"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. It can often be useful for motivated learners to have general resources regarding various courses, especially prior to the start of the semester. The bulk of the links below are to various WikiPedia pages.
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. Chronologically, we will survey the following major topics-- Organizational Culture, Industrial Psychology, Teams, Globalization, Corporate Social Responsibility, Business Ethics, Decision-making, Strategic Management, Organizational Communication, Human Resources, Innovation, Motivation, Leadership, and Change Management.
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, (Business) 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 additional management topics such as Emotional Intelligence, Organizational Learning, Knowledge Management and Social Networks.
Since this course is being offered under the provenance of a Business School, we will focus on Business (for-profit) organizations. However, we will also discuss the unique management issues involved in Not-for-Profit organizations and Government (publicly-owned) institutions as well.
In terms of student learning, this course 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 affective characteristics of Art. Given the survey nature of the course, students will blend Holism (Synthesis) over Reductionism (Analysis). Given the value proposition of the Department of Management within the College of Business and Economics, this course will tend to augment the findings that result from Quantitative Research with the findings that result from Qualitative Research.
Occasionally, I draw upon relevant examples from the Wall Street Journal. The "In the Lead" column by Carol Hymowitz, the "Cubicle Culture" column by Jared Sandberg, and the "The Numbers Guy" column by Carl Bialik are often quite relevent and insightful. Similarly, the "Boss Culture" and "Theory and Practice" columns are also informative. I strongly recommend that business students subscribe to the Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal Morning Edition can be heard locally on KGIL. Business students can also benefit from reading Business Week and The Economist on a regular basis. I also tend to rely on some articles from various trade publications. Finally, I utilize various business school podcasts, especially the informal presentations from the Stanford Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders series.
I also reference some of the local firms that are discussed in the San Fernando Valley Business Journal. Motivated learners can improve their economic knowledge of the region by reviewing the annual San Fernando Valley Economic Report and San Fernando Valley Economic Forecast.
And finally, I tend to relay some insights and wisdom from the many teachings of the father of modern management, Peter Drucker.
