MGT 402 Management for Sustainability: Action in Accord with Natural Law — Maximizing Profit While Benefiting the Environment (4 credits)

This course shows how creating an environmentally sustainable operation can provide opportunities for increasing profits. Using case studies, and often using a live project for a local organization, students learn how to apply the core principles of sustainability in agriculture, business, manufacturing, government and other activities, so that it is both profitable and benefits the environment. The role of ISO 14001, responsible investing, and non-governmental organizations in the transition to sustainable living will be made clear. Students will interact with city and industry leaders and managers to create budget and return-on-investment projections for transformation to sustainable practices. The textbook is Natural Capitalism; Creating The Next Industrial Revolution by Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins and L. Hunter Lovins (2000). Students’ grade is calculated from homework and assignments (40%), a group term project (50%), and attendance and professional etiquette (10%).

MGT 405 Global Etiquette: Being at Home Everywhere and in Every Situation — “The World Is My Family” (2 credits)

Expansion of consciousness gives rise to an appreciation of the finest qualities of those around us, and we develop a natural graciousness. But in order to feel confident that we are not inadvertently making someone uncomfortable, we need to master the basic rules of etiquette. In this global age students need to understand the differences in etiquette they may encounter as their professional lives bring them into contact with other cultures. This course will explore the laws of nature underlying courteous behavior revealed by Maharishi Vedic Science. It will also cover rules of etiquette that apply in everyday interactions, special occasions, the workplace, entertaining and traveling in the United States and in other countries. Students will have an opportunity to practice what they learn not only in role-play, but also by actually preparing for and hosting a formal meal for their classmates.

MGT 417 Mathematics for Business: The Power of Subtlety in Abstract Thinking (4 credits)

The concept of function is expressed through the symbolism of equations to show how various quantities are related to each other. This course covers the use of linear equations, systems of linear equations and inequalities, graphical representation of functions of one and two variables, exponential equations, power equations and quadratic equations. Business applications include compensation design, supply and demand analysis, market demand, production costs, break-even analysis, financial investments, and the “learning curve” or experience effect. Students grade is based on etiquette, attendance and participation (10%), quizzes (20%), a midterm exam (30%) and final exam (40%).

MGT 421 Principles of Success in Maharishi’s Natural-Law Based Management (2 credits)

In this course, students read Maharishi’s book Maharishi University of Management: Wholeness on the Move, which presents the knowledge of the structuring dynamics of Natural Law that are accessible to a manager through the techniques of consciousness-based education.

MGT 425 Marketing Management: Fulfilling Evolutionary Desires by Attracting, Delighting, and Retaining Customers (4 credits)

Marketing is the process of creating exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives. Topics include consumer behavior, market research, market segmentation, competitive positioning and strategy, advertising, pricing, distribution and channel management, selling techniques and sales force management, and new product development. Students conduct an industry analysis and write the marketing section for their business plan. The textbook is Dalrymple and Parsons Marketing Management Text and Cases 7th Ed. (Wiley). Students are graded 20% on class participation and etiquette, 50% on exams, and 30% on a written marketing plan for a product.

MGT 428 Business Law and Ethics: Learning to Act in Accord with Natural and National Law — Supporting Business Interactions through Contracts, Torts, and Agency Law (4 credits)

Law is a tool of progress. Law establishes the body that is the business and enables business people to communicate frictionlessly, to manage the relationships between all participants, and to avert any problems before they occur. A business is then able to maintain progress for itself and for society. Topics include contracts, torts, and agency law; property, including intellectual property; employment issues; and global business law. Students determine and complete the form of business organization, necessary employment agreements, necessary property agreements, and a financing plan for their business plan. The textbook used is Business Law: The Essentials 6th Edition by Miller and Jentz , West Publishing, 2003. Students are graded 25% on quizzes, 15% on written assignments, 50% on a midterm and final exam, and 10% on attendance and professional etiquette.

