Harvard Extension Courses in Management

Spring 2025

HBS CORe: Business Analytics, Economics for Managers, and Financial Accounting

The Credential of Readiness (CORe program) is a primer on the fundamentals of business offered through Harvard Business School Online. Developed and taught by Harvard Business School faculty, this course covers business analytics, economics for managers, and financial accounting the essentials to contribute to business discussions and decision making. The business analytics portion is taught by Janice Hammond and introduces quantitative methods used to analyze data and make better management decisions. The economics for managers portion is taught by Bharat Anand and applies fundamental economic principles to business decisions, covering customer demand, supplier cost, pricing, markets, and differentiation. The financial accounting portion is taught by V.G. Narayanan and teaches key accounting concepts and principles to illuminate financial statements and unlock critical insights into business performance and potential. All learning materials and instructor and participant interaction take place within the online HBS Online learning environment. Although the professors do not have direct real-time interaction with students, they have developed short video lectures, cases, exercises, and other interactive learning elements to create a highly engaging educational experience. Participants typically learn as much (if not more) from thoughtful participation and from peers in this active learning ecosystem as they do from faculty content. Students registered in CORe will be required to keep up with the course material during the Harvard Extension School's Spring Break. For more information see HBS Online's CORe webpage. Students who have previously enrolled in HBS Online's Financial Accounting, MGMT E-10 (or MGMT S-10), HBS Online's CORe, or the HBS Online section of MGMT E-1000 (or MGMT S-1000), and were still enrolled after the 100% refund deadline are not eligible to enroll in MGMT E-10.

Prerequisites: To register for this course, students must apply to and be admitted by HBS Online for the January cohort. Apply now. If accepted, registration transactions must all be done on the HBS Online website. For more information, visit the HBS Online support portal. After registering with HBS Online, students receiving financial aid or any other type of financial assistance (for example, consortium agreements) should contact the Extension School Student Financial Services office at studentfinance@extension.harvard.edu.

Fall 2024

HBS CORe: Business Analytics, Economics for Managers, and Financial Accounting

The Credential of Readiness (CORe program) is a primer on the fundamentals of business offered through Harvard Business School Online. Developed and taught by Harvard Business School faculty, this course covers business analytics, economics for managers, and financial accounting the essentials to contribute to business discussions and decision making. The business analytics portion is taught by Janice Hammond and introduces quantitative methods used to analyze data and make better management decisions. The economics for managers portion is taught by Bharat Anand and applies fundamental economic principles to business decisions, covering customer demand, supplier cost, pricing, markets, and differentiation. The financial accounting portion is taught by V.G. Narayanan and teaches key accounting concepts and principles to illuminate financial statements and unlock critical insights into business performance and potential. All learning materials and instructor and participant interaction take place within the online HBS Online learning environment. Although the professors do not have direct real-time interaction with students, they have developed short video lectures, cases, exercises, and other interactive learning elements to create a highly engaging educational experience. Participants typically learn as much (if not more) from thoughtful participation and from peers in this active learning ecosystem as they do from faculty content. For more information see HBS Online's CORe webpage. Students who have previously enrolled in HBS Online's Financial Accounting, MGMT E-10 (or MGMT S-10), HBS Online's CORe, or the HBS Online section of MGMT E-1000 (or MGMT S-1000), and were still enrolled after the 100% refund deadline are not eligible to enroll in MGMT E-10.

Prerequisites: To register for this course, students must apply to and be admitted by HBS Online for the September cohort. Apply now. If accepted, registration transactions must all be done on the HBS Online website. For more information, visit the HBS Online support portal. After registering with HBS Online, students receiving financial aid or any other type of financial assistance (for example, consortium agreements) should contact the Extension School Student Financial Services office at studentfinance@extension.harvard.edu.

Spring 2025

Introduction to Quantitative Methods for Economics and Finance

Sudhakar Raju PhD, Professor of Finance and Data Science, Rockhurst University

This course is a rigorous introduction to quantitative methods for students intending to study economics, finance, accounting, marketing, and management science. Examples are drawn from these areas. Topics covered include probability distributions, statistical inference, multiple linear regression, logistic regression, optimization, and machine learning. This course focuses on applications illustrating concepts with datasets. The statistical programming language, R, is completely integrated into the course. Students may count one of the following courses toward a degree or certificate, but not more than one: MGMT E-104, STAT E-100, STAT E-101 (offered previously), STAT E-102, or STAT E-104.

Prerequisites: Prior college-level course in statistics, and prior courses in economics or finance recommended. Familiarity with Excel. Familiarity with R is desirable but not required.

Fall 2024

Introduction to Quantitative Methods for Economics and Finance

Sudhakar Raju PhD, Professor of Finance and Data Science, Rockhurst University

This course is a rigorous introduction to quantitative methods for students intending to study economics, finance, accounting, marketing, and management science. Examples are drawn from these areas. Topics covered include probability distributions, statistical inference, multiple linear regression, logistic regression, optimization, and machine learning. This course focuses on applications illustrating concepts with datasets. The statistical programming language, R, is completely integrated into the course. Students may count one of the following courses toward a degree or certificate, but not more than one: MGMT E-104, STAT E-100, STAT E-101 (offered previously), STAT E-102, or STAT E-104.

Prerequisites: Prior college-level course in statistics, and prior courses in economics or finance recommended. Familiarity with Excel. Familiarity with R is desirable but not required.

Fall 2024

Introduction to Entrepreneurship

Michael Grandinetti MBA, Adjunct Professor, School of Engineering and Faculty Lead, School of Professional Studies, Brown University

This course is designed to teach fundamental principles and best practices and methodologies for creating and scaling a successful, high-impact entrepreneurial venture. The course is highly experiential and action-based. Human-centric design and highly iterative lean/agile methodologies serve as cornerstones for this course. Students are grouped into teams around common interests and the venture creation process is walked through step by step, culminating in a pitch to angel investors and venture capitalists.

Spring 2025

Precapstone in Management: Entrepreneurship in Action

Henrik Totterman DSc, Professor of Practice, Entrepreneurship and Management, Hult International Business School and Chief Executive Officer, Lead X3M, LLC

This course is a comprehensive introduction to the underlying dynamics of entrepreneurial business. It is mandatory for capstone track candidates in the Master of Liberal Arts, management who wish to register for MGMT S-599 in the following Harvard Summer School term. The course is focused on flexibility, innovation, resource management, and responsiveness when starting and operating high growth potential ventures, which are required skills when taking the capstone course.

Prerequisites: Registration is limited to officially admitted candidates in the in the Master of Liberal Arts, management, capstone track. Prospective candidates and students with pending admission applications are not eligible. Candidates must be in good academic standing and have completed the seven core courses and plan to take the capstone, MGMT S-599, which they must enroll in the upcoming Harvard Summer School term. Candidates who do not meet these degree requirements are dropped from the course.

Spring 2025

Financial Accounting Principles

James F. White MBA, Executive Director and System Controller, Boston Medical Center Health System

This course introduces the generally accepted principles that govern an entity's financial accounting system and the income statement and balance sheet that are the principal end products of the system. Students learn how accounting information is used to evaluate the performance and financial status of an organization, both by managers within the organization and by shareholders, lenders, and other outside parties. Students who have completed MGMT E-10 may not count this course toward the ALB degree. Students may not take both MGMT E-1000 and ECON S-1900 for degree or certificate credit.

Fall 2024

Financial Accounting Principles

Andrew Azer MS, Assurance Senior Manager, CohnReznick

This course introduces the generally accepted principles that govern an entity's financial accounting system and the income statement and balance sheet that are the principal end products of the system. Students learn how accounting information is used to evaluate the performance and financial status of an organization, both by managers within the organization and by shareholders, lenders, and other outside parties. Students who have completed MGMT E-10 may not count this course toward the ALB degree. Students may not take both MGMT E-1000 and ECON S-1900 for degree or certificate credit.

Spring 2025

Financial Accounting Principles

V. G. Narayanan PhD, Thomas D. Casserly, Jr. Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School - Michele Jurgens MBA, PhD, Senior Researcher, HBS Online, Harvard Business School

Financial accounting is the backbone of any well-run business. Be it a Fortune 500 company, a start-up, or a non-profit, having a solid understanding of financial accounting is essential for business success. This course teaches students the fundamentals of financial accounting. Starting with the basics of recording transactions as journal entries and posting them to T-accounts, students learn how to prepare a balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement. Equipped with an understanding of the building blocks of financial statements, students learn how to analyze them and calculate and interpret critical ratios. The course concludes with an introduction to forecasting and valuation where students learn to prepare forecasted financial statements and make capital budgeting decisions using tools such as net present value and internal rate of return calculations. Throughout the course both United States generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and international financial reporting standards (IFRS) are considered. This course is delivered through the HBS Online Core platform and the Harvard Canvas platform. It features the educational material developed by Harvard Business School (HBS) and HBS Online for use by students seeking to become proficient in financial accounting principles and practices. In addition to the fully online pre-recorded portion, the course features eight live review sessions led by teaching fellows on Zoom, allowing students to apply and deepen their understanding of the basic accounting concepts. The review sessions, homework assignments, and additional elements in the course are delivered through Canvas. Students who have previously enrolled in HBS Online's Financial Accounting, MGMT E-10 (or MGMT S-10), HBS Online's CORe, or the HBS Online section of MGMT E-1000 (or MGMT S-1000), and were still enrolled after the 100 percent refund deadline are not eligible to enroll in this section of MGMT E-1000. They will be dropped from the course. Students may not count this course toward the HBS Online noncredit CORe or the HBS Online Financial Accounting Certificate. Students may not take both MGMT E-1000 and ECON S-1900 for degree or certificate credit.

Fall 2024

Financial Accounting Principles

V. G. Narayanan PhD, Thomas D. Casserly, Jr. Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School - Michele Jurgens MBA, PhD, Senior Researcher, HBS Online, Harvard Business School

Financial accounting is the backbone of any well-run business. Be it a Fortune 500 company, a start-up, or a non-profit, having a solid understanding of financial accounting is essential for business success. This course teaches students the fundamentals of financial accounting. Starting with the basics of recording transactions as journal entries and posting them to T-accounts, students learn how to prepare a balance sheet, income statement, and cash flow statement. Equipped with an understanding of the building blocks of financial statements, students learn how to analyze them and calculate and interpret critical ratios. The course concludes with an introduction to forecasting and valuation where students learn to prepare forecasted financial statements and make capital budgeting decisions using tools such as net present value and internal rate of return calculations. Throughout the course both United States generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and international financial reporting standards (IFRS) are considered. This course is delivered through the HBS Online Core platform and the Harvard Canvas platform. It features the educational material developed by Harvard Business School (HBS) and HBS Online for use by students seeking to become proficient in financial accounting principles and practices. In addition to the fully online pre-recorded portion, the course features eight live review sessions led by teaching fellows on Zoom, allowing students to apply and deepen their understanding of the basic accounting concepts. The review sessions, homework assignments, and additional elements in the course are delivered through Canvas. Students who have previously enrolled in HBS Online's Financial Accounting, MGMT E-10 (or MGMT S-10), HBS Online's CORe, or the HBS Online section of MGMT E-1000 (or MGMT S-1000), and were still enrolled after the 100 percent refund deadline are not eligible to enroll in this section of MGMT E-1000. They will be dropped from the course. Students may not count this course toward the HBS Online noncredit CORe or the HBS Online Financial Accounting Certificate. Students may not take both MGMT E-1000 and ECON S-1900 for degree or certificate credit.

Spring 2025

Nonprofit and Governmental Accounting

James F. White MBA, Executive Director and System Controller, Boston Medical Center Health System

This course introduces the fundamentals of accounting and finance associated with governmental and nonprofit organizations. It emphasizes the issues related to fund accounting including general and special revenue funds, debt service funds, capital project funds, internal service funds, and enterprise and fiduciary funds. It emphasizes the issues related to net asset accounting including unrestricted net assets and restricted net assets (temporarily and permanently restricted). A detailed review of the complete preparation of financial statements for both governmental and nonprofit organizations is a core concept in the course. There is a review of the concepts associated with long-term debt and fixed-asset accounting, planning and control of cash and temporary investments, budgeting and budgetary control, management control and financial reporting, strategic planning, program analysis, measurement of output, reporting on performance, external auditing cost determination, and tax levies.

Prerequisites: MGMT E-1000 helpful but not required.

Spring 2025

Managerial Accounting

Andrew Azer MS, Assurance Senior Manager, CohnReznick

This course introduces the basic principles, methods, and challenges of modern managerial accounting. It covers traditional topics such as job-order costing, cost-volume-profit analysis, budgeting and variance analysis, profitability analysis, relevant costs for decision making, and cost-plus pricing, as well as emerging topics such as activity-based cost (ABC) accounting. The material is examined from the perspective of students preparing to use management accounting information as managers, to support decision making such as pricing, product mix, sourcing, and technology decisions, and short- and long-term planning; and to measure, evaluate, and reward performance. This course emphasizes the relationships between accounting techniques and other organizational activities, such as strategy and motivation. Students may not take both MGMT E-1600 and ECON S-1901 for degree or certificate credit.

Prerequisites: MGMT E-1000, or the equivalent.

Fall 2024

Managerial Accounting

Andrew Azer MS, Assurance Senior Manager, CohnReznick

This course introduces the basic principles, methods, and challenges of modern managerial accounting. It covers traditional topics such as job-order costing, cost-volume-profit analysis, budgeting and variance analysis, profitability analysis, relevant costs for decision making, and cost-plus pricing, as well as emerging topics such as activity-based cost (ABC) accounting. The material is examined from the perspective of students preparing to use management accounting information as managers, to support decision making such as pricing, product mix, sourcing, and technology decisions, and short- and long-term planning; and to measure, evaluate, and reward performance. This course emphasizes the relationships between accounting techniques and other organizational activities, such as strategy and motivation. Students may not take both MGMT E-1600 and ECON S-1901 for degree or certificate credit.

Prerequisites: MGMT E-1000, or the equivalent.

Fall 2024

Principles of Finance

Bruce D. Watson MA, Master Lecturer on Economics, Boston University and Lecturer in Extension, Harvard University

This course provides an introductory survey of the field of finance. It examines the agents, instruments, and institutions that make up the financial system of the modern economy, such as bonds, the stock market, derivatives, and the money market. Along the way, standard concepts and tools of financial analysis are introduced: present discounted value, option value, and the efficient markets hypothesis. Recent developments in the field in particular, the application of psychology to financial markets (called behavioral finance) are also discussed. The course is designed to equip students with the tools they need to make their own financial decisions with greater skill and confidence. Specifically, we see how insights from academic finance can inform and improve students' own investing decisions.

Prerequisites: High school algebra.

Fall 2024

Principles of Finance

Gregory Sabin DBA

This course provides an introductory survey of the field of finance. It examines the agents, instruments, and institutions that make up the financial system of the modern economy, such as bonds, the stock market, derivatives, and the money market. Along the way, standard concepts and tools of financial analysis are introduced: present discounted value, option value, and the efficient markets hypothesis. Recent developments in the field in particular, the application of psychology to financial markets (called behavioral finance) are also discussed. The course is designed to equip students with the tools they need to make their own financial decisions with greater skill and confidence. Specifically, we see how insights from academic finance can inform and improve students' own investing decisions.

Prerequisites: High school algebra.

Spring 2025

Principles of Finance

Gregory Sabin DBA

This course provides an introductory survey of the field of finance. It examines the agents, instruments, and institutions that make up the financial system of the modern economy, such as bonds, the stock market, derivatives, and the money market. Along the way, standard concepts and tools of financial analysis are introduced: present discounted value, option value, and the efficient markets hypothesis. Recent developments in the field in particular, the application of psychology to financial markets (called behavioral finance) are also discussed. The course is designed to equip students with the tools they need to make their own financial decisions with greater skill and confidence. Specifically, we see how insights from academic finance can inform and improve students' own investing decisions.

Prerequisites: High school algebra.

Spring 2025

Principles of Finance

Bruce D. Watson MA, Master Lecturer on Economics, Boston University and Lecturer in Extension, Harvard University

This course provides an introductory survey of the field of finance. It examines the agents, instruments, and institutions that make up the financial system of the modern economy, such as bonds, the stock market, derivatives, and the money market. Along the way, standard concepts and tools of financial analysis are introduced: present discounted value, option value, and the efficient markets hypothesis. Recent developments in the field in particular, the application of psychology to financial markets (called behavioral finance) are also discussed. The course is designed to equip students with the tools they need to make their own financial decisions with greater skill and confidence. Specifically, we see how insights from academic finance can inform and improve students' own investing decisions.

Prerequisites: High school algebra.

