Well, this is it. Today marks the first day of my last quarter in the MBA program. It seems like just yesterday I was moving my stuff down to Malibu for the first time. It is very crazy to think that in just 47 days I will graduate with my MBA! The next 7 weeks should fly by. My final quarter will consist of only 3 classes, instead of the normal 4 or 5 classes. The program allows you to take a reduced workload in order to allow students extra time to conduct their job search and plan out their next steps. These are my classes:
Change Management
By Professor Kent Rhodes
This is the course description and overview:
The pace, the volume, and the complexity of change itself have increased significantly during the last decade, and the forecast is for no less in the years ahead. The topic of managing change and implementation often resided as a mere module in organizational behavior courses. For the professor, and presumably for the students who enroll in this course, there is a need to deepen our understanding of the challenges, the techniques, and the burdens associated with making major change in an organization. Indeed, today, many managers view their jobs almost entirely as managing change. The cases and materials in this course give students as much as possible the sense of “being in the shoes” of managers facing situations of change—in most cases as the change agent, but also as the change recipient.
Anyone involved in organizations experiences the need to think about change. Organizations are constantly changing. Sometimes the changes occur as the result of careful thought and action. Sometimes the changes occur with little forethought or oversight. The more informed we are about the nature of change and the various approaches to managing it, the more effect we can be as members of organizations.
This course provides an introduction to and overview of the many kinds of planned change efforts which are undertaken in contemporary organizations. More specifically, the course focuses on the application of Organization Development (OD) methods and the unique role of the organization change professional. Major topics addressed in this course include: 1) the role of the change agent, with emphasis on values and skill sets, 2) introduction to some tools for assessment and diagnoses of organizations, 2) an overview of various kinds of change intervention strategies, with emphasis on the action research model, and 3) the evaluation of change efforts. The approach to these topics is designed to help the student develop a “cognitive map” for planned change activities as a leader as well as for the student’s own understanding and preferred approaches to managing change.
The learning process used in this course will include all of the following activities 1) reading about the theories and concepts of organization change in the course texts, and in additional materials which will be assigned throughout the course; 2) classroom lecture and discussion; 3) in-class analysis of cases; 4) simulations exercises to stimulated self-reflection and critical thinking 5) written reflection papers and team projects.
Org Development & Human Resource Management
By Professor Lori Heffelfinger
This is the course description and overview:
This course examines the powerful set of concepts and techniques used in organizations for improving effectiveness in dynamic and changing environments. Study concentrates on linking learning experiences in organizational development and human resource management with assessed competencies judged by experts as essential for graduating business students. This course will deal with issues related to human resource practices such as legal environment, planning, staffing and recruitment, performance appraisal, compensation, succession planning, and workforce planning. This course also examines the concepts of organization practice and general strategies on organizational development; structural organizational interventions; power; politics; effective consultant behavior and techniques; and application in the entrepreneurial, public, and private sectors.
Strategic Management
By Professor Otis Baskin
(Continuation from session A)
This is the course description and overview:
This course is designed to be a “capstone” for the MBA to integrate the knowledge and skills gained during the program from the perspective of the chief executive officer. The purpose of business strategy is to provide frameworks and tools for conducting strategic problem identification, analysis and decision making for improving overall organizational performance. It is designed to prepare students to analyze the company as well as its environment. The course is integrative in that students will constantly be using skills and knowledge from various functional business areas such as accounting, economics, finance, marketing, production and operations, and quantitative methods. Therefore, students should expect to revisit knowledge gained in earlier in their studies with the intent of applying this information to gain a holistic view of the enterprise. This course will help students develop skills related to critical/multidimensional thinking, analytical reasoning, argument construction, debate, project management, running effective teams and written and oral communications. In addition to analysis and planning particular emphasis will be given to application and implementation of strategy.