MGT 429 Human Resource Management: Designing Systems to Attract, Retain, Motivate, and Nurture the Organization’s Most Precious Resource (4 credits)

People are an organization’s most important asset. Success comes from organizing and managing people to produce the products and services that customers value. This course exposes students to the full array of human resource functions: human resource planning, recruitment and selection, training, performance management, compensation, and upholding employer/employee rights and responsibilities. The students become familiar with the role of the human resource department in designing human resource systems, the critical role line managers and supervisors play in using these systems effectively to attract, retain, and motivate employees, and how the principles of Maharishi Vedic Science uniquely support and enhance these systems. Students also prepare a comprehensive human resource section for their business plan. The text used is Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, & Cardy (2004) Managing Human Resources, 4th ed.. (Prentice Hall, 2004). Grading is based on ten team projects 55%, peer evaluation of performance in team 5%, individual assignments 15%, final exam 15%, participation and etiquette 10%.

MGT 430 Financial Management: Intelligently Directing the Flow of Funds to Achieve the Organization’s Strategic Goals (4 credits)

Financial management provides an intelligent direction to the flow of funds for maximizing firm value. This course introduces techniques and concepts necessary to effectively manage the financial resources of any organization in order to achieve strategic goals. Topics include discounted cash flow analysis applied to the valuation of debt and equity. Discount rates are understood through the Capital Asset Pricing Model and applied to capital budgeting problems. Students also learn cash-flow forecasting using spreadsheets and the principles of working capital management. The text used is either Brealey and Myers Principles of Corporate Finance (McGraw-Hill) or a set of notes compiled by our own faculty member Dr. Scott Herriott (Ph.D., Stanford University). Students‘ grades are formed from two quizzes (20%), a midterm (30%) and a final exam (30%) and class participation and etiquette (10%).

MGT 431 Entrepreneurship—An Introduction to Business: The Whole is More than the Sum of the Parts (4 credits)

This introductory course provides each student with a clear picture of what life in business and exposes the student to the different careers available to business graduates. It establishes a basic understanding of business by requiring student teams to manage a company through a computer-based business simulation over 8 “years“ (see the Foundation Simulation at www.capsim.com). Students read Steven Silbiger’s The Ten-Day MBA, 3rd Ed.: A Step-By-Step Guide To Mastering The Skills Taught In America's Top Business Schools. 60% of the student’s grade is derived from the simulation, 30% is from homework and projects, and 10% from attendance and etiquette.

MGT 502 Business Process Improvement I: Business Activity in Accord with Nature’s Law of Least Action (4 credits)

This course covers the theory and practice of performance improvement in both large and small organizations in the manufacturing and service sectors. Although the focus will be on Lean Thinking, students will review the quality movement from Deming to ISO 9000 and the Baldridge Quality Award criteria, and understand why and how hundreds of thousands of companies are implementing Lean Thinking and Six Sigma to improve quality, lower costs, and delight their customers. The course uses a combination of interactive classroom instruction and project-based learning to ensure students learn how aligning operations along the value stream in any organization improves efficiency, enlivens creativity, and allows true customer-driven management. They will understand how to structure ongoing incremental improvement so that performance improvement is sustained. Readings include Lean Thinking : Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation by James Womack and Daniel Jones (2003) and Value Stream Management for the Lean Office by Don Tapping and Tom Shuker(Productivity Press,2003). Grading is based on attendance and etiquette 10%, quizzes 35%, oral presentation of term paper 35%, written term paper 20%.

MGT 508 Managing Information Technology: Creating and Maintaining Infinite Correlation to Maximize the Value of Information (4 credits)

Through the application of Information Technology (IT) businesses are able to create greater efficiency, integration, and reliability in business processes and to undertake new models of electronic business. This course prepares business managers to utilize IT-enabled business tools, to develop and implement IT applications, and to plan and control IT investments within their organizations.

MGT 510 Principles of Leadership: Nourishing Others Through Evolutionary Quality of Natural Law (2 credits)

This course shows that the basis of effective leadership is the full development of the manager’s consciousness, which unfolds the leadership traits of a manager and develops the most effective relationship between the leader and followers. Course grade is based on etiquette, attendance and participation (20%) a research paper (40%) and a personal essay (40%).

