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Course syllabi for
BUSA 203 [Section 02] and BUSA 320
Spring 2012
Professor Gerry Myers
School of Business ~ Pacific Lutheran University

Where to find me: 326 Morken Center [or in the Kelley Cafe!].

Email: myersgm "at" plu.edu; Office phone: 253-535-7304; FAX 253-535-8723
[email is the easiest way to contact me]

Website: http://www.plu.edu/~myersgm

Special Needs ~ Expectations: What I Expect of You ~ Academic honesty
Expectations: What You Can Expect of Me ~ Objectives Common to all Courses
SBA Portfolio Requirement ~ Grading & Evaluation ~ Appeals of Grading Decisions
Class meetings, collection of assignments, etc. ~ University deadlines

Course-specific information [textbooks, course objectives, assignments] are here: BUSA 203 Details ~ BUSA 320 Details

First day of class Power Points: BUSA 203 ~ BUSA 320

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Expectations: What I expect of you

1. Come to class and be there on time. Enrollment in the class signifies a commitment to your own intellectual progress and to that of your fellow students. Each of you has the potential to ask important questions and raise issues which may turn out to be as important to others as they are to you. As in any situation involving group dynamics, everyone is shortchanged when the absence of some members of the group necessitates rehashing material from a previous session for the benefit of one or two who missed a prior session. Enrollment in a class involves a collaborative responsibility to attend every class meeting unless there are overwhelming reasons for an absence.
2. Excused absences: After many years of trying to sort out the validity of "excuses," I have given up trying to separate "excused" and "unexcused" absences. There are simply too many different circumstances to try to identify valid criteria which are consistent and fair. An absence is an absence. Having said all that, I do understand that folks get sick, have children that need to be taken to day care and so on. We are all subject to family emergencies at one time or another. However, everyone is better off if those situations can be kept to an absolute minimum. If and when attendance does become a serious problem for an individual in the class, there is an automatic impact on the student's final grade using the following scale:

4. Get notes from a classmate if you do miss class. Tracking down what you missed because of absence from class is YOUR responsibility.

Other expectations

Academic honesty. Dishonesty [a.k.a. cheating] will result in a failing grade in the class. Period. Academic dishonesty includes but is not restricted to: submission of another person's work as your own; unauthorized use of a solutions manual or instructor's solution to a case or problem; buying a solution "off the Web" and submitting it as your own work; copying another student's solution [from this semester or any other semester, at PLU or at any other institution]; and quoting material from another source without appropriate attribution.

All [yes, ALL] suspected violations of academic honesty will be reported through the official channels to the Campus Life Committee. Violations of academic honesty include but are not restricted to the following:

1. submission of another person's work as your own
2. unauthorized use of a solutions manual or instructor's solution to a case or problem
3. buying a solution "off the Web" and submitting it as your own work
4. copying another student's solution [from this semester or any other semester, at PLU or at any other institution]
5. quoting material from another source without appropriate attribution

It is no secret that there are a lot of materials available on the Web to enable students to avoid doing any more work than absolutely necessary. However, those materials are also available to everyone else (like your professors). Furthermore, I have resources I can use to compare your work to thousands of documents on the Web. I regard illegitimate use of Web materials (term papers for sale, plagiarizing other people's work, etc.) as a very serious violation of academic honesty, and will deal with such situations accordingly. Restrictions on the use of the work of other people extends to anything you may find in hard copy or digital form anywhere, including but not restricted to case analyses, term papers, PowerPoint files, Excel worksheets, database designs and Web pages If you found someone else's work in a wastebasket in the library, it is still someone else's work, not yours, and to submit it as your own is patently dishonest.

1. You are free to discuss any of the assignments among yourselves. However, what you submit for credit must submit your own work. I will not accept work which appears to be the result of obvious collaboration (e.g., identical or nearly identical essay or spreadsheet answers).
2. All assignments are to be completed without access to the notes or analyses (written or oral) of students who have previously enrolled in the course.
3. After completing a course, you will not discuss the details of the case analyses with students subsequently enrolled in the course.
    

