Courses

The listing of a course description here does not guarantee a course’s being offered in a particular semester. Please refer to the published schedule of classes on the MyBU Student Portal for confirmation a class is actually being taught and for specific course meeting dates and times.

• QST MK 915: Consumer Behavior II
  Because firms that excel in developing deep insight into consumer behavior create and capture more value in the marketplace, it is critical for researchers to establish a strong foundation in consumer research. The present course serves as a companion to the MK914: Seminar in Consumer Behavior I, and considers what some have called "The Cultural Interpretivist Turn" in Marketing. This perspective calls for a broader conceptualization of the discipline, with greater attention to - phenomena and dynamics at the socio-cultural level, under-leveraged theoretical perspectives beyond psychology and economics, and grounded methodologies capable of situating consumer behavior in the context of people's lives. Topics include but are not limited to: Myth and Cultural Narratives; Semiotics; Materialism; Consumer-Brand Relationships; Consumer Socialization; Sub-Cultures of Gender, Lifestyle, Ethnicity, and Social Class; Communities and Tribes; Illicit Pleasures, Addictions, and High Risk Consumption; Politics of Consumption; and Consumer Well-Being.
• QST MK 927: Marketing Management and the Customer-Focused Firm
  This course will familiarize doctoral students with various areas of investigation for problem-oriented academic marketing research pertinent to the research mission of the department: advancing the customer-focused firm. Discussion topics include but are not limited to the following strategies for gaining strategic advantage through the cultivation of marketing relationships: branding and brand equity, pricing, sales, customer relationship management and CRM, consumer-company identification, corporate social responsibility, consumer-to-consumer relationships and brand communities, retailing and customer service, product innovation, and product launch strategy. Through exposure to a strategic marketing perspective for the identification of research problem areas, this course will further socialize students into the process of developing research ideas and undertaking research, while stimulating the development of ideas for summer projects, qualifying papers, and dissertations.
• QST MK 928: Mathematical Modeling in Marketing
  There are many decision problems in marketing that require mathematical modeling, using operations research/ management science approaches. This type of modeling is distinct from "statistical modeling;" this latter type of modeling is very worthy of study, and is heavily covered in various other courses you will take or have taken (e.g., QM915: Multivariate Analysis). The course consists mainly of discussing a variety of assigned journal articles in the various area of management, with the plurality illustrating marketing applications. The articles focus on optimization models. There are also lectures on the major optimization techniques (e.g., calculus, linear programming, decision analysis) emphasized in the course. The grading is based half on class participation and half on a required paper. Open to MBA students with instructor's permission. Must meet with faculty member to discuss course content and goals.
• QST MK 929: Marketing Management and the Customer-Focused Firm II
  This course builds on material presented in MK927 to familiarize doctoral students with various areas of investigation for problem-oriented academic marketing research pertinent to the research mission of the department: advancing the customer-focused firm. Discussion topics concern strategies for gaining competitive advantage and include: establishing a market orientation, product strategy, product innovation and new product development, brand design and product aesthetics, co-creation and mass customization, pricing strategy, sales promotions, corporate social responsibility, cause marketing, stakeholder marketing, and the measurement of firm and marketing performance. Through exposure to a strategic marketing perspective for the identification of research problem areas, this course will further socialize students into the process of developing research ideas and undertaking research, while stimulating the development of ideas for summer projects, qualifying papers, and dissertations.
• QST MK 990: Current Topics Seminar
  For PhD students in the Marketing department. Registered by permission only.
• QST MK 998: Directed Study: Marketing
  Graduate Prerequisites: Consent of instructor and the department chair
  PhD-level directed study in Marketing. 1, 2, or 3 cr. Application available on the Graduate Program Office website.
• QST MK 999: Directed Study: Marketing
  Graduate Prerequisites: consent of instructor and the department chair
  PhD-level directed study in Marketing. 1, 2, or 3 cr. Application available on the Graduate Center website.
• QST MO 221: The Dynamics of Leading Organizations
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: QST SM 131.
