1 ALBERTA SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
SMO 310 INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT Fall 2016 LECTURE A1
Class Time: Mondays & Wednesdays 8:00 am to 9:20 am Class Location: 1-05 Business Building
Instructor: Asma Zafar
Instructor’s Office: 4-27 Business Building Contact Details: [email protected]
Office Hours: Wednesdays 9:30 am to 10:30 am, or by appointment REQUIRED TEXT: Principles of Management, 2.0. This is a digital textbook, available at:
https://students.flatworldknowledge.com/course/2449529. The book can be read online for $24.00, and can be downloaded for $51. A printed copy of the book may also be ordered from the pub- lisher (Flat World Knowledge) for $89. Note that the prices may be in US dollars and are ap- proximate. Other required readings will be made available through uLearn, the University Li- brary, or the internet. A few copies of the book will also be placed on reserve in the Winspear Business Library. The complete reference for this text is:
Carpenter, M. Bauer, T., Erdogan, B., & Short, J. (2013). Principles of Management (Version 2.0). Irvington: Flat World Knowledge.
COURSE OVERVIEW: Welcome to the introductory course in Management, SMO 310 in the department of Strategic Management and Organization at the Alberta School of Business. The objective of this course is to familiarize you with several topics in management and organization.
We will cover a variety of interrelated topics including micro-level organizational issues such as interpersonal communication, motivation, and leadership, as well as macro-level issues including organizational strategy, sustainability, and ethics. I expect that by the end of the course, you would have developed (and/or improved upon):
a thorough understanding of the nature of organizations, and different organizational types such as for profit, not-for-profit, governmental, and non-governmental;
key skills such as reading and assessing organizational research, write related reports and make convincing presentations;
an appreciation of the diverse challenges faced by managers in modern organizations, and problem solving skills to address these challenges in a rigorous and intellectual manner;
a high degree of awareness of ethical concepts and issues in the world of business together with strategies to both recognize and deal with ethical problems;
the ability to apply leadership and conflict resolution techniques toward the effective func- tioning of a team, enabling you to be a better team member and leader.
COURSE ORGANIZATION: Individual student work is worth 10% of your grade, team work worth 25%, a multiple-choice midterm worth 30%, and a non-cumulative multiple-choice final exam worth 35%. SMO 310 is normally run in 8 sections and each section is expected to have a mean final grade of 3.00.
2 INDIVIDUAL WORK (10% of your grade): You will write an introductory memo worth 2%
(graded 0 to 2 points), to be submitted to uLearn prior to the start of the third class session. Your memo should be 1 to 2 pages long, (formatted with 1-inch margins, 12-point font Times New Roman, 1.5 line spacing). In the memo, you will introduce yourself to me. Tell me your name, how long you have been at the U of A, any other college/university experience, your intended major, and the year and month you expect to graduate. If you have ever worked or volunteered in an organization, tell me about your experience(s), including the name and location of the organi- zation, how long you worked there, the roles or titles you held, and something that you gained from the experience. If you are planning to work, volunteer, or participate in other organizations during the semester, please tell me where and what you will be doing and the average number of hours you expect to be involved each week. I am also interested in knowing your career goals after graduating. Please list approximately three organizations you are interested in working for after graduation. Or if you have other post-graduation plans, tell me about some options you cur- rently envision. Finally, list a few business or organizational leaders you admire.
The remainder of your individual work grade will be based on classroom engagement and is di- vided into two parts, student self-evaluation (2%, up to 2 points) and instructor evaluation (6%, up to 6 points). A lot of the modern organizations have moved away from traditional monitoring and control systems and work efficiency demands self-discipline. In this regard, an honest self- assessment goes a long way. The self-evaluation section of your individual work provides you a chance to asses your own class participation throughout the course. Specifically, on November 30th, you will use uLearn to give yourself a score ranging from 0 to 2 to express your assessment of your classroom engagement. You will also provide a brief explanation for your score. In de- termining the instructor evaluation portion of your class participation, I will consider both con- sistency and improvement throughout the semester. I expect you to attend class regularly and punctually, to contribute by participating in class discussions and exercises, and to respect one another’s opinions by actively listening and debating constructively. Discussion and debate are ubiquitous features of contemporary organizations. Accordingly, I expect to have vibrant topic- related discussions in the classroom. These discussions will be an opportunity for you to discover what you think and feel, in part, by seeing what you and others have to say; they will also pro- vide you with a platform for improving your verbal communication skills. Therefore, everyone’s participation is essential, especially when perspectives differ. These objectives can only be achieved if each one of you comes to class prepared. If you are absent, unprepared or unengaged, you will not receive credit for that day. If you cannot attend, please notify me in advance via email. It is your responsibility to catch up on any material you missed. I am available to coach anyone concerned about this part of the course, but if you want help you need to ask!
