future managerial training
INNOVATIVE EXECUTIVE TRAINING FOR THE 21ST CENTURY TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER III. THE PROGRAM: COURSES, ASSESSMENT, AND DELIVERY
INTRODUCTION The writer will delineate some of the skills needed to be an effective manager in this century and will outline a plan for a graduate business program. The writer emphasizes that the following topics cannot be fully addressed because of length limitations, and, as such, she intends to be brief yet concise.
MANAGERIAL SKILLS
THE PROGRAM: COURSES, ASSESSMENT, AND DELIVERY Leadership and Human Resource Management [top] Course Description This course provides a framework for understanding leadership, organizational behavior, and human resource management (HRM) concepts. Topics include: understanding leadership, motivating and communicating with employees, building relationships and mentoring, and human resource strategies for selection, compensation, performance evaluation, and training. Justification: The workforce is changing and managers must know how to lead diverse employees. Assessment and Delivery Methods Assessment elements include exams, written projects, and participation in class exercises. Justification: Exams and projects demonstrate knowledge of theory, while class participation demonstrates the application of knowledge. Delivery elements include some lecture, discussion of case studies, videos, and simulation exercises. Justification: Less lecture and more discussion-oriented face time allows for a more hands-on application of leadership and HRM concepts. Team and Project Management [top] Course Description This course explores the ingredients of successful work teams and identifies the importance of teambuilding and empowerment skills. Topics include: using technology to coordinate projects and teams, understanding teambuilding concepts and managing information flow, sharing authority and managing conflict, and motivating team members to achieve synergy. Justification: Organizations are increasing their use of empowered teams and managers must know how to manage group dynamics. Assessment and Delivery Methods Elements include exams, group written projects, and participation in class exercises. Justification: Exams and group projects demonstrate knowledge of theory and teamwork, while class participation demonstrates the application of knowledge. Delivery elements include some lecture, discussion of case studies, videos, and simulation exercises. Justification: Less lecture and more discussion-oriented face time allows for a more hands-on application of team concepts. Course Description This course integrates concepts from the areas of international business, information technology, human resources, and organizational strategy and structure. Topics include: evaluating risks and opportunities in an emerging economy, transferring knowledge within an organization, identifying the link between global market and multidomestic strategies, and addressing culture ethical dilemmas such as bribery, pay equity, and contradictory attitudes toward human rights. Justification: Global commerce is here to stay and managers must know how to apply multinational business concepts. Assessment and Delivery Methods Elements include exams, written projects, and participation in class exercises. Justification: Exams and projects demonstrate knowledge of theory, while class participation demonstrates the application of knowledge. Delivery elements include some lecture, discussion of case studies, videos, and simulation exercises. Justification: Less lecture and more discussion-oriented face time allows for a more hands-on application of global management concepts. Strategy and Problem-Solving [top] Course Description This course examines the skills needed to formulate strategy, solve problems, and make decisions. Topics include: building a competitive advantage, balancing opportunities and risks, building critical thinking skills, evaluating strategic organizational positioning, and using support systems and artificial intelligence to assist in decision-making. Justification: Product life cycles are getting shorter and managers must know how to strategize to remain competitive. Assessment and Delivery Methods Elements include exams, an in-depth written analysis of an industry’s competitors, and participation in class exercises. Justification: Exams demonstrate knowledge of theory, while the analysis and class participation demonstrates the application of knowledge. Delivery elements include some lecture, discussion of case studies, videos, and simulation exercises. Justification: Less lecture and more discussion-oriented face time allows for a more hands-on application of strategic and problem-solving concepts. Course Description This course examines the importance of managing through relationships and identifies the ingredients of an ethical organizational culture. Topics include: developing effective communication and interpersonal skills, motivating employees to live by their values and behave ethically, evaluating social and ethical affects of organizational decisions, and developing facilitation and conflict resolution skills. Justification: The need for ethical business practices is great and managers must know how to build relationships and behave ethically. Assessment and Delivery Methods Elements include exams, group written projects, and participation in class exercises. Justification: Exams and group projects demonstrate knowledge of theory and teamwork, while class participation demonstrates the application of knowledge. Delivery elements include some lecture, discussion of case studies, videos, and simulation exercises. Justification: Less lecture and more discussion-oriented face time allows for a more hands-on application of relationship concepts. Technology and Virtual Management [top] Course Description This course identifies the technological skills that managers need to remain competitive and also focuses on the managerial and communication skills needed to organize and motivate telecommuters and satellite office workers. Topics include: understanding computer networks and the Internet, communicating through email and videoconferencing, using groupware to facilitate team projects, and motivating remote workers. Justification: