Week 1: Day 1

Introduction to Course

 

 

For students who join the class after it starts, this material will not be repeated in class for your benefit. You will need to obtain information from students in attendance or see me in my office. Time is consumed in the class to verify the student roster. Late students should confirm their registration with the instructor. 

 

The objectives for today are that the student will:

1.      Know who the course instructor is and how to communicate with him outside of class;

2.      Have an overview of the course to include a general understanding of the course content, required materials, assignments, deadlines, grading, and policies;

3.      Obtain a copy of the syllabus, understand how to obtain an additional copy, and receive brief information on the course website.

 

Depending on scheduling of the Internet Lab and if time permits, expect that Week 2’s Topic may be introduced on Day 2 or Day 3..

 

Professor:

 

Dr. Makamson - Brief introduction and biography. (To know more about Dr. Makamson go to this link.)

 

Course:

 

This semester continues an experiment in the use of materials and in content to redesign the MGT301 course. This is the introductory management course required of all business majors and taken by non-business majors as either a requirement or elective. The course will not be taught similarly to any other offering of the course and is a departure from the manner in which it has been taught before. The primary rational of this change is to develop a greater degree of practitioner skills (“useful stuff”) and  to greater expose the student to contemporary businesses, problems, and people. The trade-off of this approach is that the course will not attempt to cover the previous scope of topics; and, while theory is taught, the course will explore fewer theories or perspectives. There will be an increased emphasis of the perspectives and skills taught, achieved through the student’s use of knowledge and skills in assignments and cases. There is also a departure from the use of a textbook, instead original writings by contributors to management and the professor’s Teaching Notes are used. The rationale for abandoning the textbook approach is, frankly, to encourage the student’s reading, understanding through integration of ideas, and critical thinking skills. As most textbooks are tailored to a mass education market, I have not identified any available text that provides the experiential approach which is attempted. The student should anticipate that often classes are conducted as participative discussions employing Socratic methods of question-answer. The rationale for this pedagogy is that it minimizes the student’s dependence upon rote memory of texts and the professor’s lectures, and it encourages the student’s involvement and class preparation.

 

1. Materials Required – see syllabus; update on availability in bookstore and student’s options for purchasing on internet. These materials are required and will not be provided by the instructor.

 

2. Administration and Grades – see syllabus. All graded tasks are weighted for contribution to course grade, and attendance is graded.

 

3. Overview of Syllabus – The syllabus is my plan for the course and provides the student with a guide as to topics expected to be covered  and intended scheduling of assignments. As required, the instructor may change date, topics, or assignments to accommodate the university’s, instructor’s, or, as determined by the instructor, students’ needs. The syllabus is a general plan. A detailed Teaching Plan with Teaching Notes is available at my website.

 

4. Projects and Assignments Required (Refer to syllabus)

 

5. Use of Internet and website – The course uses the Internet intensively and the professor has his own website which will be accessed by students for materials, assignments, grades, and course related information. Internet skills are not taught in this course, but the instructor will conduct a laboratory for an overview perspective and will direct students who need to build this skill to an interactive tutorial on the www. Also, every student must obtain an e-mail address and report this to the instructor. Students who do not have an e-mail address will be directed to a free service provider during the laboratory class. Students need not have personal internet services and most of the students will satisfy all course requirements using the services available at the School of Business and ATM.

 

Attendance:

 

Students are asked to be in class on time and remain until our time is expired. If a student has competing priorities, students are adults and are asked to make a mature decision as to where this time ought to be spent. I document attendance through an oral roll call at the beginning of class for purpose of reporting a class “participation” grade, as follows:

My recording of attendance will be authoritative. If a student departs the class, even momentarily, without permission I will remove students’ names from the roll. Students have 3 free absences, so I do not record “excused” absences and absences beyond 3 days will adversely affect the student’s grade. These “free” absences include: brief illnesses, job interviews, HU sanctioned events, and similar incidental absences. At my discretion, I may consider “excused” absences to permit a student to meet a scheduled individual (but not group) assignment. The participation grade is earned from the first through the last day of class. If you have a reason for a prolonged absence, please communicate with me directly and bring confirmation of the rationale. Students may attend my other section to “make-up” attendance for the same day but must identify self at Roll Call.

 

Make-Up Work:

 

Everyone forgets or procrastinates. The problem with late course work is that in grading it, a late assignment enjoys the benefit of  the class discussion to reveal approaches and content. For this reason I permit no make-up work. Learn to meet deadlines, they will be with you beyond Hampton University. I also believe that a “0” earned for work not submitted, although maybe not evidence of intellectual capability, does register a student’s discipline and willingness to perform – important traits to measure in the course grade. 

 

If you miss a in-class test because of serious illness or reasons that I can assess as "excusable", bring your documentation to me. I may re-schedule a "make-up" test. As this requires me to construct an additional test, the re-scheduling will be at my convenience. 

 

Cheating:

 

The kinds of in-class tests used in the course are not amenable to cheating, and students are encouraged to use the self-study tests available at www.mgmgtguru.com for test preparation. Because students will be engaged in a number of assignments, no one assignment is sufficiently a serious contribution to a student’s grade as to promote cheating. The only assignment that is weighted heavily is the Career Self-Fit project, and this project is highly individualized as to preclude cheating. The idea of team assignments is to provide the student with an opportunity to manage and cooperate, important management skills. As a member of a team, it is your job to minimize “cheating” – this is part of the learning experience.  My options for cheating are removal from my class, grading the assignment at "0", or referral for  dismissal under the Code of Conduct.