Weissmann School of Arts & Sciences
M.A., Industrial/Organizational Behavior Psychology
PSY 9791 Introduction to Environmental Psychology
Exploration of the psychological factors in the complex interaction of man and his environment. The course will consider research strategies and findings on the behavioral and attitudinal aspects of the design of living and working environments, urban transportation systems, urban ecology, safety engineering psychology, and psychological factors affecting environmental change.
M.A., Corporate Communication
COM 9510 Legal and Ethical Issues in Corporate Communication
Students in this course will improve their understanding of the underlying ethical theories and principles that guide journalists and communication specialists, develop their moral reasoning, sharpen their ability to apply various decision-making strategies to a range of ethical problems, and acquire familiarity with the ethical norms of both professions.
Zicklin School of Business
LAW 9106 Law and the Environment
This course will initially review legal concepts and legal process as related to business, environmental law and regulations. The course will then consider issues of federalism and principles of administrative law and include a study of important environmental legislation, including The Clean Air Act of 1970, The Clean Water Act, The Federal Insecticide Act, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, The Food Quality Protection Act of 1996, and The Toxic Substances Control Act. The course will conclude with a survey of criminal and corporate liability for environmental law violations and international environmental law issues, International issues considered include the effect of international environmental agreements on global trade and the practical effect these international agreements have on businesses operating in the United States.
BUS 9100 The Societal and Governmental Environment of Business
Intended to explain the environment of business decision making. The emphasis is on government regulation as a growing dimension of the environment of business decision making. In addition to dealing with such new governmental programs as those in environmental protection, occupational health and safety, and consumer regulation, the course will deal with such traditional topics as anti-trust regulations. The impact of social problems will be considered, as will be the ethical dilemmas of today’s business manager.
MGT 9969 Social Entrepreneurship: Concepts and Cases
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the theory and practice of social entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurship is the application of the tools, techniques, and skills of entrepreneurship to the achievement of a social mission (e.g., providing affordable housing to low-income households, feeding the hungry, making a college education accessible to disadvantaged youth, etc.). The course will explore the theoretical and conceptual underpinnings of the field, its practice, and the ways in which its impacts are assessed. Case studies will be used extensively to illustrate principles and stimulate discussion.
BUS 9700 Sustainable Business: Perspectives, Theories, and Practices
This course has been designed to provide students with an introduction to the theory and practice of sustainable business. It is the principal required course in the Sustainable Business major at the MBA level. The course seeks to enable students to develop a deep understanding of the concept of sustainability; its importance, its application to business; and its economic, social and environment implications. The role of government and NGOs in sustainable development will be explored vis-à-vis their relationship to business. Ethics and its role in sustainability will be featured throughout the course.
MGT 9620 Globalization and the Multinational Corporation
Globalization, and its concomitant the large multinational corporation (MNC), have brought about profound changes in the working of economic and political institutions in countries around the world. This seminar will focus on the activities of large multinational corporations (MNCs) and their impact – both positive and negative – on the national cultures, ethical norms, business practices, and political governance structures in the host countries. This impact would be analyzed in the context of MNCs global business strategies and operational policies in different parts of the world. Lastly, it will examine various approaches that are currently being explored by the MNCs, civil society organizations, and national, multilateral and international political entities to ameliorate the negative side-effects of globalization while supporting efforts toward continued economic growth.
MGT 9870 International Comparative Management
Comparison of managerial goals, structures, functions, processes, and behavior in different national environments. Topics covered include multiculturalism as it relates to the multinational organization; country-specific comparative advantages and disadvantages; global product versus multi-domestic corporate strategy; comparison of structural options; selection, promotion, and training practices with regard to cross-cultural, intercultural, and interpersonal differences; historical and contemporary political and civil freedoms; commercial enterprise organization, infrastructure, and national or regional competitive opportunities; managerial values, attitudes, and behaviors within specific host countries; and exportable managerial practices vis-à-vis accommodation to national and ethnocentric managerial practices.
