Classes:
Instructor:
Mary Runté
Office:
Phone: 329-2367
Email: mary.runte@uleth.ca
Office hours: TBA or by appointment
Wednesdays 9:00-1200
Our management schools have done an admirable job of training the organization’s specialists – management scientists, marketing researchers, accountants and organizational development specialists. But for the most part they have not trained managers. Management schools will begin the serious training of managers when skills training takes a serious place next to cognitive learning. Minzberg, 1975, p61
The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. Albert Einstein
Although the analytical and quantitative skills emphasized by functional disciplines remain an important component of management education, the development of interpersonal and personal skills, such as self-awareness, communication skills, and presentation skills, are increasingly critical to a manager’s success regardless of one’s technical specialization.
The goal of this course is to provide current and future managers with a set of skills vital to success in a dynamic and diverse business environment.
Hunsaker, Phillip L. (1 st
edition) Training in Management Skills
Lewis, CT; Garcia, JE; Bourdreau, RA. Io Enterprises A Microcomputer
Simulation. 1994, Dryden Press. On reserve in the library.
A. Assessment Weightings
Individual Assignments (4x7.5%):
Individual skill applications (2x 10%):
Team/individual Io Quizzes (4x7.5%):
Team Presentation:
30%
20%
30%
20%

B. Conversion Scale
Final student grades will be based on a composite of the delineated weightings. The schedule for grade conversion is as follows:
A+ 95-100 A 90-94 A- 86-89
B+ 82-85
C+ 70-73
D+ 58-61
B
C
D
78-81
66-69
50-57
B-
C-
F
74-77
62-65
00-49
C. Assignments
Assignments will be graded on a variety of criteria. Detailed criteria, in addition to that presented herein, may be distributed and/or discussed in class.
Students are responsible for ensuring that they receive such material should they be absent when the criteria are distributed and/or discussed.
Students should note that quality of writing is a key management skill. The inability to communicate effectively will seriously compromise one’s grade in two ways. Firstly, points will be awarded for grammar, clarity and spelling.
Secondly, it is important to remember that if I can’t understand what you are trying to say, you obviously will not receive credit for the idea you were trying to express. Please proofread and spell-check your assignments carefully.
All assignments (with the exception of the Most Important Skill exercise) must be typed. Late assignments for individual assignments (with the exception of The Most Important Skill exercise) will be accepted ONLY by prior arrangement with the course instructor. Very time limited extensions will be granted at the discretion of the instructor and only for verifiable and unforeseeable causes. Students are responsible for contacting the instructor
(by email or phone) at least 12 hours prior to class time (e.g. 9:00 pm on
Thursday for an assignment due 9:00 am on Friday). Email will be checked and, baring exceptional circumstances, calls will be returned by 10:00 pm on the evening prior to class. (Voice mail is only checked during scheduled office hours.) Students must not assume that an extension has been granted until they have received verbal or email confirmation from the instructor. It is the students’ responsibility to ensure that such confirmation is received.
Outstanding assignments will NOT be accepted after the other students’ completed assignments are returned and a grade of zero will be assigned in such circumstance. Assignments are due at the start of the class period (eg
9:00 am). Late assignments (without authorized extension) will receive a grade of zero. Assignments handed in after the start of the class period are considered late.
A. Individual Assignments
1) Interview: What does it take to be an effective manager?

Conduct an interview with a manager using the guidelines provided in class. There will be two parts to this assignment.
Part One: Results of the interview: What did you learn about managerial skills during this interview? Discuss, referencing class discussion, the text and personal career/educational experience.
Part Two: Discuss the actual experience of conducting an interview referencing the class handouts and course notes. What techniques did you use? Did they work? Why? Why not? What would you do differently?
What did you learn about interviewing as a skill and your strengths/limitations in this regard?
2) Self-assessment exercises
Complete the series of self-assessment exercises (SAQs) from Chapter 2 in your text and the Tolerance of Ambiguity Test (provided by the instructor) and score them them using the keys provided.
Part One- Scores: Scores for each of the tests must be handed in one week before the due date for the assignment. This data will be used (in aggregate form) to provide comparison data for the analysis section.
Part Two- Analysis: In addition to including a copy of your scores, you should include a summary interpreting your personal results, comparing them to standards/class aggregate data and discussing the implications of your assessment. Students will be graded both on completion of all the required instruments and on the depth of self-reflection evidenced in the summary.
3) Monitoring and Managing Time
Complete the “Monitoring and Managing Time” skill exercise to be provided to the class. You are required to hand in both your time log as well as your plans for action. Please note that this assignment requires that you monitor your activities over the course of an entire week.
4) The Most Important Skill…
During the first class period students will be asked to write a brief (1-2 page) treatise identifying the one management skill they think is the most important skill for a successful manager to possess. These papers will not be graded. The instructor will retain these documents until the second last week of the term when they will be returned to the individual students to serve as a source document for the graded assignment.
Students will write a brief (2-4 page) paper readdressing the question:
What is the most important management skill for a successful manager to possess? Students will be expected to reference their original position (as presented in the opinion paper handed in to the instructor during the first class). Did their opinion change or was it confirmed? Why or why not?
Students will reference the text, class discussions, management skill applications and any other relevant sources ensuring that the relative

