Courses

• GSM OB 815: Seminar on Careers: Theory, Research and Practices
  This seminar will examine major theoretical models and research on the process of how careers unfold in and out of organizations. It will examine both the more traditional issues of career dynamics in organizational settings (e.g., internal labor markets, tournament mobility systems, organizational socialization) as well as emergent issues of boundary-less, protean, or "free agent" career processes, such as career transformation, career networks, developmental relationships, adult development, and emotional competencies.
• GSM OB 830: Leading the Mission-Driven Organization
  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. 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.
• GSM OB 835: Sustainable Business: Profits, Planet, People and Purpose
  The convergence of a number of factors is driving an increase in investment and focus on sustainability. More specifically, high profile corporate scandals, recognition of the finite and increasingly costly resources on our planet, a shrinking globe with far more transparency and increasing consumer power are serving to elevate the imperative of sustainability. That said, there is wide variability in the definition of sustainability, the scope of efforts aimed at sustainability, and the perceived effectiveness of sustainability efforts. This is not surprising given the newness of the field and the attendant absence of theory, frameworks, and uniform measurements to deliver value attributable to these efforts. This class intends to introduce students to the opportunity and challenges facing startups and established companies as they contemplate the import of...and approach to creating a sustainable enterprise. Illustrations of progressive models (e.g. TOMS, GE, Marks & Spencer) will be coupled with case studies, lectures, practitioner speakers and debate to engage students in the nuances and intricacies of this developing field. This class will be taught from the perspective of practitioners and emphasize the real challenges of making operating decisions in an increasingly complex context.
• GSM OB 840: Management Consulting Field Project
  The purpose of this course is to provide students with an in-depth understanding of the management consulting process and its practical application. The course simulates a small consulting firm where students are consultants. Students complete significant fieldwork outside of classroom time. Students explore dimensions of defining and understanding the consulting framework, engagements, work methodology, client relationship management, value creation, developing and delivering presentations and client follow-up. This course includes one primary deliverable: the initiation, scoping and completion of a consulting field project. This class is designed and best suited for second year students who have 3-5 years work experience in the public, private or nonprofit sectors.
• GSM OB 844: Managing Organizational Change
  Change is crucial for the success and survival of organizations. Managing change is central to the role of senior leaders, middle managers and frontline supervisors alike; each needs to understand the change process and develop the skills necessary to engage that process effectively. This course focuses on both the knowledge and the set of skills that enable change to be effectively managed across various organizations and industries. Students will learn about how to be effective agents of change, in the context of different types of roles--tops, middles and bottoms--and organizations. We will explore the nature of both proactive and reactive change, examining the conditions under which such change is successful and the skills necessary to ensure that success. Students will also have the opportunity to learn about themselves as change agents, in the context of considering their own tendencies, skills, and capabilities amidst proactive and reactive change. The course is particularly appropriate for students who wish to develop their leadership and consultation capabilities.
• GSM OB 847: Leading High Performance Teams and Project Groups
  This course introduces the challenges of leading and participating in teams and project groups. It emphasizes the role of leadership in composing teams, motivating members, and creating an environment in which teams and their members grow in capacity over time. This course will use cases, experiential exercises, and group projects to help students gain both knowledge of team dynamics and the skills to shape them.
• GSM OB 848: The Leadership Challenge
  This course examines the essence of leadership; its relationship to managing; and the behaviors, attitudes and perspectives that distinguish leaders. Leadership is considered in a variety of ways: leadership in crises, at the top, in the middle, and in groups. Case studies, students' past experiences, instruments, and other learning activities provide opportunities for students to assess and develop their leadership talents.
• GSM OB 853: Negotiations
  This course uses the theory and research on effective negotiating strategies to build students' understanding of, and skills for, managing differences and negotiation situations. The course considers, among other topics, the issues of negotiating across functions, between levels, across national and cultural differences, over race and gender differences, and between organizations. Students examine: 1) problems of influence and self-defense in highly competitive "hardball" negotiations; and 2) the art of using differences for creative problem-solving and "mutual gain" outcomes. The emphasis is on developing practical skills for effective negotiations that can be applied to concrete situations. Students should be prepared to learn from their own experiences and practice in this course.
