Organization Studies
MB 648 Management of Technology
Prerequisite: MB 021, MB 031 (undergraduate) or consent of instructor.
This course deal with the intersection of information technology and management. It is divided into three sections: how advances in communication technology have impacted the role of management in organizations, such as managing geographically dispersed teams and remote workers; the management of technology within an organization, with an emphasis on managing technology change; and the interpersonal implications of management-focused technologies such as Materials/Enterprise Resource Planning (MRP/ERP) systems.
MB 802 Management of Organizational Change
Prerequisite: MB 709 or MB 712 Managing People and Organizations, or consent of instructor.
This course focuses on the variety of organizational changes that are being implemented in contemporary organizational life. It examines such changes as employee involvement, culture change, life cycle changes, mergers and acquisitions and downsizing. Discusses such change strategies as envisioning and implementing change, overcoming resistance to change, the power and politics associated with change, organization development and other action tools.
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MB 803 Leadership
Prerequisite: MB 709 or MB 712 Managing People and Organizations, or consent of instructor.
This course explores the managerial process from the perspective of executives and managers at various levels and in diverse organizational settings. It draws on current behavior theory and research and examines the complex web of internal and external forces and contingencies acting on the manager in context. It uses a variety of teaching/learning methods, including the case method, situational exercises and diagnostic instruments to illuminate managerial effectiveness in general, as well as the student’s particular style.
MB 804 Nonprofit Management
This course provides an overview of general management topics (such as personnel management, alliance/partnership formulation, marketing) from a nonprofit perspective as well as issues specific to the nonprofit sector (board effectiveness, volunteer management, etc.). The course is significantly case-discussion based, emphasizes a social entrepreneurship perspective, and includes an assignment structure that allows students to delve more deeply into topics of their choosing. The course would benefit those who plan future involvement in the nonprofit sector whether as managers, board members, donors, service providers, or volunteers.
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MB 812 Negotiating
Prerequisite: MB 709 or MB 712 Managing People and Organizations, or consent of instructor.
Have you found yourself limited in your performance because you lacked the ability to effectively negotiate for more resources, including staff, money or time? Do you experience difficulty in handling conflict in organizations? Are you anxious to improve your ability to take a problem-solving approach to organizational dilemmas? This course assists students in becoming more effective negotiators in a range of organizational situations. Students learn the different types of negotiating approaches and practice their use in a variety of situations.
MB 815 Women and Leadership
This course explores challenges and opportunities women face as leaders and managers in organizations. Students will examine a variety of issues: the call and character of women leaders, leadership issues throughout women's careers, essential skills and competencies, balancing work and family, etc. Our goal is to link lessons learned from readings with our own and others' practical experience as leaders and managers of organizations. We rely on a variety of learning methods, including discussion and reflection, critique of readings, experiential exercises, connections with women leaders and managers, and guest speakers who will provide us with insights about their own experiences.
MB 830 Career Management and Work/Life Planning
This course examines career issues in contemporary organizations. It will help students develop critical competencies needed to successfully manage their careers and maintain work/life integration in today's complex turbulent workplace. The class is based in a rigorous self-assessment process which incorporates a broad range of experiential exercises that provide students with a high degree of self-awareness. This understanding is then used as the basis for developing a comprehensive career plan that incorporates a "work/life" perspective. The class will also increase student's understanding of the new career contract, career decision making, contemporary human resource practices, and theories of adult development. The course includes readings that will raise student awareness of work and career issues in contemporary organizations but also relies heavily on the use of experiential exercises and instruments that will provide the student with a high degree of self-awareness and understanding, of themselves and the world of work.
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MB 837 Advanced Topics: Strategic Deal-Making for Results
Through practical case studies and innovative experiential simulations you will be empowered with specific ways to proactively shape discussions and business agreements by creating partnerships, alliances and business deals with the right parties, approached in the right order/sequence, dealing with the right issues/interests, by the right means under the right set of expectations and facing the right set of deal or no-deal options to reach more optimal outcomes. Topics to be covered include: how to build explicit cooperations with others you do not control but depend on for long term sustainable results; how creating momentum by building coalitions can produce dramatic results; understanding motivations, sources of value and barriers to agreement and how to leverage differences for joint gain in mergers and aquisitions/business deals/venture capital; how to create beneficial options and alternatives and avoid common decision making pitfalls and errors to enhance your leadership results in both business and life.
