Course Description
Organization, planning, leadership, and control;
evolution of philosophies of management, decision
making, motivation, human relations, and
communication; organizational behavior and theory;
history and present management practices, showing
interrelationships between the needs and
expectations of the individual, the organization,
and society.
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Course Objectives
Business 311 Introduction to Management is a
course designed for students who are pursuing the
Business Minor and those non-business majors who are
taking this course for fulfillment of their major
program. After completing this semester-long course
the student should:
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Understand and apply the basic principles,
theories, and practices of contemporary
management.
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Develop analytical and critical thinking skills
as they apply to management decision-making
through active reading of textbook and other
course material, application activities, and
group discussions.
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Understand, describe and discuss current issues of
management.
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Required Material
Robbins, S. P. and DeCenzo, D. A. (2008), Fundamentals of management: Essential concepts and
applications, 6th Ed., Upper Saddle River, New
Jersey, Prentice Hall Publishing.
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Group Assignment: Current Management
Challenges
When we teach this course in a face-to-face
format students often tell us that one of their
favorite activities is classroom discussions about
current issues or challenges in management. In
particular, they enjoy discussing issues that have
the opportunity to “debate” different sides. For
example, outsourcing is a current issue in
management that has numerous pros and cons
associated with it. Discussions about outsourcing
often lead to lively debates among students. We have
designed the team assignments with this in mind.
Discussions will be one week in length. During
the first part of the week group members prepare for the
discussion; during the middle part of the week the team
debates/discusses the issue while playing
predetermined roles (we will notify you of your role
via email prior to the discussions); at the end of the week
the group works together to
prepare ands post a summary of the discussion.
Timeline and tasks for each group assignment:
·
First
part of the week (Prepare): Each member of your
group must read
the assigned article(s) about the current management
challenge (e.g., outsourcing). The articles are one
source of information for the discussion and will
also be the source for exam questions. Each member who
was
assigned to play the “for” or “pro” side of the
issue must identify and post the reference for one
additional article that includes information
supporting the “for” or “pro” side of the issue.
Each member who was assigned to play the “against” or
“con” side of the issue must identify and post the
reference for one additional article that includes
information supporting the “against” or “con” side
of the issue. Articles must be current (6 months
old or newer), must come from
credible sources, must be accessible through the
UI
library journal-search website (contact
librarians at the library if you need help
with this), and must be available in full text
format. To receive full credit articles must be
referenced in your post using
APA or MLA format. The completion deadline for
"Discussion-Preparation" tasks is
Tuesday at 11:55pm.
·
Middle and end of the week
(Discuss):
The entire group participates in the discussion in a
pre-assigned discussion thread on
Blackboard.
Early in the discussion members should stick to
their assigned roles. For example, if you are
assigned to play the role of being “for”
outsourcing, then focus on bringing out
arguments/evidence from the assigned article, your
additional article, and any other sources that
support outsourcing. As the discussion continues,
and your group works toward reaching some conclusions
about the management issue feel free to add in your
own views. The quality of the discussion
(and thus, the score that the team earns) is in part
a function of the extent to which the group clearly
displays discussion-type behaviors. For example,
posting multiple times during the week, responding
to statements and questions posted by others, and
other behaviors that move beyond posting a single
fact or opinion will be rewarded.
The completion deadline for "Discussion" tasks is
Friday at 11:55pm.
(Summarize): Work together to prepare and post a
thoughtful summary of the discussion (one to two
page, single spaced) and the references for articles
posted by the members of your group. The summary must be posted as the last entry
in the discussion thread from the previous week.
The completion deadline for
"Discussion-
Summary"
tasks is Saturday at 11:55pm.
The group's grade for an assignment will be based upon meeting the
required deadlines, the thoughtfulness of the
discussion, the quality of the referenced articles,
and the quality of the posted summary. The intention
is for all team members will receive the same grade;
however the instructor will assign
a score of zero (or a reduced score) if an
individual does not participate or performed poorly.
Have fun with this task!