MGT 515 Financial Accounting: Using Accounting Tools to Gain Self-Referral Knowledge of the Business Enterprise (4 credits)

Through its conceptual framework, accounting provides organizational feedback loops for planning, implementation, and control. This course explores the use of accounting information and financial statements from the perspective of the users. Topics include the design of accounting systems, the use of accounting software, generally accepted accounting principles and special points of accounting unique to the local country, and the generation, interpretation and analysis of the balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement. The text used is Financial and Managerial Accounting: The Basis for Business Decisions 12th ed., by Williams, Haka, Bettner, and Meigs (McGraw-Hill, 2002). Grading is based on professional etiquette 10%, daily assignments 15 %, written case study 25%, and final exam 50%.

MGT 516 Managerial Accounting: Using Accounting Tools to Gain Self-Referral Knowledge of the Business Enterprise (4 credits)

This course provides analytic tools and techniques to assist management in planning, decision-making, and control. Topics include cost-volume-profit analysis, manufacturing costs, job order and process costing, standard costing and variance analysis, variable and full costing, fixed and flexible budgets, responsibility accounting, direct and absorption costing, and the behavioral implications of management accounting systems. The text used is Financial and Managerial Accounting: The Basis for Business Decisions 12th ed., by Williams, Haka, Bettner, and Meigs (McGraw-Hill, 2002). Grading is based on cases 25%, quizzes 15%, midterm exam 30%, final exam 30%.

MGT 517 Statistics for Business: Utilizing the Discriminative, Integrative, and Progressive Qualities of Nature in Quantitative Tools to Address Business and Economic Problems (4 credits)

Statistics is one of the basic quantitative tools available to every business manager. Powerful techniques based on the underlying orderliness of Nature equip students with skills to solve a variety of important business and economic problems. Topics include probability, descriptive statistics, sampling, statistical estimations, correlation and regression. The main academic resource is ActivStats 2005-2006 by Paul Velleman (Addison-Wesley). ActivStats presents a complete introductory statistics course on CD-ROM using a full range of multimedia to help students learn, understand, and apply introductory statistics concepts. ActivStats intergrates video, simulation, animation, narration, hyperlinked text, interactive experiments, web access, and Data Desk, a full functioning statistics package, into a rich learning environment. A recommended textbook is David S. Moore, The Basic Practice of Statistics 3ed. (W.H. Freeman). Students are graded on written case study analyses and other exercises (60%), exams (30%) and attendance and professional etiquette (10%). Prerequisite: MGT 417 Mathematics for Business.

MGT 518 Operations Management: Managing an Organization’s Inputs, Transformations, and Outputs to Structure Automation in Administration (4 credits)

This course emphasizes the theme of optimization in production and operational systems. Topics include assembly line balancing; project management using PERT and CPM, linear programming in Microsoft Excel for capacity planning, product mix, scheduling and transportation problems; and inventory management through EOQ and materials requirements planning. The readings are mainly a set of notes written by Professor Scott Herriott along with Anupindi et al. Managing Business Process Flows (Prentice-Hall, 1999). Students are graded by a midterm exam (25%), final exam (35%), several small projects (30%) and attendance and professional etiquette (10%).

MGT 524 Statistics for Business Process Improvement (4 credits)

The tools of managerial data analysis enable managers to transform raw data into useful knowledge of business performance in every functional area of business by identifying meaningful patterns and relationships in business data. Increased knowledge of business processes provides a foundation for improved business decision-making and enhanced business performance. Topics include: principles of statistical thinking for management; numerical and graphical tools for describing and analyzing business data; applications of probability and probability distributions; hypothesis testing for business decision-making; tools for analyzing and improving business performance, including statistical quality control; applied business forecasting; regression analysis and correlation; case studies and applications, with an emphasis on business-process improvement. Course readings include Statistical Thinking in Business, 2nd ed. by J.A. John, D. Whitaker and D.G. Johnson. (Chapman & Hall/CRC Press, 2005), David S. Moore, JMP Manual for Introduction to the Practice of Statistics, 5th ed. (WH Freeman, 2006) and a packet of course readings and cases. Grades for the course are based on several brief written analyses of business case studies that require creative application of the skills learned in this course to real business situations and other written and oral exercises (80%), an oral presentation (10%), and professional etiquette and participation (10%).

