A course module focused on Managerial Decision-Making with learning objectives, readings and resources, an application activity related to emotional intelligence, and a discussion prompt and questions related to the material.
This course introduces managers and other professionals working in the nonprofit sector to Value Based Management. The course attempts to establish a common framework for how nonprofit's and non-governmental organizations can apply Value Based Management in such areas as Strategic Planning, Resource Development, Leadership, and Performance Measurement. Course Level: Intermediate - A good understanding of business concepts is useful for fully understanding this course. A review of other Short Courses is also recommended since this course covers topics that may be covered in greater deal in another short course. Recommended for 2.0 hours of CPE. Course Method: Inter-active self study with audio clips, self-grading exam, and certificate of completion.
The subject of this course is the historical process by which the meaning of "technology" has been constructed. Although the word itself is traceable to the ancient Greek root teckhne (meaning art), it did not enter the English language until the 17th century, and did not acquire its current meaning until after World War I. The aim of the course, then, is to explore various sectors of industrializing 19th and 20th century Western society and culture with a view to explaining and assessing the emergence of technology as a pivotal word (and concept) in contemporary (especially Anglo-American) thought and expression.
Note: In the interests of freshness and topicality we regard the STS.464 syllabus as sufficiently flexible to permit some — mostly minor — variations from year to year. One example of a different STS.464 syllabus can be found in STS.464 Technology and the Literary Imagination, Spring 2008.
This class surveys developmental entrepreneurship via case examples of both successful and failed businesses and generally grapples with deploying and diffusing products and services through entrepreneurial action. By drawing on live and historical cases, especially from South Asia, Africa, Latin America as well as Eastern Europe, China, and other developing regions, we seek to cover the broad spectrum of challenges and opportunities facing developmental entrepreneurs. Finally, we explore a range of established and emerging business models as well as new business opportunities enabled by developmental technologies developed in MIT labs and beyond.
This Book Will Be Helpful to:
Managers-
This book is aimed primarily at those who are responsible for implementing accessibility at an organizational level. These people tend to be managers, but may also be accessibility specialists, whose role it is to oversee the implementation of accessibility strategies and awareness throughout an organization.
Web Developers-
Web developers may also wish to read this book to expand their understanding of the organizational aspects of implementing accessibility, extending their role as an IT accessibility specialist, often being the person who leads the implementation of accessibility culture in an organization.
Everyone Else-
While managers and web developers are the primary audience for this book, anyone who has an interest in the aspects of implementing accessibility culture in an organization will find this book informative.
This piece discusses the differences between EQ and IQ - discussing the research available, what signs people with a high EQ have, and does an IQ score dictate success in life.
This activity will check students’ understanding of the swine ear-notching system of livestock identification. Credit @whiteoakffa and Sarah Nerswick
This course introduces the theory and the practice of engineering ethics using a multi-disciplinary and cross-cultural approach. Theory includes ethics and philosophy of engineering. Historical cases are taken primarily from the scholarly literatures on engineering ethics, and hypothetical cases are written by students. Each student will write a story by selecting an ancestor or mythic hero as a substitute for a character in a historical case. Students will compare these cases and recommend action.
This seminar introduces students to basic principles of environmental justice and presents frameworks for analyzing and addressing inequalities in the distribution of environmental benefits and burdens from the perspectives of social science, public policy, and law.
Equine Facilities Project Grade Level: 9th - 12thSubject: Animal ScienceDuration: 4 daysDOK Level: 4SAMR Level: AugmentationIndiana Standard: AS-9.1 Identify facilities needed to house and produce each animal species safely and efficiently AS-9.2 Select equipment and implement animal handling procedures and improvements AS-9.3 Identify optimal environmental conditions for animals Objective: The students will be able to apply the principles learned in animal management to design a equine facilities that meets the needs of a given scenario. Procedure: Hold a class discussion on the requirements that need to be met to house a horse properly. Ask the students to answer the Following questions, “What do you feel is the most important need to address when planning a facility and why?” “What questions do you need to ask the owner?” Divide the students into pairs.Handout and explain the expectations of the Equine Facilities Project. Use google classroom to handout the project sheet and keep posted on the student's progress.Demonstrate the FBI Planner Program . Allow the students to research and use their own method to create the blueprint of the facilities. Day 2 Check progress of the students. Make sure the students have a plan and system to get the project completeDay 3 Check the students’ written descriptions for the project. Make sure there are no misunderstandings to this pointDay 4 Have the students present their ideas to the rest of the class. Product or Assessment: The students product will consist of a blueprint of the facilities and a written description describing the blueprint with reasoning/justification to the decision that were made.
Studies basic concepts of financial and managerial accounting. Viewpoint is that of the users of accounting information (especially managers) rather than the preparer (the accountant).
15.514 is an intensive introduction to the preparation and interpretation of financial information for investors (external users) and managers (internal users) and to the use of financial instruments to support system and project creation. The course adopts a decision-maker perspective on accounting and finance with the goal of helping students develop a framework for understanding financial, managerial, and tax reports. 15.514 is restricted to System Design and Management students.
