Fundamentals of Management

Instructor : dr Jerzy S. Czarnecki

Faculty of Management, 328
e-mail: projekty@uni.lodz.pl
textbook: D. A. Whetten, K. S. Cameron, Developing Management Skills, 7 th
ed., Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle, NJ, 2007

Course aims:

The first and major goal of this course is to visit and understand a world of a
manager. The other, not less important goals for the students are to learn how to
build a personal management competencies and how to use them in organizational
environment.

Description of the course:

The course consists in two streams of activities: building awareness of

managerial competencies by assessing skills that every student possesses (or
not), building these competencies, and discussing the same issues in the class.

Readings:

Textbook is a single reading for this class: D. A. Whetten, K. S. Cameron,

Developing Management Skills, 7 th ed., Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle, NJ, 2007.

Lecture class ending with final exam:

You work for your grades through the whole semester by fulfilling the tasks
described below and later explained in a class. Class meetings are devoted to
your explanations of the understanding of the chapter content. Instructor’s role
is to be aware of and comment on your problems in understanding, and in
guiding you through the problems that you may encounter.

Individual class assignment: each participant is obliged to handle to the

instructor at the beginning of each lecture class meeting the following materials:
1) a complete of assessment tests provided for the chapter (column pre); 2) one
page (about 1600 characters) of a personal journal of the course, as instructed
in the textbook on page 99, point 1. Delivery on time is of a crucial importance.
Do not sign materials with your name, use code instead (5 - 7 characters long
sequence of letters or numbers or both). What counts is: a) that you have
fulfilled your task for the week, an b) that you have done this on time. Keep in
mind however that what you have put on the paper is important. At the end o
the course you meet your instructor face to face to discuss you diligence. At that
time you bring with you all required materials supplemented with: 1) second
filling of all the tests (column post), 2) a 4.500 characters essay, signed with your
first name and family name, titled: My Understanding of Professional
Management Skills explaining with arguments what is professional, and what is
not in management job. This should be a description of your personal
understanding of management. This particular paper is due on the last lecture
class meeting.

If you work hard for the whole semester this is all for your exam in this course
because that’s what counts in this course: systematic work, diligence, and
consistency. Your grade comes according to the following scale:

Materials delivered on time Points

Attendance (complete) 30
Chapter presentation 20
Assessment Tests (complete) 10
Course Journal (complete) 20
Essay: My View of Professional Management Skills 20
Total 100

Note: Papers are due at the beginning of each class; late or incomplete delivery
makes you paper worth 50% less.

Team assignment: Participants should form ten teams not smaller then 3 people
each. Each team shall be a host of a single lecture class meeting. Among the
responsibilities of the team are: a presentation of a content of a chapter at the
beginning the class; guiding class through the scoring of the tests, and rising
issues for discussion in a class. Presentation should contain (and explain):
structure of knowledge in a chapter; constructions explaining how to understand
issues (i. e. stages of team effectiveness or levels of maturity). Guiding should
allow the class to compare scores of the test, let everyone understand in what
position she or he is and let everyone understand whether and how to change a
position in a score, in essence, this should be a guided tour through scoring
assessment tests. Presenting team is also responsible for class participation –
making discussion running and leading the direction.

Tutorial class qualifying for an exam:

You have to be qualified to be able to sit for an exam. Qualification comes with
your attendance and presentations delivered in a tutorial class.

In a tutorial class you work in teams. Class time is devoted to planning your
activities for a week and reporting results of activities for the previous week. At
each class you take into consideration a section of the textbook in each chapter
titled Behavioral Guidelines and, on the basis of that, plan your team activities
for a week. A plan should contain actions undertaken by the team as a whole or
(and) single members of a team, observable results that are meant to be
achieved, and measures by which the results will be assessed. About half of the
class time is devoted to the above activity, the other half to presentation of the
ideas and presentations of the results achieved. Your individual activity and
initiative in a class will also be taken into consideration. In this part o the course
an assessment of your work comprises with: class attendance (30%, individually
based), usefulness of your contribution to the other teams (30%, team based),
and your class activity (40%, individually based).

Class schedule:

Lecture class Chapter Tutorial class Chapter

Oct. 2, 2008 Introduction Oct. 2, 2007 Introduction
Oct. 9, 2008 Course outline Oct. 9, 2007 Supplement A
Oct. 16, 2008 Manager Oct. 16, 2007 Supplement B,
Oct. 23, 2008 Chapter 1 Oct. 23, 2007 Supplement C
Oct. 30, 2008 Chapter 2 Oct. 30, 2008 Chapter 1
Nov. 6, 2008 Chapter 3 Nov. 6, 2008 Chapter 2
Nov. 13, 2008 Chapter 4 Nov. 13, 2008 Chapter 3
Nov. 20, 2008 Chapter 5 Nov. 20, 2008 Chapter 4
Nov. 27, 2008 Chapter 6 Nov. 27, 2008 Chapter 5
Dec. 4, 2008 Chapter 7 Dec. 4, 2008 Chapter 6
Dec. 11, 2008 Chapter 8 Dec. 11, 2008 Chapter 7
Dec. 18, 2008 Chapter 9 Dec. 18, 2008 Chapter 8
Jan. 8, 2009 Chapter 10 Jan. 8, 2009 Chapter 9
Jan. 15, 2009 Materials review Jan. 15, 2009 Chapter 10
Jan. 22, 2009 Materials review Jan. 22, 2009 Materials review

Grades

As a matter of fact, I do not grant grades, I rather administer them because the grades
are a function of tasks and their fulfilment. Maximum amount of points equals 100, and
grades come with the following scheme:

Minimum
90 5
85 4+
75 4
65 3+
55 3
45 2
<45 0 (n.a.)