MGT 401
Management Skills and Practice
Fall II 2007
INSTRUCTOR:
Dr. Edward N. Balli
PHONE:
1-815-501-0175
EMAIL:
eballi@cnw.stu.argosy.edu
edballi@tbc.net
FAX:
ALT PHONE:
REQUIRED TEXTS:
Title
Author(s)
Copyright
Publisher
ISBN
Edition
Understanding Management
Daft, Richard L. & Marcic, Dorothy
(2006)
South-Western College
0324405715
5th
This Course Requires the Purchase of a Course Packet:
YES
NO
1
Argosy University
COURSE SYLLABUS
MGT401
Management Skills and Practice
Faculty Information
Faculty Name: Dr. Edward N. Balli
Campus: Chicago
Contact Information: 1-815-501-0175
E-Mail: eballi@cnw.stu.argosy.edu
E-Mail: edballi@tbc.net
Office Hours: 5:00 to 6:00 PM Wednesday
Short Faculty Bio: Edward N. Balli is a partner in Financial and Managerial Solutions in Dekalb, Illinois. I will earn my Doctored in
Business Administration in Accounting with a minor in MIS from Argosy University in August 2007. My experience is in working
with small to medium size private and public firms in the Midwest with accounting and information systems. The recommendations
may include a complete audit of the operations to recommendations of proposed application software, telecommunications, and
hardware. I have over 25 years of experience. I have taught part time for over 12 years at Aurora University in business courses.
I am a member of American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA); Information Systems Audit and Control Association
(ISACA); Certified Internal Auditor (CIA); Special Interest Group on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (SIGKDD); and
Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM); and Illinois CPA Society (ICPAS).
Course description:
Current and significant issues in management are examined. Students will examine the formal and informal functions of
organizations, as well as basic management theories and principles associated with current business practices.
Course Pre-requisites: None
2
Required Textbook:
Daft, Richard L. & Marcic, Dorothy. (2006). Understanding Management. (5/e) South-Western College. ISBN: 0324405715
Technology: Pentium III CPU/ Windows 98; 128MB RAM printer; Microsoft Office; Adobe Acrobat Reader (full version); Microsoft
Internet Explorer 5.5 (PC) 5.0 (MAC) or Netscape Navigator 4.08; Norton Antivirus.
Course length: 7.5 Weeks
Contact Hours: 45 Hours
Credit Value: 3.0
Program Outcomes:
1. Communication
1.1 Communicate business concepts effectively, both written and orally appropriate to the audience
2. Team
2.1 Define the attributes of an effective team member and leader and the characteristics of an effective team in reaching specific
business goals
3. Cognitive
3.1 Problem Solving – Given a business problem, select and defend a business solution chosen from specific alternatives
3.2 Information Literacy – Given a business research question, access information from a variety of sources, select appropriate
sources to respond to a business question
4. Analysis/Application
4.1 Integration – Describe the interrelationship of the functional business areas of statistics, accounting, operations, finance,
marketing, and strategy
5. Ethics/Diversity
5.1 Diversity – Identify the issues and challenges related to diversity in current business organizations
5.2 Ethics – Identify the issues and challenges related to ethics in current business organizations
3
Course Objectives:
1. Change: Work individually and in teams to gather information to manage organizational change in today’s global
environment. (Program Outcomes 2, 3, 4 & 7)
a) Describe & understand the transition to the new workplace and the competencies needed to deal with diversity,
globalization and rapid change.
b) Identify & interpret the different types of change and the change process associated with each type.
c) Identify external and internal forces for change, and the role of change agents.
d) Understand resistance to change and utilize techniques to overcome it.
2. Organizational behavior and communication: Work individually and in teams to gather information to apply organizational
behavior principles and techniques to communicate effectively. (Program Outcomes 1, 2 & 4)
a) Define corporate culture and understand how it relates to the environment.
b) Explain the role of human resource management and describe how organizations develop an effective workforce through
training and development.
c) Identify the need for, and methods of achieving changes in corporate culture.
d) Recognize the difference between formal and informal organizational communication and the importance of each in
effective management.
e) Demonstrate the communication process and methods; understand barriers to effective communication and the techniques
to overcome these barriers.
3. Leading: Work individually and in teams to gather information to manage using an effective and ethical leadership style.
(Program Outcomes 2, 3, 4 & 6)
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
Define ethics and describe how individual and organizational factors shape ethical decision-making.
Describe corporate social responsibility and how to evaluate it.
Classify the five components of emotional intelligence and explain why they are important for managers.
Analyze leadership and identify personal characteristics associated with effective leaders.
Identify the sources of power and how each causes different subordinate behavior.
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f) Demonstrate an understanding of motivation and of the difference between current approaches and traditional approaches.
