UMUC-EUROPE GRADUATE PROGRAMS
BOWIE STATE UNIVERSITY

MGMT649 Syllabus

Course Title Seminar in Management
Term TERM 1, 2004/2005
Education Center STUTTGART-VAIHINGEN-GRAD
Faculty Member Richard Miller - romiller@faculty.ed.umuc.edu

Faculty Contact Information:

Richard Miller
UMUC-Europe
Unit 29216
APO, AE 09102

e-mail: romiller@faculty.ed.umuc.edu

Consultation:

One half hour before and after class, and by appointment.

Required Texts and Readings:

De Soto, H. (2000). The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else. NY: Basic Books.

Fukuyama, F. (2004). State Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century. Ithaca: Cornell University.

Hampden-Turner, C., & Trompenaars, F. (2000). Building Cross Cultural Competence: How to Create Wealth from Conflicting Values. New Haven: Yale University Press. 

Kettl, D. (2000). The Global Management Revolution. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.

Supplementary Readings:

Case studies and on line articles/papers are cited in the body of the syllabus. In addition, all graduate students should be prepared to utilize the UMUC online library. The library contains a large number of full text academic journals that are free of charge and immediately available. The library homepage also contains a number of links related to improving students' research and writing skills.

Recommended Journals:

A variety of full-text, online, free-of-charge and pay-per-view academic journals are listed on the PA Webboard (http://webboard.ed.umuc.edu/~pa.) Foreign Policy is especially useful in this course.

Course Description:

This course will focus on the analysis of current issues facing top management in mid and large firms. Emphasis is placed on such issues as the globalization of goods, services, capital, technology, domestic and global competition, market opportunities and threats, business strategies, and innovation. Recent developments and trends concerning reengineering as well as organizational and managerial functions also will be reviewed.

Course Goals:

As an advanced elective in the M.P.A. program, the purpose of this course is to analyze and assess current and evolving issues in the management of international public and quasi-public organizations.

Course Objectives:

At the conclusion of the course, students will be able to:
  1. Analyze case material, public law, and research articles related to public administration
  2. Investigate the relationship between historical and current issues
    in public administration
  3. Utilize electronic resources to find primary source documents, data, statements on best practices, and research articles related to issues in public administration
  4. Develop and present written and oral arguments, case studies, and/or research papers on current issues in public administration that make reference to and build on factual and expert information

Grading Information:

Grades for this course will be assigned as follows:

   A    90%
   B    80 – 89%
   C    70 – 79%
   F    Below 70%

Please note that Bowie State University does not use "D" for graduate students. The grade F(a) is used to designate academic failure. F(n) is used to designate failure for non-completion. Grades of Incomplete or Withdrawal are governed by UMUC-Europe policies. For further details, please refer to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog. Hard copies of the catalog are available at your local Education Center.

Course Requirements:

Graduate school at the masters level focuses on helping students obtain the education needed for success as professionals in their chosen fields. Thus, UMUC-Europe Graduate Programs and Bowie State University share the common goals of promoting excellence in academic scholarship through thoughtful inquiry and the skillful application of knowledge and theory for the betterment of society. In order to maximize your graduate educational experience in general and this course in particular, you are required to:

Participate in classroom discussions             10%
Write graduate level papers or case studies      30%
Orally/visually present prepared material        20%
Complete one or more written examination(s)      40%

Description of Course Requirements:

Successful graduate students in American universities dedicate approximately three hours of preparation/study time for every hour spent in the face-to-face classroom. Thus, the following course requirements were developed on the assumption that students would be prepared to spend approximately 150 hours of their own time working on them. In an 8-week term, that is the equivalent of a half-time job. Most 14-week graduate distance education courses require at least 10 hours per week of dedicated time, plus time spent in the virtual classroom.

Participate in classroom discussions: You are expected to come to class prepared to engage in all discussions in a professional and informed manner. 

Write graduate level papers or case studies: You are required to conduct professional-level research, including appropriately citing works of others and avoiding plagiarism. Resubmission of course work from previous classes (whether or not taken at UMUC, UMUC-Europe or BSU), partially or in its entirety, is not acceptable in this course and will result in an automatic failure on the assignment. 