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgement is hereby given to Professor G. Peter Wilson for his authorship of the following content in this course:
The Five Challenges (see Syllabus and Lecture 1)
"What Do Intel and Accountants Have in Common?" (see Lecture 1)
A Conceptual Framework for Financial Accounting (see Lecture 1)
Assigning students particular roles can be an effective way to organize groups and simulate job site communication. Assigning a ‘foreman’ for groups in an agriculture education classroom helps to distribute responsibility among group members and ensures accountability for all students’ participation. As students practice assuming greater responsibility, they can develop new skills. Designed by Donald Fowler.
Fundamentals of Business (2016) is an openly licensed (CC BY NC SA 3.0) textbook designed for use in Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business introductory level business course, MGT1104 Foundations of Business.
This work is a project of University Libraries and the Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech.
A new version of this book was released in August 2018. See http://hdl.handle.net/10919/84848 for more details.
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Fundamentals of Business, Second Edition (2018) is an 372-page open education resource intended to serve as a no-cost, faculty customizable primary text for one-semester undergraduate introductory business courses. It covers the following topics in business: Teamwork; economics; ethics; entrepreneurship; business ownership, management, and leadership; organizational structures and operations management; human resources and motivating employees; managing in labor union contexts; marketing and pricing strategy; hospitality and tourism, accounting and finance, and personal finances. The textbook was designed for use in Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business introductory level business course, MGT1104 Foundations of Business and is shared under a Creative Commons Non-Commercial ShareAlike 4.0 license.
2018 version formats include: PDF, Accessible "screen reader friendly" PDF, ePub, Mobi, XML/Pressbooks (editable), and open document format.
The Pressbooks online version (HTML) is available at: https://doi.org/10.21061/fundamentals-of-business
The 2016 version of this book includes editable MSWord files.
If you are an instructor reviewing, adopting, or adapting this textbook, please help us understand your use by filling out this form http://bit.ly/business-interest
Instructor resource sharing portal: https://www.oercommons.org/groups/fundamentals-of-business-user-group/1379
Fundamentals of Business, fourth edition (2023) is an 434-page open education resource intended to serve as a no-cost, faculty-customizable primary text for one-semester undergraduate introductory business courses. It covers the following topics in business: Teamwork; economics; ethics; entrepreneurship; business ownership, management, and leadership; organizational structures and operations management; human resources and motivating employees; managing in labor union contexts; marketing and pricing strategy; hospitality and tourism, accounting and finance, personal finances, and technology in business. The textbook was designed for use in Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business introductory level business course, MGT1104 Foundations of Business and is shared under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial ShareAlike 4.0 license.
The main landing page for this book is: https://doi.org/10.21061/fundamentalsofbusiness4e
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Class slides are available for this book: http://hdl.handle.net/10919/105157
A testbank is available by request for this book: http://hdl.handle.net/10919/93404 Please note that the testbank does not at this point reflect changes made between the third and fourth editions. The testbank is available to any instructor who has adopted Fundamentals of Business in their course. Please note that there are THREE steps in the test bank request process.
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This work is published by Pamplin College of Business in association with Virginia Tech Publishing. Funding and technical assistance for this project was provided by the University Libraries' Open Education Initiative.
Accessibility notice Virginia Tech Publishing is committed to making its publications accessible in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The Pressbooks (HTML) and ePub versions of this text are tagged structurally and include alternative text, which allows for machine readability.
What’s new? This version of the book, the Fourth Edition, improves upon the 2016, 2018, and 2020 editions. Improvements include:
- Data updates
- Updated graphics and photos;
- Added interactive, live-data graphs to the online version for key economic indicators in Chapter 3: Economics and Business;
- Reorganized and added significant additional content to Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility;
- Renamed and substantially expanded content in Chapter 7: Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development;
- Added additional content to chapters 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, and 17;
- Addition of completely new chapter — Chapter 19: Technology in Business;
A detailed list of changes by chapter is available in Version Notes at the back of the book.
Features of the book. Each chapter lists learning objectives at the beginning of the chapter and key takeaways at the end of the chapter. The Pressbooks version of this book also includes interactive self-quizzing.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1: Teamwork in Business
Chapter 2: The Foundations of Business
Chapter 3: Economics and Business
Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility
Chapter 5: Business in a Global Environment
Chapter 6: Forms of Business Ownership
Chapter 7: Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development
Chapter 8: Management and Leadership
Chapter 9: Structuring Organizations
Chapter 10: Operations Management
Chapter 11: Motivating Employees
Chapter 12: Managing Human Resources
Chapter 13: Union/Management Issues
Chapter 14: Marketing: Providing Value to Customers
Chapter 15: Pricing Strategy
Chapter 16: Hospitality and Tourism
Chapter 17: Accounting and Financial Information
Chapter 18: Personal Finances
Chapter 19: Technology in Business
How to cite this book
Ron Poff (2023). Fundamentals of Business, 4th Edition, Blacksburg: Pamplin College of Business. https://doi.org/10.21061/fundamentalsofbusiness4e. Licensed with CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0.