Spring 2025

Principles of Finance

Gonzalo Chavez PhD, Professor of Finance, Hult International Business School

This course provides an introductory survey of the field of finance. It examines the agents, instruments, and institutions that make up the financial system of the modern economy, such as bonds, the stock market, derivatives, and the money market. Along the way, standard concepts and tools of financial analysis are introduced: present discounted value, option value, and the efficient markets hypothesis. Recent developments in the field in particular, the application of psychology to financial markets (called behavioral finance) are also discussed. The course is designed to equip students with the tools they need to make their own financial decisions with greater skill and confidence. Specifically, we see how insights from academic finance can inform and improve students' own investing decisions.

Prerequisites: High school algebra.

Fall 2024

Managerial Finance

C. Bulent Aybar PhD, Professor of International Finance, Southern New Hampshire University

The objective of the course is to provide the student with the basic analytical tools required to make value-creating financial decisions. The student is provided with an introduction to theoretical foundations and practical applications in financial decision making. Topics covered in the course include analysis of financial and operating performance, assessment of financial health, financial planning, working capital and growth management, the time value of money, risk-return trade off, valuation of financial and real assets, investment, funding, and distribution decisions in the context of nonfinancial firms.

Prerequisites: MGMT E-2000 or the equivalent.

Fall 2024

Principles of Real Estate

Teo Nicolais MS, President, Nicolais, LLC

This course offers practical, real-world knowledge for investing in real estate. It's designed both for those pursuing an active career in the industry as well as individuals interested in building wealth through passive real estate holdings. You learn what really drives land values. You explore how market forces shape your city and where to look for future growth. You practice spotting investment opportunities in the lifecycles of properties, neighborhoods, and cities. You study the four phases of the 18-year cycle which shape the real estate investment landscape. You receive hands-on training building financial models, analyzing cash flows, and measuring investment returns. Finally, you learn how entrepreneurs raise capital through debt and equity partnerships and explore strategies for successful investing. No prior real estate background is required.

Spring 2025

Principles of Real Estate

Teo Nicolais MS, President, Nicolais, LLC

This course offers practical, real-world knowledge for investing in real estate. It's designed both for those pursuing an active career in the industry as well as individuals interested in building wealth through passive real estate holdings. You learn what really drives land values. You explore how market forces shape your city and where to look for future growth. You practice spotting investment opportunities in the lifecycles of properties, neighborhoods, and cities. You study the four phases of the 18-year cycle which shape the real estate investment landscape. You receive hands-on training building financial models, analyzing cash flows, and measuring investment returns. Finally, you learn how entrepreneurs raise capital through debt and equity partnerships and explore strategies for successful investing. No prior real estate background is required.

Fall 2024

Real Estate Finance and Investment

Teo Nicolais MS, President, Nicolais, LLC

This course presents a toolkit for maximizing risk-adjusted investment returns. Students closely examine the four sources of real estate returns (cash flow, appreciation, loan amortization, and tax advantages) which have an impact on their investment strategy. They develop an investment scorecard for scrutinizing new investment opportunities. They practice a rigorous, rational approach to deciding when to hold, sell, refinance, or renovate a property. They study strategies for raising capital from investors and work through examples of successful partnership structures. Finally, students learn how to efficiently manage a growing portfolio of cash-flowing assets.

Prerequisites: MGMT E-2035 is strongly recommended.

Spring 2025

Real Estate Finance and Investment

Teo Nicolais MS, President, Nicolais, LLC

This course presents a toolkit for maximizing risk-adjusted investment returns. Students closely examine the four sources of real estate returns (cash flow, appreciation, loan amortization, and tax advantages) which have an impact on their investment strategy. They develop an investment scorecard for scrutinizing new investment opportunities. They practice a rigorous, rational approach to deciding when to hold, sell, refinance, or renovate a property. They study strategies for raising capital from investors and work through examples of successful partnership structures. Finally, students learn how to efficiently manage a growing portfolio of cash-flowing assets.

Prerequisites: MGMT E-2035 is strongly recommended.

Spring 2025

Financial Statement Analysis

Surjit Tinaikar PhD, Associate Professor of Accounting, College of Management, University of Massachusetts, Boston

This course is designed to prepare students to interpret and analyze financial statements for tasks such as credit and security analyses, lending and investment decisions, and other decisions that rely on financial data. This course explores in greater depth financial reporting from the perspective of financial statement users. Students develop a sufficient understanding of the concepts and recording procedures and therefore are able to interpret various disclosures in an informed manner. Students learn to compare companies financially, understand cash flow, and grasp basic profitability issues and risk analysis concepts. Ultimately, students who complete this course develop a more efficient and effective approach to researching, interpreting, and analyzing financial statements.

Prerequisites: MGMT E-1000 and MGMT E-2000, or the equivalent required; MGMT E-1600 and MGMT E-2020 helpful.

Spring 2025

Financial Statement Analysis

Andrew Azer MS, Assurance Senior Manager, CohnReznick

This course is designed to prepare students to interpret and analyze financial statements for tasks such as credit and security analyses, lending and investment decisions, and other decisions that rely on financial data. This course explores in greater depth financial reporting from the perspective of financial statement users. Students develop a sufficient understanding of the concepts and recording procedures and therefore are able to interpret various disclosures in an informed manner. Students learn to compare companies financially, understand cash flow, and grasp basic profitability issues and risk analysis concepts. Ultimately, students who complete this course develop a more efficient and effective approach to researching, interpreting, and analyzing financial statements.

Prerequisites: MGMT E-1000 and MGMT E-2000, or the equivalent required; MGMT E-1600 and MGMT E-2020 helpful.

Fall 2024

Financial Statement Analysis

Matt Crandell MBA, Director of Financial Planning and Analysis and Innovation, Merced Capital

This course is designed to prepare students to interpret and analyze financial statements for tasks such as credit and security analyses, lending and investment decisions, and other decisions that rely on financial data. This course explores in greater depth financial reporting from the perspective of financial statement users. Students develop a sufficient understanding of the concepts and recording procedures and therefore are able to interpret various disclosures in an informed manner. Students learn to compare companies financially, understand cash flow, and grasp basic profitability issues and risk analysis concepts. Ultimately, students who complete this course develop a more efficient and effective approach to researching, interpreting, and analyzing financial statements.

Prerequisites: MGMT E-1000 and MGMT E-2000, or the equivalent required; MGMT E-1600 and MGMT E-2020 helpful.

Fall 2024

Business Analysis and Valuation

James F. White MBA, Executive Director and System Controller, Boston Medical Center Health System

This course introduces a framework for the analysis of financial statements and financial plans, with a particular focus on their usefulness in valuing and financing companies and evaluating corporate and management performance. Students learn how to value financial assets by gaining an in-depth understanding of valuation theory and how valuation models work. To value a company, students study how to assess the financial health of a company by considering macroeconomic data and corporate strategies, and analyzing the company's financial statements. They utilize different valuation methods including discounted cash flow (DCF), dividend discount model (DDM), residual income valuation (RIM), and market multiples to ascertain the intrinsic value or fair value of the company.

Prerequisites: MGMT E-1000, and either MGMT E-2020 or MGMT E-2700, or the equivalents.

Spring 2025

Business Analysis and Valuation

Laurie G. Richardson DBA, Adjunct Professor of Finance, Fairfield University

This course introduces a framework for the analysis of financial statements and financial plans, with a particular focus on their usefulness in valuing and financing companies and evaluating corporate and management performance. Students learn how to value financial assets by gaining an in-depth understanding of valuation theory and how valuation models work. To value a company, students study how to assess the financial health of a company by considering macroeconomic data and corporate strategies, and analyzing the company's financial statements. They utilize different valuation methods including discounted cash flow (DCF), dividend discount model (DDM), residual income valuation (RIM), and market multiples to ascertain the intrinsic value or fair value of the company.

Prerequisites: MGMT E-1000, and either MGMT E-2020 or MGMT E-2700, or the equivalents.

Fall 2024

Corporate Finance

Monika Sywak PhD, Associate Professor of Finance, Villanova University

The goal of this course is to develop skills for making corporate investment and financing decisions. Topics include discounted cash flow and other valuation techniques; risk and return; capital asset pricing model; corporate capital structure and financial policy; capital budgeting; mergers and acquisitions; and investment and financing decisions in the international context, including exchange rate/interest rate risk analysis. Students may not count both MGMT E-2700 and MGMT E-2710 for degree or certificate credit.

Prerequisites: MGMT E-1000, or MGMT E-2000, or the equivalent is helpful.

Spring 2025

Corporate Finance

Matt Crandell MBA, Director of Financial Planning and Analysis and Innovation, Merced Capital

The goal of this course is to develop skills for making corporate investment and financing decisions. Topics include discounted cash flow and other valuation techniques; risk and return; capital asset pricing model; corporate capital structure and financial policy; capital budgeting; mergers and acquisitions; and investment and financing decisions in the international context, including exchange rate/interest rate risk analysis. Students may not count both MGMT E-2700 and MGMT E-2710 for degree or certificate credit.

Prerequisites: MGMT E-1000, or MGMT E-2000, or the equivalent is helpful.

Fall 2024

Corporate Finance

James F. White MBA, Executive Director and System Controller, Boston Medical Center Health System

The goal of this course is to develop skills for making corporate investment and financing decisions. Topics include discounted cash flow and other valuation techniques; risk and return; capital asset pricing model; corporate capital structure and financial policy; capital budgeting; mergers and acquisitions; and investment and financing decisions in the international context, including exchange rate/interest rate risk analysis. Students may not count both MGMT E-2700 and MGMT E-2710 for degree or certificate credit.

Prerequisites: MGMT E-1000, or MGMT E-2000, or the equivalent is helpful.

Spring 2025

Corporate Finance

Bruce D. Watson MA, Master Lecturer on Economics, Boston University and Lecturer in Extension, Harvard University

The goal of this course is to develop skills for making corporate investment and financing decisions. Topics include discounted cash flow and other valuation techniques; risk and return; capital asset pricing model; corporate capital structure and financial policy; capital budgeting; mergers and acquisitions; and investment and financing decisions in the international context, including exchange rate/interest rate risk analysis. Students may not count both MGMT E-2700 and MGMT E-2710 for degree or certificate credit.

Prerequisites: MGMT E-1000, or MGMT E-2000, or the equivalent is helpful.

Fall 2024

Mergers, Acquisitions, and Restructurings

Viktoria Dalko PhD, Professor of Finance, Hult International Business School - Peter Bheda MM, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Frontera Hotel Group

This course provides students with a deep understanding of the strategic, economic, and financial aspects related to mergers and acquisitions (M A). We explore the entire M A process, from identifying potential targets to post-deal integration. The course emphasizes not only the technical aspects but also the critical leadership skills required for successful M A execution. Key topics covered include strategic consideration, deal sourcing and initiation, deal structure and design, negotiation skills, leadership in M A, and post-deal integration. The course combines a variety of learning formats, including negotiation with artificial intelligence bots, role plays, self-reflection, breakout room discussions, group projects of deal evaluation, other experiential learning tools, and group discussions, in addition to lectures, building financial models, and interacting with industry leaders.

Prerequisites: MGMT E-1000 and MGMT E-2000, or the equivalent; business analysis and valuation helpful but not required.

January 2025

Mergers, Acquisitions, and Restructurings

Viktoria Dalko PhD, Professor of Finance, Hult International Business School - Peter Bheda MM, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Frontera Hotel Group

This course provides students with a deep understanding of the strategic, economic, and financial aspects related to mergers and acquisitions (M A). We explore the entire M A process, from identifying potential targets to post-deal integration. The course emphasizes not only the technical aspects but also the critical leadership skills required for successful M A execution. Key topics covered include strategic consideration, deal sourcing and initiation, deal structure and design, negotiation skills, leadership in M A, and post-deal integration. The course combines a variety of learning formats, including negotiation with artificial intelligence bots, role plays, self-reflection, breakout room discussions, group projects of deal evaluation, other experiential learning tools, and group discussions, in addition to lectures, building financial models, and interacting with industry leaders.

Prerequisites: MGMT E-1000 and MGMT E-2000, or the equivalent; business analysis and valuation helpful but not required.

Spring 2025

Global M A Design: Digital Business Model Innovation and Cross-Border Deals

C. Bulent Aybar PhD, Professor of International Finance, Southern New Hampshire University

In rapidly evolving markets and industries with patterns of digital disruption, business model innovation, and global value chain strategies are paramount to increasing shareholder value and propelling growth. Business strategies have to be sensitive to their specific ecosystem and should be tailor-made. Mergers and acquisitions (M As) are a specific approach to leverage growth and value by redesigning corporate portfolios or by creating a competitive advantage at the business unit level. The dark side of these strategies is that they have significant risk profiles, and they tend to under-deliver on promised synergies and may seriously diminish shareholder value. This course focuses on the strategic and technical challenges of M A process in the international context and offers a rich toolbox for prospective analysts and managers.

Prerequisites: MGMT E-2000, MGMT E-2020, or MGMT E-2700, or equivalent courses in finance.

Spring 2025

Hedge Funds: History, Strategies, and Practice

Peter Marber PhD, Chief Investment Officer for Emerging Markets, Aperture Investors, and Adjunct Instructor, Finance, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School

While beating the markets was long thought to be impossible, hedge funds have seemingly challenged many financial theories, cracked the mysteries of Wall Street, and made fortunes in the process. They are also one of the fastest growing and least understood areas in the asset management industry. What exactly are hedge funds? How has the sector developed? What do hedge fund managers strive to capture and how do they do it? What are the major hedge fund strategies and their mechanics? What are their hidden risks and unique limitations? How important are hedge funds to investors, regulators, and the public? From both a theoretical and practical perspective, this course is geared to help answer these questions. It surveys the hedge fund industry from its origins in the 1940s and explores hedge fund strategies including long/short, event-driven, market neutral, relative value, dedicated short-bias, convertible arbitrage, emerging markets, fixed income arbitrage, global macro, managed futures, and multi-sector investing. Students develop an understanding of how hedge fund managers as well as hedge fund investors think, operate, and invest. The course tracks a live multi-sector hedge fund portfolio throughout the semester and analyzes current events and price action.

Prerequisites: The course requires a basic knowledge of finance and modest competency in MS Excel. Prior coursework or work experience in finance would also be useful.

January 2025

Private Equity

Viney Sawhney MS, President, Boston National Capital Partners

This course provides the intellectual framework used in the private equity process: valuation in private equity settings, creating term sheets, and the process of due diligence and deal structuring. Other learning objectives include building an understanding of harvesting through initial public offerings and mergers and acquisitions, public-private partnerships, and sovereign wealth funds. The final objective is to show how corporate governance, ethics, and legal considerations factor into private equity deals.

Prerequisites: MGMT E-2000 or the equivalent.

Fall 2024

Venture Capital

Viney Sawhney MS, President, Boston National Capital Partners

This course focuses on the venture capital cycle and typical venture-backed start-up companies. It covers the typical venture fund structure and related venture capital objectives and investment strategies, intellectual property, and common organizational issues encountered in the formation of start-ups. It covers matters relating to initial capitalization and early stage equity incentive and compensation arrangements, valuation methodologies, challenges of fundraising, due diligence, financing strategies, and harvesting. Students critically examine investment terms found in term sheets and the dynamics of negotiations between the owners and the venture capitalist. The course examines the role of venture capitalists in adding value during the growth phase for portfolio companies. Alternate financing channels that include incubators, accelerators, crowd-funding, angels, and super-angels are studied in depth. The system of rules, practices, and processes by which start-ups are directed and controlled and the typical dynamics that play out between the venture capitalist and the entrepreneur are an integral part of this course.

Prerequisites: MGMT E-2000 or the equivalent.

Fall 2024

Leadership Communications

Michelle Ehrenreich MBA, Founding Partner, Acuity Partners

Students learn how to communicate clearly and persuasively, in a way that inspires action. They learn how to tailor communications to different audiences, apply the principles of logical reasoning in structuring communications, connect authentically with their audience through their unique leadership style, and create compelling, high-impact presentations and communications. Classes are often spent on hands-on exercises and offer ample opportunity for discussion and feedback.

Spring 2025

Leadership Communications

Michelle Ehrenreich MBA, Founding Partner, Acuity Partners

Students learn how to communicate clearly and persuasively, in a way that inspires action. They learn how to tailor communications to different audiences, apply the principles of logical reasoning in structuring communications, connect authentically with their audience through their unique leadership style, and create compelling, high-impact presentations and communications. Classes are often spent on hands-on exercises and offer ample opportunity for discussion and feedback.

Spring 2025

The Art of Communication

Mimi Goss PhD, President, Mimi Goss Communications

Today's leaders must convey their messages concisely, confidently, and memorably. This course is for students to strengthen their public speaking and writing skills, and their authentic voices as professionals. We explore speechwriting, public speaking in victory and crisis, communicating from values, and working with social media and the news media. How can you make every communication a dialogue? How can you advance your goals and those of your listeners? How does speaking from the best of yourself give you confidence? How do you distill a message into one memorable sentence that captures your listeners' attention, moves your ideas forward, focuses the problem, and helps you achieve your goals? The course emphasizes weekly practical assignments. The goal of the course is for students to create final projects based on their specific interests and useful in their professional lives.