4. Planning: Work individually and in teams to gather information to conduct a SWOT analysis to determine appropriate mission
and goals for the organization. (Program Outcomes 2, 3, 4 & 5)
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
Define organizational mission and demonstrate how it influences goal setting and planning.
Describe the characteristics of effective goals.
Explain the importance of the three stages of crisis management planning.
Discuss strategic planning and employ SWOT analysis.
Identify the six steps used in managerial decision-making.
Distinguish between the four personal decision-making styles used by managers.
Define techniques for improving decision-making in the current work environment.
Summarize the importance of using information technology in business and the need for quality information.
5. Organizing: Work individually and in teams to gather information to participate in organizational design and restructuring.
(Program Outcomes 2, 3, 4, 7 & 5)
a) Manipulate components of organizational structure such as specialization, chain of command, centralization and
decentralization, span of control, and line and staff functions.
b) Describe the mechanisms for achieving coordination.
c) Identify the different types of teams and the roles within teams.
d) Discuss how teams facilitate employee involvement.
e) Recognize the stages of team development.
f) Explain the relationship between team cohesiveness, norms, and performance.
g) Recognize causes of conflict and ways to reduce it.
6. Controlling: Work individually and in teams to gather information to implement control systems that will support
organizational goals. (Program Outcomes 2, 3 & 4)
a) Describe the four step control process and its importance to an organization.
b) Identify the qualities of an effective control system and identify contingency factors.
c) Define productivity and discuss the reasons for, and the methods of, productivity improvement.
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d) Describe the concept of quality management and the techniques used to achieve it.
7. Solutions Focused Plan: Work individually and in teams to develop a solutions focused plan to manage the timely and
effective implementation of problem solutions. (Program Outcomes 1-7)
a) Systematically evaluate solutions for relevancy to all stakeholders.
b) Apply methods to compare actual outcome with desired outcome.
c) Develop method to monitor and adjust solutions to ensure their effectiveness over time.
Assignment Table
1
Topics
Readings
* The managerial
Chapters 1 & 7
role
* Different functions
in management
Assignments
Discussion Questions:
1. On the basis of your readings what do you think are the two most difficult
responsibilities of a manager and the two most important characteristics that a
manager should possess to manage these responsibilities? Do you think that
managers can be trained to develop these characteristics or do they need to be
born with them? Are managers born not made? Explain your answer.
2. Management techniques have undergone many radical changes in the past few
decades. If the techniques of the past are applied by management today, they will
result in a catastrophic failure. Do you agree with this statement? Explain why.
Can you think of any industries in which old-fashioned management techniques
would still work? List at least two industries in which old-fashioned
management techniques will not make much of a difference. If you can't identify
any industry where such old fashioned techniques can work, identify two
industries, which cannot survive if such techniques were applied to them.
Explain your answer.
3. Sears is a company that started off as a firm selling merchandise entirely through
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a well-stocked catalog. Ford started with the intent of delivering mass-produced
cars that were affordable for the average person. Thomas Edison, the inventor,
set up General Electric to supply electricity. There are many such firms, which
have grown from humble beginnings. What according to you are the three most
important reasons that have led to their growth and changes in their profiles?
Substantiate your views with examples.
Do you think that it is easier now for an individual who has a bright idea, to
make it big, than it was for some one who was born in the pre-world war era?
Give an example to support your views.
4. Some of the firms that exist today came into being in the last 20 to 25 years. This
is especially true of the companies that do business primarily over the Internet
and those that are based on the IT revolution such as Microsoft. Choose one such
company and research the ways in which the management techniques used by
the company are similar to practices used 40 or 50 years ago. Also identify the
new management techniques used by this company that did not exist 40 or 50
years ago.
5. “There is nothing new in management, only new clothes for old ideas.” Evaluate
this statement, showing ways in which it might be correct and ways in which it
may be incorrect. Make sure to provide examples to back your arguments, and to
be as comprehensive as possible in your analysis.
Assignments:
1. Interview a manager in an organization. As part of the interview, include the
following questions. Be sure to take his/her permission and make notes or
record the conversation so that you can refer to it later to complete the
assignment:
7