About the Author
About the Previous Author
Fundamentals of Business, 4th edition is adapted from a work produced and distributed under a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) by a publisher who has requested that they and the original author not receive attribution. We wish to extend our gratitude to the original author for portions of her book which were remixed and adapted to form portions of Chapters 1-15 and 17-18 of Fundamentals of Business. If the publisher and author are both willing to allow us to provide attribution to the author while retaining use of the Creative Commons license and continuing to provide free public access, we will gladly and publicly thank the original author here.
About Ron Poff
Ron Poff is Assistant Professor of Management Practice in the Management Department at Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech, where he teaches management courses. He began his career as an enlisted member of the US Navy Reserves before entering his primary career in supply chain operations then sales and marketing, where he served in executive roles with large corporations for over 25 years. As an entrepreneur, he then founded his own marketing agency. His education includes a B.S. in Business Management, M.S. Marketing, and a Graduate Certificate in eMarketing.
About Stephen Skripak
Stephen J. Skripak is retired Professor of Practice in Management at Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech (2005 - 2021) and former Associate Dean for Graduate Programs (2006-2014). He is a senior executive with 25 years of business leadership experience, including positions as General Manager and Chief Financial Officer with divisions of Fortune 500 companies. His background includes financial services, consumer packaged goods, apparel, and industrial companies, with emphasis in turnaround situations. He was the lead contributor and subject matter expert for the 2016 and 2018 editions of Fundamentals of Business, and reviewed the 2020 and 2023 versions of the book.
Contributors
Lead Contributor: Ron Poff
Contributors to the Fourth Edition: Howard Haines, John Andy Travers
Managing Editor: Anita Walz
Editorial Assistant, Graphic Design, and Production Manager: Kindred Grey
Past reviewers/contributors: Anastasia Cortes, Jonathan De Pena, Lisa R. Fournier, Lauren Holt, Nina Lindsay, Katie Manning, Sarah Mease, Richard Parsons, Sachi Soni, Michael Stamper, Gary Walton, and Blake Warner
This book is written for those interested in acquiring a thorough knowledge base relative to the intricacies of the organizational theories, customs, and insights significant to the management of health service organizations. It examines the foundational aspects of leadership and management as they relate to establishing and maintaining the principles and practices within healthcare organizations. The book opens with a discussion on the differences between health, healthcare, and health care while providing an overview of healthcare management and organizational trends. It culminates in discussions of leadership, management, motivation, organizational behavior, and management thinking. Additionally, it discusses topics of information technology, teamwork, health disparities, organizational culture, performance, and change.
This book grew out of a decade of co-teaching a course entitled ‘Infrastructure Management’ at Carnegie Mellon University. Our teaching philosophy was to prepare students for work in the field of infrastructure management. We believe that infrastructure management is a professional endeavor and an attractive professional career. The book is co-authored by two accomplished engineers - each representing professional practice, academic research and theoretical evaluation. Their collective strengths are presented throughout the text and serve to support both the practice of infrastructure management and a role for infrastructure management inquiry and search. Importantly, both co-authors have academic research interests (and a number of research publications) on various topics of infrastructure management. That said, the primary audience for this book is expected to be professionals intending to practice infrastructure management, and only secondarily individuals who intend to pursue a career of research in the area.
An old saying holds that "there are many more good ideas in the world than good ideas implemented." This is a case based introduction to the fundamentals of effective implementation. Developed with the needs and interests of planners—but also with broad potential application—in mind, this course is a fast paced, case driven introduction to developing strategy for organizations and projects, managing operations, recruiting and developing talent, taking calculated risks, measuring results (performance), and leading adaptive change, for example where new mental models and habits are required but also challenging to promote. Our cases are set in the U.S. and the developing world and in multiple work sectors (urban redevelopment, transportation, workforce development, housing, etc.). We will draw on public, private, and nonprofit implementation concepts and experience.
This course is offered during the Independent Activities Period (IAP), which is a special 4-week term at MIT that runs from the first week of January until the end of the month.
This is a free, online tool aiming to improve the competiveness of European Academic Spin-Offs and Start-ups by supporting them to effectively deal with the challenges faced when internationalising their businesses and to improve their global talent management. The programme is divided into three units, containing ten pillars each one, completed by a forth section of Success and Failure Cases about “Commercialization of new products and services abroad” and “Attracting and recruiting international high-qualified human capital”. Authors are the seven project partners:CCS Digital Education (Greece)University of Patras (Greece)Advancis Business Services, Lda. (Portugal)Vaasa University of Applied Sciences Finland)Promimpresa srl (Italy)Inova Consultancy (United Kindom)Fundación General Universidad de Granada Empresa (Spain)