Fall 2024

Difficult Managerial Conversations

Mukul Kumar PhD, Chief Innovation Officer, Hult International Business School

Managers face difficult situations and conversations on a weekly basis. Managerial performance in these conversations is critical to managerial reputation and company culture. The adage that employees quit managers, not companies, is a reminder these difficult conversations are critical drivers of the level of employee engagement and the rate of talent attrition at an organization. Immersing oneself in simulations of difficult conversations to build muscle memory via practice and feedback is the approach used by expensive coaches for the chief executive officers of large organizations. Those who do not have access to such coaches use generative artificial intelligence (AI) as a leveling technology that enables all learners to get access to practice and intensive feedback for these difficult conversations. In this course, we cover a limited number of these difficult conversations, including addressing unacceptable performance from an individual; correcting poor diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging behaviors; firing an employee; resolving conflict between two or more employees; delivering an inspiring speech at a critical moment in a project; and two or three other situations based on the collective interests from the students in the course. Students read about the theory underlying motivation and individual behaviors in these situations, practice the situations, improve performance based on the structured feedback provided, and reflect on further possibilities for improvement and transformation.

Fall 2024

Grant Proposal Writing

George T. Kosar PhD, Associate Vice President of Development, The Everglades Foundation and Associate, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University

This project-based course covers the complete process of grant proposal development: identification of an achievable and fundable project, research and assessment of viable funding sources, funder relations, proposal writing, budget development, preparation of a full proposal package for submission, and post-award or rejection follow-up with funders. The course emphasizes grants to private, community, and corporate foundations. Students gain an understanding of the nonprofit philanthropic environment and become familiar with tools and resources available to assist them as they seek funds for their projects, institutions, or causes.

Prerequisites: Students must have a specific project or a fairly well-developed idea that they build upon as the basis for their coursework and final grant proposal. This project or idea cannot be for a for-profit business. Solid writing skills and experience or coursework in nonprofit sector/management highly recommended.

Spring 2025

Enterprise Social Media and Organizational Collaboration

Aline Yurik PhD, Director, Information Technology, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts

This course focuses on the use of enterprise social media and collaboration technology available to today's organizations. Organizations in today's world are increasingly distributed and include remote members and global locations. Organizations are also tapping the power of social media networks to engage with customers, build brand and product awareness, and collaborate and innovate with their customers, partners, and employees. Social media and collaboration technologies provide immediate communication and exchange of information that replaces or supplements the traditional internal and external communication methods. We examine the principles that allow organizations to engage successfully in e-collaboration. We analyze external and internal uses of social media networks for organizations, including refocusing of business strategies and operational processes to incorporate social media communication. We review and access tools that allow team members to communicate with each directly. We also review the tools that allow delayed communication where the members do not all have to be present at the same time, such as enterprise social media networks and team collaboration tools. Effective tools for broadcasting information internally and externally are also discussed.

Fall 2024

Organizational Behavior

Carmine P. Gibaldi EdD, Professor of Management and Organizational Psychology, St. John's University

This course deals with human behavior in a variety of organizations. Conceptual frameworks, case discussions, and skill-oriented activities are applied to each topic. Topics include communications, motivation, group dynamics, leadership, power, and organizational design and development. Class sessions and assignments are intended to help participants acquire the skills that managers need to improve organizational relationships and performance.

Prerequisites: A satisfactory score on the mandatory test of critical reading and writing skills or a B or higher grade in the alternate expository writing course.

Spring 2025

Organizational Behavior

Tonya Echols MA, Managing Principal, Vigere and Adjunct Faculty, Leadership and Organizational Behavior, William Mary

This course deals with human behavior in a variety of organizations. Conceptual frameworks, case discussions, and skill-oriented activities are applied to each topic. Topics include communications, motivation, group dynamics, leadership, power, and organizational design and development. Class sessions and assignments are intended to help participants acquire the skills that managers need to improve organizational relationships and performance.

Prerequisites: A satisfactory score on the mandatory test of critical reading and writing skills or a B or higher grade in the alternate expository writing course.

Spring 2025

Organizational Behavior

Paul Green DBA, Assistant Professor of Management, McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin

This course deals with human behavior in a variety of organizations. Conceptual frameworks, case discussions, and skill-oriented activities are applied to each topic. Topics include communications, motivation, group dynamics, leadership, power, and organizational design and development. Class sessions and assignments are intended to help participants acquire the skills that managers need to improve organizational relationships and performance.

Prerequisites: A satisfactory score on the mandatory test of critical reading and writing skills or a B or higher grade in the alternate expository writing course.

Spring 2025

Organizational Behavior

Robert T. Anthony PhD, Professor of Management, Hult International Business School

This course deals with human behavior in a variety of organizations. Conceptual frameworks, case discussions, and skill-oriented activities are applied to each topic. Topics include communications, motivation, group dynamics, leadership, power, and organizational design and development. Class sessions and assignments are intended to help participants acquire the skills that managers need to improve organizational relationships and performance.

Prerequisites: A satisfactory score on the mandatory test of critical reading and writing skills or a B or higher grade in the alternate expository writing course.

Spring 2025

Organizational Behavior

Ellen Harris EdM, Executive Leadership and Career Coach, Harvard Business School and Senior Director, Cathleen Stone Island Outward Bound Professional

This course deals with human behavior in a variety of organizations. Conceptual frameworks, case discussions, and skill-oriented activities are applied to each topic. Topics include communications, motivation, group dynamics, leadership, power, and organizational design and development. Class sessions and assignments are intended to help participants acquire the skills that managers need to improve organizational relationships and performance.

Prerequisites: A satisfactory score on the mandatory test of critical reading and writing skills or a B or higher grade in the alternate expository writing course.

Spring 2025

Organizational Behavior

Lee G. Bolman PhD, Professor and Marion Bloch/Missouri Chair in Leadership Emeritus, Bloch School of Management, University of Missouri - Kansas City

This course deals with human behavior in a variety of organizations. Conceptual frameworks, case discussions, and skill-oriented activities are applied to each topic. Topics include communications, motivation, group dynamics, leadership, power, and organizational design and development. Class sessions and assignments are intended to help participants acquire the skills that managers need to improve organizational relationships and performance.

Prerequisites: A satisfactory score on the mandatory test of critical reading and writing skills or a B or higher grade in the alternate expository writing course.

Fall 2024

Organizational Behavior

Lee G. Bolman PhD, Professor and Marion Bloch/Missouri Chair in Leadership Emeritus, Bloch School of Management, University of Missouri - Kansas City

This course deals with human behavior in a variety of organizations. Conceptual frameworks, case discussions, and skill-oriented activities are applied to each topic. Topics include communications, motivation, group dynamics, leadership, power, and organizational design and development. Class sessions and assignments are intended to help participants acquire the skills that managers need to improve organizational relationships and performance.

Prerequisites: A satisfactory score on the mandatory test of critical reading and writing skills or a B or higher grade in the alternate expository writing course.

Fall 2024

Organizational Behavior

Tonya Echols MA, Managing Principal, Vigere and Adjunct Faculty, Leadership and Organizational Behavior, William Mary

This course deals with human behavior in a variety of organizations. Conceptual frameworks, case discussions, and skill-oriented activities are applied to each topic. Topics include communications, motivation, group dynamics, leadership, power, and organizational design and development. Class sessions and assignments are intended to help participants acquire the skills that managers need to improve organizational relationships and performance.

Prerequisites: A satisfactory score on the mandatory test of critical reading and writing skills or a B or higher grade in the alternate expository writing course.

Fall 2024

Organizational Behavior

Paul Green DBA, Assistant Professor of Management, McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin

This course deals with human behavior in a variety of organizations. Conceptual frameworks, case discussions, and skill-oriented activities are applied to each topic. Topics include communications, motivation, group dynamics, leadership, power, and organizational design and development. Class sessions and assignments are intended to help participants acquire the skills that managers need to improve organizational relationships and performance.

Prerequisites: A satisfactory score on the mandatory test of critical reading and writing skills or a B or higher grade in the alternate expository writing course.

Spring 2025

Leading through Change

Ryan Taylor Ward McCreedy ALM, Senior Principal, Organizational Effectiveness, Slalom Consulting

This course is designed to be an introduction to the challenges of adapting to the rapidly changing conditions that we all face as our workplace becomes more automated, as our assumptions surrounding our skill sets become outdated, and as new additions to the decision-making process, such as big data and machine learning, increase the need to cope with exponential complexity. This approach to understanding what it means to adapt and to remain flexible extends to almost every profession. To a future practitioner it is creating a mindset that supports diversity of viewpoints by remaining open to new ways of thinking in order to facilitate creativity and innovation. From a macro-perspective, students are made aware of alternative ways of framing change initiatives either as incremental or transformational events within an organization. From this viewpoint they are then able to search for appropriate strategies designed to optimize present and future resources. Over the years management theory has evolved from adopting best practices as a prescriptive approach to solving problems to one that incorporates the latest research in mindfulness as a method for slowing down the process, creating a brief moment of stability, deconstructing the issues, and generating multiple alternatives that address present concerns. A learning experience of this type poses many interesting philosophical perspectives and provides a foundation for better understanding the complex decision-making matrices that drive most organizational dynamics.

Fall 2024

Managing Yourself and Leading Others

Margaret Andrews MS, Managing Director, Higher Ed Associates and Founder, The MYLO Center

Managing others may not be complex, but it is certainly not easy. Simple, straightforward management principles can often be deceptively difficult to implement. This course teaches the fundamentals of management from different angles managing oneself, managing organizational life, and managing others (managing upward, downward, and sideways). Using a variety of readings, written assignments, in-class exercises, and case discussions, the class focuses on understanding individual strengths, preferences, and blind spots our own and others' and working with other people to advance career goals and organizational objectives. Management requires judgment and students should expect to grapple with ambiguous situations that do not have simple solutions.

Prerequisites: A satisfactory score on the mandatory test of critical reading and writing skills or a B or higher grade in the alternate expository writing course.

Fall 2024

Cultivating Authentic Leadership

Anne N. Occhipinti MA, Assistant Dean for Professional Education, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health

Self-awareness is essential on your path to authentic leadership. This course uses a variety of self-assessment tools, readings, and discussions to help us understand work styles and preferences, strengths and goals, and how those factors contribute to the type of leader we want to be. It is increasingly important for people to have a clear idea of who they are and their purpose in life in order to navigate their work-life and become confident and inspiring leaders. Authenticity is about the true self; having clarity about and acting based on one's deepest interests, values, and motivations, and most importantly how we can bring our authentic selves into all corners of our lives. Students apply what they have learned from the course to their personal development through in-depth self-exploration. Students also use peer coaching which allows them to explore areas of growth, as well as to develop this important skill set. The course aims to promote skills for students to understand and develop authenticity in themselves.

Fall 2024

Influence and Power in Organizations

Laura M. Downing MBA, Founder, CLIR Coaching

In a world of flattening organizations and expanding networks, success accrues to those who understand how to influence effectively and use power to their advantage. Unfortunately, very few know what influence and power are or how to build skills in these areas. In this course, students learn how to use influence and power as tools for understanding environments, crafting agendas, and reaching personal goals. The course is designed to uncover individual views and feelings about personal presence and influence and power, and develop practical perspectives and approaches to overcome problems and capitalize on opportunities. Through lecture, case discussions, and weekly application assignments, students learn how to grow influence and power in their own organizations.

Fall 2024

Gender, Leadership, and Management

Patricia H. Deyton MDiv

This discussion-based seminar, which is equally important for women and men, examines leadership and management from gender-based historical and current perspectives. Issues covered include leadership styles and their impact, understanding power, conflict management, ethical decision making, workplace stereotypes, impact on policy making, differences in communication, negotiations, and approaches to teamwork. Students have the opportunity to lead discussions and engage in a small-scale research project of their own design.

Spring 2025

Building Leadership Skills

Laura M. Downing MBA, Founder, CLIR Coaching

In today's workplace, leadership skills have never been more important they are essential to managerial success, especially at senior levels across all sectors and industries. But as early to mid-career professionals become seasoned in their roles, they often grow overly reliant on their technical or functional expertise. Unfortunately, this focus on technical skills has the opposite effect it prevents people from moving into leadership roles because what managers need to advance are conceptual, not technical, skills. This course covers the essential leadership skills managers need to advance in their careers in the areas of strategy and results, talent and teams, and change and communication. The course is designed to facilitate concept review, case study analysis, and real-time practical application in each student's workplace. Through lectures, background reading, case discussion, and weekly application assignments students, learn to improve their leadership skills at work.

Fall 2024

Creating and Leading Team Dynamics

Ryan Taylor Ward McCreedy ALM, Senior Principal, Organizational Effectiveness, Slalom Consulting

In today's complex organizational environments, working within a team format, whether in a leadership role or as an active participant, requires a distinct set of skills compared to acting individually. This course focuses on the role of teaming as an executive function and the challenges of developing an effective communication style. Creativity, conflict resolution, and facilitating innovation are some of the major themes. Other topics explore building a climate of accountability and establishing conditions that provide flow and high performance. The course is highly interactive with case-based exercises intended to build students' skills as effective, contributing team members. Self-reflection about one's own teaming behavior is a central activity during the semester.

Spring 2025

Nonprofit Leadership and Community Engagement

Madeline Dupre McNeely MEd, Principal and Founder, Conditioning Leaders - Harry Harding ALM, Owner and Lead Instructor, LeaderFULL Life Works, LLC

Given increasing inequities in society, nonprofit leadership and community engagement ideas and practices are needed now more than ever. This course focuses on developing twenty-first century leadership skills, values, and habits. A collaborative, inclusive, and equitable approach is essential for sustainable, meaningful leadership and community engagement in local and global contexts. The core of this course is the undertaking of a community engagement project initiated by students. This course also relies on facilitated dialogues, reflections, small group conversations, writing assignments, and student presentations. We create space for experiential, collaborative learning anchored by David Ehrlichman's Impact Networks, and articles and videos from leadership and nonprofit fields. At the heart of the course is a commitment to supporting students in becoming leaders of belonging, equity, inclusion, and diversity wherever they go and whomever they influence.

Fall 2024

Using Literature and Film to Develop the Complete Leader-Manager: An Innovative Approach

Raymond F. Comeau PhD, Lecturer in Extension, Harvard University - Tiffany Nancy Lin ALM, Staff Scientist, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University

A leader-manager, to be truly complete, must develop a full spectrum of aptitudes, from analytical, strategic, and organizational skills to the ability for empathy, intuition, imagination, and vision. A leader-manager with strong skills on one side of the spectrum but weak skills on the other is seriously hampered. They may not be able to work effectively with others, for example, or appreciate the complexity of a given situation. The goal of this course is to develop the full spectrum of managerial leadership skills thus the complete leader-manager through the creative use of literature and film. Our method is as follows: first, students read the works and view the films, selecting a topic of interest; second, through the use of a one-page paper, they build a bridge between their topic of interest and a leadership or managerial situation they have read about or experienced; third, they discuss their papers with students in the class. This results in deeper, fresher, and more nuanced perspectives on managerial leadership. Specific topics that we have studied in the past include: achieving work/life balance; dealing with inflexible and challenging colleagues; taking an unpopular course of action; balancing ambition with ethical concerns; leading with vision; developing personal power; recognizing and overcoming racial, gender, and cultural biases; thinking like an entrepreneur; using effective communication strategies to resolve conflict; creating an inclusive and innovative workplace environment; overcoming resistance to change; thinking strategically to plan present and future initiatives; and carrying out fragile negotiations. Films covered include The Aviator (Martin Scorsese), Gandhi (Richard Attenborough), Shall We Dance? (Masayuki Suo), The Age of Innocence (Martin Scorsese), Whale Rider (Niki Caro), and Chariots of Fire (Hugh Hudson). Works of literature include Antigone (Sophocles), Julius Caesar (William Shakespeare), Billy Budd (Herman Melville), The Guest (Albert Camus), A Doll's House (Henrik Ibsen), and Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe).

Prerequisites: An interest in literature and film and the flexibility to apply their themes to managerial leadership situations. This course will be useful for all leader-managers, from beginning to experienced.

