"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 MGT 360 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 Department of Management in 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 Mgt360]" (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 Management. The emphasis in this course is on Organizational Behavior (broadly defined). Chronologically, we will survey the following major topics-- Organizational Culture, Industrial Psychology, Teams, Globalization, Corporate Social Responsibility, Business Ethics, Decision-making, Planning, Strategic Management, Organizational Communication, Information Technology, Human Resources, Change Management, Innovation, Motivation, and Leadership.
This course builds upon the mastery of the foundational material acquired in the Business lower division core ("LDC") courses and integrated in the BUS 302 "gateway" course-- Statistics, Law, Financial Accounting, Management Accounting, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Computer Science (Infomatics), and Business Writing (Composition).
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 this course is being offered 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 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.
And finally, I tend to relay some insights and wisdom from the many teachings of the (late) father of modern management, Peter Drucker.
