M&IS 24163 Spring 2009 Smas

M & IS 24163

PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT

SPRING, 2009

PROFESSOR: JAMES SMAS

OFFICE: BSA A415

PHONE: 330-762-1155

EMAIL: mjsmas@kent.edu

HOURS: MW 3:15 - 3:45 PM

                MW 6:30 - 7:00 PM

                    TR 10:30 – 11:00 PM

CLASS TIMES

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

NOTE: The material in this syllabus should be considered nominal and is subject to change by the instructor at any given time due to various constraints on the class, such as weather, illness of the instructor, or other such issues

This course is designed to introduce the student to management theory. The class will explore historical perspectives and current trends in management. The class will also introduce the functions of management and organizational behavior theory. The course will consider ethical, multicultural, international, and global issues throughout the course. As an overview, introductory course, relationships, and connections among the various elements of management will be continually stressed.

Also, recent events have brought ethics into the forefront as a topic of discussion. The business community is the area getting the closest scrutiny regarding ethical practices in the wake of Enron, World.com, Tyco, among others. Therefore this class will attempt to deal with many of the ethical issues facing managers today in a rigorous and detailed way to give the student more incite into these critical issues.

Class will consist of mostly lectures with video supplements.                       

OBJECTIVES:

By the conclusion of this course the student will be expected to:

1. Trace and explain the development of management thinking though the various schools and examine current management thinking.
2. List and discuss the various leadership styles used in business, and the assumptions underlying these various styles.
3. Define the basic motives of humankind and be able to discuss applications of this knowledge in providing a motivated environment in the workplace.
4. Explain the functions of management.  
5. Explain the managerial decision making process, and discuss that process critically from globally and culturally diverse perspectives.
6. Discuss the interactions among communications, conflict, changes, general systems theory, and management practice.
7. Define and discuss analytical and quantitative techniques for planning and control, including TQM concepts.
8. Discuss critically the major multicultural diversity and global issues in management.
9. Present and discuss the major ethical issues facing managers of businesses today.

REQUIRED TEXTS:

1.  Management, A Practical Introduction, 4e, Angelo Kinicki and Brian Williams, McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2008. (Required)

ISBN: 978-0-07-338148-0

2. Study Guide for Use with Management, A Practical Introduction, 2e, Prepared by Amanda Johnson, McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2006. (Recommended)

ISBN: 0-07-322143-0

EXAMS:

I will give four exams. Each exam counts one hundred (100) points towards your final point total of 400. The last exam will be given during finals week. The final will not be comprehensive. The exams are usually multiple choice and true/false type questions.

I usually curve each exam when necessary. The rationale that I use is this: if I do not have at least 20% of the class in the A classification, then I will curve the results to attain that percentage. If the percentage of A’s is already 20% or more without the curve, then no curve will be applied to the results. I also examine questions for fairness. If the question is deemed to be unfair, in that less than 25% of the class answers the question correctly, then that question will be thrown out and full credit given to the entire class for that question. This is usually the

major criteria for any curve in this class.

Because each exam is adjusted, I will not curve the final grade results.

FINAL EXAM TIMES:

Note: there will be no make-up exams for the final. I will not give early finals for those who want to schedule early flights to the Bahamas. The final day of school is Friday, May 15, 2009, and you are expected to be in attendance until that date. There will be no exceptions.

ASSIGNMENTS:

There will be no assignments to turn in per se, but I have given you a schedule of the Chapters to be covered and I expect you to have read the chapter before the lecture. Use the study guide for lecture preparation and preparation for the exams. My experience is that students who make use of the study guide do far better than those who do not.

ATTENDANCE:

I do expect you to attend each class. Not all material in the lectures will come from the book and will be fair game for the exams. I may give attendance quizzes if I see the attendance slumping.

EXTRA CREDIT:

Ok, everyone blows an exam now and then. Because of this, I will allow two (2) extra credit projects worth 7.5 points each. They consist of a paper of 3-5 pages in length, summarizing an article from a recent Harvard Business Review. The journal is available at the library.

GRADING:

There are 400 points available for this semester. All points are earned by the examinations. Extra credit points are available as explained above. All earned points will be converted to a percentage and grades given as per the plus – minus system explained below. Once a grade has been established, there will be no rounding up to obtain a better grade than is deserved by the student.

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

92.5 – 100   PERCENTAGE  POINTS                 A

89.1 – 92.4                                                                A –

86.0 – 89.0                                                                B+

82.5 – 85.9                                                                B

79.1 – 82.4                                                                B-

76.0 – 79.0                                                                C+

72.5 – 75.9                                                                C

69.1 – 72.4                                                                C-

<69.0                                                                          D

<59.0                                                                          F         

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