|
|
|
Click here for printable syllabus SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
Fall 2002
Main Lectures: FH - 0103
I. INTRODUCTION A. Catalog Description External social, legal, economic, political, and ethical environments of modern business. Emphasis is placed on the global marketplace and implications for organizations and individuals. B. Prerequisites International requirements for business program, GBA 300, and at least 82 completed hours of course work. C. Course Objectives 1. To develop an understanding of significant characteristics of the business environment, including its changing nature and global context. 2. To continue to develop students' abilities to define issues, acquire information, perform analysis, and communicate both orally and in writing, specifically with respect to case analysis. 3. To apply and integrate the knowledge and skills gained through liberal education and the knowledge and skills developed in professional business education. GBA 400 will address in greater depth many of the same issues and themes introduced in the GBA 300 course. The purpose of the course is to show how the U.S. business environment changes over time. Emphasis is placed on the social, legal, economic, political, and ethical environments in which business must operate at both the domestic and international levels. D. Grading Criteria 1. Grade Distribution
NOTE: Class attendance is required. An unexcused absence will result in a grade loss of five final points. 2. Grade Methodology a. Written assignments will be evaluated on content, continuity, originality of thought, and communication skills. b. Class, individual, and team participation will be evaluated on preparation, initiative, and contribution. 3. Examinations There will be two examinations weighted at 100 and 150 points, respectively. The examinations will take place the sixth and thirteenth weeks of the course. 4. Class Activity A variety of class activities will take place with the instructor of your small discussion sections. These activities will be in addition to the oral team presentations of the small case assignments. Your instructor might give: (1) an in-class writing assignment; (2) a short quiz on the chapters assigned for that week, on a case, or on the lecture by a guest faculty member; (3) an impromptu oral presentation assignment; or (4) some other appropriate activity. These class activities will constitute 70 points of the final class grade. E. Text(s) 1. Business And Society: Corporate Strategy, Public Policy, Ethics, James E. Post, 9th Edition, Irwin/McGraw-Hill, 1999. 2. Recommended: The Wall Street Journal. F. Format and Faculty The course will meet twice each week. The first meeting will be spent with your instructor in small discussion sections where you will present cases and discuss reading assignments. The second meeting each week will be in a larger section with students who are taking the course from instructors with different disciplinary backgrounds than your instructor. These "guest faculty" will discuss the major topics assigned for that week. II. TEAM ASSIGNMENTS A. Short Case and WSJ Reading Assignments All students are expected to be prepared to openly discuss the case assignments for that week. Teams will be assigned specific questions and will present an informal oral team discussion lasting no more than 30 minutes. In addition, the team will turn in a double-spaced typewritten analysis of the issue (limited to no more than 5 pages) for a grade. The short case will constitute 30 points of the final class grade. Each case will have 15 points of the grade based upon the written analysis and 15 points on the oral presentation. B. Integrative Case All teams will prepare a written and oral analysis on a case assigned by the instructor. Teams will turn in a double-spaced, typewritten analysis (between 20 and 30 pages) for a grade. Typewritten or dot matrix print is acceptable only if it is clearly readable. The Integrative Case analysis will constitute 150 points of the final class grade. One hundred points of the grade will be based upon the written analysis and 50 points will be based upon the oral presentation. The written Integrative Case will be due the sixteenth week of class at the small break-out seminar. Oral presentations will be made on both class days during this week and during finals week. Order of the presentations will be assigned by the instructor. Students are required to attend all of the oral presentations during finals week. Nonattendance will result in a grade reduction. III. FORMAT FOR THE TEAM CASE A. Written Format The Team Case should be written using the following main sections:
1.
Cover Page B. Additional Instructions for Written Team Case 1. Headings on major sections are required. Subheadings should be used as deemed necessary. 2. The Executive Summary will not be counted as part of the page limit of the paper. 3. Appendices may be used and will not be counted as part of the page limit of the paper. 4. All written assignments will be on 8½ x 11 inch paper and double spaced. Typewritten or dot matrix print is acceptable only if it is clearly readable. 5. Any standard style will be acceptable. The same style must be used consistently throughout the paper. 6. Turn in the original and one copy of your paper, including copies of any A/V material used. C. Oral Format The oral team presentation is limited to no more than 30 minutes. Each member of the team is required to speak. The use of visual aids (overheads, charts, and graphs) is highly recommended. Executive attire is required. Team members will be evaluated individually and collectively for the oral presentation. D. Assignment of Team Grades Late papers will NOT be accepted. A team grade will be assigned equally to each team member (unless a low score is obtained on the Group Evaluation form). It is the team's responsibility to ensure full individual participation and the assignment of individual responsibilities for the case. Any time before the end of the eighth week of class, a group may elect to have one or more of its members dropped from the group. Also, an individual may withdraw from a group during this time. Once assigned to a team, students will not be able to switch to a different team. This option is designed to try to avoid the "free-rider" problem experienced in group work. Individuals not carrying their fair share of the work load can be dropped from the group by majority vote. Those dropped from the group will be responsible for doing all team assignments on an individual basis. At the completion of the written team case, a Group Evaluation form is to be filled out by each team member. Each person will evaluate all members of the team, including himself or herself. Those team members receiving a low evaluation will have their grades reduced on the team case. At no time will any of the evaluation forms be shown to any member of the team. E. Peer Review of the Formal Oral Presentation Two peer reviews will occur during the course. 1. Peer Review of Preliminary Drafts of Integrative Case Each team will provide copies to members of the peer review team of the preliminary draft of the Integrative Case. Drafts are to be handed out at the start of the small break-out seminar of the eleventh week of class. Failure to do so will result in a one-letter grade reduction on the final grade of the Integrative Case. 2. Peer Reviews of the Formal Oral Presentation Peer evaluations will be turned in and constitute up to 25 percent of the oral presenting grade. The instructor's evaluation of the team's oral presentation will make up the remaining 75 percent of the grade. F. Instructor Discussion of Full-Length Draft Teams have the option of taking a full-length rough draft of the Integrative Case analysis to the instructor. The instructor will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the analysis with team members. IV. FATAL ERROR POLICY A. Business students must practice professional standards of writing. To this end, in this course all written assignments must meet minimal standards to be acceptable. These standards address spelling, punctuation, format, and basic grammar. B. A Fatal Error Policy will be applied to all written assignments. C. Papers with more than three fatal errors marked by the instructor on any one page are unacceptable and will be returned without a grade. Many of the fatal errors can be avoided by using Spell Checker and Write Writer facilities in the computer and writing labs. These software items will identify errors so that you can take the steps necessary to correct them. If you are not sure how to correct them, you can seek advice from the staff in the Writing Lab. If a paper is returned because of fatal errors, you must correct it and return it to the instructor within two days. The first set of fatal errors will result in an automatic 10 percent grade reduction. A second round of fatal errors will result in an additional 20 percent reduction. If an assignment is returned due to a third set of fatal errors, a grade of "E" will be automatically assigned. D. Late papers will not be accepted. E. All written assignments will be on 8½ X 11 inch paper and double spaced. Typewritten or dot matrix print is acceptable only if it is clearly readable. F. Fatal Errors are Defined as:
1. Each incidence of misspelling V. University Policy on Academic Ethics and Plagiarism The University recognized plagiarism as a serious academic offense. Plagiarism, the act of representing the work of another as one's own, may take two forms. It may consist of copying, paraphrasing, or otherwise using the written or oral work of another without acknowledging the source; it may consist of presenting oral or written course work prepared by another as one's own. Normally, students who plagiarize receive a grade of "E" in the course in which the act occurs. Schedule of Classes, Presentations, and Examinations
|