• GSM OB 915: Seminar on Careers: Theory, Research and Practices
  This seminar will examine major theoretical models and research on the process of how careers unfold in and out of organizations. It will examine both the more traditional issues of career dynamics in organizational settings (e.g., internal labor markets, tournament mobility systems, organizational socialization) as well as emergent issues of boundary-less, protean, or "free agent" career processes, such as career transformation, career networks, developmental relationships, adult development, and emotional competencies.
• GSM OB 918: Seminar in Micro Organizational Behavior
  Micro organizational behavior is the study of individual behavior and social processes in organizations. The goal of this doctoral course is to familiarize students with major conceptual frameworks, debates, and developments in the field of micro organizational behavior. This course will review the key literature in the study of individual behaviors, interpersonal relations, and group dynamics in organizations. The readings and discussions will focus on core topics in the field, such as personality and individual differences, work attitudes, motivation, leadership, groups, and socialization. This course is required of all first year doctoral students in Organizational Behavior and is open to other doctoral students with permission.
• GSM OB 923: Field Studies Seminar
  As management researchers seek to understand questions of 'how' and 'of what ' in addition to the more traditional question of 'how many,' qualitative methods are taking a central place in our field's methodological practice. One indicator is the publication of qualitatively based articles by major journals in the sub-disciplines of organizational behavior, information systems, strategy, accounting and marketing. This doctoral-level seminar has two objectives: to explore the range of methodological practices and processes associated with conducting and composing high quality qualitative research, and to draw particular attention to the important processes of observing, discovery, justification and writing.
• GSM OM 725: Creating Value Through Operations and Technology
  This MBA core course is case-oriented and focuses on topics of use to managers in any environment: process analysis, process improvement, supply chain management, and strategic operations decision-making. The course emphasizes the importance of effectiveness and efficiency and evaluates the potential trade-offs between them.
• GSM OM 726: Creating Value Through Operations and Technology
  This MBA core course is case-oriented and focuses on topics of use to managers in any environment: process analysis, process improvement, supply chain management, and strategic operations decision-making. The course emphasizes the importance of effectiveness and efficiency and evaluates the potential trade-offs between them.
• GSM OM 840: Managing and Improving Quality: Six Sigma Green Belt Certification
  Six Sigma is a powerful management tool that promotes process improvement, cost reduction and significant enhancement of bottom-line profitability. The purpose of this course is to thoroughly examine the concept of quality, to define it in terms that are useful for managers, to survey the ideas of major quality thinkers and theorists, to develop proficiency in the use of quality tools, and to consider the challenges of quality program implementation in real business situations. Throughout the course we will investigate similarities and differences between quality management in manufacturing and service contexts. The course has three major objectives. The first goal is to define quality and explore important philosophies and useful frameworks for managers or consultants. The second goal is to focus on the Six Sigma tools available for the pursuit of lasting quality improvements. The third is to bring the experiences of Six Sigma practice into the classroom. We?ll benefit from the expertise and experience of Six Sigma professionals who will help us to understand the challenges of Six Sigma implementations and analyze the lessons they have learned from projects they have undertaken.
• GSM OM 845: Clean Technologies and Supply Chains
  The clean technology industry is one of the largest sectors of the economy and yet still undergoing significant growth and attracting a plethora of new entrants. It has been characterized by a great deal of experimentation around new technologies and around business models in the face of regulatory and market place disruptions. The course uses a combination of cases, simulation and analytical exercises to review trends and their co-evolution within the clean technology/energy eco-system. It aims to build a skill set around risk and opportunity assessment, and allied implementation challenges. This course is being set up as an MBA elective that is aligned with the needs of Entrepreneurship, PNP and Strategy concentrations. GRS and ENG students who have graduate level exposure to clean technologies/ environmental studies, and who wish to explore business aspects of clean technology issues may enroll with instructors permission.
