Syllabus Home Page

Course Description
Survey of American business in a global context: business and economic terminology, forms of business ownership, management, accounting, finance, international marketing, and foreign exchange rates. Also covers small businesses, business start-ups, and franchising.

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:
1.   Understand the nature of business and its environment.
2.   Have developed a general business vocabulary.
3.   Have an understanding of management concepts and organizational structures.
4.   Have an understanding of the management of resources--human, financial, and natural (land).
5.   Be familiar with basic marketing concepts.
6.   Understand general methods of financing business ventures.
7.   Be familiar with commonly encountered securities markets.
8.   Be aware of common ethical challenges faced by businesses.
9.   Be aware of ways in which issues of diversity in business and the professions strongly influence realistic and effective
      decision-making in each of the first eight objectives listed above.

Outcome #1   Think critically in reading and writing
Outcome #4   Access, evaluate, and apply information from a variety of sources and a variety of contexts.
Outcome #6   Work and communicate effectively in groups.
Outcome #8   Understand major ideas, values beliefs, and experiences that have shaped human history and cultures.
Outcome #13 Understand the elements of a global society.

      Education, and distance learning in particular, assumes a high level of trust between the instructor and students. I expect honesty from all my students. Cheating and plagiarism will not be tolerated and could mean a failing grade. All students are expected to do their own work, except where group activities specifically require collaborative efforts.
      If any situation interferes with your efforts to carry out the requirements of this course, please let the instructor know as soon as you are aware of these circumstances. You are expected to communicate with other class members and the instructor in a professional and respectful manner. I trust that all work submitted will be the product of your own efforts and if you are referencing outside sources, you will cite all appropriate sources in your work.
      All written assignments will be graded for use of college level English so be certain to run spelling, grammar and style checks on all papers. For those students needing assistance with writing please contact The Loft, upstairs in the campus library.

Readings & Assignments

Attention! A completed bio with your photo is necessary before financial aid is notified.

Chapter 1 Managing within the Dynamic Business Environment
Chapter 2 How Economics Affects Business: The Creation and Distribution of Wealth

* Create an Angel home page by entering your student id number in the user name and password boxes. Then log on. You can always change your password later by going to the personal preferences page. Bookmark this site for easy access later.
Post your biographical data into your Angel user profile so that it displays on the class roster page. This is done by clicking on the "head shaped" Preferences Icon on the left side of your Angel home page. Then click on Personal Information to enter your bio into the box labeled, About Me. Your email address and photo go into other boxes on the same page. It's a good idea only share your telephone number with the other students you choose to be on your team. Select student/members for all the boxes labeled , Viewable By. Be sure to click save at the bottom of the page.
Discuss your career goals and any personal interests or hobbies that may interest other students to team with you. Please write information and post a photo suitable for a college classroom. If you do not have a recent photo of yourself to post, just take a favorite print photo to campus and have it scanned for your page. (There are free scanners in the student computer labs on campus)

* If you are comfortable with Instant Messaging you may want to include that information in your biography.

* Review the biographies/photos of the other students on the class roster and contact the persons you would like to work with to say hello. It's expected that you will use the first weeks of the quarter establishing good working relationships with at least one or two other students during this time of no assignments. There will be little time for this bonding later on when the assignments are due.

* You may use Angel Chat, or any other Instant Messaging system for your group work, send regular email, or simply pick up the telephone to speak with your fellow students. To video CAM in groups, you may want to explore this software http://oovoo.com

* PRINT A HARD COPY of this syllabus for later reference, just in case the servers are down when you have a question about assignments. It's also helpful to save the class website to your favorites list by copying this link http://facweb.northseattle.edu/bradenco/bus101jb and pasting it into your browser so you can go directly to the website outside of Angel.

Chapter 3 Competing in Global Markets
Chapter 4 Demonstrating Ethical Behavior and Social Responsibility

Chapter 5 Choosing a Form of Business Ownership
Chapter 6 Entrepreneurship and Starting a Small Business

     Chapter 7 Management, Leadership, and Employee Empowerment
     Chapter 8 Adapting Organizations to Today's Markets

#1, #4 & #6    *Case: - Bread Lines are Back at Paneral   page 203 of text
               - Answer all questions and contact one other (or more) students for team effort.
               - Email to instructor by  Noon on

Chapter 9 Producing World Class Goods and Services
Chapter 10 Motivating Employees and Building Self-Managed Teams

Chapter 11 Human Resource Management: Finding and Keeping the Best Employees
Chapter 12 Dealing with Employee-Management Issues and Relationships.

