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Business Administration 315                                                                      Fall, 2001

Strategic Management

Ripon College                                                              Mary Avery,CMC

   Assistant Professor and

   Director of the Business Administration Program    

                     

COURSE INFORMATION

 

Course Objective:

Visioning and strategic planning are essential to all organizations.  In a world so greatly impacted by e-commerce, global markets, and exploding technology, effective organizations must plan or perish.  Examining the external environment, discovering the organization's unique attributes/challenges, and responding accordingly are key tasks of managers today.  This course will cover an introduction to management as well as strategic management theory.  Practical examples and case studies will be used to help students to better understand the manager's job.  

Textbook:       Ricky W. Griffin, Fundamentals of Management, Second Edition, 2000.  The entire text is useful; we will spend more time on some topics than others.  See Course Calendar for further information. 

 

Instructor’s Office: 315 Todd Wehr             Phone:  748-8392 (college) or  748-8405 (business)

Hours: Monday-4:30-6:00pm; Tuesdays-10:00am -noon; Thursdays:  10:00am-noon

By appointment at other times - I am pretty accessible if you leave messages.

Because I still have another life in the private sector, it is sometimes necessary for me to change my office hours.  Changes will be posted outside of my office by Monday of each week.  I am happy to schedule appointments, especially when I am unable to keep my office hours.

The business office phone number is the best place to leave voice mail.  The phone number provided rings in my office and in my home.  Feel free to call any time after 8:00 am and before 9:00 pm.

Office Policy: I encourage you to see me to discuss your ideas, especially if you need technical assistance on any aspect of your course assignments.  I encourage you to bring questions to class, since others may benefit from the ensuing discussions.  

Attendance Policy: I strongly recommend that you attend all classes.  Because the class meets only twice per week, a missed class will be somewhat difficult to make up.  Beyond "officially reported absences" (medical problems, travel with College groups, etc.), make every effort to attend each class meeting.  

Classroom Activities:  There will be minimal lecture in this class.  Instead, we will be doing many group and individual projects from the text.  These "hands on" activities are a great way to experience the world of business management and I think we will have a lot of fun.   We will also have some managers in as guest speakers.  We'll also work on in class case studies that often involve a video case.  

Assignments:

Assigned Reading:  I hope to "lecture" in class as little as possible.  "Hands on" activities are far more interesting and educational than regurgitation of the reading material.  I will lecture when there is material that is critical to understanding and executing assignments, or taking exams.  HOWEVER, this means that everyone must keep up with the reading.  Group and individual in-class projects will fall flat if you do not have the context with which to respond to them.  And exams WILL cover material from the text.

Chapter Assignments: At the end of each chapter is a section titled "You Make the Call."  Whenever a chapter is shown as assigned reading on the syllabus, you are responsible for completing the discussion questions associated with that reading.  We will do Chapter One together in class.   These assignments can only be done well if they are done in the context of the assigned reading.  They are due at the BEGINNING of the class where the chapter is assigned.  We will use discussion of these assignments as a way to cover key management concepts.  These will comprise 30% of your grade.

Mid-term and Final Exams:  Each 20% of your grade.  These will be based on the reading, and probably short essay.  The final will not be comprehensive.

Class Participation:  The other 30% of your grade will be class participation.  I will be especially interested in full participation during in-class exercises.   If we run short of class time for some of the activities, they may become homework.  If so, grades for these will become part of your class participation grade.

Grading Procedures:  

The +/- grading system adopted by faculty vote in 1978 will be used in this course.

The following table will serve as my guide when deciding your overall grade:

     A                 92% and above                         C          72 to 78

     A-               90 to 92                                    C-        70 to 72

     B +              88 to 90                                    D+       68 to 70

     B                 82 to 88                                    D         62 to 68

     B-                80 to 82                                    D-        60 to 62

     C+               78 to 80                                    F          Below 60%

  

Tentative Class Schedule:  

August 23                  Understanding the Manager's Job

                     Reading:  FOM  Chapter 1

             

August 28 & 30       The Environment of Organizations and Managers

                     Assignment:  FOM  Chapter 2 and "You Make the Call"

                                                           

September 4 & 6        Planning and Strategic Management

                                 Assignment:  FOM  Chapter 3 and "You Make the Call"                                    

September 11 & 13   Managing Decision Making

                      Assignment:  FOM  Chapter 4 and "You Make the Call"                                      

                            

September 18 & 20   Entrepreurship and new Venture Management

                                Assignment:  FOM  Chapter 5 and "You Make the Call"

September 25 & 27   Organization Structure and Design

                                Assignment:  FOM  Chapter 6 and "You Make the Call"

October  2 & 4          Organization Change and Innovation

                                Assignment:  FOM  Chapter 7 and "You Make the Call" 

October 9                 Managing Human Resources

Assignment:  FOM  Chapter 8 and "You Make the Call"    

October 11               Exam - Chapters 1-8

FALL BREAK

October 23 & 25     Managing Individual Behavior

                              Assignment:  FOM  Chapter 9 and "You Make the Call"

                  

October 30 &          Motivating Employee Performance

November 1           Assignment:  FOM  Chapter 10 and "You Make the Call"

November 6  &8      Leadership and Influence Processes

                              Assignment:  FOM  Chapter 11 and "You Make the Call"

November 13 &15   Communication in Organizations

                    Assignment:  FOM  Chapter 12 and "You Make the Call"

                                

November 20 &22  Managing Groups and Teams

                                Assignment:  FOM  Chapter 13 and "You Make the Call"

November 27 &29  Managing the Control Process

                                Assignment:  FOM  Chapter 14 and "You Make the Call"

December 4 & 6     Managing for Total Quality

                                Assignment:  FOM  Chapter 15 and "You Make the Call"

 FINAL EXAM      To Be Announced (Chapters 9-15 non-comprehensive)