Management and Organizations Department | MBA

Our MBA courses prepare students to become skilled leaders of organizations, who understand how to craft and execute winning strategies while simultaneously ensuring that the people of the organization feel empowered and appreciated.

Collaboration, Conflict, and Negotiation

Successful managers know how to collaborate with other people effectively and how to resolve conflicts constructively. The goal of this course is to teach students the fundamentals of managing collaboration and conflict in one-on-one and small group settings. Our objective is to enhance students' interpersonal skills at their jobs. Drawing from the latest findings in managerial psychology, we cover the fundamentals of effective negotiation, communication, and persuasion. Special topics include getting buy-in, coping with resistance, and building coalitions.

Advanced Strategy: Tools

Advanced Strategy: Tools is an elective course on strategy. We will recap many of the components covered in core strategy and apply this material to additional cases. In addition, we will spend more time on the relationship between strategy and organizational attributes of the firm. This course has an emphasis on applying the tools and concepts of strategy with precision and attention to nuance. The cases are chosen because they fulfill the following criteria: 1) The issues addressed are topical 2) They are more nuanced than typical core strategy cases 3) They generate an opportunity to explore related regulatory, technological, social, or organizational content 4) They generate interesting follow up questions. By thoroughly discussing each case and by following up with additional information relevant to the uncertainties faced by the case protagonists, we will generate insights into the challenges of implementing various options. In this course, we seek answers to the following questions: What could go wrong? How do we correct it through better design of structure? The course follows an interactive discussion driven format. My expectation is that you come to class having thoroughly read the assignments for that class. Generally, 3-4 class sessions are led by guests who have many years of experience in the industry under consideration. In addition, some class sessions set aside for group presentations.

Advanced Negotiation: Emotion & Nonverbal Communication in Conflict Resolution

The goal of this course is to increase your ability to resolve conflicts at the bargaining table and a a leader in your organization. How do you negotiate when emotions are running high? How does understanding the information conveyed by body language (yours and your counterparts) increase the likelihood you will reach a desirable outcome. Is your counterpart a Friend or a Foe? Knowing how you and your counterpart are feeling—angry, fearful, satisfied—is especially important when you want to create the trust needed to reach pie-maximizing outcomes. In this course you will learn how to anticipate emotion and how best to convey understanding without compromising your negotiation objectives. Understanding nonverbal cues enables you to assess when you can trust the other side and when you must be wary of their intentions. Through negotiation simulations in which the economic and emotional stakes are high you will practice ways to plan for the emotions that may arise and the techniques that effectively leverage and/or dissipate emotion. You will also have the opportunity to practice spotting and interpreting nonverbal cues by reviewing videotaped conversations and by analyzing your and your counterparts behavior during a negotiation simulation. CCN is the only pre-requisite. The course complements other Advanced Topics in Negotiation courses and Negotiating Complex Transactions with Executives & Lawyers, which can be taken concurrently or in any order.

Power and Politics in Organizations

This course considers the way political processes and power structures influence decisions and choices made within and by organizations. It analyzes the sources, distribution, and use of influence in relation to resource allocation, organizational change and performance management succession, procedural justice, policy formulation, and social movements within organizations. It develops skills in diagnosing and using power and politics in organizational settings. A basic assumption underlying the course is that managers need well-developed skills in acquiring and exercising power to be effective. The course is designed to (1) improve students' capacity to diagnose organizational issues in terms of their political dimensions and (2) enhance their effectiveness in their jobs and careers as a result of that improved capacity.

Developing Managerial Skills

Many companies bestow a management title on key talent and expect appropriate behavior to follow That is not the most effective way to develop future business leaders Increasing self awareness and being open to feedback are important first steps in leading today business for tomorrow results This course focuses primarily on the practical aspects of managing While based on solid research it stresses a hands on approach to improving student management skills Each session focuses on a developing personal skills self awareness managing stress solving problems and creativity b interpersonal skills coaching counseling supportive communication gaining power and influence motivating self and others and managing conflict and c group skills empowering delegating and building effective teams Class sessions also give students an opportunity to assess learn analyze practice and apply the above skills to their own work situations so that they can turn good ideas into accepted practice Students learn not just about management skills but also how to apply those skills to get results.