute/30 point test consisting of 30 questions taken equally from the chapters. Take only once.

  6. Testing is done on the class blackboard shell and you will have the allotted minutes for the exam...you will be notified by blackboard when time is up. Any time you use beyond the allotted time will result in negative points taken from your score--2 points per minute...so, quit when the system says to. Your scores will be saved by the blackboard system and will appear on the BB gradebook.

Grades will be based on the accumulation of points during the course. Grades will be assigned on a 90-80-70-60% scale of possible points. Total possible points are 350 with grade breaks at 315+ for an A, 280+ for a B, 245+ for a C, and 210+ points for a D.

Point value of course requirements: (click on each for details)

Course Schedule/assignments--to complete in 11 weeks. It is not necessary to stick to the schedule below as the class is self paced and you will choose the schedule that best matches your life schedule. But, if you want to work through the material in a systematic way and finish in 11 weeks, then this schedule may be of use. Life will not end if you don't complete in one term...but make your best effort to do so. Especially try to do all the exams in the scheduled term.
All written work will be submitted to your friendly instructor at blarison@eou.edu during the quarter. Submit your papers via email as a word attachment when you have completed them--do not wait till the end of the term! Your portfolio work will be submitted at the end of the term on a USB flash drive (get a little one--one meg or less will be fine) via land mail. Use a media envelope or a heavy duty one and be sure to put enough stamps on the envelope. If you want your USB stick back, include a self addressed stamped (with enough stamps) envelope and I shall mail it back to you. This mode of submission will require you to create a word document for each of your self assessments from the text. Include the answers, your score, and your impressions in the document. Organize the stick in a reasonable manner--by chapter or by type of exercise and put your files in the right file as you complete them. Specific requirements for the written work is noted above by clicking on the highlighted hot links.

YFI Resources.
Below is a set of links to text based discussion from your friendly instructor that you may well find useful as you read through the text and prepare for the exams and write your papers. The discussions are from previous classes and relate to specific topics that will tie to the text chapter materials along with some comment by YFI about the subjects. Consider them a short 'lecture' about the topic. The discussions will tend to be at a higher level than your text so will enhance and extend the discussion of these topics in your text. In additon, you will also find links to discussions about many of the theorists who have created the conceptual base of our western ideas about management. These may will be useful in your papers and in preparation for exams also.


The resources list. Click on the link to get to the page.

  1. Diversity, Quality issues and Total Quality Management.

  2. Ethics and Organizations.

  3. Perception, Attitudes, and Personality

  4. Organizational Culture.

  5. Socialization.

  6. Motivation--Needs Theories

  7. Motivation--Cognitive and Behavioral Theories.

  8. Job Design and Intrinsic Rewards.

  9. Group Processes.

  10. Conflict in Organizations.

  11. Leadership and Influence.

  12. Communication Processes.

  13. Decision Making.

  14. Power and Political Behavior.

  15. Stress in Organizations.

  16. Organizational Design.

  17. More Organizational Design.

  18. Organizational Change.

  19. Future Directions of Management.

  20. -----------------------------------------------------
  21. Max Weber---a very important article about leadership.

  22. Frederick W. Taylor--father of scientific management.

  23. French and Raven--a very important article about power and influence.

  24. Fred Fiedler--classic leadership article.

  25. Henri Fayol--classic organization article.

  26. Summary of Classic Theories of Mgt.
  27. --------------------------------------------------------------
  28. More information--From the Research....

  29. Group Cohesion--from the research.

  30. Group Differentiation--from the research.

  31. Group Norms--from the research.

Last updated 10/25/11 RDL