This course covers the principal techniques employed in conducting social science research. Topics include the design of experiments, survey research, measures of association, parametric statistics, nonparametric statistics, trend analysis, and contingency table analysis. Students will read scholarly articles employing these techniques to better understand how they are used in practice. (6 credit-hours)

This course is an overview of knowledge, knowledge acquisition, and the research process. The focus will be the link between research, theory, and practice. Topics include the nature of scientific revolutions, epistemology, and phenomenology. Students will review seminal thinkers such as Kuhn and Popper.

Management theory has roots in the behavior sciences, including psychology, sociology, anthropology, and economics. This course will examine the contributions of the behavior sciences to management and vice versa. A special focus will be attempts to design organizations based on behavioral science principles. (6 credit-hours)

This course provides an in-depth review of managerial thought and practice throughout history. Topics include an investigation of how management thinking has reflected changing social, economic, cultural, and political circumstances organizations have faced. Theories of management will be studied from the times of Lao Tzu to the present.

This course provides a critical review of managerial issues facing organizations today. Students will prepare papers analyzing these issues and their consequences. Special attention is directed toward various aspects of the concept of the managerial process and the roles of businesses in society.

This course surveys fundamental principles and issues in managing the modern business operation. Topics include managing quality, risks, capacity, processes, personnel, supply-chain, technology, forecasting, and aggregate planning. The theory of constraints and techniques of time-boxed and critical-chain scheduling also are covered. The key concepts of the value chain and competitive strategies are integrated throughout the course.

The focus of this course is the behaviors and functions required for successful business management in today’s challenging global environment. Topics covered include: globalism, social responsibility and ethics, cultural styles, cross-cultural communication, negotiations, international alliances, control systems for global operations, international organizations, cultural shock, diversity, global labor relations, leadership and motivation in a multicultural context.

Economic and financial theories are at the foundation of modern management and business administration. This course will cover advanced topics in microeconomics, macroeconomics, and finance that affect domestic and international firms. Students will compare and contrast the original works of Nobel Prize winners in economics in addition to current interpretations.

This course presents a review of the history of management thought regarding leadership and ethics. Topics include the role of vision, the varying characteristics of leaders, and organizational values. The importance of managerial ethics will be addressed, informed by varying contexts of diverse cultures versus Western ideals.

Businesses operate with considerable autonomy but within the constraints of federal, state, and local government laws and regulations. Many businesses look to government as a major customer for their goods and services. This course focuses on the complex relationships between businesses and governments, including a review of the legal environment and major trends in law and policy.

This advanced course reviews the essentials of entrepreneurship, building on the fundamental concepts of technology and innovation. Topics covered include: developing entrepreneurial ideas, market opportunity analysis and marketing planning, financial planning and financing, logistics and supply-chain, patents and trademarks, and distribution strategies. The business cycle, the product life cycle, technology diffusion, and waves of creative destruction of studied in detail.

This doctoral level research and reading course is provided for students who have specific interests to be pursued as an independent study, with the permission and support of a faculty member. This course may be repeated. (3-9 credit-hours)

This course is limited to students who have received approval of their dissertation proposal and been promoted to the status of doctoral candidate. The product of this independent work is a dissertation that is thorough, succinct, well-reasoned, professionally presented, and defensible. This course may be repeated. (3-9 credit-hours)