Orally/visually present prepared material: You are required to present your research in a professional manner. In a face-to-face course, this typically means an oral presentation accompanied by appropriate visual material. In a DE class, this means creating a visual/textual presentation for your instructor and classmates.

Complete one or more written examination(s): The examination process in this class will assist you in developing the writing and critical thinking skills necessary to successfully passing the comprehensive exam required of all graduate students. The questions used for this course will either be taken directly from past comprehensive exams or written as though to be included on a comprehensive exam.

Course Schedule:

Date/ Module

Aug 21

Module 1 Introduction, Overview of course objectives and requirements.

Topic: The Context of International Public Management

Reading:

Mathews, J. (1997). Power shift: The rise of global civil society. Foreign Affairs, 76(1):50-66. Retrieved July 12, 2004 from the ABI/INFORM Global database of the UMUC Online Library.

Module 2 Topic: Trends in Global Management: Institutional Growth and Change

Reading:

Keohane, R.C. & Nye, J.S. Jr. (2000). Globalization: What’s new? What’s not? (And so what?). Foreign Policy, 118(Spring):104-119. Retrieved July 12, 2004 from the ABI/INFORM Global database of the UMUC Online Library.

August 22

Module 3 Topic: Institutional Impediments to Development and Globalization-State Capacity

Reading:

Fukuyama, F. (2004). State Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century. Part 1 The Missing Dimensions of Stateness

Module 4 Topic: Weak States in Action—The Case of Mercury Mining in Indonesia. (Power Point Presentation)

Readings:

Fearon, J. & Laikin, D. Neo-Trusteeship and the Problem of Weak States. International Security.

Kagan. R (2002). Power and weakness. Policy Review Online, 113(June):20 pp. Retrieved July 14, 2004 from www.policyreview.org/JUN02/kagan.html.

Kaplan. R. (1997). Was democracy just a moment? Atlantic Monthly, 280(6):55-80. Retrieved July 14, 2004 Academic Search Premier database of the UMUC Online Library.
   
Sept 11

Module 5 Topic: Institutional Responses- the “Governance” Movement

Reading:

Kettl,D. (2000). The Global Management Revolution (All)

Module 6 Topic: Capacity Building-Indigenous Efforts

Reading:

Barbier, H. & Homer-Dixon, T. (1996). Resource scarcity, institutional adaptation and technical innovation: Can poor countries attain endogenous growth? Occasional Paper, Project on Environment, Population and Security. Washington, D.C. American Association for the Advancement of Science and the University of Toronto April 1996. Retrieved July 14, 2004 from http://www.library.utoronto.ca/pcs/eps/social/social1.htm.

Video: The Dabawalla Tiffin Box Company

NOTE: Term Paper Topics/Overview Due

Sept 18

Module 7 Topic: Capacity Building-The Rise of NGO’s

Readings:

Gereffi, G., Garcia-Johnson, R., & Sasser, E. (2001). The NGO-industrial complex. Foreign Policy, 125(July/August):56-64. Retrieved July 12, 2004 from the ABI/INFORM Global database of the UMUC Online Library.

Foster, G.M. (1965). Peasant society and the image of limited good. American Anthropologist, 67(2):293-315. Retrieved July 14, 2004 from the JSTOR database of the UMUC Online Library.

Letts, C. & Lunberg, K. The Role of NGO’s in Civil Society: South Africa and the Draft Bill Tempest. Harvard University Kennedy School of Government Case Program No. 1374. Retrieved July 12, 2004 from http://www.ksgcase.harvard.edu/.

Module 8 Topic: Institutional Impediments to Capital Formation

Reading: De Soto, The Mystery of Capital. Read Chapters 1-4, skim Chapter 5, 6 and 7

Note: Term Paper Drafts Due

Sept 19

Module 9 Topic: Cultural Dimensions of International Management: Culture Matters

Assignment: Each student should be prepared to present a brief personal experience in which cultural differences led to misunderstanding, confusion, or mistaken assignments. The more hilarious and outlandish, the better.

