Highlighted Courses for Fall term
The following courses are being offered in Fall 2008. They are either new courses (so their course description in ClassFinder is incomplete) or they are courses the professors have asked us to advertise. Keep reading for some good elective course ideas!
Fall 2008: MGMT 714 - Careers in the 21st Century
Instructor: Dr. Sally Power
Overview:
Continuing globalization, the faster pace of change, flatter organizations, and routine corporate downsizing has made the management of individual careers increasingly challenging. For example, a recent study of post-MBA careers over a 13 year period reported that only 1/3 of those surveyed had a traditional organizational career path. (Reitman, F. & Schneer, J. A., 2003, “The promised path: A longitudinal study of managerial careers. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 18(1), 60-76).
This course will consider the changes in careers that have occurred over the last twenty years and the effects they have on individual career management in early, mid, and later career stages. We will study career building options both inside and outside organizations, challenges individuals face as they learn to manage their careers more independently, and how these changes are affecting or could affect the functioning of large organizations. Examples of course topics include: how the career histories of CEO’s are changing, how careers are being internationalized, the differences in career progression between men and women, and how successful “free agents” feel about their careers.
The overall goal of the course is to help individuals manage their own careers more successfully as well as help them manage organizations and employees to take advantage of the changes in career patterns.
At the end of this class students will:
• Be able to identify major career development options for themselves and others
• Understand the challenges of having a successful career at early, mid, and later career stages
• Have an individualized career management strategy
• Explore the changes in organizations that are coming about as a result of these changes in career patterns, and
• Identify new business opportunities in light of the changing challenges in career management.
Fall 2008: ENTR 705 - Family Business Management
Tuesday Evenings from 6:00-9:00pm
Family Business Management explores the challenges and opportunities in family enterprise. Topics include owning and governing family business; analyzing family strengths, differences, and interpersonal dynamics; building a spiritual and ethical base for family relationships; managing family interaction and problem solving; planning career, succession, and business strategies; and developing credibility. This course includes lectures, discussions, case studies and guest speakers. Major assignments will include development projects related to organization, participation, and succession in your family business. To enroll, your family must be involved in a business. In addition, you need to have parents or other significant family members either audit the course or be involved in course assignments. If your family member(s) cannot physically attend the class, we encourage their involvement through readings and weekly communication with you.
Students who previously had other family members join them in this course had this to say:
“Every aspect about the course was excellent. This course helped foster discussions with the family that should have occurred long ago.”
“I have taken nine courses in my MBA so far, and this has been the most helpful. Ritch is a great facilitator, and I hope to take future courses from him.”
“Best course I have taken during my entire program, and I graduate next semester.”
The format for this course is so successful that an article featuring the format appeared last fall in Fortune Small Business Magazine.
The Family Business Management Course is designed to promote discussion about the family and the business among family members.
• If you are considering working in the family business, but not sure, you ought to consider the issues raised in this course.
• If you plan to join the family business as an owner or employee, you need the knowledge, approaches, and plans delivered in this course; you will leave with strategies to promote success in your family business career.
This fall, the course will be taught by Dr. Ritch Sorenson, the new Opus Chair in Family Business. Dr. Sorenson is a nationally known expert in family business. He has conducted national surveys, published research, and taught both graduate and undergraduate courses in family business. He was recently described as a “mover” in Pioneer Press: http://www.twincities.com/ci_6390905?source=email
If you have questions, you can reach Dr. Sorenson at 651-962-4252 / rlsorsenson@stthomas.edu or his assistant, Mary West, at 651-962-4185 / mhwest@stthomas.edu
Fall 2008: MGMT714 (CRN # 22915): Strategic Overview of the Health Care System
This course will provide students with an overview of the health care system, including the strategic positioning of providers, suppliers, insurers, and government within the health care system. It will build an understanding of how the customer/patient fits or does not fit into the existing system and define where the health care system is failing or supporting its stakeholders. It will also address the strategic processes necessary to institute change in the health care system.
Fall 2008: ENTR710: Entrepreneurial Business Intensive
This course is a two-semester, 6-credit intensive designed to provide the student with a business development and potential launch experience. The course integrates content from the ENTR 704-Launching a Business and ENTR 702-New Venture Finance courses into the new business development process. The course is designed to best serve the student with a strong passion and desire to develop his or her own business, but can also accommodate the student who still has a strong desire for the launch experience. This student will either work with another team, an entrepreneur from the community, or with an acquisition project.
One of most attractive features of the course is the opportunity for teams ready to seek financing to present their plan to a Board of Advisors who will then determine if funding is warranted via the Norris Institute. These same board members will serve as team mentors. Additionally, there is a separate resource group, professionals from the community, donating their time with legal, accounting, and public relations advice.
Given the intensive, project-based nature of this course, only serious applicants will be considered in the screening process. The application is due June 15, 2008. You can find the application on the Student Life Blackboard community site under "Courses/Curriculum" and "Highlighted Courses."
If you're accepted to this program, you are also required to also enroll in ENTR 703 Venture Marketing during the Fall semester, or to have already completed that course. This class is not open to students who have completed ENTR 702 or 704.
For more information regarding this new course, please contact Dr. Mark Spriggs (mtspriggs@stthomas.edu) or Dr. Alec Johnson (acjohnson@stthomas.edu).
Fall 2008: DSCI650 - Principles of Information Technology Management
What is an MBA worth without IT?
“Virtually everything in business today is an undifferentiated commodity, except how a company manages its information. How you manage information determines whether you win or lose. How you manage information may be the factor that determine its failure or success – or runway success.”
Bill Gates
Welcome to DSCI 650: Principles of Information Technology Management
This course explores the strategic role of information technology in the survival and success of firms in the manufacturing and service sectors. The course combines management and information technology to help you develop an understanding of the issues, both internal and external to the firms that are fundamental to managing information technology as an enduring source of competitive advantage. The course will introduce you to the basic building blocks of information technology, such as hardware, software, and communication technologies that are essential for e-commerce, e-service and virtual manufacturing, as well as, to the state-of-the-art enterprise applications, such as ERP Systems, CRM Systems, APS Systems, Data Warehouse & Business Intelligence, E-Procurement Systems, CPFR Systems, Collaborative Logistics Systems and CPC Systems, that constitute the information technology infrastructure of modern organizations. The course will also provide exposure to the emerging organizational and social issues related to information technology adoption, and to the latest concepts and techniques for managing information technology.
The course is designed to prepare students for leadership positions in global business organizations. Students planning to take leadership positions in functional areas such as finance, marketing, operations, accounting, information systems, human resource management and strategy whose work is affected by the use and/or consequences of information technology will find this course beneficial. The course is particularly suitable for students with an interest in business consulting and/or in general management career.
The course is taught in an interactive setting using case analyses, discussions, lectures, and no prior background in information technology is necessary.
Day Section: Mondays/Wednesdays 1:30 – 3:00 PM
Evening Section: Wednesdays 5:30 - 8:30 PM
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
Professor D. N. Mallick, 651-962-4144 or email: dnmallick@stthomas.edu