Spring 2025

Negotiation and Organizational Conflict Resolution

Nicholas Coburn-Palo PhD, Preceptor in Public Speaking, Harvard University

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the concept and types of negotiation. It is designed for students who wish to manage individual and organizational conflict and negotiations more effectively based on the premise that those in management positions engage in some form of negotiation daily. Students discuss the meaning, types, and different strategies of negotiation with an emphasis on an integrative, collaborative, win-win negotiation approach. A variety of topics are discussed including, but not limited to, workplace conflict, strategies for diagnosing conflict situations, power, culture and diversity in negotiation, emotional elements in approaching negotiation and conflict resolution, psychological sub-processes, social contexts, individual differences, multiparty situations, and dealing with impasses. Students learn theories of interpersonal and organizational conflict and its resolution as applied to personal, corporate, historical, and political contexts. The course brings out the significance of leadership in approaching and managing a negotiation situation and organizational conflict resolution.

Spring 2025

Negotiation and Organizational Conflict Resolution

Maurie Kelly PhD, Director, Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access, Institutes of Energy and the Environment, and Instructor of Risk Management, Smeal College of Business, Pennsylvania State University

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the concept and types of negotiation. It is designed for students who wish to manage individual and organizational conflict and negotiations more effectively based on the premise that those in management positions engage in some form of negotiation daily. Students discuss the meaning, types, and different strategies of negotiation with an emphasis on an integrative, collaborative, win-win negotiation approach. A variety of topics are discussed including, but not limited to, workplace conflict, strategies for diagnosing conflict situations, power, culture and diversity in negotiation, emotional elements in approaching negotiation and conflict resolution, psychological sub-processes, social contexts, individual differences, multiparty situations, and dealing with impasses. Students learn theories of interpersonal and organizational conflict and its resolution as applied to personal, corporate, historical, and political contexts. The course brings out the significance of leadership in approaching and managing a negotiation situation and organizational conflict resolution.

Spring 2025

Negotiation and Organizational Conflict Resolution

Diana Buttu MBA, JD, Lawyer

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the concept and types of negotiation. It is designed for students who wish to manage individual and organizational conflict and negotiations more effectively based on the premise that those in management positions engage in some form of negotiation daily. Students discuss the meaning, types, and different strategies of negotiation with an emphasis on an integrative, collaborative, win-win negotiation approach. A variety of topics are discussed including, but not limited to, workplace conflict, strategies for diagnosing conflict situations, power, culture and diversity in negotiation, emotional elements in approaching negotiation and conflict resolution, psychological sub-processes, social contexts, individual differences, multiparty situations, and dealing with impasses. Students learn theories of interpersonal and organizational conflict and its resolution as applied to personal, corporate, historical, and political contexts. The course brings out the significance of leadership in approaching and managing a negotiation situation and organizational conflict resolution.

Fall 2024

Negotiation and Organizational Conflict Resolution

Nicholas Coburn-Palo PhD, Preceptor in Public Speaking, Harvard University

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the concept and types of negotiation. It is designed for students who wish to manage individual and organizational conflict and negotiations more effectively based on the premise that those in management positions engage in some form of negotiation daily. Students discuss the meaning, types, and different strategies of negotiation with an emphasis on an integrative, collaborative, win-win negotiation approach. A variety of topics are discussed including, but not limited to, workplace conflict, strategies for diagnosing conflict situations, power, culture and diversity in negotiation, emotional elements in approaching negotiation and conflict resolution, psychological sub-processes, social contexts, individual differences, multiparty situations, and dealing with impasses. Students learn theories of interpersonal and organizational conflict and its resolution as applied to personal, corporate, historical, and political contexts. The course brings out the significance of leadership in approaching and managing a negotiation situation and organizational conflict resolution.

Fall 2024

Negotiation and Organizational Conflict Resolution

Maurie Kelly PhD, Director, Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access, Institutes of Energy and the Environment, and Instructor of Risk Management, Smeal College of Business, Pennsylvania State University

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the concept and types of negotiation. It is designed for students who wish to manage individual and organizational conflict and negotiations more effectively based on the premise that those in management positions engage in some form of negotiation daily. Students discuss the meaning, types, and different strategies of negotiation with an emphasis on an integrative, collaborative, win-win negotiation approach. A variety of topics are discussed including, but not limited to, workplace conflict, strategies for diagnosing conflict situations, power, culture and diversity in negotiation, emotional elements in approaching negotiation and conflict resolution, psychological sub-processes, social contexts, individual differences, multiparty situations, and dealing with impasses. Students learn theories of interpersonal and organizational conflict and its resolution as applied to personal, corporate, historical, and political contexts. The course brings out the significance of leadership in approaching and managing a negotiation situation and organizational conflict resolution.

January 2025

Negotiation and Organizational Conflict Resolution

Nicholas Coburn-Palo PhD, Preceptor in Public Speaking, Harvard University

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the concept and types of negotiation. It is designed for students who wish to manage individual and organizational conflict and negotiations more effectively based on the premise that those in management positions engage in some form of negotiation daily. Students discuss the meaning, types, and different strategies of negotiation with an emphasis on an integrative, collaborative, win-win negotiation approach. A variety of topics are discussed including, but not limited to, workplace conflict, strategies for diagnosing conflict situations, power, culture and diversity in negotiation, emotional elements in approaching negotiation and conflict resolution, psychological sub-processes, social contexts, individual differences, multiparty situations, and dealing with impasses. Students learn theories of interpersonal and organizational conflict and its resolution as applied to personal, corporate, historical, and political contexts. The course brings out the significance of leadership in approaching and managing a negotiation situation and organizational conflict resolution.

Fall 2024

Negotiation and Organizational Conflict Resolution

Diana Buttu MBA, JD, Lawyer

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the concept and types of negotiation. It is designed for students who wish to manage individual and organizational conflict and negotiations more effectively based on the premise that those in management positions engage in some form of negotiation daily. Students discuss the meaning, types, and different strategies of negotiation with an emphasis on an integrative, collaborative, win-win negotiation approach. A variety of topics are discussed including, but not limited to, workplace conflict, strategies for diagnosing conflict situations, power, culture and diversity in negotiation, emotional elements in approaching negotiation and conflict resolution, psychological sub-processes, social contexts, individual differences, multiparty situations, and dealing with impasses. Students learn theories of interpersonal and organizational conflict and its resolution as applied to personal, corporate, historical, and political contexts. The course brings out the significance of leadership in approaching and managing a negotiation situation and organizational conflict resolution.

Prerequisites: Registration in this section of MGMT E-4225 is restricted to officially admitted candidates in the Master of Liberal Arts, management or industrial-organizational psychology.

Fall 2024

Negotiation and Organizational Conflict Resolution

Paula Gutlove MD, Deputy Director, Institute for Resource and Security Studies

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the concept and types of negotiation. It is designed for students who wish to manage individual and organizational conflict and negotiations more effectively based on the premise that those in management positions engage in some form of negotiation daily. Students discuss the meaning, types, and different strategies of negotiation with an emphasis on an integrative, collaborative, win-win negotiation approach. A variety of topics are discussed including, but not limited to, workplace conflict, strategies for diagnosing conflict situations, power, culture and diversity in negotiation, emotional elements in approaching negotiation and conflict resolution, psychological sub-processes, social contexts, individual differences, multiparty situations, and dealing with impasses. Students learn theories of interpersonal and organizational conflict and its resolution as applied to personal, corporate, historical, and political contexts. The course brings out the significance of leadership in approaching and managing a negotiation situation and organizational conflict resolution.

Spring 2025

Advanced Negotiation and Conflict Resolution Strategies

Maurie Kelly PhD, Director, Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access, Institutes of Energy and the Environment, and Instructor of Risk Management, Smeal College of Business, Pennsylvania State University

This course helps students build on their existing knowledge and experience and grow into a more agile, creative, and focused negotiators. This highly interactive course delves into the strategic System 2 Thinking and planning that drive success in multiple arenas including multiparty negotiations, international coalitions, and multiphase situations. We explore impossible situations, deadlocked conflicts, and interpersonal, organizational, and international disputes and learn the skills required to address these scenarios. Students develop more sophisticated negotiating skills, learn how to avoid the most serious pitfalls, and emerge prepared to conduct a wider range of complex negotiations and resolve conflicts with confidence.

Prerequisites: MGMT E-4225, or the equivalent.

Spring 2025

Mediation: Problem Solving across Differences

Eugene B. Kogan PhD, Managing Director, Kogan Global Advisory, LLC

In organizations, institutions, and teams, harnessing diverse perspectives toward common goals is among the top management challenges. This is an area where mediation convening people across differences in service of responsible problem-solving can play a constructive role. Among alternative dispute resolution (ADR) approaches, mediation is distinctive in creating spaces (virtual or physical) where people feel empowered to explore the sources of their differences and envision sustainable solutions. As such, it can be an effective part of a manager's day-to-day organizational development toolkit. In this course, we discuss how to design and lead a mediation process, uncover the roots of conflict, acknowledge the parties' needs, identify workable solutions, and overcome common traps, while ensuring professional and personal ethical standards. Topics covered include creating an inclusive company culture through mediation; designing spaces physical and virtual that enable diverse perspectives to be acknowledged and explored; diagnosing and addressing psychological biases that inhibit collaboration; the role of gender and culture in mediating disputes; developing and exercising leadership with a mediation mindset; in-person, online, and hybrid mediation; and the emotional dimensions of mediation.

Fall 2024

Human Resource Management

Michael K. Thomas EdD, President and Chief Executive Officer, New England Board of Higher Education

Human resource management (HRM) can be defined as the effective use of human resources in an organization, through the management of people-related activities. It is a strategic organizational activity of increasing complexity and importance. This introductory course covers the range of critical HR issues and core activities that all managers need to understand, including strategic HRM, legal issues, talent acquisition, performance management, employee development, and compensation and rewards. Through interactive lectures and case studies, students become familiar with the basic principles and techniques of strategic HRM. The course takes a practical view that integrates contemporary management thought with practical aspects of implementing HR functions in the real world. It enables students to be effective talent managers and to ensure that people are a source of an organization's competitive advantage. Additionally, the course focuses on a set of emerging, innovation-oriented issues that are applicable across all of the core topics. These include HR and people analytics to better justify investments in HRM and people, leaders are increasingly looking for ways to leverage data and analytics to drive individual and collective performance; and coaching, mentoring, and performance improvement leaders and managers are tasked with helping to improve employee satisfaction, growth, and performance, but leaders and managers need support in learning to provide sustained and effective feedback in its various forms. We also cover continuous learning the organization that learns the most and the fastest will have a competitive advantage; the changing world of work and contemporary issues the global pandemic and other forces are quickly changing work and organizations, pushing HR professionals to learn and lead in new ways; and equity, diversity, and inclusion the workforce is changing to reflect societal diversity and organizations face new pressures to demonstrate their commitments to equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Fall 2024

Human Resource Management

Carlos Echalar MBA, Chief Human Resources Officer, CDM Smith

Human resource management (HRM) can be defined as the effective use of human resources in an organization, through the management of people-related activities. It is a strategic organizational activity of increasing complexity and importance. This introductory course covers the range of critical HR issues and core activities that all managers need to understand, including strategic HRM, legal issues, talent acquisition, performance management, employee development, and compensation and rewards. Through interactive lectures and case studies, students become familiar with the basic principles and techniques of strategic HRM. The course takes a practical view that integrates contemporary management thought with practical aspects of implementing HR functions in the real world. It enables students to be effective talent managers and to ensure that people are a source of an organization's competitive advantage. Additionally, the course focuses on a set of emerging, innovation-oriented issues that are applicable across all of the core topics. These include HR and people analytics to better justify investments in HRM and people, leaders are increasingly looking for ways to leverage data and analytics to drive individual and collective performance; and coaching, mentoring, and performance improvement leaders and managers are tasked with helping to improve employee satisfaction, growth, and performance, but leaders and managers need support in learning to provide sustained and effective feedback in its various forms. We also cover continuous learning the organization that learns the most and the fastest will have a competitive advantage; the changing world of work and contemporary issues the global pandemic and other forces are quickly changing work and organizations, pushing HR professionals to learn and lead in new ways; and equity, diversity, and inclusion the workforce is changing to reflect societal diversity and organizations face new pressures to demonstrate their commitments to equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Spring 2025

Human Resource Management

Michael K. Thomas EdD, President and Chief Executive Officer, New England Board of Higher Education

Human resource management (HRM) can be defined as the effective use of human resources in an organization, through the management of people-related activities. It is a strategic organizational activity of increasing complexity and importance. This introductory course covers the range of critical HR issues and core activities that all managers need to understand, including strategic HRM, legal issues, talent acquisition, performance management, employee development, and compensation and rewards. Through interactive lectures and case studies, students become familiar with the basic principles and techniques of strategic HRM. The course takes a practical view that integrates contemporary management thought with practical aspects of implementing HR functions in the real world. It enables students to be effective talent managers and to ensure that people are a source of an organization's competitive advantage. Additionally, the course focuses on a set of emerging, innovation-oriented issues that are applicable across all of the core topics. These include HR and people analytics to better justify investments in HRM and people, leaders are increasingly looking for ways to leverage data and analytics to drive individual and collective performance; and coaching, mentoring, and performance improvement leaders and managers are tasked with helping to improve employee satisfaction, growth, and performance, but leaders and managers need support in learning to provide sustained and effective feedback in its various forms. We also cover continuous learning the organization that learns the most and the fastest will have a competitive advantage; the changing world of work and contemporary issues the global pandemic and other forces are quickly changing work and organizations, pushing HR professionals to learn and lead in new ways; and equity, diversity, and inclusion the workforce is changing to reflect societal diversity and organizations face new pressures to demonstrate their commitments to equity, diversity, and inclusion.

Spring 2025

Nonprofit Human Resource Management

Cindy Joyce MA, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Pillar Search and Human Resources Consulting

How do you make the most of your more valuable asset your team in a nonprofit, and how do you ensure that they are well aligned with your mission? This course examines human resources (HR) in the nonprofit setting, providing an introduction to the practices, policies, and theories related to nonprofit human resource management. Whether you are now or plan to be an HR practitioner, leader, or board member with a nonprofit organization, museum, school, or foundation, this course prepares you with the knowledge and skills needed to manage, train, and support human capital and ensure a positive and productive employee experience.

Spring 2025

Creativity and Innovation

Michael Grandinetti MBA, Adjunct Professor, School of Engineering and Faculty Lead, School of Professional Studies, Brown University

Creativity is not just for artists. In fact, it is a fundamental aspect of success regardless of functional role, place in the organizational hierarchy, or industry sector. In the world of business, creativity manifests as innovation. According to a recent survey of 1,500 C-level executives by IBM, creativity is the number one leadership competency required to effectively navigate our increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world. Whether operating in the corporate, startup, social entrepreneurship, not-for-profit, or public sectors, organizations increasingly need people who understand the creative process; know how to manage, motivate, and engage creative professionals; and can develop an organizational culture that encourages experimentation, considers the inevitable failures as learning opportunities, and enables innovative outcomes. This course focuses on best practices in creativity and innovation, exploring the interplay between creativity, organizational processes and systems, and successful innovation. Throughout the course we explore tools and techniques for fostering individual and group creativity, management practices that foster (or inhibit) innovation, methods for developing and evaluating ideas for new products and services, the business models to execute these ideas, and principles and practices for leading innovation. Using a variety of readings, case examples, discussions, experiential exercises, and a team project, students explore and apply the principles of creativity and innovation.

Spring 2025

Diversity and Inclusion Management

Tracie Denise Jones MEd, Deputy Institute Community Equity Officer, Institute Community Equity Office, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

As workplaces become increasingly diverse, both opportunities and challenges arise. People must constantly interact with peers, managers, and customers with different backgrounds, experiences, and identities. When used effectively, these differences can not only improve performance and creativity, but they can also lead to greater employee and customer engagement, satisfaction, and inclusion. This course is designed to help employees and managers navigate diverse work settings more effectively and provide them with the tools to deepen their understanding of the differences around them, overcome barriers to creating inclusion, manage and communicate with people from different backgrounds, and identify and implement approaches for managing diversity.

Fall 2024

Institutions and Equitable Transformation

Erica Jacqueline Licht MSc, Research Project Director, Institutional Antiracism and Accountability Project, Harvard University

This course examines diverse types of institutions in American life, the driving systems of power that maintain structural inequities, and examples of real-life effective interventions and strategies for change. Set in the context of history and data on social and racial inequities, classes are based around case studies in education, local government, philanthropy, medium-size nonprofits, and tribal sovereignty. Readings draw from core pedagogy in organizational behavior and change management as well as contemporary literature by industry leaders and guest lectures from practitioners. What gets in the way of creating change? And what is required for creating resilient organizations? Students explore key tools used in the field and apply concepts to their own work experience.

