"Leadership, unlike any other skill, cannot be broken down into a series of repeatable maneuvers. The creative process
involved in a reaching a goal is infinitely complex."
-Warren Bennis (1925-)
The purpose of this web page is to provide background information for students intending to enroll in my BUS 302 course. Occasionally, it is useful for motivated students to have general resources regarding various courses. This can occur, for example, during the enrollment period or if the textbooks are not ready for purchase by the time class starts.
This course is offered by the College of Business and Economics at California State University,
Northridge (CSUN). CSU Northridge is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The PDF files below require the free Acrobat Reader.
My email address is wayne.smith@csun.edu. For email
sent to me by students, the Subject line should start with "[CSUN Bus302]" (without the quotes) [ example ].
Interested students may learn more about me by reviewing my personal web page.
This is a survey course in the Principles of Business. The emphasis in this course is on the integration of the technical material in the lower division core ("LDC") courses. Additionally, the course will introduct the following important topics-- Business Ethics, Teams, and Strategic Management.
This course builds upon the mastery of the foundational material acquired in the Business lower division core ("LDC") courses-- Statistics, Law, Financial Accounting, Management Accounting, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Computer Science (Infomatics), and Business Writing (Composition).
Although BUS 302 introduces a few new topics, this is no way substitutes for prior knowledge of any key subject area or skill base. For example, good Business Writing (Composition) skills requires good Reading Comprehension skills. Similarly, good Performance Management on difficult business problems requires good Critical Thinking skills. Finally, good Cross-Functional Team performance requires good Emotional Intelligence skills. In BUS 302, students need to good at many "hard" (technical) and "soft" (people) skills--see, for example, The Deming System of Profound Knowlege. For some students, BUS 302 is one of the most challenging courses in the curriculum. A positive attitude, especially in the face of time constraints and inadvertent miscommunication amoung student colleagues, will be a core requisite for success and an above-average grade.
In terms of course deliverables, the student's oral and written communication will emphasize Evidence over Anecdote. Or more germane to a college-course specifically, the student's approach will emphasize Scientific Evidence over Anecdotal Evidence. In terms of classroom interaction, the student's attitude and approach will, at all times, emphasize Active Listening and Constructive Criticism. One perspective of this course is that successful managers blend the best effective characteristics of Engineering with the best of affective characteristics of Art. Given the survey nature of the course, students will emphasize Synthesis over Analysis. Given the value-proposition of the Department of Management within the College of Business and Economics, this course will tend to augment the Quantitative with the Qualitative.
In addition to my own first-person management experiences, I tend to draw many of my management examples from Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and various trade publications.
