This course is designed to help students with an engineering or scientific undergraduate degree understand and increase their effectiveness in the world of business.  The class includes both individual and collaborative (team) learning. 3 credit hours

You must have an engineering, technical or scientific undergraduate degree. 

Prior job experience is helpful but not required.

Note:  Instructor permission is required to enroll it you are taking any on-campus classes during the Spring 2009 semester.  Current College of Management students are not allowed to enroll under any circumstances.

You will also need an account on a collaborative site which can support more than 3 simultaneous participants.  You will need a web cam/microphone to use this. More details to follow.

This course is designed to help students with an engineering or scientific undergraduate degree understand and increase their effectiveness in the world of business.  The class includes both individual and collaborative (team) learning.  Upon successful completion of this course, you will:

1. understand the key components present in a business, such as finance, marketing, operations, strategy, organizational behavior, and
2. understand how these components work and how they interact with each other and with the outside world, and
3. participate in a semester-long group project to design and plan for a new company or new product within an existing company (team project), and
4. learn from current practitioners in business, many of whom also come from an engineering or other technical background, and
5. learn how businesses think, which is considerably different from the style of systematic thinking and problem-solving typical in the engineering disciplines.

This course is not:

1. an MBA program condensed into one semester, or
2. a test of how well you can calculate (finance, market analysis, payroll, etc):  I expect that you already have these skills due to your background. 

Expectations:

The course requires learning from books, references, participation, and team project result.  You must stay current with the day class (via posted video), and must use your virtual team to discuss topics. 

Your virtual team will meet weekly at a day and time of your choosing.  I will provide more information about this prior to the beginning of the semester.  This also will be the vehicle for the semester-long project.

You must understand how to use the Library to look up articles and do research on topics.  In some cases, I will assign you a general topic, and you will be expected to find, read, and be prepared to discuss articles which relate to that topic.

It is up to you to let me know if you have special needs or are otherwise having difficulty in class.  For example, I realize that English is a second language for many students so please see me if you are having difficulty and I will try to adjust to meet your needs. 

If there is any student in this class who, due to a disability, has need for non-standard note taking, test taking , or other course modification, please bring me the letter from the Student Health Services documenting your needs, and we will make arrangements. 

It is also up to you to contact me about any situation which would keep you from a class or from getting preparation done.  I realize that an emergency situation can happen to any of us, and promise to listen and help meet your needs.  In most cases, I expect you to figure out a way to work around the problem in a way that it does not affect your work in the class

Active participation is required.  This will include participation in class discussions via your virtual team.  I will also participate in selected virtual team meetings and call on several students during these virtual meetings.  This is to get your views on the subject being discussed, and will help me confirm that you are prepared.

True collaboration and teamwork will be required for the semester-long group project.  This will affect both your grades and the grades of your team.

Your success in the class depends on a mix of learning from others and developing ideas and concepts of your own.  You must fairly identify any work of others contained in your work and will be expected to follow the University policies on academic integrity. Please note that I do not expect this to be a problem, but am only including it to be sure that everyone has a clear understanding.

Written assignments must in printed form, double spaced, font size 10, 11, or 12.  These must be emailed to me by the date on which they are due.  Please keep a backup copy.

Grading:

Class participation                       200 possible points (via virtual teams)
Team project                              250 possible points
Quiz results                                100 possible points
Examination results                      250 possible points
Individual written assignments       200 possible points
                                             1000 total possible points

The team project is worth a possible 250 points (25%) of the grade.  Each individual group member’s grade comes partly from peer evaluation, so it serves each member to participate to the utmost in the project.

Your participation counts heavily – worth up to a possible 200 points (20% of the grade). 

The Ten Day MBA, 3rd Edition, by Steven Silbiger. ISBN: 978-0060799076. This costs about $15.

There will also be one or more outside readings and/or research required for each class session:  This will be assigned no later than the prior class session.

NCSU has recommended minimum specifications for computers used for classes. Depending on your computer needs, we recommend your computer meet or exceed the following minimum specifications below.

PCs must have an Intel-compatible 1 GHz processor, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB hard drive with 1 GB free space available, 256 Color Display, CD-ROM drive, 1024x768 (min.) video adapter, sound card, and speakers. The operating system should be Windows XP Pro. Real One Player Basic (available free online) and high speed Internet connection such as cable, DSL, T1 or LAN will be required for EOL courses.

MAC users must have a G4 processor with firewire and USB factory built-in, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB with 1GB free space available, 256 Color Display, CD-ROM drive, 1024x768 (min) video adapter, sound card, and speakers. The operating system must be MacOS 10.4 (minimum) along with the above RealOne and Internet specifications above.

For more detailed information on computer specifications and recommendations, please refer to our website at: http://engineeringonline.ncsu.edu/currentstudents/computeraccess.htm