What are the most important characteristics required of a manager?

What are the things you find most interesting about management?

Do you like making decisions as a manager? Would you rather make
decisions by yourself, or as a group with those you supervise? Why?

In your experience what are the most difficult aspects of being a manager?

Do you have to delegate responsibility? Do you like to delegate
responsibility? What are some of the difficulties you face while trying to
delegate responsibility?

Have there been any changes in the role of a manager in the last five
years? If so what factors do you think have caused these changes?

How has changing technology affected the way you manage?

How has globalization affected you as a manager?
Create an executive summary of your research.
Final Project Assignment:
Creating a Strategic Plan for an Organization's Growth with a Time Horizon of 5
Years
This project will help in developing your ability to analyze and plan the development of
organizational goals. This will also help you engage in environmental assessment.
Following are the main activities that you will carry out for this project.
8

Create a mission statement for the organization.

Carry out a situational analysis in terms of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities
and threats using the template provided. A synopsis about SWOT is provided
below.

Develop organizational goals.

Develop plans to achieve the goals at a strategic level.

Identify controls to help you monitor your progress towards the goals.
Submit the completed strategic plan for an organization with a time horizon of 5 years
SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis as a tool can be used to analyze anything from a product to an
organization to the individuals. This analysis can be used to design a strategy to achieve
objectives. For example you can do your own SWOT analysis to device a strategy for
career planning.
The SWOT analysis consists of analyzing the strengths(S) and weaknesses (W) of the
object which is to be analyzed; and the opportunities (O) and threats (T) that the
environment poses to that object.
The O and T part of SWOT is also called environment scan. For example if you want to
become a successful insurance salesman, then being an extrovert and having good oral
communication skills can be your strength while impatience could be a weakness.
Growing future uncertainty in the business environment could be an opportunity while
increased competition could be a potential threat.
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The strength and weakness coupled with the environment scan of the opportunity and
threat would lead to developing the strategy. For example you can utilize your strengths
in the sales pitch while learning to control impatience because in sales you need to
maintain your cool and be persistent.
Similarly using the environment scan you can determine that the insurance sector is
bound to grow with new type of risks coming in the form of terrorist attacks or computer
hacking. You can also identify the threats of increased competition and manage them by
specializing in a particular type of insurance where the competition is limited.
You can also reference the following sites for more information about SWOT:
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_05.htm
http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_swot_analysis.html
http://www.marketingprofs.com/print.asp?source=%2F3%2Fkyle1%2Easp
2
Decision Making
 Manager decision
making
 Group decision
making
 Ethics in business
Chapter 6
http://businessmajors.about.com/cs/casestudyhelp/a/SWOT.htm
Assignments:
1. In Week 1 you examined the various changes that have taken place in the
management function. Given your readings this week and your research on
organizational management techniques last week, describe and explain how the
conditions, under which decisions are made, have changed for managers in the
last thirty years. Are more decisions today likely to be programmed or nonprogrammed? Explain your answer with appropriate examples.
2. For the three companies listed below, find the statements of ethics/social
responsibility and conduct published by them. Compare and contrast the
statements of ethics and social responsibility of the three companies. According
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to you which of the three statements is the most ideal one? Give reasons to
support your selection. Draw up an ideal statement of ethical and socially
responsible business practices for an organization of your choosing. Why do you
think your statement is ideal? Substantiate your views by providing relevant
examples.
3