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Individual Activities, Quizzes, and
Exams
Individual activities are assigned at the
end of each module. You are not required to submit responses to
individual activities. These activities are intended
to provide you with learning opportunities that
enhance or support the lecture and readings.
Questions about the individual activities will be
asked on the quizzes and/or the exams.
Quizzes are administered online through
Blackboard. You are welcome to use your books and
personal notes to help you respond to quiz
questions, but the time to respond to the quiz is
short so do not rely completely on searching for the answers to
all of the questions in the book. Preparation is the key. Each
student will receive ten (10) questions randomly
selected by the Blackboard software from a large set of
possible questions. Thus, the questions you are
required to answer will likely differ from those of
your colleagues. While ten questions is not able to
cover all of the module material, it is a sampling
technique that is a reasonable way to reward those
who have reviewed the entire module. With the
exception of discussion weeks (when there are no
quizzes), each week the quizzes will
be available from Monday morning at 12:01am to
Saturday evening at 11:59pm. Questions for the
quizzes will be drawn from the assigned readings,
the module lecture, and the individual activity.
Note: In addition to questions about the assigned
reading, lecture, and the individual activity, Quiz
1.2 will include
questions about the course material (syllabus,
schedule, etc.) and procedures.
Three examinations are scheduled for the
semester and are given in a face-to-face, proctored
format. Notice the dates, times, and locations of
each exam listed on the course
schedule and plan
accordingly. To be fair to the other students no
make-up or early exams will be given. If you must
miss an exam, the absence will be considered excused
only if it is a university-approved absence listed
in the Student Handbook. In such cases prior
documentation and notification of the absence is
required; otherwise, the score for the exam is a
zero. Questions for the exams will be drawn from
the assigned readings (including discussion
readings), the module lectures, the
individual activities, and the quizzes. Expect
multiple choice, short answer and fill-in-the-blank
questions on the exam.
Off-campus students must work with
Mara Lei Monroe
(eoreg@uidaho.edu) to arrange for a proctor to
administer the exams - exam dates and times may vary
slightly from the on-campus students to
accommodate the proctors'' availability.
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Grading
The course grade will be determined
based upon student performance on three (3) exams,
nineteen* (19) quizzes,
and three (3) group assignments.
The points for each of these components are as
follows:
Component |
Points |
Quizzes (19 @10pts each) |
190 |
Group Discussions
(3 @ 50 pts each) |
150 |
Exam #1 |
100 |
Exam # 2 |
100 |
Exam # 3 |
100 |
Total |
640 |
All group assignments and quizzes must be
completed within the the time window allocated for
the activity. The examinations are taken at assigned
times and locations.
*Note that there are 20 quizzes in the course; we
will drop the lowest quiz score so that you grade is
determined in part, by 19 of the 20 quizzes.
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Strategies for Learning
The fact that the course is online,
rather than face-to-face adds another dimension to
the mix. While the online nature of the course
offers a certain degree of flexibility and control
to the learner, it also places most of the
responsibility for sorting through and organizing
the material on the learner. Consider the following
two strategies for learning:
- One strategy we can offer from the
experience of students in the past is to "take
notes" from the readings (book and articles),
from the video-based lectures, and from the
individual activities. Taking notes is an active
method of synthesizing and organizing the
material. Students who "read" the book, listen
to the lectures, and perform the individual
activities without taking notes often say "there
is too much information to remember for the
quizzes and exams". Note taking requires a
greater level of cognitive effort and attention
than reading/listening alone. Here the goal is
not to read a chapter or listen to a lecture.
The goal is to look for information that will help you make sense of and
organize the material into your own personalized
notes. Notes can be revisited for quizzes and
for studying much easier than re-reading
a chapter or listening again to a lecture.
- A second method that is commonly recommended
to students about written material is something
called the "PQ4R" method. Using a search engine
(e.g., Google), type in PQ4R to find some links
to websites that describe the method.
Good luck with whichever methods you choose to
use in this course.
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