importance of the skill that they identify is compared and contrasted to at least three other skills presented in the course or the text in order to show how this skill (or group of skills) provides the structure necessary for other management skills to be maximized or to be effective.
Note: this exercise is done as an in-class exercise on the last day of class.
Attendance is therefore mandatory and absent students will receive zero on this assignment. No late assignments will be accepted.
B.
Individual Skills Applications (2 separately submitted papers):
PURPOSE: The purpose of this assignment is to give you the opportunity to practice, develop and demonstrate your knowledge, skills and understanding of specific management skills in a real-world context.
CONTEXT: You have just secured a management position at Skills Inc.
Although you are very grateful to have secured such a position, you are finding that your new position in management is proving to be very challenging. After reflecting on your progress to date, you and your boss have identified two management skills that you need to develop.
METHOD:
A.
Choose TWO (2) management skills as described in your text or course outline that you would like to focus on this term. Choose those skills that you would seriously like to explore and improve upon and skills that you think will be most useful to you in your chosen career.
You may want to peruse the text to learn a little about each skill area before you make your decision.
B. For EACH SKILL identified you will write a separate paper meeting the following criteria:
Complete AT LEAST EXTENSIVE ONE skill application activity.
Students may complete application exercises provided by the instructor during the second class period or may develop their own skill applications for chapters with the permission of the course instructor and by including a detailed outline of the application exercise with the proposal.
Use the following guide for each skill application:
1.
Write down two or three aspects of this skill that are most important to you. These may be areas of weakness, areas you most want to improve, or areas that are most salient to a problem you face right now. The Self-
Assessment Exercises at the start of the chapters may help you identify skills needing development. Identify the specific aspects of this skill that you want to develop. From this, develop your learning objective(s) for the particular skill application. Why do you want to complete an application on this topic? Why do feel that this skill is relevant to you and your career

or to your life right now? Describe what will you do to accomplish your learning objectives and to develop and practice the skill.
2.
Specifically describe in detail the application exercise that you will complete. Establish a plan for performance by actually writing down the situation. Who else will be involved? When will you do it? Where will it be done? Over what period of time will you practice the skill? Identify the specific behaviours you will engage in to apply this skill. The
Behavioural Checklist near the end of each chapter will serve as a guide.
3.
How will you measure your success in accomplishing the learning objective(s)? What are the indicators of successful performance? What will indicate you have performed competently?
Points 1-3 will be submitted as a proposal to the Instructor by Week 3 (see
Section C- Proposal) AND are also to be included in the final paper.
4.
Implement the application. Note: This may take you several weeks. Keep a detailed progress log of your performance. On a regular basis (at least twice per week) write down what you have done and what works and what does not. Reflect on your actions, behaviours and feelings. Your log does not have to be typed. It should be used as the basis for your analysis and critical evaluation of your application.
5.
Record and analyze the results of the application. What happened? What worked? What did not? Why? How can you improve? What would you do differently if you were to do it again? What would you do differently in a similar situation in the future? Re-do the relevant assessment exercises to identify any improvement.
6.
What was accomplished? What did you learn? In what ways might this experience help you in the long term? Where do you go from here? What will you do to continue developing this skill?
NOTE: Completing a skill application takes time. It cannot be completed the night before it is due. You should start both applications near the beginning of the term so that you have time to implement the plan and complete a thorough analysis of the results.
C. Proposal: You must email to me on or before Week 3 a brief proposal outlining the skills that you have chosen to do your applications on and your plan for carrying out your application. The proposal for each skill application will be 1-2 pages and may be in point form. You must also indicate the days when you will be handing in your completed applications. Be sure to choose dates that provide you with enough time to develop the skills you have chosen. The proposal will not be graded, although comments will be provided that will aid the student in developing a workable plan.