#4 EXAM #1 Covers Chapters 1- 12. Essay exam emailed out on Friday afternoon and due in by Noon on Monday. Student chooses 3 questions from a selection of 11 questions.

          Chapter 13 Marketing: Building Customer and Stakeholder Relationships
          Chapter 14 Developing and Pricing Products and Services

#1, #4, & #6   *Case:    Motivation is a Hot Topic pages 284-285 of text
                - Answer all questions and contact one other (or more) students for team effort.
                - Email to instructor by Noon on

Chapter 15 Distributing Products Quickly and Efficiently
Chapter 16 Today's Promotional Techniques

           Chapter 17 Understanding Financial Information and Accounting
           Chapter 18 Financial Management

#1, #8, & #13   *Leader-Historical Figure Paper   (See instructions below)       Due by Noon on

           Chapter 19 Securities Markets: Financing and Investing Opportunities
           Chapter 20 Understanding Money and Financial Institutions

#1, #4, & #6, #13    *Case:   - How To Become $ Secure
                - Answer all questions and contact one other (or more) students for team effort.
                - Email to instructor by Noon on

#4 EXAM #2 Covers Chapters 13 - 22. A 2 hour long, True/False-Multiple Choice exam on Angel. Log on to your Angel home page and click on the tab for exam.

EXAMS 50 points per Exam. A Combination of True/False/Multiple Choice or ESSAY questions based on text and reserve reading. (Be sure to use a spelling and grammar checker on essay exams !) Type of exam to be listed later in quarter.

*** KEIRSEY CHARACTER SORTER PAPER (20 points)
Sometimes understanding differences in employees’ personalities helps managers understand how to motivate them. Find out about your personality by going to the Keirsey Character Sorter Web site http://www.keirsey.com.

* Look for and click on Take the KTS II icon on the home page.
* Complete Background Information Questionnaire/email address form.
* Complete Keirsey Questionnaire. Answer as you Typically or Usually behave. Press Finish to Score.

The test identifies four temperament types: Guardian, Artisan, Idealist, and Rational. (Disclaimer: The Keirsey Temperament Sorter like all personality tests, is only a preliminary and rough indicator of personality.)

1. Read the 4 Portraits associated with your TYPE (i.e. GUARDIAN - Supervisor, Protector, Provider, Inspector).

2. Choose the Portrait under your Temperament TYPE that you feel fits you the best. Read the corresponding description.
How well or how poorly does this Portrait describe you?

3. Sometimes the test does not accurately identify your personality, but it may give you a place to start looking for a Portrait
    that fits. After you have chosen your portrait, ask a good friend or relative which of the portraits best describes you, without
    telling them what you have already selected. See if they choose the same Portrait. Do they agree or disagree with your
   choice? Then write about what they told you. Discuss what you learned about yourself. Examples of good papers.

(For those interested in learning their Exact 4 Letter Type, contact me for further information or purchase the book Please Understand Me by David Keirsey)

*** LEADER VALUES - HISTORICAL FIGURE PAPER      (20 points)
    Go to the following website   http://www.leader-values.com,  and look for the Self Assessment icon on the upper right hand side of the page. Follow the instructions for a short self assessment of your organization, your ability to lead, and your relationships with others in an organization. If you haven't worked in business, or you have been out of the paid work force, then just imagine how you might think based on your life experiences. These can be leadership experiences you had in your family, church, school clubs, or social life with friends. You may print your results by selecting the text, take notes from your results page, or save the whole page to your computer for later reference about your abilities to Envision, Enable, Empower, and Energize others. Think about your scores and the short paragraphs describing your results.
    Then go to the individual descriptions of the 6 different Historical Leaders listed under Featured Leaders on the top task bar. Read all of the descriptions, then decide which leader you identify with the most. Tell me why you feel this way. In what ways do you and this person from history think or act alike? Is there a relationship between your test scores and the leader you chose? Be sure to mention your test scores.                Examples of good papers.