Reading:

Hampden-Turner, C. & Trompenaars, F. (2000). Building Cross Cultural Competence: How to Create Wealth from Conflicting Values. Chapters 1-8

NOTE: Term Paper Comments/Suggestions Returned

Module 10 Mid-Term Exam

Oct 2

Module 11 Topic: Environmental Degradation: An issue for global managers?
Reading:

Gysewski, P. & Homer-Dixon, T. (1996). Environmental Scarcity and Violent Conflict: The Case of Pakistan. Occasional Paper, Project on Environment, Population and Security. Washington, D.C. American Association for the Advancement of Science and the University of Toronto April 1996. Retrieved July 12, 2004 from http://www.library.utoronto.ca/pcs/eps/pakistan/pak1.htm 

Module 12 Topic: Corruption

Reading:

From the 
Rose-Ackerman, S. (2004). The Challenge of Poor Governance and Corruption. Copenhagen Consensus Project. Retrieved July 14, 2004 from http://www.copenhagenconsensus.com/.

Andvig, J.C. (2004). The Challenge of Poor Governance and Corruption. Copenhagen Consensus Opponent Paper. Retrieved July 14, 2004 from http://www.copenhagenconsensus.com/.  

Carier-Bresson, J. (2004). From the State of the Question ot the Question of the State. Copenhagen Consensus Opponent Notes on Poor Governance and Corruption. Retrieved July 14, 2004 from http://www.copenhagenconsensus.com/.

Mccauley, L. & Roberts, M. (1992). Dealing with Corruption in the Police Force of La Paz and Epilogue. Harvard University Kennedy School of Government Case Program No. 1104 and 1104.1. Retrieved July 12, 2004 from http://www.ksgcase.harvard.edu/.


Module 13 Term paper presentations

Module 14 Term Paper Presentations

Academic Policies:

The University has a license agreement with Turnitin.com, a service that helps prevent plagiarism from internet resources. I may be using this service in this class by either requiring students to submit their papers electronically to Turnitin.com or by submitting questionable text on behalf of a student. If you or I submit part or all of your paper, it will be stored by Turnitin.com in their database throughout the term of the University's contract with Turnitin.com. If you object to this temporary storage of your paper, you must let me know no later than two weeks after the start of this class. Please Note: If you object to the storage of your paper on Turnitin.com, I may utilize other services to check your work for plagiarism.

The official university policy on Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty can be found at http://www.umuc.edu/policy/aa15025.shtml. Section I.C. states: "Faculty may determine if the resubmission of course work from previous classes (whether or not taken at UMUC), partially or in its entirety, is acceptable when assigning a grade on that piece of course work. Faculty must provide this information in their written syllabi. If the resubmission of course work is deemed to be unacceptable, a charge may not be brought under this Policy and will be handled as indicated in the written syllabi."

Please refer to Description of Course Requirements for specific information on how resubmissions will be treated in this course and to the UMUC-Europe Graduate Catalog for information on the following:

Academic Integrity
Course Load
Exception to Policy
Grade Appeal Process
Make-up Examinations
Nondiscrimination
Students with Disabilities

Hard copies of the catalog are available at your local Education Center.

Faculty Bio:

Richard Miller is Collegiate Professor with the University of Maryland University College-Europe. His most recent work experience was serving as International Projects Coordinator for the US Office of Surface Mining (OSM). He also served as Chief of the Office of Planning and Analysis and Chief of the Office of Regulatory Development and Issues Management in OSM. Other positions he has held include working as a Senior Policy Analyst in the US Bureau of Land Management's Office of Policy Analysis and as a Regulatory Analyst in BLM's Division of Legislation and Regulatory Affairs. He was a National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration Fellow and an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow. He was an Associate Professor of Public Administration at California State University, Bakersfield, and Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He has a B.A. in International Relations and an MPA and Ph.D. in Public Administration from the University of Southern California.


Last updated by Richard Miller: July 11, 2004, 8:01 pm
Find this syllabus linked from the schedule at: http://www.ed.umuc.edu/schedule