Management & Systems Engineering

Key Faculty: William Scherer, Garrick Louis

Area Description: The function of management is to make decisions regarding the acquisition, allocation, and efficacy of an organization’s resources. The resources in question may be financial, human, or informational. The foundation of the systems methodology, analytic modeling and decision theory make the progress from analyst to manager a very logical one. For the student contemplating an early advancement into management, the opportunity to build upon the systems foundation with offerings to increase their awareness of the complexities and issues surrounding the three types of resources (money, people, and information) as well as additional complexities of organizations would be a valuable use of elective courses. The essential issues of management can be divided into issues of "control" and "leadership." Listed below are a wide variety of courses, which offer insights into both categories.
Potential Courses: partial listing, see Key Faculty for details
SYS 602Systems Integration and Management
SYS 614Decision Analysis
SYS 650Risk Analysis
SYS 702Case Studies in Systems Engineering
SYS 752Sequential Decision Processes
SYS 754Multi-objective Optimization
SYS 770Sequencing and Scheduling
SYS 775Forecast Decision Systems
COMM 725Decision Support Systems
COMM 750Professional Services Marketing
COMM 762Organizational Behavior
COMM 771Financial Controls and Systems
COMM 772Financial Analysis
GBUS 811Operations
GBUS 821*Starting New Ventures
GBUS 823*Management of Smaller Enterprises
GBUS 851*Managing Turnarounds & Workouts
GBUS 860*Marketing Strategy
GBUS 861*Business to Business Marketing
GBUS 874Career Management
GBUS 875Management Psychology
GBUS 877*Managing Conflict and Cooperation
GBUS 882*Management of Service Operations
GBUS 884Innovations and Technology Management
GBUS 893*Bargaining and Negotiating
ECON 717Industrial Organizations I
ECON 751Topics in Growth Theory
ECON 817Industrial Organizations II
PSYC 564Human Relations and Group Process
SOC 773Computers and Society
SOC 847Sociology of Knowledge
SOC 851Sociology of Work
SOC 859Conflict Management
SOC 871Sociology of Organizations
Example Concentration Areas

A student interested in any area has the ability to customize his course selection to fit his concentration. As a basic focus, it is suggested that any student without prior exposure take COMM 772 Financial Analysis - money is the great scorekeeper in management. Beyond Financial Analysis, all students are encouraged to take COMM 762 Organizational Behavior. From this point, electives should be selected in keeping with the student’s specific career interests. Possible focus areas would include R&D/Technology Management, Entrepreneurial Management, General Management or Industry Focused.

Job Opportunities

This "concentration" is by definition the broadest since management positions are required in all companies and industries.

* - Each class is 1.5 Credits