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Expectations--what you can expect of me
 

1. I do not teach “out of the book.” You can READ the book. I DO cover the material that is in the book, but not the same way the book does. My primary role is to generate interactive discussions in which we explore the application of the chapter content to a variety of accounting and business problems.
2. My teaching style and the nature of the material make it necessary for each of you to take an active role in your learning. What you get out of any of my courses will be a direct function of your involvement in the class, your participation in our discussions, completion of assignments, and the general commitment that you make to the class. Passive learners who await thunderbolts of insight from an erudite professor will be disappointed. When I "lecture," I still try to sustain an interactive format as much as possible. Even as we are introducing new concepts, I will try to involve you in the discussion.
3. I will ask lots of questions—questions which will help me and you to determine what you understand and what you do not understand. I use a "cold call" strategy. This means that I often call on someone who does NOT have their hand up. If you are unprepared, I have two choices: assign a zero for participation for the day, or insist that you work through the question with me, step by step.
4. Clear communication of assignments—due dates, requirements, etc.
5. Fair grading—based on your level of mastery of the material—NOT based on a curve. This probably means that you will have to work harder in this class than you would to get an equivalent grade in many other classes.
6. Prompt return of work you have submitted for credit.
7. Periodic updates in the form of personalized grade reports; you will always know your approximate grade-to-date.
8. I do NOT collect daily homework. Most of the assignments that are to be handed in will also be the subject of discussion in class. Please bring an extra copy of your work so that you can be actively involved in the discussion.
9. I do not give “extra credit” assignments.
10. I do not allow “do it over" assignments. Do it right the first time.
11. My courses are not in the passive, stay-up-the-night-before, regurgitate it all the next day format. Active learning is required.
12. All work is to be prepared using software appropriate to the assignment. Use Excel for ALL quantitative analysis; a word processor for text. In BUSA 320, use Visio for flowcharts and systems diagrams and MS Access for database work. Part of my evaluation of your work in the course is your ability to use appropriate software applications effectively.
13. Assignments for credit [specified as assignment due today in the assignment list] typically require that you think about the conceptual and mechanical tools we have discussed or read about and apply them in practical settings. None of the assignments require memorization or regurgitation. The most frequent complaint from students in my classes is that "the assignments are not like the regular homework," which is absolutely correct. Business situations are not amenable to recipe-driven solutions.

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Objectives

All of my courses are organized to support PLU's Integrative Learning Objectives [ILOs] and the mission and objectives of the School of Business. The PLU ILOs focus on critical reflection, expression, interaction with others, valuing, and multiple frameworks. In other words, we seek to enable students to think critically, express themselves, deal constructively with those around them, develop an appropriate ethical foundation, and prepare for work in a diverse and heterogeneous world.

The Mission Statement of the School of Business reads as follows:

The School of Business provides a supportive learning experience that challenges each student to:

1. acquire relevant business skills;
2. apply them to create sustainable value; and
3. prepare for a purposeful life of achievement, inquiry, integrity, leadership and service.

We are especially committed to scholarship, innovation, and a global perspective.

1. be prepared to make ethical decisions,
2. be competent in the disciplinary foundations of business,
3. understand global and multicultural perspectives,
4. have critical thinking and quantitative skills,
5. be effective written and oral communicators,
6. have team and interpersonal competence, and
7. competently use contemporary technologies.

Objectives common to all courses

Ethical Decision Making; the ability to recognize the ethical conflicts inherent in managerial decision making situations, weigh the alternative costs and benefits of ethical choices and the impact of those choices on stakeholders, and select and justify appropriate courses of action
Global and multicultural perspectives: demonstration of awareness of the diverse beliefs, values and perspectives held by others, enabling informed judgments and actions
Critical thinking and quantitative skills: analysis, synthesis, judgment, problem-solving, and decision-making
Written and oral ommunication: the ability to listen, understand, and verbalize in order to inform, persuade and/or move to action
Team and interpersonal competence: the ability to understand, work with, and motivate others to achieve common objectives. Interpersonal relationships include but are not restricted to  Teamwork [the ability to engage in group problem solving and decision making] and Leadership [the ability to inspire and enable others to create and achieve a shared vision of the future]

Grading & evaluation

I have a professional commitment to evaluate your work as fairly and objectively as possible. Student work in all of my classes is evaluated on a letter grade basis (including plusses and minuses). All letter grades are converted to grade points following the scale in the University Catalog. Final grades are delineated based on the same GPA scale. I track all my grades in an Excel spreadsheet established for each course. This means that with a little advance notice, I can give you a very good idea of where you stand at any point in the semester.  