Spring 2025

Harnessing Employee Talent: Motivating a Diverse Workforce

Samantha Nicole Smith BA, Doctoral Candidate in Organizational Behavior, Harvard Business School

This course offers a comprehensive examination of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) within organizational contexts, focusing on practical strategies for fostering inclusive environments and driving positive change. Furthermore, this course provides working professionals with frameworks and tools to understand and leverage motivational factors in promoting inclusive workplaces. Through a blend of behavioral economics, psychology, and organizational theory, students examine how diverse perspectives and inclusive practices can enhance the effectiveness of incentive systems and drive value creation within organizations. Through case studies, interactive discussions, and practical exercises, students gain the knowledge and skills needed to foster inclusive environments, leverage diversity for organizational success, and design incentive systems that promote value creation while embracing the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Fall 2024

The Science of Happiness and Wellbeing

Mukul Kumar PhD, Chief Innovation Officer, Hult International Business School

The course translates findings from academic research, particularly in positive psychology and behavior change, into attitudes, behaviors, and practices that students can adopt to have happy, fulfilling, and meaningful lives. We explore the foundation of happiness and what makes us happy, set goals, and chart a path for achieving a greater sense of happiness. The course goes beyond knowledge acquisition and requires hands-on student engagement with weekly reflections and practices for behavior change. We also survey the growing range of happiness technology tools and technologies that support individuals in their quest for a more fulfilling life and explore entrepreneurial ideation for creating new happiness technology ventures.

Spring 2025

Exploring the Coaching Landscape in Business

Tonya Echols MA, Managing Principal, Vigere and Adjunct Faculty, Leadership and Organizational Behavior, William Mary

Coaching has become an emerging area of interest in personal and professional circles, and a sought-after skillset in business settings. As coaching has grown in popularity, it is often confused with other forms of developmental activity such as formal supervision, consulting, mentoring, and even therapy. This course provides a foundational understanding of the distinct purpose, skills, and applications of coaching and the role it plays in business settings. Students learn how coaching has evolved as a recognized profession with specific ethics, competencies, and certification processes. We explore the academic research that supports coaching as a vehicle for change and growth, including insights from psychology, human performance studies, and neuroscience. While not a certification course, the content provides students with opportunities to learn core coaching tenants and frameworks and actively practice key coaching skills of self- and other-awareness, listening, inquiry, reframing, and exploring options. Other topics may include emerging areas in the coaching field such as team coaching, somatics, and systems approaches. This course is well suited for students who already do some coaching in their personal and/or work settings and would like a more fundamental understanding of what coaching is, how it works, and why. This course is also useful for students who are considering more formal training in the coaching field.

Spring 2025

Building Relationships for Impact

Elizabeth Rachel Johnson AB, Doctoral Candidate, Harvard Business School - Bushra Guenoun AB, Doctoral Candidate, Harvard Business School

Have you ever wondered how to effectively build relationships in the workplace and throughout your career? Research shows that individuals who form and maintain strong mentoring, coaching, and sponsorship relationships are significantly more likely to succeed professionally. In this course, we explore each of these developmental relationships and discuss their unique benefits, challenges, and opportunities. We begin by focusing on how you can make the most of these developmental relationships when you are in the learning position (mentee, coachee, or sponsee). We address questions such as: what are the best ways to network so you can build development relationships? Once you are in a meeting with a mentor, coach, or sponsor, what are the right questions to ask them? How do you know when to start or end a developmental relationship? Then, we shift focus and learn how to be an effective mentor, coach, and sponsor to others. We discuss questions such as: how do you give good advice? How do you recognize the type of support that your mentee, coachee, or sponsee needs? How do you evaluate your performance as a mentor, coach, or sponsor? Finally, we discuss how organizational structures affect the extent to which these relationships can be successful. We answer questions such as: when do formalized mentorship or coaching programs work? How should these programs be designed to optimize outcomes? This course is designed to introduce you to different forms of and perspectives on developmental relationships so that you can understand the unique value of different types of developmental relationships in the workplace; learn how to create and make the most of developmental relationships when you are in the learning position; discover how to become a more effective leader by strengthening your mentorship, coaching, and sponsorship skills; and understand how organizational structures can affect developmental relationships within an organization.

Spring 2025

Strategic Management

Shawn P. O'Connor MBA, JD, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, DWUS, Inc.

To succeed in the future, managers must develop the resources and capabilities needed to gain and sustain advantage in competitive markets both traditional and emerging. The way in which organizations attempt to develop such competitive advantage constitutes the essence of their strategy. This course introduces the concept of strategic management through case analyses, and considers the basic direction and goals of an organization, the environment (social, political, technological, economic, and global factors), industry and market structure, and organizational strengths and weaknesses. The emphasis is on the development and successful implementation of strategy in different types of firms across industries.

Prerequisites: Course work in accounting and two other functional areas.

Fall 2024

Strategic Management

Joshua Brand MBA, Senior Director of Corporate Learning, Harvard Medical School

To succeed in the future, managers must develop the resources and capabilities needed to gain and sustain advantage in competitive markets both traditional and emerging. The way in which organizations attempt to develop such competitive advantage constitutes the essence of their strategy. This course introduces the concept of strategic management through case analyses, and considers the basic direction and goals of an organization, the environment (social, political, technological, economic, and global factors), industry and market structure, and organizational strengths and weaknesses. The emphasis is on the development and successful implementation of strategy in different types of firms across industries.

Prerequisites: Course work in accounting and two other functional areas.

January 2025

Strategic Management

Areen Shahbari MBA, Chief Executive Officer, Cactus International and Principal, Shahbari Training and Consultancy

To succeed in the future, managers must develop the resources and capabilities needed to gain and sustain advantage in competitive markets both traditional and emerging. The way in which organizations attempt to develop such competitive advantage constitutes the essence of their strategy. This course introduces the concept of strategic management through case analyses, and considers the basic direction and goals of an organization, the environment (social, political, technological, economic, and global factors), industry and market structure, and organizational strengths and weaknesses. The emphasis is on the development and successful implementation of strategy in different types of firms across industries.

Prerequisites: Course work in accounting and two other functional areas.

Fall 2024

Strategic Management

Kenneth M. Baylor DBA, Principal, Advanced Leadership Solutions, LLC

To succeed in the future, managers must develop the resources and capabilities needed to gain and sustain advantage in competitive markets both traditional and emerging. The way in which organizations attempt to develop such competitive advantage constitutes the essence of their strategy. This course introduces the concept of strategic management through case analyses, and considers the basic direction and goals of an organization, the environment (social, political, technological, economic, and global factors), industry and market structure, and organizational strengths and weaknesses. The emphasis is on the development and successful implementation of strategy in different types of firms across industries.

Prerequisites: Course work in accounting and two other functional areas.

Spring 2025

Strategic Management

Henrik Totterman DSc, Professor of Practice, Entrepreneurship and Management, Hult International Business School and Chief Executive Officer, Lead X3M, LLC

To succeed in the future, managers must develop the resources and capabilities needed to gain and sustain advantage in competitive markets both traditional and emerging. The way in which organizations attempt to develop such competitive advantage constitutes the essence of their strategy. This course introduces the concept of strategic management through case analyses, and considers the basic direction and goals of an organization, the environment (social, political, technological, economic, and global factors), industry and market structure, and organizational strengths and weaknesses. The emphasis is on the development and successful implementation of strategy in different types of firms across industries.

Prerequisites: Course work in accounting and two other functional areas.

Spring 2025

Strategic Management

Kenneth M. Baylor DBA, Principal, Advanced Leadership Solutions, LLC

To succeed in the future, managers must develop the resources and capabilities needed to gain and sustain advantage in competitive markets both traditional and emerging. The way in which organizations attempt to develop such competitive advantage constitutes the essence of their strategy. This course introduces the concept of strategic management through case analyses, and considers the basic direction and goals of an organization, the environment (social, political, technological, economic, and global factors), industry and market structure, and organizational strengths and weaknesses. The emphasis is on the development and successful implementation of strategy in different types of firms across industries.

Prerequisites: Registration in this section of MGMT E-5000 is restricted to officially admitted candidates in the Master of Liberal Arts, management.

Spring 2025

Corporate Strategy

Eric H. Chung MBA, Partner, Energy and Utilities, West Monroe

This course deals with understanding the value created by managing multiple lines of businesses under the ownership of one corporate umbrella that is, a diversified firm. The ultimate goal is to create what we call a corporate advantage by anticipating the challenges a firm faces in managing its diverse businesses, assessing its future performance, and developing alternative strategies. The recognition, development, and deployment of resources across these diverse businesses play a key role in corporate strategy formulation. Limits to firm growth are recognized, specifying boundary conditions of corporate strategy. Business portfolio methodologies are applied to define strategic business units, determine their fit within the corporate parent, allocate resources among them, and influence their corporate development approach. Mergers and acquisitions, decision making, and transformation are also covered as critical issues in corporate strategy.

Spring 2025

Mastering Foresight: Scenario-Based Planning

Robin Champ MA, Vice President, Strategic Foresight, LBL Strategies

This course is designed for professionals looking to build competency in strategic foresight by learning about and practicing the most widely used foresight tool: scenario-based planning. As opposed to forecasting, which seeks to predict one likely event, scenario-based planning is a foresight tool that explores many possible future outcomes to help organizations identify the capabilities necessary to prepare for an uncertain future. During the course, students learn how to construct scenarios and conduct workshops to yield creative solutions and leverage tools to analyze capabilities for investment. This course helps students develop foresight and scenario-based planning competencies, including scanning for signals and trends in the environment, leveraging generative artificial intelligence (AI) for scenario development, and learning how to use key strategic tools to effectively assess an organization's possible future environments. Students are able to translate capabilities that may be needed in the future to strategy and prioritize projects to drive the right outcomes. Students learn to describe the vital role foresight plays in strategic planning and execution, while selecting the future capabilities that matter most.

Fall 2024

Applied Systems Design and Thinking

Jacob Hale PhD, Associate Principal Designer, People Rocket - Tessa Tzeitel Forshaw MA, Doctoral Candidate, Harvard University

Systems make the water you drink, the health care you access, the businesses you work in, and the products you buy. Yet as a society, we tend to promote siloed and linear thinking that contributes to rising challenges facing these systems and others. In this course, we aim to shift this paradigm by positioning (good) system design as the outcome of rewiring our mental models to see everything as systems. System design and the cognitive approach of systems thinking plays a critical role in developing holistic and sustainable solutions to problems faced in the many systems in our society. Throughout the semester, students learn and implement the methodologies and frameworks of a systems thinker to analyze, design, and measure systems and their effectiveness. Students refine their ability to learn from others, identify the rich interconnections of systems, and generate alternative system designs and innovations through ongoing collaborative coursework. This is a course designed with the practitioner in mind, where tools learned today could be applied tomorrow. It requires that students embrace the process of striking a balance between rigidity and chaos, just like the world's best systems do.

Spring 2025

Applied Corporate Responsibility

Brad Allen PhD, Professor of Marketing, School of Business, Plymouth State University

This course examines the role of corporate responsibility as a strategy to improve products, profits, and brand equity. The idea of corporations as simply wealth-creating organizations with no obligations to the environment is no longer acceptable. Globalization and increased transparency of corporate operations have revealed significant variations in how organizations attempt to balance the pursuit of profits and good corporate citizenship. Expectations for measurable progress of corporate environmental programs addressing natural resources, pollution controls, monitoring ethical supply chains, and expanded training of employees are growing globally. Stakeholder expectations have accelerated the need to monetize these initiatives. However, the lack of standardized methodology and metrics has resulted in confusion within many industries, hindering progress. Tracking sustainability progress within organizations has often revealed tremendous opportunities for growth.

Fall 2024

Applied Corporate Responsibility

Brad Allen PhD, Professor of Marketing, School of Business, Plymouth State University

This course examines the role of corporate responsibility as a strategy to improve products, profits, and brand equity. The idea of corporations as simply wealth-creating organizations with no obligations to the environment is no longer acceptable. Globalization and increased transparency of corporate operations have revealed significant variations in how organizations attempt to balance the pursuit of profits and good corporate citizenship. Expectations for measurable progress of corporate environmental programs addressing natural resources, pollution controls, monitoring ethical supply chains, and expanded training of employees are growing globally. Stakeholder expectations have accelerated the need to monetize these initiatives. However, the lack of standardized methodology and metrics has resulted in confusion within many industries, hindering progress. Tracking sustainability progress within organizations has often revealed tremendous opportunities for growth.

Spring 2025

Applied Research in Finance, Accounting, and Economics

Gregory Sabin DBA

The course functions as a speaker series with faculty from other top institutions presenting their research on a weekly basis. To properly prepare students for reviewing the research presented by the speakers, the first three sessions include a primer on research, econometrics, data, and methods. This course provides a great opportunity for students considering PhD programs in business or management.

Prerequisites: A basic knowledge of finance, accounting, economics, algebra, and statistics are helpful, although not required for this course.

Fall 2024

Project Management

Eric Pool EdD, Human Resources Technology Analyst 2, Mayo Clinic

This course guides students through the fundamental project management concepts, practices, and behavioral characteristics needed to successfully launch, lead, and realize benefits from projects in profit and nonprofit organizations. Effective project managers possess the skills necessary to manage teams, schedules, risks, budgets, scope, and stakeholders to produce a desired outcome. Students analyze the impact of organizational change management theory and explore project management with a practical, hands-on approach through case studies, team assignments, and individual contributions. A key and often overlooked challenge for project managers is the ability to manage without direct influence, gaining the support of stakeholders and access to resources not directly under their control. Special attention is given to critical success factors required to overcoming resistance to change. The course simulates a project in its project team framework, group accountability, and schedule deadlines.

Prerequisites: Experience working in a company or nonprofit is advisable.

Fall 2024

Project Management

Shannon Pettiford MS, Senior Information Technology Program Manager, Boston Consulting Group

This course provides an overview of the fundamentals of project management, with an emphasis on the tools, techniques, and processes involved. The course provides an overview of the project management process, focusing on its lifecycle, project definition, scope, planning, and project monitoring. The purpose of this course is to provide students with a basic exposure to the tasks and challenges facing project managers, the tools and techniques used to manage projects, and how to analyze complex projects across multiple functions in a global environment. Project managers must have the abilities and skills to simultaneously manage their teams, schedules, risks, and resources, and deliver a successful outcome and this course is designed to help students learn to do just that. The objective of the course is to learn the skills and tools of the project management discipline, with a practical, hands-on, and real-world approach. Not to be underestimated is the challenge of managing without authority, an essential skill for project managers to gain the support of resources not directly under their management control. Most organizations are matrix-led, which means that resources are shared and temporary. The project manager must be able to use resources efficiently to achieve the goals and objectives required for a successful outcome, on time, within scope, and under budget. Regardless of one's project management experience, this course is designed to bring project principles to life by practicing the skills and facilitation techniques in an online team environment.

Prerequisites: Experience working in a company or nonprofit is advisable.

January 2025

Project Management

Deb Cote MA, Senior Director, Strategic Planning and Performance, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Mass General Brigham - David A. Shore PhD, Adjunct Professor of Organizational Development, Business School, University of Monterrey, Mexico

In this course, we focus on learning techniques, methodologies, and frameworks within the field of project management, with an application on the phase gate (or Waterfall) methodology. This course guides students through the fundamental project management concepts, practices, and behavioral characteristics needed to successfully launch, lead, and realize benefits from projects in profit and nonprofit organizations. Effective project managers possess the skills necessary to manage teams, schedules, risks, budgets, scope, and stakeholders to produce a desired outcome. Students analyze the impact of organizational change management theory and explore project management with a practical, hands-on approach through case studies, team assignments, and individual contributions. Special attention is given to critical success factors required to overcoming resistance to change. The course simulates a project in its project team framework, group accountability, and schedule deadlines.

Prerequisites: Experience working in a company or nonprofit is advisable.

Spring 2025

Project Management

Tim Mills MS, Member, Board of Directors, 3HO Foundation and Project Management Consultant

This course guides students through the fundamental project management concepts, best practices, and behavioral characteristics needed to successfully initiate, plan, manage, and lead projects in profit and nonprofit organizations. Successful project managers possess the skills necessary to effectively manage teams, schedules, risks, budgets, scope, and stakeholders to produce a desired outcome. Students explore project management with a practical, hands-on approach through real-world case assessments and team and individual assignments. A key and often overlooked challenge for project managers is the ability to manage without direct influence, gaining the support of stakeholders and access to resources not directly under their control. Special attention is given to critical success factors required to effectively managing projects in the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) environment. The course simulates detailed project planning in a project team framework, group accountability, and meeting the the project sponsor's objectives.

Prerequisites: Experience working in a company or nonprofit is advisable.