  This course is about understanding, analyzing, and navigating the complexities of contemporary organizational life. After taking this course, you will be able to: (1) Understand yourself, including your personal tendencies, and sharpen your ability to interact and communicate with others in ways that make you more effective at work; (2) Formulate strategies for collaborating, building effective teams, and carving out your role within them; (3) Analyze, predict, and influence others' behaviors, organizational hierarchies, power structures, and cultures; and (4) Apply the principles of organizational behavior to craft feedback, manage conflict, and lead in your work environments. This is done through in-class simulations, individual self-reflection, active participation in class, team exercises, exams, readings, and group projects and presentations. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Teamwork/Collaboration.
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  • Teamwork/Collaboration
• QST MO 356: Leadership and Management of Social Enterprises
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: QST SM131 or QST SI250 or QST SI480 or COM FT591 or SHA HF231; Sophomore standing
  A well-managed social enterprise can translate idealism into action. It can help create a world that is more sustainable, more compassionate, and more just. This course will explore the distinctive aspects of launching, leading, and growing an enterprise -- nonprofit or for-profit -- whose primary goal is social impact. We will study mission, strategy, marketing, ethics, entrepreneurship, and scaling. We will learn that success for social enterprise is driven less by a compelling story or a charismatic advocate than by diligent management and insightful, ethical leadership. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Ethical Reasoning.
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  • Ethical Reasoning
• QST MO 420: People Analytics
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: QST BA222, or QST QM222 and CAS CS111
  This course focuses on developments in people analytics, an evolving data- driven approach to employee decisions and practices. The course covers theory, practice, and methods that are critical for addressing people-related challenges at companies such as hiring, retaining, evaluating, rewarding performance, and managing teams and social networks, to name a few. By drawing on the latest company practices, research, and cases studies, this course will help you apply people analytics to achieve organizational objectives and to advance in your own career.
• QST MO 441: Human Resource Management
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: QST MO 221.
  Introduces students to the field of human resource management (HRM). Emphasizes the strategic importance of effective human resource management to the success of any organization. Using readings, case studies and outside speakers, specific topics covered include: recruiting and selection, talent, diversity & inclusion, training and development, performance management and rewards and employee and labor relations. Particular attention is paid to the ways in which organizations' strategies and practices around these issues contribute to the strategic objectives of the organization. Individual and group projects enable students to develop skills in making decisions from both the human resource manager's and the general manager's perspective.
• QST MO 448: Negotiations
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: Junior or senior standing. Pre-req for SHA students: SHA HF231
  Negotiations are part of daily life inside of organizations and out; yet, effective strategies for negotiation are elusive. Across a variety of negotiation contexts, you will learn different frameworks for thinking about negotiations and best practices. Intellectually, there is an emphasis on the tensions and strategies around claiming and creating value. Practically, there is an emphasis on skill-building through hands-on exercises entailing both individual and team-based negotiations. Students are expected to gain confidence as negotiators through experiential learning.
• QST MO 460: The Leadership Challenge
  Undergraduate Prerequisites: Junior or senior standing
  Required for Organizational Behavior concentrators. Do you want to develop your leadership skills? Are you interested in learning more about what makes an effective leader? Would you like to lead an initiative that has direct, real-world impact in the community? Then take on the Leadership Challenge! This course dives into the theory and practice of leadership, emphasizing the perspective that leaders are needed at all levels in organizations and society. In addition to studying the practices of effective leaders, the course focuses on developing your leadership competencies through active experimentation and reflection, designing and leading a team community service project, and building leadership, communication, and collaboration skills. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, The Individual in Community. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Oral and/or Signed Communication, The Individual in Community, Teamwork/Collaboration.
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  • The Individual in Community
  • Oral and/or Signed Communication
  • Teamwork/Collaboration
• QST MO 498: Directed Study: Management & Organizations
  Directed study in Organizational Behavior. 2 or 4 cr. Application available on Undergraduate Program website.