Environmental
scanning
Environmental
planning
Chapters 3 & 5
o
Starbucks Coffee
http://starbucks.co.uk/en-GB/_Social+Responsibility
o
Johnson & Johnson
http://www.jnj.com/our_company/fast_facts/social_and_environmental_r
esponsibility.htm
o
Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream
http://www.benjerry.com
Assume that you are the owner-driver of a truck, which transports vegetables overnight
from the farmers in Florida to the markets in Atlanta. On the way back you haul
whatever goods need transporting in the opposite direction. You have five employees in
your office located in Atlanta. Clearly identify all the necessary functions that you'll
have to carry out in order to insure smooth delivery. Explain the most important
planning, organizing, leading, and controlling functions that you apply in running your
operation and list the corresponding activities. What is the most important customer
benefit that you would like to focus on?
Discussion Questions:
1. Three companies that declared bankruptcy during the last ten years are listed
below. Choose one of these and find information about the company on the
Internet. Clearly identify the main failures of planning and/or environmental
scanning, and analysis that gave rise to the situation, which caused the company
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to declare bankruptcy. In hindsight what might they have done differently?
o
o
o
Enron
United Airlines
Kmart
2. Imagine that you are Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, and that you are
constantly engaged in environmental scanning as part of the planning process.
Explain briefly how you would go about doing it. Can you keep track of all
aspects of the environment? If not what aspects will you focus on and why? How
might Bill Gates use benchmarking as a tool for improvement even though he is
in an organization that is a recognized leader in the industry? Be sure to research
and cite sources to support your statements.
Assignments:
1. Environmental Uncertainty
With the help of the Internet resources research a company or an organization
such as Microsoft, GE, General Motors or NASA and identify three sources of
environmental uncertainty for the organization. In your findings be sure to
indicate recent events that have impacted the uncertainty faced by organizations
in general, and your chosen organization in particular. What actions has your
organization taken to counter the uncertainty?
Create an executive summary of your research.
2. Environment Study and Decision-making
Choose a well-known company and analyze its environment by applying
Porter's model of the five forces of competition using the template provided.
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Also analyze the macro and competitive environments faced by the company.
Given your findings, what decisions would you recommend that the company
take in its strategic plan for the next five years and why? Which of these
decisions are programmed and which are non-programmed for the company?
Explain your answer.
How could the company go about hastening the conversion of the nonprogrammed decisions into programmed decisions?
Final Project Assignment:
Benchmarking and SWOT analysis
Your project entails the creation of a strategic level plan for an organization chosen by
you. Choose an organization for your Final Project. Study your environment and use one
of the benchmarking techniques to benchmark your chosen company to the best
companies in the industry. Also scan your environment and list at least two sources of
uncertainty for the organization chosen by you.
Carry out a SWOT analysis for the organization.
4
* The controlling
functions of an
organization
* The organizing
Chapters 5, 6,
7 & 15
Write a report with the above information. Also mention your reasons for choosing the
particular benchmarking technique. Do you feel if you were creating a personal growth
plan, you would use the same benchmarking technique that you used now? Support your
reasons with one example.
Discussion Questions:
1. Identify and discuss the ways in which you use information and computer
technology to carry out the planning, organizing, and controlling functions of
13
and planning
functions of an
organization
management; both in your personal and work life. According to you, which are
the top two activities in your work life that would benefit most if they could be
done using information technology and computers? Give reasons for your
choices.
2. In an ideal scenario, if a company has laid out the organizational objectives very
clearly and has clear strategies for achieving those objectives, there is no need to
identify the controls and implement them in carrying out the strategies. Do you
agree with this statement? Give reasons and examples to support your views.
3. Read the following two scenarios and complete the exercises.
Scenario 1:
Imagine that you are an entrepreneur setting up a plant to manufacture and
market canned soup based on a special secret recipe handed down by your
grandmother. Describe the stages required for making the soup — purchase of
vegetables and other ingredients, washing and cleaning and so on — to the final
stage of canning and packaging.
Next describe and explain the controls that you will put in place to ensure a
successful production.
Scenario 2:
Now imagine that you are an entrepreneur setting up a plant to manufacture heart
valves made from artificial materials. Describe the stages of your production
process — this is likely to be hypothetical to some extent, but use the
information from the Web, together with your imagination to develop an outline
of the process, and then describe and explain the controls you will put in place to
14
insure successful production.
Note: You can read about these inventions in several online articles. Just type in
artificial heart valves into any search engine to locate numerous sources of
information.
Compare and contrast the control systems you put in place for the process in
Scenario 1 and the process in Scenario 2. In general terms what is the span of
control you are likely to have in each case? How much delegation would you
practice in each case? Is the nature of the employee, in terms of skills, and traits
likely to be similar in the two cases? Is the culture of the organization likely to
be the same in the two cases? Explain your answers.
Assignments:
1. Travel Management
Imagine that you and 10 other individuals intend to travel abroad next summer
to a location you have not visited before. Clearly and comprehensively outline
the activities you will need to engage in to have a successful trip.
In doing this task categorize the activities in terms of the planning, organizing,
and leading functions. In addition clearly identify the controls you will put in
place to insure a successful trip. This should include a description of the timing
of the control, the type (feed forward, feedback, concurrent) and the intent of
the control.
2. Organization Structures
Choose two organizations which operate in entirely different markets or
industries. For example Microsoft and General Electric, or NASA and NBC
15
News. Research the organizational structure of the two organizations. You may
need to use information from the organization's publications, news articles from
Business Week or the Wall Street Journal or your University library. Numerous
organizational structures can be accessed directly on the organizations Web site
online. Try entering organizational structure or similar combinations of words
into several search engines and see what results are obtained.
Compare and contrast the organizational structure of the two organizations and
answer the following questions:




How do power and authority appear to be distributed in the organization?
Explain why the organizations have evolved into the structures that they exhibit.
You should take environmental changes, technological changes, regulatory
changes, the goods and services produced, and so on into account for your
explanation.
Analyze some of the advantages and disadvantages of the structure in each case,
given the aims of the organization, the products or services it produces, and the
markets it serves.
Submit your analysis in form of an essay.
1. Article Analysis
The impact of technology on our lives and on the way businesses are run has
been enormous. Indeed we are able to study online because of technological
advances. Select an online article from a reputable source, such as Business
Week, The Economist, the Wall Street Journal, or a research report that
addresses some aspect of the impact of technology on management, and analyze
it. The article should fulfill the following criteria:
16

It should be at least 1500-1700 words long.

