Strategic Human Resource Management



Strategic Management

MGMT 449

Spring 2005

Section 003: TR 8:00 – 9:15 (Room SSS 322)

Section 004: TR 9:30 – 10:45 (Room SSS 322)

Section 005: TR 12:30 – 1:45 (Room SSS 315)

Instructor: Dr. Kristy Lauver

Office: SSS420

Office Hours: Tuesday/Thursday 10:45 – 12:15,

Wednesday 8:00-12:00

By appointment

e-mail: lauverkj@uwec.edu

Office phone: 836-4427

Web Site:

Required texts

Strategic Management – Concepts and Cases, by Arthur Thompson, Jr., and A.J. Strickland III

Additional Readings will be placed on library reserve, distributed during class, or placed on-line at the course website.

Recommended Reading Material

In addition to the required readings, we will discuss many strategy topics from the business press. As such, to help you increase your knowledge of current strategy issues and topics, I recommend the following magazine and email sites:

Great place to get up to the minute business news

Great portal to access many business periodicals

Economist Great periodical (with a website) that covers US and international business and political issues

Wall Street Journal

Business Week

Fast Company

Comments on the Course

This course focuses on the competitive strategy of the firm and is viewed as a ‘core’ course in your program. The course adopts a manager’s perspective on strategy and places you in the role of a key decision maker within a firm or an advisor to key firm decision makers. As such, this course will have four primary objectives:

1. It will use a variety of learning techniques and introduce you to multiple concepts. The text readings, supplementary materials and cases will expose you to a variety of managerial disciplines and conceptual schemes. Business problems rarely present themselves as discrete issues (i.e., as a ‘finance’ or ‘accounting’ or ‘human resources’ problem). Rather, business problems are complex and require creative solutions using multiple means. My objective is to provide you with an expansive toolbox of concepts and approaches to strategic management that will allow you to integrate and use your knowledge from all management courses as well as your previous work and life experience.

2. It will focus both on the making and implementation of business strategy. The diagnosis of business problems is only a small component of a successful competitive strategy. Making a particular strategy work, for a specific firm in a particular market, is a critical and underemphasized element of strategic management. You will be encouraged and challenged to work through the implementation of any prospective strategies.

3. It will place particular emphasis on issues of technological, economic and social change. Business firms are competing in an increasingly global context. Firms are also competing in the context of the ‘new economy’ in which services, knowledge management and technological innovation play an increasingly important role. You will examine the impact of these elements of the new economy on strategic planning through supplemental readings and cases that emphasize these issues.

4. It will challenge your skills for oral presentation, written communication and ability to work effectively in teams. Contemporary managers are valued not only for their skills at technical analysis and problem solving, but also for their ability to communicate their solutions, persuade others of the viability of their insights and construct creative solutions in a group context.

Course Format

This course is designed to benefit not only those who desire to be general managers and CEOs, but also specialized professionals (i.e. accountants, MIS, human resource managers, operations managers, economists, etc.), and each individual within an organization. Each manager needs to realize the extreme importance of an organization’s strategy, and his/her role (as well as the employees’ role) in influencing, supporting, and implementing an organization’s strategy. To learn about strategic management we will be discussing current topics, doing interactive activities, covering Management Strategy in readings and lectures, doing case studies, and putting together a strategic plan.

This will be an interactive course. You must come to class with the assigned readings completed, prepared for discussion, and ready to participate. What you get out of this course will depend upon your effort. You will need to keep up with the readings and information, and plan your assignments accordingly. This course is meant to be a very challenging, valuable, yet fun learning experience.

Evaluation -- Assignments/Examinations

Course Requirements % of Total Grade Points

Exams (3) 42% 420

- 14% Exam I (140)

- 14% Exam II (140)

- 14% Exam III (140)

Group Project/Presentation

(Company Analysis) 33% 330

- 10% Written (Work in stages) (100)

- 10% Written (Final Project) (100)

- 10% Oral Presentation (100)

- 3% Consulting Log (30)

Case Study 10% 100

- 10% Case Study

Current Events Article 5% 50

- 2.5% Write-up (25)

- 2.5% Class Presentation (25)

Class Contribution 10% 100

Total 100% 1000 points possible

Exams

Required Exams:

There will be three exams throughout the course. Exams will be multiple choice and short answer. The exams will not be comprehensive – but will cover all of the material covered since the previous exam (or beginning of class for the first exam).

Optional Final:

Should you not be satisfied with your exam scores, you may choose to take a final. The final will be comprehensive. The grade you achieve on the final will then be averaged with your previous exam grades. (Note that this may raise or lower your grade.)

Group Project

For the group project, each team will act as consultants performing a strategic analysis of an organization. The analysis will include identifying the organization’s mission/vision/goals, doing an external and internal analysis of the organization, and identifying the company’s current strategies (as well as the strategies of their competitors). Then the team will determine recommendations for the organization, discuss how these recommendations should be implemented (as well as complications that may arise from attempting to implement the changes, and how they can be avoided or planned for in advance). The organization that the team will choose has to be an organization that they have access to (i.e. you must be able to obtain primary data). If you need help with identifying the organization, let me know ASAP.

