BAD 64158 Fall 2007 Smas

 

 

There is nothing more eye opening for the new manager than to find out in his/her first job that nothing they learned in school seems to apply or even work in their new environment. They seem to be at a loss why they are ineffective at leading or managing people in their organizations. Well maybe they should not have sold their POM text for beer money, or maybe they should have paid more attention in their Org Behave course.  Well maybe they should have contemplated a different career! What is troubling them is a distinct lack of skills, not theory! Until this course, you probably had little in the way of a skills-based course designed to change your behavior towards people, groups, and organizations.

 

This course is designed more like a practicum:  like a course in sculpting than art history and appreciation; more like court room practices than contract law; more like teaching techniques than educational philosophy; more like broadcast techniques than a history of mass communications. In brief, it is an attempt to teach a set of skills grounded in behavioral science theory and research that are essential for a successful career in management.

 

Your instructor, for many years in his own business, has facilitated change among managers and supervisors in major industrial settings. He has taught over 3000 supervisors and over 300 practicing managers over a ten year consulting practice. He has seen the benefits directly of skill-based learning and has saved many jobs in the long run. Bad bosses make for bad environments and loss of morale and productivity. Be a bad boss and you will join the NFL, which in the imitable words of one sports color commentator means, Not for Long!!

So welcome to the most fun you probably will have as a student here or anywhere else. This is a course that will present many new perspectives and opportunities for you to grow and learn. I have had people come back and tell me that they learned more in this course to prepare them for the real world than in any other course they have taken here or anywhere else. This is the real deal.

 

Too many courses assume the translation from learning to application is not problematic. They ignore the dictum of Will Rogers who said “Common sense ain’t necessarily common practice.” So while most of this material might seem to be common sense, trust me that it is not common practice!! After all if it was, why did I make so much money for ten years facilitating common sense?

 

This course will use theory, case studies, role plays, skits, student presentations, food fights and a great new simulation to get total involvement and immersion of the student in the learning of skills. Welcome to chaos!

 

 

(Note: The Virtual Leader Simulation will be purchased for you by the M & IS Department. M &IS will ask you to sign a voucher for $50 to be deducted from your KSU account to recover its expenses. This prevents confusion and mistakes and prevents the usual 30% up-charge if we sold this through the book stores.)

 

1. Team presentations                                                                              100 points

 

2. Team Reports on Virtual Leader Sessions                                     300

 

3. Mid Term Exam                                                                                      150

 

4 Final Exam                                                                                                200

 

5. Journal                                                                                                     100

6. Participation                                                                                            100

7. Peer Review                                                                                              50

Total Semester Points                                                                              1000 points

 

I will use plus / minus grading this semester. Thus the grading for the course is as follows:

 

According to new University Guidelines the grades are converted to your grade point average by the following rules:

 

A   = 4.0

A- = 3.7

B+ = 3.3

B   = 3.0

B- = 2.7

C+ = 2.3

C   = 2.0

C- = 1.7

D+ = 1.3

D    = 1.0.

F    = 0.0

 

There really are no exams per se; they are projects due on the date of the exam in the schedule for the class. The mid-term is a case study, to be turned in using the case study guidelines presented in this class. It should be 7 – 10 pages in length not including any exhibits or references, and should be neatly typed and single spaced.

 

The final project is your strategic plan for incorporating your skills learning into your normal behavior. I will give more guidelines on this project during the early part of the course, but it will follow the strategic planning guides of SWOT analysis and problem solving to overcome weaknesses and encourage strengths. This will become a blueprint for your future success as a manager and a leader.

 

There will be ten teams for this course. Each team will have the opportunity to develop a presentation covering an assigned skill. This presentation should not be a power-point presentation on the theoretical material. It should be a creative demonstration of the skill under investigation. You can do a role play, do a skit, conduct a panel discussion, or act out a scenario demonstrating the skill under question. This is a very important part of the course, do not take this lightly. I can give you some ideas for your individual presentations based on past experiences.

 

There are five sessions in the simulation. Each individual must progress through each session and earn a score of at least 80 to move on. You must practice each scenario in the simulation a minimum of five (5) times before class on the day each respective scenario is assigned. I will print the class roster form the Simulearn website that tracks your practice sessions at 5 pm the day assignment is due. You must log in to their website at some point to have your practice rounds registered. Posting your scores online is your responsibility; you should fill out the workbook provided to you with the simulation. It will help in your team discussions.   If you do not log in, I will deduct 2% for each practice round you miss from your team score in the session report.

 

As for the team reports, the team should describe the following after each scenario:

 

The final, overall report should focus on the value of the simulation in helping all team members hone their skills in managing people, groups and organizations. How can the simulation be improved? How did it go over with the team? Would you encourage your company to use this simulation in their management development program? Why or why not? How does this compare to the other modes of instruction we used during the semester?

 

If we consider this course to be behavioral laboratory, then you must have a lab notebook to record and reflect on all the data you are accumulating. Thus, I will ask that you keep a bound journal in which you will record all your assessment scores and reflections on the results.  Also, you should record the results of your Virtual Leader sessions and reflections on them and your discussions with your team on these sessions. The journal will be collected at various times throughout the semester, on an unannounced basis!!!   This is to encourage constant journaling and reflection which is a key to behavior change. Crashing and burning the journal in last week of class is a useless activity. This will also be the basis of your final strategic plan for your self. You should use the date accumulated in your journal as the basis of your final report.

 

It is extremely important in this course that you come to class prepared and participate in every discussion in a helpful and facilitative way. I will make assessments of how well you are doing this and determine a participation grade by session throughout the semester.  The class will also vote on each team other than their own as to which provided more learning during the semester.

 

This will be a confidential review by your team mates on your contributions to the team throughout the semester.   This will usually thwart those who wish to hide out and do nothing, letting the rest of the team to do the majority of the work

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The Following Policies Apply to All Students in this Course

A.      Students attending the course who do not have the proper prerequisite risk being deregistered from the class.

 

Students have responsibility to ensure they are properly enrolled in classes.  You are advised to review your official class schedule (using Web for Students) during the first two weeks of the semester to ensure you are properly enrolled in this class and section.  Should you find an error in your class schedule, you have until Sunday, September 9, 2007 to correct the error with your advising office.  If registration errors are not corrected by this date and you continue to attend and participate in classes for which you are not officially enrolled, you are advised now that you will not receive a grade at the conclusion of the semester for any class in which you are not properly registered.

B.      Academic Honesty:  Cheating means to misrepresent the source, nature, or other conditions of your academic work (e.g., tests, papers, projects, assignments) so as to get undeserved

 

 

credit.  The use of the intellectual property of others without giving them appropriate credit is a serious academic offense.  It is the University's policy that cheating or plagiarism result in receiving a failing grade (0 points) for the work or course.  Repeat offenses may result in dismissal from the University.

 

For Fall 2007, the course withdrawal deadline is Sunday, November 4, 2007.

University policy 3342-3-18 requires that students with disabilities be provided reasonable accommodations to ensure their equal access equal access course content.  If you have documented disability and require accommodations, please contact the instructor at the beginning of the semester to make arrangements for necessary classroom adjustments.  Please note, you must first verify your eligibility for these through the Student Disability Services (contact 330-672-3391 or visit www.kent.edu/sds for more information on registration procedures).