MB 845 Managing Corporate Responsibility
Companies today are caught in the crossfire of demands to manage their stakeholder and environmental responsibilities effectively. This course explores how companies can develop responsibility management systems that implement their corporate citizenship to meet these growing demands. Topical coverage includes: systems thinking, responsibility management approaches, vision-setting and leadership-commitment processes, integration of systemic approaches to responsibility management, and innovation, improvements, and indicators (measurement and assessment systems). Students will undertake a hands-on (work-based or action) learning project in an organization of their choice, preferably their employer, although other organizations where changes can be initiated are also feasible subject organizations.
MB 850 Micro-Organizational Theory
Providing the theoretical underpinnings of individual and group behavior in organizations, the seminar includes topics such as perception, emotions, motivation, socialization, commitment, group dynamics, leadership, initiative and individual agency at work. Students read classics of organizational behavior, trace the development of thought and evaluate current research in each of these areas.
MB 851 Macro-Organizational Theory
The seminar provides a foundation in traditional and emerging topics in theory at the organizational level of analysis. Several perspectives are explored such as Weberian bureaucracies, open systems theories, political economy, resource dependence and demography, institutional theories, population and community ecology, organizational culture and interpretivist perspectives.
MB 852 Perspectives on Individual and Organizational Change
This course introduces topics relating to individual and organizational change and development. Topics include approaches to career development and organizational-level change issues, such as the early formation and development of organizations, planned change, organizational learning, organizational life cycles, organizational transformation and organizational decline and death.
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MB 853 Organizational Change and Transformation: History of the Idea of Change
This course explores fundamental, qualitative changes that occur in organizations that influence their nature and effectiveness. Leading-edge, as well as historically foundational theories are analyzed, criticized, and possibly extended. Varieties of dialectic (e.g., affirmation, negation, transformation) change processes, narrative (e.g. story, metaphor, irony), and political-economic structures that underlie change stories from various disciplines are compared. Original source change and transformation theories from premodern, modern, and postmodern periods and traditions are considered.
MB 871 Quantitative Research Methods
This course deals with quantitative measurement and interpretation of phenomena in organization studies. Topics include theory construction, the development of causal models, the problems of the reliability and validity of measures, survey research, questionnaire design, sampling design, interviewing techniques, data collection, coding and database design, experimental and quasiexperimental design and meta-analysis.
MB 872 Research Seminar I
Students participate with department faculty as colleagues in a weekly seminar on contemporary developments in organization studies. Objectives are to enhance expertise in theory building, scholarly writing, and other professional competencies, to foster completion of the second year paper, to improve research and presentation skills through public discussion, and to enhance the organization studies community.
MB 873 Research Seminar II
Students participate with department faculty as colleagues in a weekly seminar on contemporary developments in organization studies. Objectives are to enhance expertise in theory building, scholarly writing, and other professional competencies, to foster initial progress on the dissertation, to improve research and presentation skill through public discussion, and to enhance the organization studies community.
MB 875 General Linear Models
This course is appropriate for graduate students in the school of management, social sciences, nursing, social work, or education who want an introduction to applied statistical analysis for research. In this course, we will focus on using the general linear model to conduct studies using the SPSS data analysis program. The major topics of this course will be exploratory and graphical approaches to data analysis, categorical data analysis, analysis of variance, multiple regression, path analysis, and structural equation modeling. It is assumed that the student has had an undergraduate course in statistical analysis.
MB 876 Multivariate Methods
This course provides an introduction to multivariate statistical methods. The course emphasizes exploratory methods such as factor analysis, multidimensional scaling, correspondence analysis, and cluster analysis. However, multiple regression, canonical correlation, discriminant analysis and loglinear modeling will also be touched on. The course includes a primer on matrix algebra and vector spaces but concentrates on using methods intelligently rather than the math behind them. Students will use SPSS and UCINET software packages.
MB 881 Teaching Practicum
Primarily intended for doctoral students in the Organization Studies Department.
Designed to accompany a doctoral student's first teaching experience, this course addresses issues associated with teaching in a university. The course traces typical course progression and identifies the issues faculty encounter during various phases of a course. The course combines readings, discussion, and practice.
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MB 897 Directed Readings
Prerequisite: Consent of a faculty member
Extensive reading in a selected area under the direction of a faculty member. Student presents written critiques of the readings, as well as comparisons between readings.
MB 898 Independent Study I and II
Prerequisite: Consent of a faculty member
Investigation of a topic under the direction of a faculty member. Student develops a paper with publication potential.
MB 899 Independent Study II
Prerequisite: Consent of a faculty member
Investigation of a topic under the direction of a faculty member. Student develops a paper with publication potential.
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