• GSM OM 854: Supply Chain Management
  This course presents tools and modeling frameworks that are relevant to solving today's supply-chain problems. The class will offer a mixture of case discussions, lectures, games, and outside speakers. Case discussions will cover subjects including designing new-product supply chains, optimizing inventory levels, quick response, the role of b2b exchanges, and managing capacity for short life-cycle products. Lectures will provide the theoretical foundation for the course. Although the course does not focus extensively on mathematics, enough detail will be provided so that students can apply the material in practice. Games including the distribution game, the OPT game, and the Beer Game will reinforce the concepts in a constructive way. Finally, outside speakers from a number of companies will present real-world examples of how supply-chain models are being deployed in practice. This course has been designed for students who will be working in consulting or supply-chain management after graduation. Additionally, for students interested in finance or marketing, the course provides solid exposure to an area that is integral to any product-focused company.
• GSM OM 855: Project Management
  Projects are increasingly the way that work gets done in companies of all types and sizes. In this new course you will learn the strategic dimensions of project management, including critical aspects of project selection, definition, planning, execution, and monitoring. Concepts and approaches for dealing with complexity, uncertainty, vague mandates, temporary staff, partners, stakeholders, dynamic risk, and time-critical deadlines are emphasized. Cases and readings cover a wide range of industry and organizational contexts. This course requires that students apply these topics and considerations to a real project of their choice either by analysis of publicly available information or direct field study. Many MBAs are tested on the job through tough assignments in project settings. Your performance there is highly visible. Doing especially well can accelerate your subsequent career opportunities. Prepare now for success in strategic project management by developing the skills and perspectives covered in OM855!
• GSM OM 865: Idea Lab
  This is an experiential course aimed at developing ideas for digital products and services ("web services"), within the context of a multi-stage "innovation tournament." The tournament structure will force the "screening" of certain ideas in the initial stages, and in such cases, some students will get reassigned to the surviving ideas . Participants will learn specific tools, methods, and concepts related to the creation of such services (e.g., opportunity sensing, management of variation, innovation/business analytics, crowd sourcing vs out sourcing decisions, existing versus incremental enabling technologies, idea interdependence and information architecture, task sequencing for enhancing cycle time and service quality) and will be required to develop web based test tools. For the next offering, the class will be divided into two sub-tournaments. The first tournament will focus on "Healthcare," and the second on the "SMART Cities and Energy" sector. Students who wish to start their own digital businesses in these sectors, either full time or part time, are strongly encouraged to take this course. The instructor anticipates that the best performing ideas will have high potential for entrepreneurial development. Thus, this course can serve as a front end to conduct follow on development by working either in the IS, operations, health sector management, energy or entrepreneurship concentration courses, and/or by working with affinity groups in the BU community, such as, ITEC.
• GSM OM 880: Product Design and Development
  This course explores central managerial challenges in the effective design, development, and introduction of new products. Topics covered include reducing the time to market while meeting cost and quality targets; managing cross-functional projects and inherent technological risks while keeping a focus on customer requirements; and integrated problem-solving by industrial designers, engineers, manufactures, and marketing specialists. [Case studies, readings, guest lecturers, field project]
• GSM PL 700: Introduction to Business Law
  This course will survey contemporary issues in selected areas of law and ethics. We will introduce pivotal areas of law, so that students begin to anticipate legal problems, analyze how to avoid them, and realize how legal principles can be employed to add value in their chosen fields. The subjects are torts, contracts, employment law, securities regulation and corporate governance. We expect that this overview of a few disciplines will encourage students to explore other legal topics relevant to their business interests. We will also offer an analytic structure that enables students to identify ethical issues in business, analyze options and make choices consistent with their own values.

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