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Course Goal:- Upon completion of this course, each student will understand current concepts in management, and the principles and theories on which they are based, have improved communication and teamwork (small group) skills, and, I hope, a heightened desire to pursue the life-long study and practice of exemplary management.
The development of management and organization theory, nature of the management process and function, and its future development. The role of the manager as an organizer and director, the communication process, goals and responsibilities.
Prerequisite: BMGT 110. Students who have completed a Principles of Management course with another institution may be duplicating this course. No more that 6 s.h. in BMGT 364, BMGT 464, MGST 160 and MGST 310 may be applied to the Primary or Secondary Area of Specialization in Management Studies or Business and Management bachelor's degrees.
This is an upper-division, core course in the Business and Management, General and Specialized Curricula degree programs.
Let's have some FUN THINKING. I want to re-focus your study of Management on the current thinking and practice in the field in an enjoyable way so that you can become more comfortable with looking at situations differently. I hope to help you set the stage for your continued development as an exemplary manager. The natural and physical sciences try to grow by testing current understandings of the world around us and communicating those insights each other .
In management we have tried to gain a similar threshold in our field so that you who follow us in this pervasive discipline will have a firm basis upon which to build the future. Theories developed most especially in the last 100 years are intended to help us understand the fluid world of organizations. We have borrowed liberally from the other disciplines those concepts that add meaning to what we see as the functions of management.
But our science and its development tend to be culturally based - in particular constrained by language groups. It is no secret that we have far to go, that new ideas from chaos theory and contributions perhaps decades or hundreds of years old in other languages may have more to offer us, as a behavioral science, than we have yet imagined. But is it important for us, today, to develop our understanding of where we are and how we got here and how we might take ourselves forward so that the organizations of tomorrow can be better managed, the people more committed, productive and fulfilled, the managers more serving of their various clienteles and aware of their ethical and social responsibilities and the team - the organization - more cohesive and true to its mission.
The tools we will use in this course are top quality. Your text provides the foundation. The CD-ROM disk that comes with it will augment your study and point you to the Web site where further resources are located. If you get disoriented, go back to the Table of Contents and Preface in the text and see where we have been, where we are and where we are going.
We will spend the first week practicing procedures and making sure we are all comfortable with UM WebTycho, our fisrt home on the Web for this class. Our second home is the Publisher's web site (PHLIP/CW - Robbins/Coulter Management, 6/e). There you will find links to articles, internet exercises and resources for us to use.
In the next six weeks we will cover the first half of the text. That includes
We will have the opportunity for case analysis, second guessing difficult management decisions, reflecting on insights from real managers and ethical issues in management. Additionally from time to time, we will also look at the subject of entrepreneurship, diversity in the workforce, and careers for managers.
Two important components of this text are self-assessment exercises (each chapter has one) and skills modules (23 modules). You will complete all of these and report to the class on selected skills modules. You will also select two modules and, for your term project, perform and report on skill reinforcement exercises.
Alistair Cooke's weekly "Letters from America" radio series has often been mimicked. So I am not ashamed to ask you to send me your own letters from your "Virtual Chair" in our virtual classroom on the 5th and 30th of each month beginning 15 September.. These letters should take the form of paragraphs of a journal - a chronicle of your journey through this course. Record memorable items - not facts you want to memorize so much as your reaction to course content. Step back and put the course into the context of your life. What lessons from the course relate to your life? How can you use what you are learning in your personal and professional life? The content of these semi-monthly letters is similar to that described in my Journal handout.
During the second half of the course we will finish the text; we will complete our look at organizing and move on to leading followed by controlling. The various threads of activity started in the first half of the course will be continued. Your two skill reinforcement exercises will be due.
Your On-Line, Take Home, Open Book Final Exam will be completed within a 48-hour period during Week 15 (which essentially coincides with Week 7 of Term 2 of the UM classroom courses).
Much of the material in this course will be familiar to you. Your introductory business and management course will have covered, however briefly, all the major issues we will cover. It is much like, having seen the earth from outer space, you are now ready for a topographical survey of the major physical features of the continents and oceans. Later, in another course or place, you will be able to examine the equivalent of individual countries, cities or seas.
This UM Distance Education course is delivered via the UM WebTycho site on the WWW augmented as needed by email with attachments exchanged directly between classmembers. All course documentation and policies can be found on my web site (right here). Just follow the "Yellow Brick Road."
I NEED YOU TO TELL ME WHEN YOU HAVE PROBLEMS either with the delivery method or the course content.
Dr. W. Edwards Deming echoed the often stated belief that work should be fun. How many of us find it anything but fun? I want you to enjoy this course because you will both learn and remember the lessons much better. I hope this course does sound like fun to you. Let's enjoy the exploration together.
Management, 6th Edition, Stephen P. Robbins and Mary Coulter. Prentice Hall: 1999. (0-13-961921-6) [ Robbins/Coulter Management, 6/e ].
This class depends upon active, consistent student involvement. There will be both individual and small group work. In addition to studying the assigned text, you must satisfactorily demonstrate an understanding of course concepts as you complete the following:
a. Weekly small group assignments as shown in the Schedule and Assignments Sheet, discussion and comments shared in small groups (via WebTycho and email).
b. Weekly individual assignments as shown in the Schedule and Assignments Sheet.
c. An informal Journal (Letter to Phil) on your reactions to and progress through this course submitted twice monthly.
d. Two Skill Reinforcement Exercises including an approved proposal and written reports.
e. An on-line, take-home, open-book and -personal notes (but no other person) final exam during the last week of the course (3 - 12 December 1999).
f. Additionally, you will serve as small group discussion leader and Recorder at least once during the course.
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Weekly Small Group Assignments: |
20% |
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Individual Assignments including Journal Reports: |
20% |
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Skill Reinforcement Exercises : |
25% |
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Final Exam: |
35% |
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Total: |
100% |
Learning Methods: This distance learning course has very broad guidelines. It is offered in asynchronous format so that you can study on your own and join the class as and when you can. But this does not mean you can skip a month -- or even a week or two -- and make it up later. Remember, CONSISTENT, QUALITY participation and effort are essential if both you and the class as a whole are the reach our goals. I intend to spend most of my time answering your questions and engaging in both small and large group discussion on assigned questions and some of the less obvious concepts in the readings. But you will control this.
We spend the first week to ten days establishing reliable communications, allowing for books to get to students who registered late, and practicing class procedures on WebTycho and email. If you have your text, get acquainted with it. Survey the holdings of your library < whatever facilities you have> and email me the grim news. Check out the author's and publisher's resources on-line; Use your Victor barcode and visit the UM library and database resources on-line. Check out other on-line libraries and review their holdings; see Useful URLs / Links. Start your journal and make weekly or more frequent entries which chronicle your journey through this course.
Within broad guidelines, you are in control of this course. Also during the first week of the course, I will need you to consider and share with each other what is needed for this course to be a high quality learning experience for you. In addition, I need you to share with the group what your personal and professional goals are in taking this course. To the extent possible, I wish to arrive at a consensus on these goals and determine how you and I can, with relative objectivity, know you have achieved these goals. Where the class can demonstrate a need, I will adjust the assignments and evaluation instruments.
Bring your questions to our electronic discussion on WebTycho. We will share them and get you answers.
Do not fall behind. Work ahead if possible. Do some work on this course every day. Set aside time to do this. If confused, in doubt, or in need of a clarification on any aspect of the course, contact me first.
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Revised 28 August 1999
Phil Richardson; prichard@faculty.ed.umuc.edu