TEAM PROJECT (25% of your grade): Team-based work is ubiquitous in contemporary organi- zations, and thus, requires considerable management and organization. You are responsible for forming a team of four or five members by October 3rd (I will ensure that there are no more than 20 teams in total). When you join a team, you must commit to working with them and vice versa.
Your team membership is generally your choice. A mixture of backgrounds and experience can be helpful for creativity and final project quality. In rare cases, groups may have a concern about a possible lack of contribution by a group member. In that case, contact me immediately. If your fellow team members fire you, you will have an individual project due at the final exam.
3 Each team will choose a movie (e.g., Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room), documentary (e.g., Supersize me), or television series (e.g., The Big Bang Theory) and deliver a presentation entitled: “All I really need to know about organizing, I learned from _______________,” filling in the blank with the title of the movie or show your team has selected. Any given movie or show can only be used by one team and must be approved by me. Choices will be approved on a first come first serve basis, so you might want to identify some potential options as soon as possible after forming your group. Additionally, any clips shown must be in good taste.
After I have approved your media choice, you will analyze the movie or show for three or four management principles covered during the semester. Your analysis should: include background information on the situation being faced; assess how well the situation was dealt with based on the principles you chose to apply; and identify other approaches that might have generated alter- native outcomes. Each team will have 15 minutes to present. I suggest that you use three to five minutes for video clip(s) from your chosen movie or show, and the remaining time to connect the clip(s) with concepts we covered during the semester.
In grading the presentation, I will take several factors into consideration, including peer evalua- tions by your group members, audience evaluations of your team’s presentation, and my own assessment of both your individual contributions, and those of your team. The grade earned by an individual team member may vary from 0% to 100% of a team’s mark. During the presenta- tion I will be looking for the following:
Quality (30 points): Was the material well presented? Were the slides readable? Did the pre- senters speak clearly and audibly? Were the points useful, practical and important?
Breadth (30 points): Did the presentation cover important and useful management theory?
Was there a clear takeaway? Were there three or four main points?
Depth (30 points): Did the group accurately understand and apply the concepts? Was there depth and subtlety of coverage? Were the clips and the concepts integrated?
Timing (10 points): Clips should run 3 to 5 minutes total. Grading of your presentation ends after 15:00 minutes. At 18:00 minutes the timing grade will be zero out of 10.
EXAMS (65% of your grade): In addition to experiential learning, the course introduces you to a number of management and organization concepts, theories, practices and vocabularies. Ques- tions for the two exams may be based on any material covered in the textbook, assigned read- ings, lectures, and classroom activities and discussions. The midterm exam will cover material through that point in the course. The final exam will be based on material covered after the mid- term. Bring a #2 pencil for each exam. The midterm will be held during our normal class time.
The final exam will be held at the time scheduled by the University during finals.