MGT 9969 Social Entrepreneurship: Concepts and Cases
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the theory and practice of social entrepreneurship. Social entrepreneurship is the application of the tools, techniques, and skills of entrepreneurship to the achievement of a social mission (e.g., providing affordable housing to low-income households, feeding the hungry, making a college education accessible to disadvantaged youth, etc.). The course will explore the theoretical and conceptual underpinnings of the field, its practice, and the ways in which its impacts are assessed. Case studies will be used extensively to illustrate principles and stimulate discussion.
MGT 9970 Entrepreneurship and Community Development
This course is designed to introduce students to the current and prospective roles of entrepreneurship in a community’s economic development. It provides a guiding framework and common language for thinking about these roles and about appropriate and strategic interventions for fostering them. The course begins with an examination of current practices in community economic development regarding entrepreneurship, their attributes and their deficiencies. It then offers an alternative, systemic approach, viewing the community’s economy as a pipeline of entrepreneurs and enterprises at various levels of skill development and companies at differing stages of the business life cycle. It explores how entrepreneurs and their businesses advance within this pipeline and the importance of maintaining a flow of entrepreneurial activity to community wealth building.
LAW 9120 Sustainability: Law & Policy
This course examines the concept of “sustainability” and the law and policy governing the operation of businesses with respect to their impact on sustainability. Topics covered include sustainable business practices, relevant international law and government policies, challenges and successes in the implementation of laws and strategies related to sustainability, and legal compliance, disclosure, and risk assessment with respect to business operations and the planet. Analyzing legal risk (current and future) to inform management decisions will be emphasized.
COM 9625 Corporate Culture and Sustainability
This graduate seminar focuses on:
- Understanding the global business process, its environments, and cultures
- Issues created in managing corporate cultures
- Understanding and working with specific company cultures and subcultures
- Understanding and implementing the social, financial, and environmental reporting guidelines outlined in the Global Compact and the Global Reporting Initiative
Class work includes individual and group work, including white papers, group projects focused on the analysis and interpretation of corporate cultures, and case studies used to analyze the triple-bottom line (social, financial, environmental) reporting practices of successful corporations.
MKT 9752 Sustainable Marketing
This course explores the marketing-related issues, problems and opportunities created by the changing physical environment and the challenges to the sustainability of life as we know it. A combination of lectures, talks by specialist guests, field work and readings is used to examine various aspects of the topic. The coverage will be broad, ranging from ethical concerns to the relationship of green markets to international trade patterns. Students will execute both individual and group projects in the course of learning how to apply this knowledge to practical marketing tasks such as market analysis, new product development, and product management.
MKT 9716 Consumer Behavior
Examination of the psychological, economic, sociocultural, and decision-making influences on consumer behavior, including a discussion of consumer behavior applications to social marketing.
MGT 9400 Human Resource Management
Analysis of the challenges and conflicts inherent in building a workforce and managing personnel. The course examines all levels in the hierarchy and the ramifications of policy formulation, recruitment and selection, training and development, wage and salary administration, morale, absenteeism, turnover, and union-management relations.
MGT 9960 Entrepreneurial Strategy and Cases
Presentation of conceptual frameworks to help the student in:
- Identifying and describing the strategic position of the entrepreneur,
- Evaluating the entrepreneur’s past strategy and present prospects, and
- Planning the entrepreneur’s future direction so as to best match resources and opportunities.
MGT 9961 Analysis of Entrepreneurial Experiences
Analysis of why and how some businesses are successful while others fail, using case studies. Lectures will focus on specific entrepreneurs and their businesses. Students will determine the characteristics, environment, and strategy required for success. Guest entrepreneurs will be invited to speak and their business ventures analyzed. Teams of two or three students will present one of the cases to the class; each student will also write an analysis of one of the other cases presented in class. The course will be organized in the following six sections:
- From conception to start-up,
- Managing the entrepreneurial venture,
- Financial considerations,
- Managing the turnaround,
- Special issues: not-for-profit entrepreneurship and ethical/legal issues, and
- Venture valuation and exit strategies.