MGT 533 Practicum in Management: Understanding and Experience Yield Knowledge (4 credits)

In this project course, students work in small teams to analyze a problem that is drawn from one of the students’ places of work. The faculty member coaches each team in the interpretation of the problem, collection of data, analysis of the problem, and recommendations to the company. The grade is based on students’ presentations of the various stages of their analysis in the class seminar (25%) and on the final report (75%).

MGT 574 Marketing Research (4 credits)

Market research is the first activity that should be conducted when contemplating a new business or governmental activity. It is the means for refining an initial idea to a concept that is maximally supportable by the environment. The course covers specification of information needs, research design methods, sources of marketing information, analyzing and interpreting data, and developing evaluation and feedback systems. The textbook is Malhotra, Basic Marketing Research: Applications to Contemporary Issues. (Prentice-Hall, 2002). The student’s grade is calculated from a final examination (60%) and a research report (40%).

MGT 567 Managing for World-Class Quality and Performance: Ideal Principles of Management for a New Age (4 credits)

Organizational excellence means integrated, balanced success in all the specific areas of business. This course presents a variety of frameworks for understanding organizational excellence: students become familiar with contemporary models and with the vision of perfection presented by Maharishi Master Management. Topics include origins of the organizational excellence movement, current models of excellence, stakeholder perceptions of excellence, stage models of organizations, principles and practices of visionary organizations, and perfection through Maharishi Vedic Management. The course textbook is J.R. Evans and W.M. Lindsay, The Management and Control of Quality 5e (with CD-ROM), Southwestern, 2002. Grades for the course will be based written and oral case analyses, projects and other exercises (90%) and professional etiquette and attendance (10%).

MGT 580 Business Process Improvement II: Business Activity in Accord with Nature’s Law of Least Action (4 credits)

This is a continuation of MGT 502. Students will learn the practical and managerial skills for implementing process improvement in both large and small organizations. The course is based around implementing Lean Thinking in real world situations. Students will act as junior consultants under the guidance of experienced faculty. They will learn to define value from the customer’s perspective, how to map value streams, identify waste, and facilitate Kaizen-based process improvement events. They will assist with all aspects of policy deployment, which ensures that the ongoing process improvement reflects strategic business objectives. Readings include Lean Thinking : Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation by James Womack and Daniel Jones (2003) and Value Stream Management for the Lean Office by Don Tapping and Tom Shuker(Productivity Press,2003). Grading is based on attendance and etiquette 10%, quizzes 35%, oral presentation of term paper 35%, written term paper 20%.

MGT 582 Management and Organization: Expanded Consciousness is the Basis of Ideal Behavior at the Individual, Team, and Organizational Levels (2 credits)

An understanding of the principles of human behavior at the individual, interpersonal, group, and organizational levels of analysis is critical to successful planning, organizing, and implementation by any manager. This course explores the dynamics of individual and group achievement from the perspectives of both skills and theory. Topics include general management theory, leadership, delegation and coordination, planning and problem-solving, organizational structure, and organizational change. The textbook is Essentials of Organizational Behavior 7th ed. by Stephen Robbins, (Prentice-Hall, 2003). Students are graded 20% on class participation and etiquette, 30% on homework and presentations, 25% by the instructor’s evaluation of a team project, and 15% from peer assessments in the team project, and 10% on a field trip report.

MGT 585 Industry Analysis for Strategic Planning: Knowledge Has Organizing Power (2 credits)

Students learn techniques of business research using the resources of Maharishi University of Management’s electronic library and the Internet. In small groups, they study one firm in detail and analyze the various aspects of its customer, competitive, and technological environment. Using the key theme that the development of knowledge and human resources is the only source of sustainable competitive advantage, students analyze the sustainability of the firm’s business strategy, evaluate the future prospects of the firm, and consider directions for its future growth. The textbook for the course is Industry Analysis for Strategic Planning, a 2007 manuscript by Professor Scott Herriott. The course grade is determined by students’ etiquette, attendance and participation (10%), four chapters of the group report submitted in draft (30%) and the final group report and presentation (60%).