Spring 2025

Project Management

Shannon Pettiford MS, Senior Information Technology Program Manager, Boston Consulting Group

This course provides an overview of the fundamentals of project management, with an emphasis on the tools, techniques, and processes involved. The course provides an overview of the project management process, focusing on its lifecycle, project definition, scope, planning, and project monitoring. The purpose of this course is to provide students with a basic exposure to the tasks and challenges facing project managers, the tools and techniques used to manage projects, and how to analyze complex projects across multiple functions in a global environment. Project managers must have the abilities and skills to simultaneously manage their teams, schedules, risks, and resources, and deliver a successful outcome and this course is designed to help students learn to do just that. The objective of the course is to learn the skills and tools of the project management discipline, with a practical, hands-on, and real-world approach. Not to be underestimated is the challenge of managing without authority, an essential skill for project managers to gain the support of resources not directly under their management control. Most organizations are matrix-led, which means that resources are shared and temporary. The project manager must be able to use resources efficiently to achieve the goals and objectives required for a successful outcome, on time, within scope, and under budget. Regardless of one's project management experience, this course is designed to bring project principles to life by practicing the skills and facilitation techniques in an online team environment.

Prerequisites: Experience working in a company or nonprofit is advisable.

Fall 2024

Supply Chain Management

Zal Phiroz PhD, President, Pier Consulting Group

From corporate giants to small businesses, product manufacturing firms constantly strive to optimize operations and logistics techniques and practices. This course introduces the concept of supply chain management (SCM) and identifies how companies are using SCM to reduce costs and gain competitive advantage. In addition to looking at the history and evolution of SCM, we explore the relationship between domestic and foreign goods supply and how logistical efficiency, environmental factors, and strategic positioning come together to help companies compete more effectively.

Fall 2024

Agile Project Management

Shannon Pettiford MS, Senior Information Technology Program Manager, Boston Consulting Group

In this course, we focus on learning techniques, methodologies, and frameworks within the field of project management, with an application of agile principles using the Scrum methodology. Coping with constant change has become the norm in today's global organizations, which must continually adapt to ever-evolving environments and challenges. This course comprehensively explores agile techniques and methodologies, equipping participants with the skills, knowledge, and tools needed to ensure successful project outcomes, timely delivery, and enhanced team efficiency. Throughout this course, students distinguish between agile and waterfall project management methodologies, gaining insights into when to apply each approach effectively. Additionally, they evaluate how agile methodology can effectively respond to evolving stakeholder requirements. Participants develop essential project management competencies and best practices to lead agile project teams and deliver solutions with maximum effectiveness. The course delves deep into agile project management principles and practices, covering topics such as self-organizing teams, roles in project management, adaptive planning, value-driven delivery, stakeholder engagement, issue detection and resolution, sprint execution, and retrospective analysis. Current industry trends and best practices are also explored through case studies, providing participants with a holistic view of the field. In team-based settings, participants apply the Scrum framework to understand the agile methodology's execution better. Regardless of prior project management experience, this course is designed to breathe life into agile principles by enabling hands-on practice of essential skills and facilitation techniques within a collaborative team environment. Students may not take both ISMT E-101 (offered previously) and MGMT E-5042 for degree or certificate credit.

Spring 2025

Agile Project Management

Shannon Pettiford MS, Senior Information Technology Program Manager, Boston Consulting Group

In this course, we focus on learning techniques, methodologies, and frameworks within the field of project management, with an application of agile principles using the Scrum methodology. Coping with constant change has become the norm in today's global organizations, which must continually adapt to ever-evolving environments and challenges. This course comprehensively explores agile techniques and methodologies, equipping participants with the skills, knowledge, and tools needed to ensure successful project outcomes, timely delivery, and enhanced team efficiency. Throughout this course, students distinguish between agile and waterfall project management methodologies, gaining insights into when to apply each approach effectively. Additionally, they evaluate how agile methodology can effectively respond to evolving stakeholder requirements. Participants develop essential project management competencies and best practices to lead agile project teams and deliver solutions with maximum effectiveness. The course delves deep into agile project management principles and practices, covering topics such as self-organizing teams, roles in project management, adaptive planning, value-driven delivery, stakeholder engagement, issue detection and resolution, sprint execution, and retrospective analysis. Current industry trends and best practices are also explored through case studies, providing participants with a holistic view of the field. In team-based settings, participants apply the Scrum framework to understand the agile methodology's execution better. Regardless of prior project management experience, this course is designed to breathe life into agile principles by enabling hands-on practice of essential skills and facilitation techniques within a collaborative team environment. Students may not take both ISMT E-101 (offered previously) and MGMT E-5042 for degree or certificate credit.

Fall 2024

Agile Scrum Master

Chris Belknap MBA, Professional Scrum Trainer and Coach, Scrum On, LLC

In this course, we focus on learning techniques and practices in project management, specifically focusing on the underlying principles of the Scrum framework and the Agile mindset while learning the practices applied by successful Scrum masters and teams. This course prepares students for the Professional Scrum Master (PSM I) certification, and by completing this course students receive up to two free attempts at the PSM I certification exam. In this interactive and activity-based course, students gain a strong understanding of Scrum and Agile theory and principles, the role of the Scrum master as a leader, and why each element of the Scrum framework is important for effective project and product discovery and delivery. Students leave this course with an appreciation for how to deliver value for customers, the importance of self-managing teams, the stances of a successful Scrum master (for example, coaching, facilitating, and removing impediments), and how to deal with common myths and impediments to agility. Discover why Scrum has become the most popular of all the Agile frameworks for project management, used by more than 12 million people daily, and is employed in many industries such as software, marketing, human resources, data science, and biotechnology.

Spring 2025

Navigating Business Agility

Shannon Pettiford MS, Senior Information Technology Program Manager, Boston Consulting Group

The business landscape and technology are undergoing rapid and continuous transformation. The relentless pace of change has rendered traditional hierarchical organizational models insufficient in addressing the imperative to remain innovative and competitive. Organizations must evolve to meet customer demands swiftly and deliver innovative, high-quality products and services this encapsulates the essence of business agility. This course equips students with the principles required to thrive in the digital age by effectively responding to dynamic market shifts and emerging opportunities with cutting-edge solutions. Students understand the importance of taking a holistic organizational approach involving all functional areas, such as information technology (IT), finance, marketing, and security to deliver products and services efficiently. The course delves into Lean and Agile principles, empowering teams to comprehend the key elements necessary for producing superior solutions faster than their competitors. Through team-based exercises and exploring case studies, students are challenged to reevaluate their perspectives on scaling Agile. The tools and techniques acquired foster collaborative learning, drive innovation, enhance productivity, and elevate employee engagement through Lean-Agile leadership principles.

Spring 2025

Operations Management

Zal Phiroz PhD, President, Pier Consulting Group

The role of operations management in business is critical. Every organization, irrespective of size, geography, and industry, aims to compete through operational techniques, cost management, and production growth. The successful management of operations in business is essential in driving organizational success and performance. This course provides a hands-on study of operations management, specifically focusing on the areas that businesses implement. Students explore the design, execution, and improvement of operational business processes through key concepts including supply chain management, sustainability, production planning, and inventory management. Emphasis is placed on the strategic role of operations in measuring performance and achieving organizational success across a variety of industries. Through guest lectures, case studies, and practical applications, students learn to analyze operational challenges, implement effective solutions, and utilize data-driven decision-making tools.

Fall 2024

Storytelling with Data

Stacey Gelsheimer PhD, Senior Lecturer on Economics, Boston University

The course begins with a close-up look at raw data and an overview of the various types of data/information that exist in the real world. We then discuss how different types of data are better summarized and visualized with different techniques. Building on this foundation, students explore narrative construction techniques, discovering how to structure information flow and emphasize key points to create cohesive stories from the raw data. Throughout the course, students develop proficiency in both Excel and Tableau Public, a free data visualization tool and community of data enthusiasts. These tools enable students to create visually appealing and interactive presentations. They also learn how to tailor their message to different audiences through audience analysis, considering factors such as expertise level and specific interests. Ethical considerations in data storytelling are discussed, including the importance of accuracy, transparency, and responsible data use to avoid misleading interpretations. This also enable students to detect when others may be using visualizations in a misleading way. Practical application of learned concepts are facilitated through hands-on projects, where students work with real-world datasets to create data-driven narratives addressing relevant issues or topics. By the end of the course, students have gained the skills and confidence to effectively communicate complex data concepts through compelling storytelling across various mediums, including presentations, reports, infographics, and interactive online platforms. They also develop a critical mindset, enabling them to evaluate data sources, identify biases, and continuously improve their data storytelling capabilities in an evolving landscape.

Fall 2024

Elevating Management Using AI and Machine Learning

Phil Bangayan MBA, Principal Data Scientist, Teradata

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning have long transformed the way companies do business, interact with customers, innovate, and succeed in ever-competitive landscapes. Yet exposure to these concepts has been reserved to technical people with computer programming backgrounds. This course democratizes this knowledge and introduces businesspeople to advanced analytics methods through a much more familiar spreadsheet format, rather than programming languages. This approach eliminates the need for complex mathematics and instead uses conceptual explanations to answer universal business questions. Students perform analyses and make predictions in Excel (with appropriate add-ons) on finance, marketing, and operations examples. Upon completing this course, students can better guide and interact with their machine learning counterparts to make informed, data-driven business decisions.

Prerequisites: High school algebra, basic probability, spreadsheet knowledge, and the ability to form and communicate logical recommendations in a written format such as a memo.

Spring 2025

Leading the Artificial Intelligence Revolution

Mark Esposito PhD, Professor of Business and Economics, Hult International Business School and Faculty Associate, Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society, Harvard University

Artificial intelligence (AI) has captured the attention of business leaders, scientists, and engineers worldwide. Across industries leaders are seeking ways to create value through machine learning and other frontier technologies. Companies like Meta, Amazon, Google, and Alibaba have made commercial strides into AI from smart bots to facial recognition to semantic analysis. Others like GE and Siemens are dedicating a large share of their research and development to the AI-fueled industrial internet. Today, OpenAI and Nvidia are building enormous momentum and crafting the AI landscape, permanently. If framed correctly, the opportunities for smart applications abound. For example, there is potential to mitigate climate change via autonomous transportation, or develop better preventative health care through predictive modeling. This course is designed to teach the management and application of AI in the global business world. This course covers frontier technologies' implications, applications, and opportunities in both public and private sectors. Students also learn to determine when to pursue new technologies and how to implement them for organizational purposes.

Spring 2025

Crisis Management and Emergency Preparedness

Arnold M. Howitt PhD, Faculty Co-director, Program on Crisis Leadership, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation and Taubman Center for State and Local Government, Harvard Kennedy School

As the world's struggles with COVID-19 show, crises challenge individuals and organizations to respond creatively to high-stakes and novel circumstances. Today not only traditional emergency responders (police, firefighters, and emergency medical teams) must be ready for crises, but also private and nonprofit organizations, as well as a wider spectrum of public sector responders (for example, public health, transportation, and public works). Through study of cases of a range of actual crises and of conceptual frameworks for understanding the dynamics of crises, this course takes a managerial perspective on crisis management and emergency preparedness. It focuses both on what responders must do during the critical period of crisis response and on how organizations can prepare themselves for high performance in these situations. It examines how individuals and groups make decisions in crises, identifies the skills and management systems crises demand, considers the differences between managing routine emergencies and crises, and asks how organizations can effectively prepare for crises in advance.

Fall 2024

Essentials of Management

Carmine P. Gibaldi EdD, Professor of Management and Organizational Psychology, St. John's University

This course introduces the important aspects of managing a business in a global environment. It addresses decision making in connection with communications, marketing, human relations, managing people, corporate social responsibility and managerial ethics, issues affecting efficiency, and it provides the framework for making sound decisions among competing strategic priorities and objectives. Students weigh the risks and rewards of different types of management decisions while acquiring varied business skills.

Spring 2025

Essentials of Management

Carmine P. Gibaldi EdD, Professor of Management and Organizational Psychology, St. John's University

This course introduces the important aspects of managing a business in a global environment. It addresses decision making in connection with communications, marketing, human relations, managing people, corporate social responsibility and managerial ethics, issues affecting efficiency, and it provides the framework for making sound decisions among competing strategic priorities and objectives. Students weigh the risks and rewards of different types of management decisions while acquiring varied business skills.

January 2025

Business Law

Shawn P. O'Connor MBA, JD, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, DWUS, Inc.

This course examines the legal structure of corporations and other business forms such as partnerships and limited liability companies. Topics include the distinction between corporations and other business forms; legal separateness of business enterprises from their owners; formation of corporations; financing of corporations under federal securities law; management duties and powers; shareholder rights; fundamental changes such as mergers, sales of assets, and tender offers; and insider trading. Please note that this course provides a general legal framework and is not suited for those with a strong legal background.

Spring 2025

Leading and Managing Nonprofit Organizations

Patricia H. Deyton MDiv

This course provides an introduction to the major issues and challenges leaders and managers face in increasing nonprofit organizational effectiveness. Topics include mission statements, ethics and leadership, managerial and financial controls, building organizational capacity, fundraising and revenue generation, marketing and the external environment, volunteer management, governance and boards of directors, evaluation of operations and programs, and sustainability.

Prerequisites: Experience working or volunteering in a nonprofit organization strongly preferred but not required.

Spring 2025

Principles and Practices of Fundraising

George T. Kosar PhD, Associate Vice President of Development, The Everglades Foundation and Associate, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University

This course provides an introduction to the field of nonprofit fundraising, also called development or advancement. It is designed for nonprofit executives and managers who are unfamiliar with development, professionals wishing to transition into the nonprofit sector, individuals seeking to get a start in the fundraising field, and others. It covers annual giving, major gifts, planned giving, corporate and foundation fundraising, events, and crowdfunding. Topics include case statements, boards, capital campaigns, ethics, donor motivations, fundraising anxieties, volunteers, stewardship, and how to make an ask. While some attention is paid to international fundraising, the overwhelming emphasis of this course is on development practices for nonprofit organizations in the United States.

Fall 2024

Execution is Everything: How to Build a Successful Business

Shawn P. O'Connor MBA, JD, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, DWUS, Inc.

While many aspiring entrepreneurs spend months or even years agonizing about the idea for their new venture, the vast majority of new business ventures fail. This is because aspiring entrepreneurs underestimate the importance of execution. In this course, students learn how to assemble, grow, and develop the ideal team; how, when, and from whom to raise capital; how to choose the best legal structures and contracting practices for your business; how to trademark your brand and patent any inventions; how to maximize the impact of your start-up marketing spend from public relations to digital marketing; and how to most effectively and efficiently maintain the financial records of a new venture. This course also includes opportunities to put each of these skills into practice so that when students are ready to launch their business, they can maximize the probabilities of success.

Spring 2025

Breakthrough Innovation with Blockchain Technology

Bill Wellman MS, Founder, Personated Reality Solutions - Paul Quigley MBA, Chief Executive Officer, Liberado

Disruptive innovations that transformed society, businesses, and government are often only evident in hindsight. Students have the opportunity, through this course, to be in the front row of this fourth industrial revolution of disruption and transformation. The third industrial revolution was enabled by computers and the internet. The fourth industrial revolution has already begun with blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) as two enabling technologies. Other promising technologies include web 3.0, internet-of-things (IoT), robotics, nanotechnology, 3D printing, the Metaverse, and quantum computing. Blockchain supports all of these technologies by increasing trust through security, reducing cost, and enhancing sustainability. This course explores blockchain technologies in combination with AI and other technologies in the transformation of business across several economic sectors including supply chain, financial technology, health care, real estate, retail, and energy. We are in an unprecedented time of redefining how value is exchanged. Web 3.0 envisions a very different world without centralized companies, where people control their own data, transactions are transparently recorded on blockchains or databases, and value exchange between trading partners is transformed. This course provides a glimpse into a more sustainable future.

Fall 2024

Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Jim Fitchett MA, Co-Founder, VODA.ai - Michael J. McCarthy BS, MA - Bill Wellman MS, Founder, Personated Reality Solutions

Innovation, globalization, and digitalization are transforming every industry. This course focuses on creating new businesses, new markets, and effectiveness through innovation, entrepreneurship, and digital capabilities. Disruptors like Uber, Airbnb and blockchain, outsiders with new, less expensive solutions for customers, threaten entire industries. Apple, Amazon, ChatGPT, and digital currencies have created uncontested markets, delivered higher value, redefined channels, and secured competitive advantages. Blockchain can transform virtually every industry. Entrepreneurs and existing firms are creating innovative environments, products, processes, services, and new business models. Incremental improvements are not enough. We examine successful strategies, business models, frameworks, funding options, barriers, and risks for introducing breakthrough products and services. Topics include business model innovation, artificial intelligence, blockchain, design thinking, lean thinking, organizational learning, agility, and fundraising.

