The |
MG, MKT, AF, MSIS 480 (Spring 2006) |
Classes: Wednesdays |
Place: M01--409 |
Instructor: Silvia Dorado Office: M – 5 – 223 I have office hours on Wednesdays between |
Required readings:
You will find the entire syllabus at the class website http://www.faculty.umb.edu/silvia_dorado. If I make changes to the syllabus, I will change the website rather than create new paper copies. I may also post additional readings, etc. in this site.
An internship is defined as "an approved, supervised, full or part-time work experience for a student in a business, government agency, educational institution, hospital, or other kind of organization." This course is intended to give students work experience in tandem with academic analysis of that experience.
Internships may relate to any of the functional areas of Management and may be arranged according to your concentration or may be based on more general management opportunities.
Students are required to intern a minimum of 10 hours a week for the duration of the semester in order to receive three credits. We will meet as a group several times during the semester (about once every two weeks). In these meetings we will discuss topics related to your work experience, participate in activities that will help you improve skills such as listening and negotiation, and discuss work attitudes particularly as the refer to relationships with supervisors and co-workers. I will be available for individual consultation on an appointment basis.
Students will develop a Learning Contract with the Field Supervisor and with the Academic Sponsor. I will send a letter to your field supervisor with guidelines for their role for the Learning Contract.
Attendance
Teaching this class is my job; being here and being prepared is your job. I'd like you to treat this class as if it were a job: show up, be punctual, be prepared, and call ahead if you have a problem that prevents you from being here. I will give you the same courtesy and respect. You are not graded on attendance, but you are graded on participation. If you are not here you cannot participate. I will be keeping track of who is here and who participates.
If you miss three or more class meetings over the course of the semester,
you will receive no credit for participation.
Learning in this class depends as much on you as it does on me. This
class is intended to be highly interactive. I am counting on you to have read
and thought about the material for each meeting, to have thought about how it
might apply to your internship experience, and to come in prepared to ask
questions, explain your experiences, tell stories, argue, etc.
Your participation grade will be based on your attendance, your informed contributions to discussions, and your preparation for class activities.
Written Assignments
You will be required to write 3 reports considering your work experience. They should be between 3 and 5 pages long (double spaced not including cover page). All reports should be written in essay (narrative) format and address the questions specified for each assignment in well developed and cohesive paragraphs. Questions are not to be answered individually but are to be blended into a narrative description. You do not need to answer all questions and should concentrate on those that are most relevant considering the company you are working for and the position you hold.
All assignments are to be turned in at the start of the period when they are due. Late assignments will be dropped 1/2 a grade every additional day they are late.
Grades will be determined based on the quality and timely completion of the reports. Each report will be graded in the following manner: 65% content; 35% grammar (sentence structure, punctuation, etc.) The expected content of the assignments is specified at the end of this syllabus. The papers will be read, graded and critiqued by the instructor and returned to the student on the following class. The student should review the comments and make appropriate adjustments to correct identified problems in future assignments.
Students must attain a grade of 50% or higher on each of the five reports in order to pass this course. See grading criteria below. If you grade is under 70%, you will have the option of repeating one and only one of these reports ONCE (only one report only one time). Papers must be resubmitted no later than one week after receiving the paper from the instructor. A maximum of 50% of the originally-deducted points (not including any points deducted for late submissions) may be earned in the revision.
Work supervisor evaluation
The student is required to obtain an evaluation from his/her employer and submit it to the instructor within two weeks after the tenth complete week of the internship (after April 19th and before May 17th). I will be mailing an evaluation form to employers.
Activity |
Grading |
Participation (including learning contract) |
25% |
First written report |
5% |
Second written report |
20% |
Third written report |
20% |
Employer’s Performance assessment |
30% |
Grading: I grade considering the following distribution: A (>9), A- (9 – 8.5), B+ (8.5 – 8), B (8 - 7), B- (7 – 6.5), C+ (6.5 - 6), C (6 – 5), C- (5 – 4.5), D+ (4.5 – 4), D (4 – 3.5), D- (3.5 - 3), F (<3) —grades will be round up to the next category (e.g. 8.5 will be graded as A-)
The grade for this course will not be determined by how hard or how many hours you have worked at your job. The grade will be determined by how hard to have worked in the classroom measured on the quality of your class participation and the reflection on your work experience you show in the written assignments. It is incumbent on the student to keep track of all forms and reports to be submitted and when they are due.
After grades are submitted, they are final and will not be changed unless there was a computational error or other error on the part of the instructor. If you need a certain grade in this course to maintain or increase your grade point average, you must put the appropriate amount of effort into the reports and course requirements to earn that grade. If you do the minimum required, just to get by, you will receive a grade which reflects your minimum effort.
Note: The schedule of cases,
readings, speakers, and activities may be modified and changed during the
semester to fit the needs of the class. ERL: Stands for Electronic Reserve Library
see docutek.lib.umb.edu (password 480)
Date |
Topic |
|
Assignments |
1 Jan 25 |
Intro. & org. |
|
"Contact information of your supervisor" |
2 Feb 08 |
Developing the learning contract |
(TBD) Learning contract (ERL) Handout: Inventory |
First draft “in class.” Final draft to be emailed to me ASAP |
3 Feb 22 |
Your job in perspective |
Reader:
Designing High-Performance Jobs (HBR OnPoint Enhanced Edition) |
Report: description of your job |
4 Mar 08 |
Your organization in perspective |
(TBD) The "New Organization: Taking Action in an Era of Organizational Transformation." In Managing for the Future: Organizational Behavior and Processes |
|
5 Mar 22 |
Your industry in perspective |
(TBD) SBA reading on market research |
Report: description of your organization |
6 Apr 5 |
Job interviews |
Reader:
How to Ace an Interview. |
“Bring your CV to the classroom” |
7 Apr 19 |
Considering going it alone |
(TBD) SBA reading on check list for going into business |
Report: description of your industry |
8 May 3 |
Review session |
|
|
First report: Description of your job
Expected length: between 2 and 5 pages
Due on: See course schedule
Topics and questions to be addressed:
1. Describe the function of your job in relation to the department as a whole
2. How would you characterize your supervisors? Comment on the style of the supervisors in the operation and describe which characteristics you would like to adopt for yourself and why. Which characteristics are not effective? Why not?
3. Use the reading “designing high performance jobs” as guideline to describe and analyze your job.
Second report: Description of your organization
Expected length: about 5 pages
Due on: See course schedule
Topics and questions to be addressed:
Market study
Expected length: about 5 pages
Due on: See course schedule
Questions to be addressed: