NMBA 6120 (NB 720) Organizational Behavior: Working Within the Equations of State (3 sem. cr.)
Technologists, scientists, and engineers learn that in nature, there are rules and formulas that describe the “big picture”—or “rules of thumb” articulating the interconnection between various measurable properties of a system. These formulas are known as Equations of State. This course focuses on another kind of interconnected system—the corporate organization. It delivers the rules and formulas that describe this system in terms and concepts that can be utilized to manage organizational behavior, development, and change. The course covers the theory and practice of making organizations more effective by changing individual attitudes and behaviors, group relationships, and organizational cultures. Students gain an understanding of organizations—how they work and the people in them. Theory and models of organizational behavior; individual, interpersonal, and group dynamics; influence and motivation; communication; change and change management; and organization climate are presented.

 

NMBA 6130 (NB 721) Leadership and Teamwork: Accomplishing Momentum Transfer Using Power, Influence, and Collaboration (3 sem. cr.)
With the advent of true globalization, the increasing prevalence of technology, the continued blurring of organizational boundaries, and the rapidly accelerating rate of change, leaders in the 21st century need to consider new frameworks and perspectives to be effective. Both engineers and scientists are familiar with the transfer of momentum from one body to another. Similarly, significant factors in business success revolve around techniques used by leaders to take organizations that are (a) “at rest” and move them into action, and (b) “in motion” and significantly change their direction and outcome. Proper understanding and utilization of power, influence, and collaboration by leaders, whether formally designated or not, can critically alter the success of an organization. This course provides an overview of leadership and teamwork with an emphasis on how leaders and teams manage change in a dynamic technology and business environment. The course is structured into four broad modules: Level-Three Leadership, Creating and Sustaining Collaboration, Leading in the New Workplace, and Leading Change. In each module, students consider various frameworks and perspectives, and apply them to case studies and other examples. By engaging with the class and its virtual learning community, students gain critical expertise in navigating this new leadership landscape.

 

NMBA 6140 (NB 740) Strategy and Negotiation: Solving the Boundary Value Problem (3 sem. cr.)
Functions over a given domain normally behave in a predictable fashion; however, upon approaching a border or an obstacle, prediction of behavior becomes much less certain. Figuring out what will happen at such boundaries often requires solving complicated differential or partial differential equations. Likewise, businesses and their functional groups generally behave in predictable fashion when their environment is stable, but when they are forced to operate beyond their comfortable boundaries, forecasting their outcomes becomes a risky business. Businesses can minimize the risks of unexpected outcomes through the use of successful formulas for strategic thinking, decision-making, and negotiation. This course is designed to provide engineers and technical professionals with an understanding of the theories, concepts, and assumptions of strategy, decision-making, and negotiation, Students are introduced to the fundamentals of strategy at the corporate level to provide a context for strategic thinking at various levels within the enterprise, enabling technical managers to gain insight into how their roles improve an organization’s capabilities for value creation and distribution. They explore the strategic thinking and decision-making that support the execution of corporate strategy. The second part of the course focuses on negotiation theories and implementation strategies, causes of conflict, and conflict-management techniques. These skills are examined in the context of achieving goals and strategy.

 

NMBA 6150 (NB 710) Technology and Operations: Moore’s Law and Other Business Accelerators (3 sem. cr.)
One of the drivers for competition is technology. To take advantage of technology’s rapid changes, a corporation must continually assess and modify its business model. Remaining competitive requires risk-taking decision-making as well as flexibility and the willingness to embrace change. A corporation can react to change, manage change, or lead change. This course covers the theory and practice of preparing for technological advances and for routinely folding anticipation of change into corporate strategy. Students learn how technological innovation evolves, how to protect it, and how to align it with the organization’s strategic direction. Students examine the tools that are available to help evaluate innovations and to evaluate collaborative opportunities. They explore the process of managing new products, including the timing of their introduction. Students also study the tools required to manage the various new product teams, including communication and networking across business units.

 

NMBA 6160 (NB 730) Marketing: Maximizing the Organizational I/O Bus (3 sem. cr.)
Managers everywhere are regularly challenged with a variety of tough business decisions, often in the face of incomplete information and rapidly changing markets. A significant number of these decisions deal with marketing issues in one form or another. For example, managers are faced daily with questions such as “How do we continue to grow profitably in a rapidly changing environment?” and “How will we respond if our customers shift to a competitor’s product or service?” Like other business disciplines, marketing seeks to answer this question: “How do we most effectively manage resources to achieve our organizational goals?” This course provides an overview of marketing concepts, with an emphasis on technical industrial products. It is designed for technical professionals who require a basic understanding of marketing and its relationship to the successful management of engineering organizations. It covers primary marketing strategies, including choosing a market segment to target and deciding how to differentiate products/services from the competition. Students also explore supporting strategies, often called the marketing mix, which involve designing products and deciding how to price, distribute, and promote them in a way that is consistent with the selected target and positioning.

 

NMBA 6170 (NB 750) Accounting and Finance: Measurement and Flow Control for the Economic Engine (3 sem. cr.)
This course is designed to give technical professionals an understanding of basic techniques and concepts of financial management and accounting. The course targets three broad subject areas: managerial accounting and control, financial accounting and reporting, and corporate finance. Students explore how managerial accounting can create value in a dynamic business environment by providing information for decision-making and planning, controlling operational activities, and measuring the performance of activities, subunits, and managers within the organization. Students also examine the tools necessary to understand and analyze information in corporate financial statements, with emphasis on using the information in corporate management, security analysis, and consulting. This section incorporates many of the generally accepted accounting principles that provide a background for the accounting and auditing functions of a business. Students analyze each of the basic financial statements—the balance sheet, income statement, and statement of cash flow—in terms of external users of financial information. The corporate finance portion of the course is centered around the financial behavior of corporations and capital markets. Significant emphasis is placed on the notion of value creation and the importance of judgment in financial decisions. The basic concepts of cost of capital, capital budgeting, and pro forma statements are covered along with such advanced topics as assessing merger and acquisition targets and financing investments.

 

NMBA 6313 (MG 723) Supply Chain Management (3 sem. cr.)
Achieving a strategic advantage requires effective design and integration of multiple players and activities throughout the supply chain. In this course, students gain an understanding of the definition and scope of supply chain management and an appreciation of the potential for businesses to improve bottom-line performance through an integrated, strategic approach to the management of their supply chains. The course is designed to provide students with a basic understanding of the roles of the various entities in managing the supply chain, the interrelatedness of critical activities, and a strategic view of the importance of supply chain management. The LINKS Supply Chain Management Simulation provides students with hands-on experience with the cross-functional impact of supply chain decision-making: analyzing complex data; evaluating the costs and benefits of cross-functional trade-offs; making critical supply chain decisions; evaluating the consequences of those decisions; and working to continuously improve based on experience.