The theme of the Department of Management is value creation. As both a discipline and a process, the theoretical paradigms and frameworks upon which managers create value provide a strong foundation for our scholarly research and innovative instruction. The development of an organization?s people, technology, and cross-functional processes, as well as their subsequent interaction, facilitate the internal environment necessary to create value. For effective value creation, these activities must be consistent with each other and with the organization?s strategy. In addition, value-creating activities must transform over time to meet the changing demands of the external environment. Therefore, effective management requires an understanding of the dynamics of the internal environment, monitoring of the external environment, and the evolving process of strategic implementation. Thus, the management curriculum is to develop the student?s proficiency in resource evaluation, resource allocation, and resource management. This mission theme recognizes all organizational inputs (i.e., human resources, financial resources, physical resources, and knowledge, informational and systems resources) as resources that must be managed for an organization to function effectively.

Flexibility is allowed so that students have some discretion in orienting their programs toward career and degree objectives. While the basic courses required of a management major are the same for all students, a variety of options are available to students with special interests.

For example, students interested in personnel and industrial relations can combine courses in the Department of Management with courses offered in psychology, economics, political science, and sociology to provide greater emphasis on the management of human resources. Students interested in management positions in manufacturing can combine courses in the Department of Management with those offered in economics, accounting, and technologies to provide greater emphasis on managing for increased productivity in manufacturing. Students interested in small business can focus their courses in order to achieve a better understanding of the problems of developing and managing the small firm.