The number of telecommuters is growing and managers must know how to motivate and manage remote workers. Assessment and Delivery Methods Elements include exams, written projects, and participation in class exercises. Justification: Exams and projects demonstrate knowledge of theory, while class participation demonstrates the application of knowledge. Delivery elements include some lecture, discussion of case studies, videos, and simulation exercises. Justification: Less lecture and more discussion-oriented face time allows for a more hands-on application of technology and virtual management concepts. Course Description This course explores the challenges of managing planned change and explores the practical methods of building organizations that simultaneously stimulate incremental and radical innovation. Topics include: understanding the importance of strategic change and action plans, building interpersonal skills to implement change, understanding the role of organizational structure and culture in change management, and identifying successful top management behaviors. Justification: Product life cycles are getting shorter and managers must know how to create and manage change to support innovation. Assessment and Delivery Methods Elements include exams, written projects, and participation in class exercises. Justification: Exams and projects demonstrate knowledge of theory, while class participation demonstrates the application of knowledge. Delivery elements include some lecture, discussion of case studies, videos, and simulation exercises. Justification: Less lecture and more discussion-oriented face time allows for a more hands-on application of change management concepts. Course Description This course provides a broad overview of specific entrepreneurial issues with a strong implementation focus to help students identify the correlation between opportunity and action. Topics include: obtaining necessary startup resources, converting technical expertise to successful business management, writing a business plan and marketing strategy, and identifying potential entrepreneurial pitfalls. Justification: The number of small business startups is growing and managers must know how to take advantage of entrepreneurial opportunities. Assessment and Delivery Methods Elements include exams, written projects, and participation in class exercises. Justification: Exams and projects demonstrate knowledge of theory, while class participation demonstrates the application of knowledge. Delivery elements include some lecture, discussion of case studies, in-class visits with guest entrepreneurs, videos, background readings, and simulation exercises. Justification: Less lecture and more discussion-oriented face time allows for a more hands-on application of entrepreneurial concepts. Course Description This course encompasses both semesters of the second year. Students contribute $125 to a starting budget and work in groups of four. Using the $500 budget they must identify a market niche on campus, develop a business plan and strategy, implement the strategy, and manage all aspects of the business. Team members determine individual management roles. Successful past projects have included a used textbook exchange service and a smoothie station in the student center. Justification: The business world is picking up its pace and managers must know how to quickly convert knowledge to practice. Assessment and Delivery Methods Elements include a written business plan and an in-depth final presentation of the business. Justification: Developing and operating the business demonstrate both knowledge of theory and application of knowledge. Delivery elements include minimal face time, many question and answer sessions, and discussion of management case studies. Justification: The hands-on nature of the course eliminates the need for lecture and focuses more on the application of learned concepts. Manager-in-Training Mentorship / Thesis [top] Course Description This course provides an opportunity to apply management skills in a work situation. A mentorship may be conducted at any organization as long as the following guidelines are met: 1) the mentor must have a master’s degree, 2) the mentor must have at least 8 years management experience, and 3) the mentor must not be the student’s current boss. Students with more than five years of work experience may prepare a thesis project in lieu of the mentorship, selected from a wide range of topics and subject to approval. Justification: The mentorship provides young managers with needed experience while the thesis allows those with management experience to research a topic of specific interest. Assessment and Delivery Methods Elements include a comprehensive exam and either a final written summary of the mentorship or a thesis. Justification: Exams demonstrate knowledge of management concepts, while the thesis or final paper demonstrates the application of knowledge. Delivery elements include on-site work or research time. Justification: The students will either be working, studying for the exam, or writing a thesis or final paper.
CONCLUSION The writer has gained an increased appreciation for business school leaders as a result of this paper. She realizes more fully the difficulty of selecting only a few courses for an MBA program when there is so much that managers need to know in order to be successful. She has found it difficult to limit this plan to ten courses and has chosen to approach the program from an executive viewpoint, decreasing traditional lecture delivery methods and increasing case study discussions and guest executive visits. http://www.amanet.org/research/pdfs/mang_skil_comp.pdf. Retrieved April 24, 2001. http://www.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~ditomaso/div1_4/sld008.htm. Retrieved April 24, 2001. http://www.gbs.stanford.edu/mba. Retrieved April 24, 2001. http://www.hbs.edu/mba. Retrieved April 24, 2001. http://www.managementconcepts.com/scripts/mcibrowse.asp?Catalog=MT. Retrieved April 24, 2001. http://www.onlinewbc.org/docs/manage. Retrieved April 24, 2001. Jones, G., George, J., and Hill, C. Contemporary management. Boston: Irwin McGraw-Hill, 1998. Slater, R. Jack Welch and the GE way. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1999. |