GRADING: Your final grade will be determined by ordering students from high to low on course performance, and then assigning grades from A+ on down, such that the resulting course average is a 3.00. As such, your course performance will reflect your absolute performance, as well as your performance relative to your class fellows. To pass SMO 310, a minimum grade of 50% is usually required. University of Alberta’s approved grading scheme comprises of the fol- lowing criteria:
4
Excellent Good Satisfactory Poor Failure
A+ 90 – 100 B+ 77 - 79 C+ 67 – 69 D+ 55 – 59 F - 49 A 85 – 89 B 74 – 76 C 64 – 66 D 50 – 54
A- 80 – 84 B- 70 – 73 C- 60 – 63
COURSE POLICIES:
ETHICS: University of Alberta’s code of student behavior outlines: “The University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty. Students are expected to familiarize themselves with these standards regarding academic honesty and to uphold the poli- cies of the University in this respect. Students are particularly urged to become well versed with the provisions of the Code of Student Behavior, and avoid any behavior that could potentially result in suspicions of cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts and/or participation in an offence. Academic dishonesty is a serious offence and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University.” For more information, please consult the undergraduate students’ handbook at:
www.osja.ualberta.ca/Students/UndergraduateHandbook.aspx
MISCONDUCT: The University of Alberta Code of Student Behavior specifies in Section 30.3.4 Inappropriate Behavior towards Members of the University Community: “No Student shall dis- rupt a Class in such a way that interferes with the normal process of the session or the learning of other Students.” “Instructors have the authority to dismiss a Student from Class for no more than 3 hours of Class time for Disruption of a Class.” Recording is permitted only with the prior writ- ten consent of the professor or if recording is part of an approved accommodation plan.
ELECTRONICS, FOOD & DRINK: Texting, tweeting, IMing, Facebooking, Snapchatting, web surfing, or any other disruptions are prohibited. However, you are welcome to use your laptop computers or tablets to write notes during class. Also, considering the time of the lecture, you are welcome to bring something to eat or drink if you would like.
ABSENCE DUE TO MEDICAL LEAVE: I understand that life happens! So if you are unable to attend a class, please write me a quick email to describe the reason of your absence. More than three unexplained absences will result in a deduction of the entire participation grade. University of Alberta’s academic regulations regarding attendance state, “The University recognizes that occasionally life events occur that require a student to miss term work, term examinations, or final examinations. However, excused absences are not granted automatically and will be con- sidered only for acceptable reasons such as incapacitating mental and/or physical illness, severe domestic affliction, or for circumstances as described in the University's Discrimination, Har- assment and Duty to Accommodate Policy”. Students can access the attendance policy at:
http://calendar.ualberta.ca/content.php?catoid=6&navoid=806#Attendance
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
I thank and acknowledge professors, Richard Field, Jennifer Jennings, Joel Gehman, Emily Block, and Chris Steele at the University of Alberta, who have been immensely generous in shar- ing their teaching materials, pedagogical approaches, and time with me. Throughout the course, I draw inspiration from and build on their works.
5 CLASS SCHEDULE (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)*
Date No. Topic Preparation
Sep 7 1 Introduction Ch 1; Syllabus*
Sep 12 2 A general history of management Ch 2
Sep 14 3 People in Organizations Ch 3; Memo Due in Class
Sep 19 4 Mission and vision Ch 4
Sep 21 5 Strategic Management Ch 5
Sep 26 6 Goals and Objectives Ch 6
Sep 28 7 Organizational Structure & Change Ch 7
Oct 03 8 Organizational Culture Ch 8; Group Formation Deadline Midterm Exam: Wednesday, October 05, 8:00 am to 9:20 am
Oct 10: Thanksgiving Day – No Class Oct 12 11 Feedback Session – Two way
Oct 17 12 Leading Ch 9
Oct 19 13 Decision Making Ch 10
Oct 24 14 Communication Ch 11
Oct 26 15 Groups & Teams Ch 12
Oct 31 16 Motivating & Managing People Ch 13; Ch 15
Nov 02 17 Control Ch 14
Nov 07 – Nov 11: Fall Term Reading Week & Remembrance Day – No Classes Nov 14 18 Group Presentations (up to 4 teams of 4 to 5 people each)
Nov 16 19 Group Presentations (up to 4 teams of 4 to 5 people each) Nov 21 20 Group Presentations (up to 4 teams of 4 to 5 people each) Nov 23 21 Group Presentations (up to 4 teams of 4 to 5 people each) Nov 28 22 Group Presentations (up to 4 teams of 4 to 5 people each)
Nov 30 23 Review & Closing Comments Student Self-Evaluations Due Dec 05 24 No Class
Dec 07 25 No Class
Final Exam: Monday, December 12th, 8:00 am to 10:00 am**
* As we move forward with the course, I may provide supplementary readings through uLearn and/or email.
** Final exam date and time is subject to change, as per university’s schedule