Written Work

In order to encourage work on the project as we learn each of the concepts, there will be five different times throughout the semester that you will be required to turn in a section of the assignment. I will make comments on each of these sections, which you can then address/change for the final project. Your final written report should be in a format that you would be willing to hand to the CEO of the organization that you have chosen (in fact, you may want to promise a copy of the report to the individual(s) in the organization that is(are) giving up time to spend with you, in exchange for their willing helpfulness).

Oral Presentation

Your oral presentation will need to be approximately 40 minutes in length and will need to include all of the parts of your written presentation, in a manner that you would present the proposed recommendations to the managers within an organization. (If the individual(s) you are working with in the organization would like to attend your class presentation, this is encouraged).

Consulting Log

As required of consultants, you will be required to keep track of time spent, and the task the time was spent on. Additionally in your log you will need to write down general comments about “process” (what is working, not working, good websites, contact information, what you would do differently, what information you are lacking to do your job thoroughly, etc.). I will post a sample log on the course page. This is not meant to be time consuming, but rather to work toward a good habit of keeping track of what and how work is progressing (something I have found both difficult, but important in consulting work). This will also allow me to see how your group project is progressing. You will be required to bring your log to class each day with you. I will randomly pick up the log four times throughout the semester. I will simply be looking for whether or not you are keeping the log, rather than for any specific comments, amount of time spent, etc. If you are not in class the day the logs are collected, or do not bring your log with you, you will miss out on that day’s points.

Additional information will be provided on the group project throughout the semester.

Case Studies

You will be required to read and be ready to discuss all the case studies. The specific case assignments will be made throughout the course. For your own benefit you should prepare a brief written summary of each case before class. The summary should briefly summarize the facts of the case, identify the primary and subsidiary issues and provide suggested solutions to the issues. The case studies will typically be posted on-line on the course web-site (or on library reserve). There may also be relevant news events that I will ask that you watch for a case study.

You will need to choose one of the case studies covered in class to write-up for a grade. Written case studies are due the day the case you select is scheduled to be discussed before the class discussion begins. You will be evaluated on thoroughness in addressing the issues, how well you show knowledge of the issues being addressed, well-reasoned and thoughtful answers, and use of what we have learned in the course in your write-up. Your focus should not be on summarizing the case, but rather you need to focus on application of theoretical concepts, critical analysis of the issues, recommendations, and implementation issues. Write-ups will need to be 3-4 pages, typed and double-spaced.

Current Event

Everyone is required to find a current (written within 2 weeks of when the topic is covered in class) article relating to a topic we are covering in the course. These articles may come from newspapers, magazines, and/or you may tape a short television segment should something pertinent arise (this is actually encouraged, though you will need to let me know in advance so I will know if we need to build in extra time for a video clip). The articles must be brought on the same day that the topic they relate to is discussed. You will need to give a brief description of the article’s issues to the class, and discuss the theoretical concepts from class that are discussed in the article. You may choose which day you would like to complete this assignment so that you can present on an area of particular interest to you. If you do not let me know a preference, you will be assigned randomly to a date and topic. Your write-up of the article, theoretical issues it covers, and how it ties with the course will need to be approximately 1-2 pages. Your verbal presentation will need to be 5-10 minutes.

Class Contribution

True learning can only be achieved if each student is actively participating. To stimulate participation, class contribution will count toward the final grade. As such, attendance is mandatory as it is your chance to ask questions, learn from the other students, and integrate the material in the course. However, given this is your final class and you might have interviews, everyone will receive one “freebie” with regard to missed classes.

My contribution grading is simple. Coming to every class and saying nothing will gain you 60% of the available points. The more high quality comments you make, the closer to 100% of the available points you will receive. If you are in doubt that you have something of “high quality” to say, say it and I will tell you “in private” if it is of high quality.

I expect that the material will be read prior to coming to class.

[Additional authorized absences by the Dean of the College include: (1) participation in an approved field trip, (2) participation in authorized extra-curricular activity (these need to be reported to the Dean and instructor at least 48 hours in advance), and (3) illness, injury, or emergency.]

If you have to miss a class you need to let me know as soon as possible, and definitely before the class has started.

Occasionally, some students find it difficult to participate effectively in class discussions because of language or other challenges. Please speak to the instructor if this is a significant challenge for you.

Extra Credit

All extra credit will be evaluated similar to the other written assignments, looking at the quality of your work, and assigning you a percentage of the possible points accordingly.

Comparing Organizations’ Strategies

Since most of you are on the job market, this should be a productive assignment helping you think both about strategy, and about your job search. For this option, you need to access two different organizations’ websites that you would potentially like to work for. See what you can decipher about the organizations’ strategies from the website, applying theoretical constructs that we have discussed in class. Discuss each of the organization’s strategies, how they compare/contrast to each other, and whether or not you think you would like to work for one organization over the other when examining their strategies (and why). This is worth a total of 20 points.