It should provide objective opinion and a factual description, preferably
based on quantitative data, instead of forecasting the trends.
The analysis must go beyond a summary of the article and examine some of the
implications of the changes and/or try to predict what future changes might
occur and/or how the change affects aspects such as planning, organizational
structure, control systems, and use of resources.
Submit your analysis in form of a short essay.
Final Project Assignment:
1. Controls
In this assignment you will learn to assess the need for controls, and then apply
your learning to find the most appropriate controls for dealing with a situation.
What types of controls will be most useful for your organization. How will controls
help you reduce uncertainty and risk in your project? List the most important
control that you would like to implement in your organization. Reflect on the
mission statement that you had created for your company. Do you feel that the
mission of a company affects every aspect of planning? Give examples to support
your views.
Write and present a report in the form of a detailed analysis with sufficient and
relevant examples.
2. Organizational Design
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This assignment is meant to provide insight(s) into how Organizational Design
impacts its workforce and image.
Analyze your chosen organization's structure and evaluate it in terms of the
different factors relating to organizational design that have been discussed in the
text and readings, and your own research.




5
Communication
* Communication
within organizations
* Obstacles
* Communication
Optimization
Chapters 9 &
10
Is there anything in the structure that you would like to change? If so what is it,
and why will the change make the company perform better? If not, substantiate
with reasons, why the current structure should not be changed.
While you perform this exercise keep in mind the critical issues that relate to the
company and have an impact on the organizational design.
How does technology help management in your organization? Try to track the
changes that technology has brought about in your organizational design and
structure.
Also identify the role of a manager at two different levels in your organization.
List the manager's responsibilities at each level and compare and contrast them.
(In answering these questions, please keep organizational confidentiality
requirements, if any, in mind and adhere to them.)
Write and present a report in the form of a detailed analysis of your findings.
Discussion Questions:
1. Choose from the following list of cultures, a culture other than your own:
o
o
o
Chinese
Middle-Eastern
Mexican
Use one of the many online sources devoted to other cultures. You can use the
Google search engine to find such sources.
18
You can use the following keywords:
o
o
o
Cross-cultural communication
Cross-cultural communication problems
Business, culture, and communication
A few good links are:
http://www.wwcd.org/action/ampu/crosscult.html
http://www.colorado.edu/conflict/peace/treatment/xcolcomm.htm
http://www.about.com
Assume you are going to set up a collaborative business venture with a company in that
culture. Based on your study write a report comparing and contrasting that culture with
your own. In your analysis identify potential areas where there could be a breakdown in
communications and/or where communication problems could arise. How will these
factors affect your approach to insuring effective communication and what would you
do to insure that communication barriers were managed and communication did not
break down?
Do you think that the way you communicate cross-culturally is also determined by
whether you are the supplier or the customer? Give examples to justify your answer.
Make sure you integrate the concepts and vocabulary covered in the readings from the
text in your responses, whenever appropriate.
2. Describe the communication structure in an organization you are familiar with:
your place of work, a club you belong to, your place of worship, and so on. To
what extent is culture a factor in determining the communication structure and
vice versa? What are some of the communication problems that have occurred in
the organization and what suggestions do you have for modifying the
19
communication structure so that such problems do not arise in future?
Do you think that the workplace culture goes beyond the ethnic heritage of the
company's founders, managers, or employees? Substantiate your views with
examples of at least one company.
3. National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) is a much-admired
organization. However it has also been the subject of close scrutiny after the
Challenger and Columbia space shuttle disasters. Use the Internet to research and
write a report regarding the extent to which communication may have been a
factor in the disasters. Explain your answer. What remedies would you suggest
for improving communication in the organization, based on your research?
4. Effective communication is essential to successful management and leadership
functions. Explain why. Support your answer with clear examples and
vocabulary from the lectures, where appropriate.
5. How does communication in a small group differ from that in a large group? If
you were a senior manager how would you communicate an important message
to your Board of Directors, a relatively small group? If you had to communicate
the same message to the entire organization, how would you do so? Compare
and contrast the methods you have described. What factors did you consider in
deciding on the communication process in each case?
Final Project Assignment:
Communication
In this assignment you will learn the nuances of effective communication.
Assume your company is a global company and has operations all over the world. It
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also has production centers in Thailand and Indonesia. Recommend a communication