Spring 2025

Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Jim Fitchett MA, Co-Founder, VODA.ai - Michael J. McCarthy BS, MA - Bill Wellman MS, Founder, Personated Reality Solutions

Innovation, globalization, and digitalization are transforming every industry. This course focuses on creating new businesses, new markets, and effectiveness through innovation, entrepreneurship, and digital capabilities. Disruptors like Uber, Airbnb and blockchain, outsiders with new, less expensive solutions for customers, threaten entire industries. Apple, Amazon, ChatGPT, and digital currencies have created uncontested markets, delivered higher value, redefined channels, and secured competitive advantages. Blockchain can transform virtually every industry. Entrepreneurs and existing firms are creating innovative environments, products, processes, services, and new business models. Incremental improvements are not enough. We examine successful strategies, business models, frameworks, funding options, barriers, and risks for introducing breakthrough products and services. Topics include business model innovation, artificial intelligence, blockchain, design thinking, lean thinking, organizational learning, agility, and fundraising.

Fall 2024

Sustainability and International Business: Challenges, Opportunities, and Strategies

Maurie Kelly PhD, Director, Pennsylvania Spatial Data Access, Institutes of Energy and the Environment, and Instructor of Risk Management, Smeal College of Business, Pennsylvania State University

Sustainability and sustainable development are the key issues of our time. This course examines sustainability through an international lens, exploring the most important issues that confront the world today. We discuss major challenges such as climate change, the plastic industry, chemical pollution, food and agriculture, water insecurity, fast fashion and apparel, workers' rights, child labor, energy, and supply chains. We discuss the intersection of the social, environmental, human, and business aspects of sustainability. We explore different regions of the world and examine the challenges and opportunities across different countries and continents. We look at solutions by discussing organizations and corporations that have created sustainability focused strategies, programs, and tools. This course is designed to be highly interactive for students. A combination of discussion, lectures, guest lectures from experts in the field, and decision-making simulations allow students to immerse themselves in the issues and develop solutions to sustainability challenges. Students emerge from the course with a greater understanding of the complexity of sustainability and sustainable development; an in-depth knowledge of how issues are addressed around the world; and an understanding of the solutions, tools, frameworks, and approaches that will help build a more sustainable future.

Fall 2024

Management Consulting

Shawn P. O'Connor MBA, JD, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, DWUS, Inc.

This course offers an in-depth view of the management consulting industry. Topics include the structure, conduct, and performance of the management consulting industry; firms in the industry and their competitive strategies; key strategic and organizational issues facing these firms; ideas, tools, and frameworks that these firms have put into practice; problem-solving, communication, and client relation skills that are necessary for success in the industry; management consulting careers; and ethical issues facing management consultants. Conceptual material is illustrated and applied to the real world through rigorous class discussion of business cases, examples, group and individual exercises, and students' own business and consulting experiences. The course emphasizes hands-on practice and real-time feedback simulating an actual consulting engagement.

Spring 2025

Management Consulting

Mukul Kumar PhD, Chief Innovation Officer, Hult International Business School

This course offers an in-depth view of the management consulting industry. Topics include the structure, conduct, and performance of the management consulting industry; firms in the industry and their competitive strategies; key strategic and organizational issues facing these firms; ideas, tools, and frameworks that these firms have put into practice; problem-solving, communication, and client relation skills that are necessary for success in the industry; management consulting careers; and ethical issues facing management consultants. Conceptual material is illustrated and applied to the real world through rigorous class discussion of business cases, examples, group and individual exercises, and students' own business and consulting experiences. The course emphasizes hands-on practice and real-time feedback simulating an actual consulting engagement.

Spring 2025

The Art and Science of Decision Making

Rob Duboff JD, Co-Founder, HawkPartners, LLC

This course helps students become aware of the factors that really influence decision outcomes. Using cases, readings about the latest scientific research, and discussions, students get both practical and academic insights. They should become better at making decisions and much better at understanding and influencing how others decide.

Fall 2024

Real Estate Development

Teo Nicolais MS, President, Nicolais, LLC

Real estate development is the process by which ingenuity and financial capital are transformed into the built environments that shapes our cities and lives. This course takes students through the real estate development process. Starting with inception phase, we walk through the processes of market research, site selection, and working with public and private stakeholders to develop a concept plan for a site. Throughout that process, students learn how developers perform due diligence and manage risks in the pre-development phase. Students practice and implement a series of key financial frameworks for conducting rigorous feasibility analysis. They also learn how developers raise capital through construction loans and complex joint venture partnerships. We explore the regulatory approval process and how successful developers navigate it. Students study construction cost estimating and how to manage the physical construction of the project, including a variety of delivery methods, risk sharing agreements, and the contracts that govern them. Students learn how to undertake multi-phase developments and obtain the special financing they require. At every stage, we learn to balance risk and reward, with a focus on generating investment returns while making a lasting, positive impact on our cities.

Prerequisites: MGMT E-2035 strongly recommended.

Spring 2025

Real Estate Development

Teo Nicolais MS, President, Nicolais, LLC

Real estate development is the process by which ingenuity and financial capital are transformed into the built environments that shapes our cities and lives. This course takes students through the real estate development process. Starting with inception phase, we walk through the processes of market research, site selection, and working with public and private stakeholders to develop a concept plan for a site. Throughout that process, students learn how developers perform due diligence and manage risks in the pre-development phase. Students practice and implement a series of key financial frameworks for conducting rigorous feasibility analysis. They also learn how developers raise capital through construction loans and complex joint venture partnerships. We explore the regulatory approval process and how successful developers navigate it. Students study construction cost estimating and how to manage the physical construction of the project, including a variety of delivery methods, risk sharing agreements, and the contracts that govern them. Students learn how to undertake multi-phase developments and obtain the special financing they require. At every stage, we learn to balance risk and reward, with a focus on generating investment returns while making a lasting, positive impact on our cities.

Prerequisites: MGMT E-2035 strongly recommended.

Fall 2024

Marketing Management

Patricia Hambrick MBA, Master Lecturer, Marketing, Questrom School of Business, Boston University

In this comprehensive and practical introduction to marketing management, students improve their ability to make effective marketing decisions, including assessing marketing opportunities and developing marketing strategies and implementation plans. Course topics include market-oriented strategic planning, marketing research and information systems, buyer behavior, target market selection, competitive positioning, product and service planning and management, pricing, distribution, and integrated communications including advertising, public relations, internet marketing, social media, direct marketing, and sales promotions. Through a combination of interactive discussions, cases, practical examples, individual assignments, and a group project, the course applies marketing topics to consumer and business-to-business products, services, and nonprofit organizations. Students gain significant experience in communicating and defending their marketing recommendations and building on the ideas of others.

Spring 2025

Marketing Management

Scott Mantie PhD, Associate Professor of Marketing, School of Business, Plymouth State University

In this comprehensive and practical introduction to marketing management, students improve their ability to make effective marketing decisions, including assessing marketing opportunities and developing marketing strategies and implementation plans. Course topics include market-oriented strategic planning, marketing research and information systems, buyer behavior, target market selection, competitive positioning, product and service planning and management, pricing, distribution, and integrated communications including advertising, public relations, internet marketing, social media, direct marketing, and sales promotions. Through a combination of interactive discussions, cases, practical examples, individual assignments, and a group project, the course applies marketing topics to consumer and business-to-business products, services, and nonprofit organizations. Students gain significant experience in communicating and defending their marketing recommendations and building on the ideas of others.

Spring 2025

Marketing Management

Shawn P. O'Connor MBA, JD, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, DWUS, Inc.

In this comprehensive and practical introduction to marketing management, students improve their ability to make effective marketing decisions, including assessing marketing opportunities and developing marketing strategies and implementation plans. Course topics include market-oriented strategic planning, marketing research and information systems, buyer behavior, target market selection, competitive positioning, product and service planning and management, pricing, distribution, and integrated communications including advertising, public relations, internet marketing, social media, direct marketing, and sales promotions. Through a combination of interactive discussions, cases, practical examples, individual assignments, and a group project, the course applies marketing topics to consumer and business-to-business products, services, and nonprofit organizations. Students gain significant experience in communicating and defending their marketing recommendations and building on the ideas of others.

Fall 2024

Marketing Management

Scott Mantie PhD, Associate Professor of Marketing, School of Business, Plymouth State University

In this comprehensive and practical introduction to marketing management, students improve their ability to make effective marketing decisions, including assessing marketing opportunities and developing marketing strategies and implementation plans. Course topics include market-oriented strategic planning, marketing research and information systems, buyer behavior, target market selection, competitive positioning, product and service planning and management, pricing, distribution, and integrated communications including advertising, public relations, internet marketing, social media, direct marketing, and sales promotions. Through a combination of interactive discussions, cases, practical examples, individual assignments, and a group project, the course applies marketing topics to consumer and business-to-business products, services, and nonprofit organizations. Students gain significant experience in communicating and defending their marketing recommendations and building on the ideas of others.

Fall 2024

Marketing Management

Michael Grandinetti MBA, Adjunct Professor, School of Engineering and Faculty Lead, School of Professional Studies, Brown University

In this comprehensive and practical introduction to marketing management, students improve their ability to make effective marketing decisions, including assessing marketing opportunities and developing marketing strategies and implementation plans. Course topics include market-oriented strategic planning, marketing research and information systems, buyer behavior, target market selection, competitive positioning, product and service planning and management, pricing, distribution, and integrated communications including advertising, public relations, internet marketing, social media, direct marketing, and sales promotions. Through a combination of interactive discussions, cases, practical examples, individual assignments, and a group project, the course applies marketing topics to consumer and business-to-business products, services, and nonprofit organizations. Students gain significant experience in communicating and defending their marketing recommendations and building on the ideas of others.

Fall 2024

Branding Strategy

Patricia Hambrick MBA, Master Lecturer, Marketing, Questrom School of Business, Boston University

This course covers the principles and practices of brand management. The course content focuses on applied strategies and tactics used by marketers to build and reinforce successful global brands for products, services, and corporate social responsibility.

Spring 2025

Branding Strategy

Thomas Murphy MBA, Professor of Practice, Graduate School of Management, Clark University

This course covers the principles and practices of brand management. The course content focuses on applied strategies and tactics used by marketers to build and reinforce successful global brands for products, services, and corporate social responsibility.

Fall 2024

Luxury Marketing

Sandrine Crener PhD, Partner, 4 Art Partners

This course is an introduction to the marketing of luxury goods and services. The luxury industry is unlike any other; it is an inspiring and fascinating world that involves a diverse group of competitors. On the supply side, it encompasses a broad range of sectors from hotels to real estate, yachts to private jets, fashion to jewelry, and pits small independent businesses against established multinational conglomerates. On the market side, luxury consumers are extremely demanding and sophisticated; luxury goods and services must not only be of exceptional quality but also provide a complex set of functional, social, and emotional benefits to consumers. The course explores the origin, history, and evolution of luxury and gives an overview of the global luxury industry including markets, major players, and trends. Then it highlights the specificities of marketing in the luxury sector. Luxury brands are an entirely different proposition and require a very specific approach to brand management and marketing. They notably have to manage a number of inherent paradoxes and tensions. We discuss differences in mass versus luxury marketing approaches. The course also focuses on examining the main challenges with which luxury brands are currently confronted.

Prerequisites: MGMT E-6000, MGMT E-6615, or the equivalent.

Fall 2024

Digital Marketing: Foundations and Framework for Success

Greg O'Brien DBA, Senior Advisor, McKinsey Company

Marketing has become digital marketing, with digital ads (as a function of all advertising spending) growing at roughly 15-20 percent annually, and recently having taken over traditional advertising (broadcast television and radio) when measured by ad spend. This course teaches students the foundation elements of digital marketing and advertising from media mix and channels to techniques, economics, and measurement. We review key performance metrics for digital marketing channels including paid search, organic search, e-mail, social, and display. We review techniques and tools for optimizing digital marketing spend across various channels and products.

Prerequisites: MGMT E-6000, or the equivalent.

Spring 2025

Digital Marketing: Foundations and Framework for Success

Andrew M. Blum MBA, Instructor of the Practice, Business Communications, Charles F. Dolan School of Business, Fairfield University and Lecturer of Marketing, Columbia University

Marketing has become digital marketing, with digital ads (as a function of all advertising spending) growing at roughly 15-20 percent annually, and recently having taken over traditional advertising (broadcast television and radio) when measured by ad spend. This course teaches students the foundation elements of digital marketing and advertising from media mix and channels to techniques, economics, and measurement. We review key performance metrics for digital marketing channels including paid search, organic search, e-mail, social, and display. We review techniques and tools for optimizing digital marketing spend across various channels and products.

Prerequisites: MGMT E-6000, or the equivalent.

Fall 2024

Digital Marketing in the Age of AI

Christina J. Inge MS, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Thoughtlight

Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly dominating various business functions, with marketing being no exception. From crafting advertisements to developing websites, AI impacts every aspect of creative work. Notably, AI now plays a role in strategic decisions, spanning from campaign inception to product management. In this course, we explore the current role of AI in content-driven digital marketing with a view towards creating marketing strategies that include the most effective uses of AI. Going channel by channel, we learn about tools for refining content, designing visuals, and automating our marketing, all while staying sane. We learn about the impact and current use of AI across a range of marketing channels, such as search engine optimization (SEO), social media, and content marketing. Through case studies of leading companies such as Coca-Cola and Mercedes, we learn how brands are using AI in forecasting and analytics, as well as for voice of the customer data. We then explore applications of AI to content design. AI ethics are a focal point as we explore algorithmic sources of bias in content, ad targeting, and job displacement and creation.

Fall 2024

Sustainability Marketing and Branding

Thomas Murphy MBA, Professor of Practice, Graduate School of Management, Clark University

This course develops the knowledge and skills necessary to successfully market sustainable products and services. At the end of the course students are able to understand the key elements of developing a successful marketing strategy and branding approach for a sustainable market offering. The course also reviews global trends and issues that influence sustainable product success.

Prerequisites: MGMT E-6615 or the equivalent. Introductory marketing or management course or one year of work experience in a business-to-business, business-to-consumer, or nonprofit organization.

Spring 2025

Marketing Analytics: Fundamental Data-Driven Marketing

Christina J. Inge MS, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Thoughtlight

This course introduces marketing analytics for non-technical audiences, including web analytics and data modeling. As big data moves into the mainstream, marketers are seeing the opportunity to make the profession more scientific and numbers-driven than ever before. Marketing analytics is one of the largest areas of marketing today. In addition, with measurement at the center of every marketing campaign, marketers have the opportunity to prove the return on investment of their programs with unprecedented accuracy. Yet, this wealth of data can be overwhelming. Every channel has its own metrics, every demographic group's behavior can be mined for targeting information. What are the numbers that matter? And what are they really telling us? How can we best leverage marketing analytics to optimize results? This course explores the growing role of data in marketing. Taking a two-fold approach, the course focuses on the data of marketing. Students learn how to use the two main categories of data available to marketers: internal, or what is called marketing analytics; and external, or big data. In this course, students learn web analytics fundamentals, creating data dashboards, and predictive analytics. This is a purely data-driven course; it does not teach programming. Using real-world examples and practical exercises, the course allows students to understand the interactions between both kinds of data, and how best to use analytics to improve marketing outcomes, demonstrate return on investment to the c-suite, and create increasingly effective marketing campaigns.

Prerequisites: MGMT E-6000, MGMT E-6615, or the equivalent.

Spring 2025

Professional Selling and Sales Management

John Westman MA, MBA, Vice President, Citius Pharmaceuticals - Michael J. McCarthy BS, MA

Do you want to improve your persuasion skills? Would you like to study and apply approaches that drive sales and sales management success? Would you like to join a community of continual learners who strive to help others perform even better? This highly interactive, high energy, action-oriented course is designed based on accelerated learning and distance learning best practices and is improved each year based on student feedback. Topics include ideal customers, sales process, buying process, prospecting, negotiating, and closing, as well as motivating, compensating, coaching, and training salespeople. Teaching methods include student presentations and real-life cases, techniques such as the persuasion equation, the trust call, why/how/what statements, and guest speakers.

Fall 2024

Economic Tools for Business Decision-Making

Daniel Deneffe PhD, Managing Director, Deneffe Consulting, and Professor of Economics and Strategy, Hult International Business School

The key distinctive feature of this highly interactive course is that students discover how to use and apply practical, relevant microeconomic tools to make better company decisions. The ability to do so has been proven to be widely effective at improving company bottom-line performance based on numerous real-world strategy, quantitative marketing, and pricing projects. Through practical team exercises, experiments, short cases, and simulations of problems drawn from real-world projects, students learn how to tailor and tweak core microeconomic and game-theoretic concepts and drive results. Students understand how to do so in environments where informational assumptions of microeconomic textbooks rarely hold and where companies and competitors are not as rational as the theory portrays. At the end of the weekend, students leave with a set of effective tools for making evidence-based and customer-centric decisions in the areas of market creation and launch strategy, pricing strategy and tactics, and bid preparation and execution in tenders and auctions.

Prerequisites: Students must have earned a B or higher grade in ECON E-1010, ECON E-1600, ECON E-1615 or MGMT S-8010 in order to enroll in this course.