• QST MO 712: Leading Organizations and People
  This course provides you with an opportunity to deepen your personal practice of management, enabling you to increase your effectiveness as both a manager and team member within your organization. Course content is based on behavioral science research findings as well as concepts and frameworks related to human behavior in an organizational context. Specifically, this course considers: 1) how to develop yourselves as managers, 2) how to work well within teams, 3) how to assess and manage interpersonal dynamics, 4) how to structure more effective organizations, and 5) how to manage organizational change. Tying all of these elements together, we devote particular attention to the traits, skills and behaviors that are indicative of good leadership and how organizations and managers can be transformed for better alignment with the business demands of the future.
• QST MO 713: Leading Organizations and People
  This course introduces concepts, models and frameworks to help you become better managers of the organizations you work for, the teams you work in, the people you work with and your own professional development. Emphasis will be on behavioral science concepts and research findings related to the major challenge managers face -- how to organize individuals in order to fulfill the objectives and strategies of the firm. Topics that will be examined include: the nature and dynamics of the organization (organizational structure and culture, performance systems and metrics, reward systems, selection and socialization); the elements of individual leadership and personal development (power, decision-making, emotional intelligence, career development, developmental needs, feedback, and mentoring and coaching); managing change within organizational contexts (the dynamics and stages of organizational change and the skills and tactics employed by change agents); and the relationships between the firm and the external environment in which it operates. The course objective is to provide analytical skills and strategies, substantive knowledge, and a professional sensibility that will increase your ability to take effective action.
• QST MO 825: Future of Work
  Graduate Prerequisites: QST MO 712 or QST MO 713; QST MO712 or QST MO713
  This course is an exploration of the future (or, more accurately, futures) of work that allows students to interrogate changing realities of labor in different industries. Industry guests will supplement course materials designed first to lay out a history of work, and then explore the ways it is currently in flux around the world and across sectors. Students will do a deep dive into a self-selected line of work through which they will engage with questions covering workers' experience, technology, inclusion, and meaning.
• QST MO 830: Leading Mission Driven Organizations
  Mission-driven organizations are created in order to accomplish goals that extend beyond profits for stakeholders and owners. Missions vary, ranging from, among many others, improving health care, providing meaningful work opportunities, educating or protecting youth, safeguarding the planet, eradicating poverty, building sustainable organizations, and enabling spirituality. Such missions occur in the context of various organizations, including non-profit and for-profit, philanthropic and religious, public and private, governmental and non-governmental. This course focuses on leadership theories, frameworks, and practices that take seriously the nature of workers, including both professional staff and volunteers, and their reasons for choosing to work in such organizations. This course is designed to build the capacities of students to use specific tools related to leadership, conflict, and change that are particularly useful in leading mission- driven organizations, and enable them to develop particular insights about specific mission-driven organizations of interest, related to their effectiveness and capacities for change.
• QST MO 833: Executive Compensation: Strategy and Practice
  This course will provide students with an in-depth understanding of the structure and governance of executive compensation programs and practices. The course material will draw upon the theory and research in executive compensation and explore current legislative and shareholder reform initiatives impacting executive pay. Our approach will be to view executive compensation from a multi-stakeholder perspective taking into account the interests of shareholders, institutional investors, advocacy groups, social activists, governmental regulators, employees, and executives. We will examine the linkages between executive compensation and business strategy, talent strategy, compliance with securities law, tax regulations, accounting standards, and principles of good corporate governance. We will also address current topics of gender pay equity, increasing pay inequality, and investor focus on the role of incentives in reinforcing organizational attention to environmental, social and governance issues (ESG). While the primary focus of the course will be on executive and management compensation, the theory and practice applicable to broad-based rewards programs will also be explored.
• QST MO 838: People Strategies to Drive Performance
  Graduate Prerequisites: QST MO 712 or QST MO 713.
  Using readings, case studies and outside speakers, this course focuses on the perspective of the general manager and looks at the utilization of human capital to drive business and organizational performance. The ability to diagnose and improve the alignment between people strategy and business strategy is highly valued in today's economy. Leaders need to not only be able to think strategically and systematically about different aspects of managing an organization's human assets but also the development and implementation of policies and programs to achieve competitive advantage through people.