MGT 9962 Managing the Family Business
This course is designed to introduce students to the major concepts, models, theories, and research in the field of family business. The course offers students the opportunity to explore family business topics such as business formation, growth and expansion, strategic management, professionalization, succession, location choices, and family dynamics, conflicts, and relationships relative to the business. An overview of families who own businesses and the profiles of their businesses will be presented along with the examination of the course topics relative to the various stages of business activity, including feasibility, start-up, ongoing maintenance, expansion or redirection, and exit or transfer. The course also provides an introduction to research on family businesses by surveying the conceptual issues and methodological approaches related to the study of family business. The content of the course will include lectures, case studies, group discussion, and presentations.
MGT 9963 Researching and Developing Entrepreneurial Ventures
The purpose of this course is to take MBA and MS students through the process of researching and developing a potential business venture including conceptualization, proving feasibility, research, and preparation of a detailed, realistic and professional-level business plan. While the course will provide an overview of issues such as entrepreneurship itself and the entrepreneurial character, its main focus is on specific issues, stages, and the process that an entrepreneur must go through in developing a new business. Students either individually or in groups will meet key milestones throughout the course including developing multiple ideas, proving feasibility, researching the market, researching the competition via a detailed industry analysis, and producing a detailed business plan including resource requirement time line. The course is structured so that students present their business plans to the class for feedback and critique both in draft and final stages.
MGT 9979 Seminar in Entrepreneurship
Topics of a specialized nature in the area of entrepreneurship and small business management. Current literature will be reviewed and evaluated for its theoretical value and implications for practical applications.
School of Public Affairs
PAF 9610 Environmental Policy
This course introduces students to the major features and debates in environmental policy, focusing primarily on the metropolitan environment in the United States. Students are introduced to environmental issues with respect to both the human and physical environments; the major interests groups that affect environmental policy; and the regulatory procedures under which environmental policy is implemented, particularly environmental impact analysis under NEPA and state and local environmental reviews.
PAF 9010 Ethics and Public Decision Making
This course concerns the relationship of ethics and public service. Those in public service face a broad array of ethical problems and dilemmas ranging from simple matters of public trust through the application of ethical reasoning in policymaking. The course examines the limits of self-interest in public service, the differing ethical concerns of elective and appointive officials, the conflict between responsibility to hierarchical authority and personal conceptions of the right, bureaucratic responsibility for the ethical content of public policies, and the possibility of necessary evil. A significant portion of this course focuses on ethical theories that may help resolve these dilemmas.
PAF 9610 Environmental Policy
This course introduces students to the major features and debates in environmental policy, focusing primarily on the metropolitan environment in the United States. Students are introduced to environmental issues with respect to both the human and physical environments; the major interests groups that affect environmental policy; and the regulatory procedures under which environmental policy is implemented, particularly environmental impact analysis under NEPA and state and local environmental reviews.
PAF 9141 Community Development: History, Present, and Future
This course will trace the history of the community development movement in the United States, from approximately 1960 to the present, and consider the possibilities of the movement’s future. Students will examine the complex economic, political, and social context that gave rise to the idea of community development, and then follow the successes and challenges in the field over its nearly fifty-year history.
PAF 9142 Housing Policy
This course serves as a gateway to the field of housing and community development, and gives the student the background necessary to become informed participants in policy analyses and debates over the future of housing policy at both national and local levels.
PAF 9143 “Greening” and Growing Cities: Sustainability and Public Policy Choices
This course focuses on environmental policies as they relate to cities and sustainable growth. It will critically examine current policies and programs at the national and local levels, with particular attention paid to sustainability programs and proposals in New York City.
PAF 9150 Introduction to the Nonprofit Sector
Historical and contemporary perspectives on nonprofit organizations and the nonprofit sector in the United States. The course will emphasize the size, scope, and functions of the nonprofit sector as they have evolved, with particular emphasis on relations with the public and business sectors and current issues affecting the environment in which nonprofit organizations operate.
PAF 9151 Administration of Not-for-Profit and Voluntary Agencies
Study of management techniques and strategies applicable in nonprofit agencies. Topics include agency interaction with governmental and political institutions, planning and control systems, the role of the governing board, and the role of the executive director. Special attention is paid to the needs of community service/social welfare and cultural/arts organizations.