SALEM STATE COLLEGE School of Business Fall 2002 Course Syllabus I.

Course: Time and location: Instructor: Office: Telephone: email: web page: Office hours: Course Data BUS 170 Introduction to Business, 3 credit hours Tuesday and Thursday 2:00-3:20 HB 206 Dr. Edward W. Desmarais HB 309 978-542-7304 edward.desmarais@salem.mass.edu edesmarais@attbi.com www.salemstate.edu/~edesmarais/index.htm I am in my office every day we have class from 90:00 until about 5:00. I encourage you to stop by if you have any questions. You can also contact me by email.

Reading material required: Understanding Business 6th edition. Nickels, W.G., McHugh, J.M. and McHugh, S.M. Irwin McGraw-Hill, Boston. 1999. Mikes Bikes Unanticipated I will announce the dates and times for supplementary classes in the event of closing: unanticipated closing of the college.
II.

Course Description

The Introduction to Business course is an integrated approach to understand: 1. the interaction between a business and its external forces (e.g., global, political, social, legal, environmental, economic), 2. a businesss internal functions and processes (e.g., ethics, impact of demographic diversity, financial reporting, human behavior), 3. the roles of managers and leaders, and 4. how to measure, track and evaluate performance. There are seven modules for this course: Business Trends: Cultivating a business in diverse, global environments Business ownership: Starting a small business Business management : Empowering employees to satisfy customers

Management of human resources: Motivating employees to produce quality goods and services Marketing Decision making Managing Financial resources

Each module deliberately deals with a relatively narrow set of issues to bring them in sharper focus. III. Course Objectives Learning is the primary objective for this course. You will: learn the course content, learn new skills or improve upon existing skills, learn and practice behaviors appropriate for working in a professional business setting, and think how this course and your academic program will prepare you to achieve your personal and professional aspirations. IV Teaching Method (Pedagogy) The introductory page of my web site provides a section titled Teaching Method and Philosophy. I encourage you to read that section of the web page as well as the other sections of the BUS 170 portion of the web page so that you know what I will expect of you during the semester. V. Available Resources Salem State College provides numerous resources to assist you in your personal and academic pursuits. Please refer to my web site for the resources that can help you be successful in learning in this and other courses. The text also provides a web site for your use. VI. Performance measurement (Course and Grading Policies) This course uses the "Principles of Good Practice for Assessing Student Learning" (American Association of Higher Education, 1992). Once again, my web site (see Performance Measurement) lists these principles and the specific criteria I will use to measure your individual participation performance. I will post grades on the web site using your student identification number and a unique password for each student. You will have the opportunity to change the initial password to one that you choose. I will measure student performance using the following components: Individual Class participation Weekly assignments Mikes Bikes interim performance Team participation Semester project Mikes Bikes presentation Mikes Bikes written report 10% 10% 25 % 25% 15% 10% 10% group total 25% 25% 15%

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15% 15%

15%

50%

50%

100%

PLEASE SUBMIT ALL ASSIGNMENTS AS MICROSOFT OFFICE EMAIL ATTACHMENTS ON OR BEFORE THE DUE DATE. I WILL NOT ACCEPT ANY ASSIGNMENTS AFTER THE DEADLINE. 1. Participation The web page provides the criteria used to determine your individual class participation grade. Each class is worth approximately one participation point. If you miss class, you cannot earn a participation point for that day, and if you come to class but do not participate (per the criteria on the web page), you cannot earn a participation point. I will post your class participation in four parts. Each part corresponds with approximately of the semester. You will have the opportunity to evaluate (and change if necessary) your class participation with this feedback. 2. Weekly assignments Each week you will submit a written assignment. Each assignment is worth approximately 1.5 points. Choose one learning goal for each chapter we cover in class during the preceding Tuesday and Thursday classes. Provide a minimum of 10 appropriate references for the learning goal topic. Write a minimum of 100 words that addresses how each learning goal applies to Mikes Bikes. The web site provides an example of the format for each weekly assignment. You will submit the assignment as a Word document attached to an email. The assignment is due by Friday afternoon at 5:00pm. 3. Mikes Bikes interim performance Mikes Bikes is a computer simulation. Each student will participate on a team. Each team will manage a bicycle production company. The simulation has a number of decision points. After each decision point, your team will submit (approximately every two weeks) the performance results. Refer to the schedule on the web site for the due dates. Similar to companies that compete in an industry, each team is direct competition with the other teams in the class. Your grade correlates with your ability to performance against the industrys competition. The scale that determines your grade based on performance is: Top team full points (~ 4) Within 20 % of the top team 3.5 points Within 40 % of the top team 2.5 points Within 60 % of the top team 2 points Less than 60 of the top team 1.5 points 4. Team performance This course requires each student to be a member of a self-selected and self-managed team. In the classroom and business community, success rests on the contribution each member makes to the group. The Team concept enables you to examine your interpersonal skills, team building, leadership style and their contribution to your Team's culture. Your peers will evaluate you on these attributes as well as your analytical contributions.

Students may select their team members. The team composition cannot exceed six (6) class members or be less than four (4) members. Each Team will submit a written contract (Refer the web site for an example.) per the schedule. This contract can address topics such as participation, composition, responsibilities and decision-making processes. The contract MUST address specific provisions (e.g., notification process, voting requirements, grounds for removal) for removing a member of the Team and for a Team member voluntarily leaving one Team and joining another Team. The contract must also include the Teams mission and objectives. The web page provides several examples of Team contracts. You may choose to use these examples in full or adopt only the portions that match your Teams needs and desires. Your Team peers will evaluate your participation. Students will anonymously evaluate their team member's participation at the end of the semester. Each Team member will evaluate the other members of the Team using the form provided on the web site. The composite of your team member's peer evaluations will comprise the Team participation grade for each student. Students must complete and submit their peer evaluations per the schedule cited in the syllabus. Completed peer evaluations are the equivalent of a written assignment due at the beginning of class. I will include your timely submission of peer evaluations as part of your individual participation grade. Each member may opt to receive his or her respective, anonymous peer evaluations. Attach your individual peer evaluations to the email transmittal. Label each file with the name of the person evaluated. If two people on your team have the same first name, include the first letter of their surname to identify the file. 5. Semester project Your final project is to write and present a business plan for your company. You will use the Mikes Bikes exercise as the basis for your project. The six decision points give you the background to develop a business plan for the upcoming year for your respective company. The web site provides a format for the business plan. VII. Academic integrity Salem State College assumes that all students come to the College with serious educational intent and expects them to be mature, responsible individuals who will exhibit high standards of honesty and personal contact in their academic life. All forms of academic dishonesty are serious offenses against the College Community. The College will apply sanctions when student conduct interferes with our primary educational objectives. VIII. Nondiscrimination policy "Salem State College is committed to providing equal access to the educational experience to all students in compliance with section 504 of The Rehabilitation Act and The Americans with Disabilities Act and to providing reasonable academic accommodations, aids, and adjustments. Any student who has a documented disability requiring an accommodation, aid or adjustment should speak with the instructor immediately and present a Faculty Contact Form so that appropriate provisions can be made." IX. Last Day to Withdraw from the Course The last day to withddraw from the course with a W grade is the last day of the tenth week of the semester. X. Refer to the web site for the class assignments.