Special Needs

Students with special needs should contact me as soon as possible. Every effort will be made to make appropriate accommodations.

Policy on Cheating/Academic Misconduct

Personal integrity is an important part of effective management, and vital to business management. Cheating either on the exams or the assignments will result in a grade of F for the assignment/exam and most likely the course.

Cheating or “Academic Misconduct” is defined by the University as the following:

1. Seeks to claim credit for the work or efforts of others without authorization or citation

2. Uses unauthorized material or fabricated data in any academic exercise

3. Forges or falsifies academic documents or records

4. Intentionally impedes or damages the academic work of others

5. Engages in conduct aimed at making false representation of a student’s academic performance

6. Assists other students in any of these acts

If you are uncertain of your ability to perform on either the exams or the assignments, please come see me. I am here to help you succeed in this course.

Grading scale

There is no curve. Grades are based on earned performance indicators, not the performance of others in the class.

93-100 A 77-79 C+ 60-62 D-

90-92 A- 73-76 C 59 and below F

87-89 B+ 70-72 C-

83-86 B 67-69 D+

80-82 B- 63-66 D

Tentative Schedule: This is a general outline of what we will cover. However, you will need to be in class, and pay close attention to announcements and due dates verbally told to you, and changes as posted on D2L. I have a tendency to change the course outline as needed (i.e. if there is a pertinent current event that we should spend time on, if there is a general consensus that we need to spend more – or less time on a topic as it is new or more of a review for students, if I am able to bring in a guest speaker, etc.). The intent of this course is to help you learn, not just to get a certain amount of content to you in a certain amount of time.

READINGS & ASSIGNMENTS

|Date |Topic |Reading/Assignment |Assignments/Exams |

|Overview of Strategy |

|Jan. 27 |Introduction |C-2 to C-9 |Self-Info Sheet |

|Feb. 1 |What is Strategic Management? |Article “Crafting a Strategy” / |In-Class Case Study |

| | |Chap. 1 T&S | |

|Before Choosing a Strategy…. |

|Feb. 3 |Mission/Vision/ |Chap. 2 T&S |Be Signed up for Current Event Date |

| |Goals/Objectives | | |

| |Group Project/Teams | | |

|Feb. 8 |Industry/Competitive Analysis |Chap. 3 T&S |Group/Company Names Due |

| |(External) | | |

|Feb. 10 |Internal Analysis |Chap. 4 T & S |Current Event Article Presentations |

| | | |Start (CE) |

|Feb. 15 |Internal Analysis/ External |Hormel Lab |CE |

| |Analysis Review | |Vision/Mission/Goals Due |

| | | |Case Study Due |

|Feb. 17 | | |Exam I |

|Choosing a Strategy |

|Feb. 22 |General Types of |Ch. 5 T&S |CE |

| |Strategies/Competitive Advantage | | |

|Feb. 24 |Tailoring Strategies to Companies |Ch. 8 T&S |CE |

| | |Bring Book to Class! |In class activity |

| | |Hormel Lab |External Analysis Due |

|March 1 |Globalization |Ch. 6 T&S |CE |

|March 3 |Diversification |Ch. 9 T&S |CE |

| | | |Internal Analysis Due |

|March 8 |Review |Hormel Lab |CE |

| | | |Case Study Due |

|March 10 | | |Exam II |

|Implementation and Execution of Strategy |

|March 15 |Change/ |Article “Five Parts of Change” |CE |

| |Building Strengths and Capabilities|Ch. 11 T & S | |

|March 17 |Strategy & Ethics | |Current/Recommended Company Strategies |

| | | |Due |

|Spring Break March 21-25 |

|March 29 |Promoting Strategy |Ch. 12 T & S |CE |

|March 31 |Leadership/ |Ch. 13 T & S |CE |

| |Corporate Culture | | |

|April 5 |Implementation in Non-profits | |CE |

|April 7 |Implementation in Non-profits, | |Implementation Due |

| |M&As, Franchises, etc. | | |

|April 12 |Review of Implementation |Article “Are you sure you have a |Case Study Due |

| | |strategy?” | |

| | |Hormel Lab | |

|April 14 | | |Exam III |

|April 19 |Work Day/In Class Activity/Guest |Hormel Lab? | |

| |Speaker? | | |

|April 21 |Work Day/In Class Activity/Guest |Hormel Lab? | |

| |Speaker? | | |

|April 26 |Work Day/In Class Activity/Guest |Hormel Lab? | |

| |Speaker? | | |

|April 28 | | |Group Presentations Start (GP) |

|May 3 | | |GP |

|May 5 | | |GP |

| | | |Final Written Group Project Due |

|May 10 | | |GP |

|May 12 | | |GP |

|Dec. 13-17 |Final Time | |Final Exam |

|Sect. 003, May 16 |8 am (Mon.) | |(Optional) |

|Sect. 004, May 18 |10:00 am (Wed.) | |*Comprehensive |

|Sect. 005, May 17 |1:00 pm (Tues.) | | |

*T&S = Reading from Thompson and Strickland

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