policy by researching the communication style(s) of the country or countries you select
for your production center(s) in Thailand and Indonesia, with the do's and don'ts listed
clearly, for internal as well as external communication. How will these
recommendations help the company? What kinds of pitfalls might be expected if you
don't propose the policy?
6
"What motivates
people to
accomplish tasks
effectively and
efficiently in an
organization?"
Chapters 12 &
14
Write a report.
Discussion Questions:
Assume you are faced with the following scenarios. Describe and explain what actions
you will take in each case to motivate those involved. Explain the reasons for your
actions, drawing on relevant concepts, theories, and vocabulary from your readings.
1. Your organization is engaged in cutting-edge research in the pharmaceutical
industry where competitors are racing against each other to release new
drugs in the market.
You are almost ready to launch a new drug when you hear that a rival is on
the verge of releasing a similar drug. What techniques will you use to
motivate your employees to release the drug before the competition? Also
discuss the pros and cons of these techniques.
2. You are the manager of a team of blue-collar workers who work long hours
doing repetitive tasks that require minimal skills. Your duty if to motivate
them to participate actively in a program to find ways to reduce and recycle
waste produced in the department. Propose at least three actions you would
take to insure this is successful. What do you think will be the repercussions
of executing your plan? Suggest the three most important actions that you
would take in the event of such repercussions.
3. You lead a team consisting of highly educated and trained doctors with
21
expertise in highly specialized and unique areas. They all have high
incomes, live in very affluent neighborhoods, and lead luxurious lifestyles.
You receive word from your CEO that the deadline of a big project you
have been working on has been pulled up. It is absolutely necessary that you
to meet regularly over the next three weeks without a break. But
Thanksgiving Day is next week and most of the team has already made
plans to travel. What would you do to motivate the team to stay, be actively
involved in the project, and complete the assignment on schedule?
Substantiate your action plan with reasons.
Assignments:
1. Organizational Structures: Working in Teams
All of us have worked in teams; in our place of work or in a sport we played.
Write an essay of about 400 to 500 words on your experience of working with
teams in your workplace or outside. Identify and explain the advantages and
disadvantages that you experienced while working with the team.
In addition describe and analyze the team-building processes that you and your
teammates implemented. How effective or ineffective were these? Make sure to
integrate relevant concepts and vocabulary from the readings into your analysis.
Analyze your experience of working with a team in your recent project about
organizational culture. Do you think that your experience was a typical example
of a group process? If so why? If not analyze why your experience was different.
Submit your analysis in the form of an essay.
Final Project Assignment:
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Motivation
This assignment focuses on the need and methods of motivation.
Evaluate the different reasons for low employee morale in your organization. If the
morale is not low, find out the different techniques the organization has employed to
keep the morale high. According to you which motivation theory forms the basis of the
organization's Human Resource policies?
Propose your own policy for employee motivation in the organization and give valid
arguments in support of your policy.
Write a report.
7
*Leadership
* The culture of an
organization
* Culture and
Communication
Chapters 10,
13 , 14 & 15
Discussion Questions:
1. You are the leader of a team consisting of highly educated and trained doctors
with expertise in areas that are not easily available. They all have high incomes,
live in very affluent neighborhoods and have a lifestyle to match. You have
received word from your CEO that a big project that you have been working has
had its deadline brought forward. As a result it is absolutely necessary that you to
meet regularly over the next 3 weeks without a break. Unfortunately, the
Thanksgiving weekend is next week, and most of the team members have already
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made plans to travel. Explain what you would do to motivate the team members
to stay, be actively involved in the project and complete the assignment on
schedule. Substantiate your action plan with reasons.
Assignments:
1. Organizational Culture
Once your team is finalized select one of the following companies to research and
analyze an organization in terms of its culture.








Microsoft
PepsiCo
Disney
Johnson & Johnson
Enron
NASA
General Electric
Ford
Use insights from the company's mission statement, statement of ethics, vision
statement, and so on, in addition to other research tools.
Develop an in-depth description of the organization's culture. In addition identify
the mechanisms put in place by the organization to develop its culture, and show
how this is included in the planning process.
Write a five page report in APA format.
2. Leadership Self Assessment
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Many online sources allow you to assess your own style and approach to
leadership. Use several of these to assess your own leadership style. Write a two
page report on your findings and how these fit in with your plans and goals for
yourself.
Final Project Assignment:
1. Leadership Styles
This assignment is meant to provide an insight into different leadership styles and
how they impact an individual's career and the organizational design.
Review the various theories of leadership and the different kinds of leaders and
compare your leadership style to theirs.