SELF EVALUATION PAPER (100 points) 2-5 Single spaced pages. Be sure to use College Level grammar, sentence structure, and spelling. (Running it through a spelling and grammar checker wouldn't hurt !) Your papers will be evaluated for these qualities.
Relate what you've learned about yourself from the Keirsey Character Sorter and the Leader Values-Historical Figure Paper to a possible career in the business world. What do you see as your strengths and weaknesses? What would be the size and structure of the companies where you might be the most successful? Why? What management style (Autocratic, Democratic, or Free-Rein) would you enjoy the most? Do you think you have a bright future as a manager, or do you see yourself putting your energies into other kinds of training? Try to visualize the types of manufacturing, wholesale, or service delivering companies where you might be happiest in a career. What are they? Examples of good papers

CASE ANALYSIS (60 points total---20 points per case) 1-2 Single spaced pages per case.
Scores are not routinely sent out, only upon request by student. Spelling and Grammar will not be checked on this activity, since you are grading yourself.

Select 1 or more classmates to work with as a team (3 is ideal), via discussion chat / email / phone contact. If for any reason a student chooses to turn in answers without team interaction, then the automatic score is 10 out of the possible 20 points per activity. A person may be a member of only one team per case analysis activity, with no overlapping teams. All members must claim each other as a part of the same team. You do not have to stay with the same team all quarter..
Students should individually answer all questions accompanying each of the three textbook cases listed on the syllabus, then SHARE their answers with other team members to see if there are points of agreement. If you choose to work together at the same time, you might find using an electronic whiteboard useful in compiling your responses on one paper. http://writeboard.com

     Any COMMONLY AGREED UPON answers are compiled into a SINGLE PAPER. All members of the same team submit an IDENTICAL copy of this paper to me by email This will verify all have actually worked together. (However, if any student has opinions which differ from those of their fellow team members they may include them as an addition on their own paper.) All papers will be emailed to me by the due dates stated in the syllabus.
     These papers should show EVIDENCE of group sharing and an exchange of information. Each student is expected to make an honest contribution to the effort of arriving at mutually agreeable answers to each of the questions. Do not be overly concerned if you can't all agree. Students will be expected to read the material and put in sufficient "thought time" to make meaningful Critical Thinking contributions to their group discussions.
    The idea behind this exercise is that you have a continuing exchange of information, about business topics, with your team mates throughout the quarter which would be similar to exchanges in an on campus class. Please do not wait until the last minute to make contacts.
     Each student paper should contain a self rating of their own efforts AND a rating of fellow team members. Each student assigns themselves and the others a score from 0 to 20 points. Students should list those points after their own name and the names of fellow group members at the top of their page of commonly agreed upon answers. Points roughly correspond to   20 = A     16 = B     12 = C     8 = D     0 = No preparation.
     The average of a students self rating and that of his fellow group members will be each students grade for the activity. (For example: John Smith submits a Rating of 19 for himself. His 2 fellow group members rate him a 15 and 11. The total is 45 points and his average is 15. This is John's score for the activity.)

2 Exams, 50 points each	100	288-300 4.0
Self Evaluation Paper	100	273-287 3.5-3.9
2 Internet Exercises	40	243-272 2.5-3.4
3 Case Analysis	60	213-242 1.5-2.4
	300	189-212 0.7-1.4

*Tips for writing good papers. Give yourself plenty of time! Write your paper, then let it sit overnight. You will be amazed at the errors you catch the next day. Read it aloud to yourself, your ears will catch mistakes that your eyes do not. Or read it aloud to a friend, or better yet, an enemy! If they say, HUH?, what do you mean by that, they have done you a favor. Your paper should be self explanatory to anyone reading it or listening to you read it. By doing any one of these things, or all of them, you will produce your best work.

*All written assignments need to use college level English so be certain to run spelling, grammar and style checks on all papers. For those needing assistance with their grammar, please contact The Loft, upstairs in the campus library

* All assignments are due on dates specified in the syllabus. Late assignments will be penalized, unless student has contacted instructor for an extension.

* Any grading system is subject to human error, so please contact me if there are questions.

* Final grades are assigned according to published grading standards for the course