D. Assignment
These are formal papers. Each paper is to be typed and double-spaced.
(Note that much of your proposal will also be integrated into the paper.)
Criteria for Grading Will Include:
1.
Clarity and specificity of statement of learning objective(s) and implementation plan.
2.
Clarity and specificity of statement of criteria for measurement.
3.
Depth of personal commentary. Depth and completeness of your progress log. (Log doesn’t need to be typed and may be in point form.)
4.
Depth of critical analysis of your skill level and progress.
5.
Effort and Scope of the application and analysis.
6.
Written Composition. Was the paper well organized and readable?
Were there few errors in spelling and grammar? Was the application neat and did it appear professional?
The overall organization of your paper is extremely important in determining how easy your paper is to read. I strongly encourage you to use headings where appropriate, introductory topical sentences at the beginning of each paragraph, and summaries where appropriate.
These factors not only make your paper much easier to read, but also aid you as a writer in presenting your ideas in a coherent and persuasive manner.
The instructor will assign teams for presentation and Io activities during the second week of classes. Students will submit a team contract, signed by all team members, to the instructor by the fourth week of class outlining the following parameters.

Group name

Tentative meeting schedule and protocol for subsequent scheduling

Performance expectations of all team members including participation in activities, attendance at meetings out of class time, preparation for quizzes etc.

Protocol for addressing “breach of contract” and criteria for peer evaluation
Io Quizzes:
There will be four individual and four team quizzes over the course of the semester. Students will be responsible for the assigned readings (text and supplementary materials whether reviewed in class or not), class discussions, presentations and videos. All quizzes are cumulative and will also include material assigned for the day of the quiz. All quizzes will be completed and

graded individually and then the same quiz will be retaken (and graded) as a team.
If a student misses a quiz, s/he will receive a grade of zero for the individual portion of the quiz. Unless otherwise specified in the group contract, students absent from quizzes will also receive a zero on the group portion of the quiz grade. If the group establishes provisions for absence from group tests in their group contract, the professor must receive, by email, a memo authorizing (or declining to authorize) the awarding of the group grade within one week of the test that was missed.
Team Presentations:
In order to minimize the amount of research that you need to do, so that you can focus your efforts on developing your presentation skills, each team will be given an article that they can use as the basis for their presentation.
Each team will sign up for a presentation date during the second class period.
Presentations must be 30 minutes; this includes 5 - 10 minutes for questions from the class. All team members must present; absent team members will receive a grade of zero.
Teams must have a final presentation feedback session with the instructor after the formal presentation. All team members must be present at this meeting. Students that are absent from this meeting will have 10% deducted from their presentation grade (for example, if your group received a grade of
90% on the presentation, your individual grade would be 90-9=81.)
Attendance at all group presentations is mandatory (not just the one when your group is presenting.) It is important that you show respect to your colleagues/classmates by attending their presentations. Attendance for these sessions will be excused only for documented medical reasons, for emergencies or by prior arrangement. Attendance will be taken both at the beginning and end of these class periods; students must be in the class at the beginning and at the end of class for the attendance to be recorded. Unexcused absences will be penalized as follows: Students will lose 10 points of their possible group presentation grade of 100% for each absence to a maximum of
40 points. For example a student who would have received a grade of 90 on the presentation (after peer and instructor evaluation including penalties for absence from review session), but was absent from 3 presentation days will receive a grade of 60 (90-30).

Team presentations will be graded on a variety of criteria. These will be distributed later in the course.
Peer Evaluation:
Groups will develop a team contract. Students may elect to have a peer evaluation component of their contract. Students’ marks on the presentation may be adjusted on the basis of peer evaluations in accordance to the team contract.
WEEK READINGS
1 Chapter 1
2
3
ACTIVITIES/TOPIC
Introduction to course, overview of course outline
Group formation
Self Assessment Scores Due
Individual Skill Topics Due
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Chapter 12 Teams
Chapter 5: Ethics
Handout: Interview skills
(also see Hunsaker, pages 272-274)
Chapter 2: Self awareness
Chapter 4: Valuing diversity
Io Enterprises – entire book (excluding appendices)
Appendix A
Effective presentations
Chapter 6
Managing Time and Stress
Chapter 9 & Handout
Creative Problem Solving
Teams dynamics revisited- reread Chapter 12
Group contract due
Self Assessment Assignment Due
Manager Interview Due
Introduction to Io
Win as much as you can
IO Quiz 1
Time log assignment due
Team Presentations A & B
Io Quiz 2
Team Presentations C & D
Team Presentations E & F
11
12
13
Chapter 3, 17
Interpersonal Communication/
Developing subordinates
Communication continued…
Chapter 18: Managing Conflict
Chapter 13, 14:
Organizational culture and Building a power base (selected readings from these chapters)
Wrap up
Io Quiz 3
Team Presentations G & H
Io Quiz 4
“The most important” assignment