Suppose you are a manager. Give views on the kind of leader you are.

Do you think a person's leadership undergoes a change as he/she grows in
an organization? Give reasons to support your answer.

Why do you think some leadership styles work better than others in a given
situation? Give at least one example to illustrate your point.

Assuming leadership styles vary from person to person, is it correct to
assume that certain jobs are better managed by one person than by another?

Do you think psychological tests help determining a person's leadership
style? What are the other measures that can help you determine a person's
leadership style during recruitment?
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Write a report.
8
Human Resources
Management
Chapters 8 & 9
Assignments:
1. Analyzing Company Performance
Choose a well-known organization and research and identify the educational,
social, psychological, and ethical qualities that the organization seeks in its
employees.
What are some of the strategies the company could take to insure that it hires
and retains the type of employee it seeks? In addition research and report on
what the organization is doing to foster ethical behavior and a common value
system among all its employees.
Assume you are the Human Resources Manager in the company. Draft the
contents of an advertisement seeking to hire an employee for a management
position (of your choice) in the organization, to be placed in a prominent
magazine or newspaper.
Use Microsoft Word to submit your response.
Final Project Assignment:
1. Presentation and Executive Summary
Review the various reports that you've submitted so far and consolidate your
plan into a PowerPoint presentation. Also make an Executive Summary of the
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project. There are many sites on the Web which contain guidelines for writing
Executive Summaries. Explore them and choose one that appeals the most to
you. An example of such a Web site can be found at:
http://www.woodsidefund.com/ent/articles/Executive_Summary.html
Your presentation should include the following:

A Mission Statement for the Organization

A Situational Analysis in terms of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities
and Threats