Spring 2025

Economic Tools for Business Decision-Making

Daniel Deneffe PhD, Managing Director, Deneffe Consulting, and Professor of Economics and Strategy, Hult International Business School

The key distinctive feature of this highly interactive course is that students discover how to use and apply practical, relevant microeconomic tools to make better company decisions. The ability to do so has been proven to be widely effective at improving company bottom-line performance based on numerous real-world strategy, quantitative marketing, and pricing projects. Through practical team exercises, experiments, short cases, and simulations of problems drawn from real-world projects, students learn how to tailor and tweak core microeconomic and game-theoretic concepts and drive results. Students understand how to do so in environments where informational assumptions of microeconomic textbooks rarely hold and where companies and competitors are not as rational as the theory portrays. At the end of the weekend, students leave with a set of effective tools for making evidence-based and customer-centric decisions in the areas of market creation and launch strategy, pricing strategy and tactics, and bid preparation and execution in tenders and auctions.

Prerequisites: Students must have earned a B or higher grade in ECON E-1010, ECON E-1600, ECON E-1615 or MGMT S-8010 in order to enroll in this course.

Fall 2024

Emerging Markets: Active Learning Weekend

Peter Marber PhD, Chief Investment Officer for Emerging Markets, Aperture Investors, and Adjunct Instructor, Finance, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School

What makes investing in emerging markets countries from Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe different from investing in developed markets in the United States, West Europe, or Japan? What are the benefits of adding these markets to a traditional investment portfolio? How have these markets been shaped by COVID-19 and the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine? How do frontier markets fit into the mix? As a companion course to ECON E-1925, this active learning weekend helps explore emerging markets through a mix of guest speakers, case studies, and problem sets. Students strengthen their quantitative and qualitative skills to improve their investment acumen in these burgeoning markets. Over the weekend, the course dive deep into the practical aspects and limitations of trading and investing in the asset mix covered in ECON E-1925 as both an individual and institutional investor. Students examine investment indices and strategies that professional investors use to outperform them. We also investigate the rise of China and state capitalism, and how this trend may rival traditional market-based systems. Students may not take both ECON E-1925w (offered previously) and MGMT E-7035 for degree or certificate credit.

Fall 2024

Disrupting Economics: New Metrics for a Sustainable Future

Peter Marber PhD, Chief Investment Officer for Emerging Markets, Aperture Investors, and Adjunct Instructor, Finance, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School

Protests over government policies have become more commonplace in both advanced and emerging countries around the world. Angry citizens complain about a wide range issues including inequality, privacy, democracy, immigration, trade, job security, health care, and climate change. Are governments really failing to deliver what societies need and citizens want? Perhaps the answer lies in the way success is measured. Amid globalization and the rise of the digital economy, traditional economic measures like gross domestic product (GDP), unemployment, and stock market performance may be leaving governments and citizens with a distorted worldview and a shaky foundation for policy decisions. This course investigates limitations with conventional yardsticks used for assessing national output, employment, inflation, productivity, and trade, and asks what components of a successful society we fail to measure at all. Public policies that are based on inaccurate or incomplete data are likely to have unintended consequences leading to financial meltdowns, environmental degradation, economic inequality, and pandemics. Moreover, failing to fully account for true costs can skew individual, corporate, and governmental behavior towards short-term versus sustainability. As a response, many scholars from economists to sociologists are formulating new metrics and new philosophies to address such concerns and to utilize the unprecedented amount of data now available for analysis. This course hopes to inspire social entrepreneurs to develop innovative, superior, and sustainable approaches to economics and finance that make the world better for all.

Spring 2025

Disrupting Economics: New Metrics for a Sustainable Future

Peter Marber PhD, Chief Investment Officer for Emerging Markets, Aperture Investors, and Adjunct Instructor, Finance, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School

Protests over government policies have become more commonplace in both advanced and emerging countries around the world. Angry citizens complain about a wide range issues including inequality, privacy, democracy, immigration, trade, job security, health care, and climate change. Are governments really failing to deliver what societies need and citizens want? Perhaps the answer lies in the way success is measured. Amid globalization and the rise of the digital economy, traditional economic measures like gross domestic product (GDP), unemployment, and stock market performance may be leaving governments and citizens with a distorted worldview and a shaky foundation for policy decisions. This course investigates limitations with conventional yardsticks used for assessing national output, employment, inflation, productivity, and trade, and asks what components of a successful society we fail to measure at all. Public policies that are based on inaccurate or incomplete data are likely to have unintended consequences leading to financial meltdowns, environmental degradation, economic inequality, and pandemics. Moreover, failing to fully account for true costs can skew individual, corporate, and governmental behavior towards short-term versus sustainability. As a response, many scholars from economists to sociologists are formulating new metrics and new philosophies to address such concerns and to utilize the unprecedented amount of data now available for analysis. This course hopes to inspire social entrepreneurs to develop innovative, superior, and sustainable approaches to economics and finance that make the world better for all.

Spring 2025

Applied Behavioral Economics and Decision Making

David S. McIntosh MBA, Founder, Creative Business Breakthroughs

A hands-on workshop for students to apply the concepts and tools of behavioral economics to problems in areas such as finance, marketing, and health care. Following in-class discussions of best practices for nudges and other interventions, students work in teams to analyze a situation where behavioral factors are preventing optimal outcomes and propose specific steps to improve the outcomes for one or more of the parties involved.

Prerequisites: Students should have some familiarity with behavioral economics.

Fall 2024

Investing in Real Estate

Teo Nicolais MS, President, Nicolais, LLC

This on-campus, active learning weekend is an immersive learning experience for students who want to invest in real estate. Students participate in a property investment simulation based on real-life assets in the Harvard Square area. Working in teams, students gain hands-on experience in conducting market research, identifying acquisition targets, performing financial due diligence, and developing persuasive investment proposals. At the end of the weekend, teams present their investment opportunities to the class, exposing students to a variety of presentation styles and techniques that can strengthen their own investment pitches in the future. Augmented by Harvard Business School case studies, the experience takes students from Harvard's campus into the neighborhoods beyond as they practice market analysis and real estate investment decision-making. Students may not take both MGMT E-2035w (offered previously) and MGMT E-7235 for degree or certificate credit.

Prerequisites: Current or previous enrollment in MGMT E-2035 is recommended, but not required.

Spring 2025

Investing in Real Estate

Teo Nicolais MS, President, Nicolais, LLC

This on-campus, active learning weekend is an immersive learning experience for students who want to invest in real estate. Students participate in a property investment simulation based on real-life assets in the Harvard Square area. Working in teams, students gain hands-on experience in conducting market research, identifying acquisition targets, performing financial due diligence, and developing persuasive investment proposals. At the end of the weekend, teams present their investment opportunities to the class, exposing students to a variety of presentation styles and techniques that can strengthen their own investment pitches in the future. Augmented by Harvard Business School case studies, the experience takes students from Harvard's campus into the neighborhoods beyond as they practice market analysis and real estate investment decision-making. Students may not take both MGMT E-2035w (offered previously) and MGMT E-7235 for degree or certificate credit.

Prerequisites: Current or previous enrollment in MGMT E-2035 is recommended, but not required.

Spring 2025

Hedge Funds: Active Learning Weekend

Peter Marber PhD, Chief Investment Officer for Emerging Markets, Aperture Investors, and Adjunct Instructor, Finance, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School

While beating the markets was long thought to be impossible, hedge funds have seemingly challenged many financial theories, cracked the mysteries of Wall Street, and made fortunes in the process. They are also one of the fastest growing and least understood areas in the asset management industry. What exactly are hedge funds? How has the sector developed? What are the major hedge fund strategies and their mechanics? What are their hidden risks and unique limitations? This active learning weekend complements the full term course MGMT E-2784 and helps students develop an understanding of how hedge fund managers, as well as hedge fund investors, think, operate, and invest. The weekend features a variety of guest speakers, case studies, and other activities to further enhance concepts introduced in MGMT E-2784. Students may not take both MGMT E-2784w (offered previously) and MGMT E-7285 for degree or certificate credit.

Fall 2024

Emotional Intelligence for Impact

Laura Elisabeth Wilcox MA, Director of Management Programs, Harvard Extension School

This applied active learning weekend focuses on the role emotional intelligence plays in leadership and in decision making. Students apply emotional intelligence concepts to real-world situations through engaging exercises, in-class discussions, and case studies. In addition, students learn how to identify their own emotional patterns and triggers as well as those in others. At the end of the weekend, students leave with tools for managing derailing emotions, a strategy for connecting with others, and a better appreciation for the role emotional intelligence plays in how we think and lead in our personal and professional life.

Spring 2025

Emotional Intelligence for Impact

Laura Elisabeth Wilcox MA, Director of Management Programs, Harvard Extension School

This applied active learning weekend focuses on the role emotional intelligence plays in leadership and in decision making. Students apply emotional intelligence concepts to real-world situations through engaging exercises, in-class discussions, and case studies. In addition, students learn how to identify their own emotional patterns and triggers as well as those in others. At the end of the weekend, students leave with tools for managing derailing emotions, a strategy for connecting with others, and a better appreciation for the role emotional intelligence plays in how we think and lead in our personal and professional life.

January 2025

Leadership in Teams and Organizations

Lee G. Bolman PhD, Professor and Marion Bloch/Missouri Chair in Leadership Emeritus, Bloch School of Management, University of Missouri - Kansas City

Students participate in a series of individual and team activities challenging their skills and strategies in leadership, influence, and negotiation. Learning is primarily experiential, augmented by timely conceptual discussions. Students have rich opportunities for personal reflection and feedback.

Spring 2025

Leadership in Teams and Organizations

Lee G. Bolman PhD, Professor and Marion Bloch/Missouri Chair in Leadership Emeritus, Bloch School of Management, University of Missouri - Kansas City

Students participate in a series of individual and team activities challenging their skills and strategies in leadership, influence, and negotiation. Learning is primarily experiential, augmented by timely conceptual discussions. Students have rich opportunities for personal reflection and feedback.

January 2025

Understanding and Evolving Organizational Culture

Margaret Andrews MS, Managing Director, Higher Ed Associates and Founder, The MYLO Center - Dayna Catropa EdM, Consultant

There is a saying that culture eats strategy for breakfast, meaning that no strategy can succeed if it is not supported by an organization's culture. Many senior executives want to change the culture of their organizations, yet the popular press tells us that a large percentage of all these initiatives fail. Why is organizational culture so difficult to change? Or is it? Using a series of cases, exercises, and large and small group discussions, we delve into organizational culture what it is, how it forms, why it can be difficult to change, and how to increase the odds of success in evolving an organizational culture.

Spring 2025

Forging and Sustaining a Career of Impact and Purpose

Joan V. Gallos EdD

This course explores knowledge and strategies essential for proactive career management and tackles four documented requisites for career success: identifying one's true talents and the contributions that are only theirs to make; understanding the values that anchor one's definition of career success; possessing the right skills to navigate organizations and human systems in a world of constant change; and finding useable strategies to manage stress, increase productivity, and avoid burnout. This active learning weekend combines timely conceptual discussions and use of diagnostic instruments, with opportunities for self-reflection, feedback, and individual and group activities designed to maximize student capacities for career success.

January 2025

Negotiating Your Career Success

Paula Gutlove MD, Deputy Director, Institute for Resource and Security Studies

Today's professionals understand that to achieve career success they need to know what they want and to be able to negotiate effectively to get it. Yet, studies show that most people embarking on their career journey are unclear about what they want and why they want it. They are reluctant, or unable, to effectively advocate for themselves. These issues can inhibit or derail a career journey, leading to dissatisfaction with roles, responsibilities, pay, and promotion. Ultimately, it can lead to career frustration and burnout. This on-campus, in-person course uses a range of interactive exercises, role plays, games, and simulations. These activities engage students in uncovering their interests, priorities, and career directions and goals. Students learn how to leverage their career assets, including their Harvard networks and career resources, to create effective negotiation opportunities. Skills development includes strategies for empowerment and self-advocacy, approaches to uncovering sources of negotiation power, and tools to recognize and create career negotiation opportunities. Students engage in exercises to develop and practice their own unique and authentic negotiation voice, putting their career journey on a path to success.

Fall 2024

Intensive Applied Negotiation

Jane Biondi JD

Most people negotiate. Many do so without understanding why they do what they do or how they actually behave during a negotiation. This course aims to improve both your understanding of negotiation and your effectiveness as a negotiator. Short readings provide frameworks for understanding negotiation. Class time includes instruction, discussion, participation in negotiation simulations, and reflection on the negotiation process. Emphasis is placed on developing an awareness of how you can improve as a negotiator. A goal of this course includes learning how to continue to evaluate and reflect on your own negotiating work. This course requires students to apply negotiation concepts immediately, by asking them to think about and plan an approach to solving a negotiation problem and then act on that plan. Because negotiation is an interactive process, students frequently need to adjust their analysis and behavior based on what others may do.

January 2025

Applied Coaching

Bobbi Wegner PsyD, Adjunct Lecturer on Education, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Coaching is an emerging discipline that has applications in many professional fields and even to our personal lives. Navigating this new terrain with its many different approaches can be overwhelming. In this course, students learn solid practices in coaching grounded in evidence-based psychology. Topics include: what is coaching and what it is not, how to structure a coaching relationship, how to hold a coaching stance, understanding self as coach, how to assess for readiness for change, key theories in change, basics skills in coaching, difficult situations, ethics, cross-cultural considerations, and how to terminate a coaching relationship. This course is highly self-reflective and practice-based. Students are given direct, honest feedback on strengths and areas of growth from faculty and peers.

Fall 2024

Optimizing Leadership: Applied Strategies

Ashley Prisant MBA, PhD, Portfolio Chief Human Resources Officer, LFM Capital

This intensive, on-campus weekend course focuses on overcoming challenges by leading from the middle and the top. Students are trained in multiple subject matter areas including thinking and acting systematically, resiliency, communication, influence, learning agility, and self awareness, based on research developed by the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL). Students are also engaged in class and group breakout sessions to immediately practice and use skills learned during the course, and have access to world-class speakers and practitioners on the topics of the sessions.

Prerequisites: Students must have earned a grade of B-minus or higher in MGMT E-4000 or MGMT E-4178 in order to enroll in this course.

Spring 2025

It Depends: Unpacking the Paradoxes of Leadership

Margaret Andrews MS, Managing Director, Higher Ed Associates and Founder, The MYLO Center

Anyone that has ever been in a leadership position knows that leading people and organizations is rife with paradox. How can we transform an organization while at the same time focusing on performance? Can we change our culture and get results in the short-term? Why is it that we are often hired for our hard skills, yet get high performance from others if we use soft skills? Can we hold people accountable and treat each person as an individual? How do we make the tough calls and ensure buy-in with our decisions? The answer to these questions is "yes, and," and "it depends" another paradox. Throughout the weekend, we use cases, vignettes, role plays, simulations, and discussion to parse many of the paradoxes of leadership.

Prerequisites: Students must have earned a grade of B or higher in MGMT E-4000, MGMT E-4030, or MGMT E-4100 in order to enroll in this course.

Fall 2024

Applied Introduction to Design Thinking and Innovation

Tessa Tzeitel Forshaw MA, Doctoral Candidate, Harvard University - Richard Braden BSEE, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, People Rocket

As the world changes at an unprecedented pace, ambiguity is everywhere. Design thinking, innovation, agile, and many other approaches to problem solving have never been more important. But often these methods are only accessible to an exclusive club of people who are certified in a methodology and allowed to practice design and innovation. In this course, we believe in radical access to design and innovation. We believe that for design and innovation to change the world for the better, it has to be inclusive, human centered, and accessible to everyone everywhere. In this course, students learn how to become innovative and leverage the foundational mindsets and abilities of design thinking and innovation to make change in their lives, organizations, and the world. Students may not take both MGMT E-7542 (offered previously) and MGMT E-7543 for degree or certificate credit.

Prerequisites: Registration is restricted to officially admitted candidates in the Master of Liberal Arts, management or industrial-organizational psychology.

Spring 2025

Mastering Go-To-Market Strategy

Areen Shahbari MBA, Chief Executive Officer, Cactus International and Principal, Shahbari Training and Consultancy

A well-crafted go-to-market (GTM) strategy is essential for organizational success, providing a roadmap for focused execution and sustainable growth. Without a solid GTM strategy, organizations risk targeting the wrong market or audience, launching offerings at the wrong time, or struggling to compete in a crowded market. In this course, we delve into essential elements of GTM strategy, including segmentation, target marketing, value proposition, customer centricity, resources and capabilities, and effective market expansion. Students engage in practical exercises and scenarios where they can make decisions on which markets to enter, the timing to enter them, and the reasoning behind those decisions. These exercises provide students with real-world experience and equip them with the skills needed to develop successful GTM strategies.