"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 enrolled in my KM 631 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 Extended Learning 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 Km631]" (without the quotes) [ example ].
Interested students may learn more about me by reviewing my personal web page.
This is a required course in Knowlege Management. We will survey the following major topics (these are typically covered fully in a complete MBA program)-- Financial Accounting, Management Accounting, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Strategic Management, Marketing, Customer Relationship Management, Statistics, Decision-making, Project Management, Leadership, Organizations, Motivation, and Business Ethics.
This course builds upon the mastery of the foundational material acquired in the other KM courses and builds skills, knolwedge, and abilities necessary to succeed in the capstone course. Of particular importance are the theory and practice perspectives from Microeconomics (the "quantitative" aspects of strategy) and Strategic Management (the "qualitative" aspects of strategy).
Given my academic and professional/managerial background, I tend to augment the curriculum with more advanced topics such as Emotional Intelligence, Systems Thinking, Knowledge Management and Social Networks.
Since these topics are typically taught under the provenance of a Business School, we will focus on (For-Profit) Business organizations. However, we will also discuss the management issues involved in Not-for-Profit organizations and Government institutions as well.
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 nature of Master's programs in general, students will engender to master both Synthesis and Analysis. Given the value-proposition of the Department of Management (my home Department) at the University, 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.
And finally, I tend to relay some insights and wisdom from the many teachings of the (late) father of modern management, Peter Drucker.