Organizational Goals

Plans to Achieve the Goals at Strategic Level

List of Controls to help you monitor the organization's progress

Communication Policy

Organization Structure and Design

Leadership Styles
Your Executive Summary should be a one-page document, summarizing the
intent, execution, and conclusion of your final project.
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Course Project
Scenario Description
Atlanta Pharmaceutical Company started 15 years ago in Atlanta, Georgia. A small company, it specialized in the manufacture of
products in the field of cardiac medicine. Over the next 10 years the company purchased three additional pharmaceutical
manufacturers, one each in the cities of Chicago (Chicago Pharmaceutical – generic drugs), Boston (Boston Pharmaceutical- (OTC
over the counter drugs)), and Los Angeles (Los Angeles Pharmaceutical- cancer treatments). A holding company called U.S.
Pharmaceuticals was created to oversee the operations. The name was selected to reflect the company’s growing national orientation.
Each subsidiary runs completely autonomously, having its own sales and marketing, operations, finance, research and development,
and human resources departments. The president of each division is also a corporate Vice President in U.S. Pharmaceuticals.
Currently, U.S. Pharmaceuticals is in the final stages of purchasing a pharmaceutical distribution company located in London with
branches in Hong Kong and Buenos Aires. Once the purchase is finalized, the goal is to restructure the four subsidiaries and the newly
acquired company into one organization in order to create efficiencies. It has not been decided what the new structure is but it must
eliminate redundancies in operations and reduce operational expenses while allowing for greater market penetration in the United
States and abroad.
Corporate headquarters is optimistic about the new opportunities resulting from this latest purchase and the pending reorganization.
However, they are aware that the changes may face negative reactions from field employees and managers, especially in light of the
potential downsizing that may occur. It is imperative that the reorganization be well planned and executed. Communication is a key in
the successful development and implementation of the reorganization plan.
Role of Student in Scenario
This reorganization is expected to create new leadership opportunities for talented employees. A select group of employees from
across the organization has been identified for career development. These individuals will play an integral role in the redesign of the
organization. They have been selected to participate in an innovative “mentor led development project”.
Students will be assigned to the Development Team and they will work with these team members throughout the course on tasks that
are presented weekly as issues/problems that the organization needs their input on. The problems/issues will relate directly to the
course material they will be studying each week.
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The project will enable them to capitalize on existing skills while learning new ones and to practice these skills by addressing issues
and problems that arise during the restructuring. Students will “problem solve” issues that arise in the organization’s reorganization
and will conclude their Team work with a plan for implementing solutions to the problems they encounter during the project. The
tasks this “Development Team” will be responsible for are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Creating a new mission statement.
Determining how to keep communication channels open during the restructuring.
Identifying and applying appropriate leadership styles for the transition.
Addressing human resource issues that arise during the transition.
Identifying change factors and the techniques needed to overcome resistance to change.
Identifying the areas of greatest opportunity and identifying areas/departments to eliminate in the newly restructured organization.
Developing guidelines for new compensation package.
Developing a plan for implementing the solutions to the problems.
Note: The attached document contains profiles of the various U.S. Pharmaceutical companies.
Scenario
MGT401.doc
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Grading Criteria
Grading Scale
A
AB+
B
BC+
C
CD+
D
DF
100 – 93
92 – 90
89 – 88
87 – 83
82 – 80
79 – 78
77 – 73
72 – 70
69 – 68
67 – 63
62 – 60
59 and below
Grading requirements
Attendance/participation
Weekly Assignments
Final paper
Optional
25%
20%
45%
10%
100%
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Library:
All resources in Argosy University’s online collection are available through the Internet. The campus librarian will provide students
with links, user IDs, and passwords.
Library Resources: Argosy University’s core online collection features nearly 21,000 full-text journals and 23,000 electronic books
and other content covering all academic subject areas including Business & Economics, Career & General Education, Computers,
Engineering & Applied Science, Humanities, Science, Medicine & Allied Health, and Social & Behavior Sciences. Many titles are
directly accessible through the Online Public Access Catalog at http://library.argosy.edu. Detailed descriptions of online resources are
located at http://library.argosy.edu/misc/onlinedblist.html.
In addition to online resources, Argosy University’s onsite collections contain a wealth of subject-specific research materials
searchable in the Online Public Access Catalog. Catalog searching is easily limited to individual campus collections. Alternatively,
students can search combined collections of all Argosy University Libraries. Students are encouraged to seek research and reference
assistance from campus librarians.
Information Literacy: Argosy University’s Information Literacy Tutorial was developed to teach students fundamental and
transferable research skills. The tutorial consists of five modules where students learn to select sources appropriate for academic-level
research, search periodical indexes and search engines, and evaluate and cite information. In the tutorial, students study concepts and
practice them through interactions. At the conclusion of each module, they can test their comprehension and receive immediate
feedback. Each module takes less than 20 minutes to complete. Please view the tutorial at http://library.argosy.edu/infolit/
Academic Policies
Academic Dishonesty/Plagiarism: In an effort to foster a spirit of honesty and integrity during the learning process, Argosy University
requires that the submission of all course assignments represent the original work produced by that student. All sources must be
documented through normal scholarly references/citations and all work must be submitted using the Publication Manual of the
American Psychological Association, 5th Edition (2001). Washington DC: American Psychological Association (APA) format. Please
refer to Appendix A in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th Edition for thesis and paper format.
Students are encouraged to purchase this manual (required in some courses) and become familiar with its content as well as consult
the Argosy University catalog for further information regarding academic dishonesty and plagiarism.
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Scholarly writing: The faculty at Argosy University is dedicated to providing a learning environment that supports scholarly and
ethical writing, free from academic dishonesty and plagiarism. This includes the proper and appropriate referencing of all sources.
You may be asked to submit your course assignments through “Turnitin,” (www.turnitin.com), an online resource established to help
educators develop writing/research skills and detect potential cases of academic dishonesty. Turnitin compares submitted papers to
billions of pages of content and provides a comparison report to your instructor. This comparison detects papers that share common
information and duplicative language.
Americans with Disabilities Act Policy
It is the policy of Argosy University to make reasonable accommodations for qualified students with disabilities, in accordance with
the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If a student with disabilities needs accommodations, the student must notify the Director
of Student Services. Procedures for documenting student disability and the development of reasonable accommodations will be
provided to the student upon request.
Students will be notified by the Director of Student Services when each request for accommodation is approved or denied in writing
via a designated form. To receive accommodation in class, it is the student’s responsibility to present the form (at his or her
discretion) to the instructor. In an effort to protect student privacy, the Department of Student Services will not discuss the
accommodation needs of any student with instructors. Faculty may not make accommodations for individuals who have not been
approved in this manner.
The Argosy University Statement Regarding Diversity
Argosy University prepares students to serve populations with diverse social, ethnic, economic, and educational experiences. Both the
academic and training curricula are designed to provide an environment in which students can develop the skills and attitudes essential
to working with people from a wide range of backgrounds.
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