I do NOT grade on a curve. Grading on a curve superimposes assumptions about the relative proportions of "bright" and "weak" students (for lack of a more diplomatic description) in any class. It means that there have be about as many E grades as A grades, and about as many D grades as B grades. When grades are curved, some folks are going to flunk no matter what they actually do in the class. Grading on a curve also implies that there is no absolute standard of performance, but that as long as you do better than your classmates, you deserve a better grade, even if you have not mastered the material. I believe that a grade of A should mean excellent performance and complete mastery of the material. Sometimes no one in the class deserves that grade. Sometimes everyone does. Grading on a curve says that about 3 percent do, regardless of their performance (and that about the same percentage deserve Es, regardless of their performance.)

In all of your classes [any classes, not just School of Business classes], save your graded work. There are two reasons for saving your work. Any assignment is potential material for your portfolio. Furthermore, if you want to appeal your grade in a class, the professor may ask to see ALL of your work before rendering a decision. Finally, stuff happens. Several years ago, my Excel grade file became corrupted [towards the end of the semester, of course] and I had to recall every graded assignment in every class to reconstruct the grades for the term.   

How to get a better grade in any of my classes: Your overall understanding of the material in the course will be heavily dependent on doing the daily assignments as well as the more complex cases. Read the assigned materials, crunch the relevant numbers, model the business processes where relevant, and think about the issues, whether the assignment is to be handed in or not. All my courses are hands-on to the greatest extent possible. I know from my own experience that one learns accounting by doing it. Completing the required analyses after the fact is better than not doing it at all, but the real learning occurs from struggling with the material yourself. It's easy to look at the calculations or the flow charts and say, "Yeah, sure, I can do that." It is another matter to actually sit down and derive all the numbers and understand where they come from and what they mean [or to figure out what the system "looks like"]. Understanding where things come from and what they mean is a major part of all my classes. If you can't answer questions such as "Why?" "So what?" "What difference does it make?" "Who cares?" "What should the manager do tomorrow and how will he explain his decision?," you really haven't grasped the subtleties inherent in the material.

Determination of grades: Grades in all my classes are based on the entirety of your work over the semester. Everything counts toward your grade in the class: participation in discussion of daily assignments, written work, Excel spreadsheet analyses, flowcharts, MS Access assignments, etc. I am trying to help you to develop your abilities to perform at a professional level. I expect that all work submitted for credit in all my classes should be of professional quality. Some students may find a course taught on this basis too demanding or intimidating. Note carefully the criteria for determination of final letter grades [below]. The same general criteria apply to determination of grades on individual assignments.

Written work: All written work in my courses must be done on a work processor. I do not accept hand written work under any circumstances. All of the conventions of good professional writing (grammar, spelling, punctuation, syntax) and your ability to express your thoughts clearly and concisely will be considered in determining grades on written work. Use your spell checker, grammar checker, and proofread your papers. No credit (zero, zip, nada) will be given for papers which (1) are poorly written, (2) contain spelling errors which would have been caught by a spell checker, or (3) which contain obvious grammatical errors. Organization, neatness and professional appearance all count. For help with troublesome writing problems, you may find help at Professor Myers' Writing Links. Please use word processing software [NOT Excel] to prepare written answers to case questions.

Spreadsheet work: ALL quantitative work for credit in any of my classes MUST be done on Excel. There are NO exceptions to this rule. By this stage in your professional education, you should be routinely using Excel to solve virtually any problem requiring numerical analysis. Please review the page on good spreadsheet practices at Rules for good spreadsheet practices. Your spreadsheet work should be well organized and appropriately formatted. Cell referencing should be used for ALL derived quantities, everywhere, every time, with no exceptions. Use landscape or portrait orientation for printing, whichever is more appropriate to the way the spreadsheet is set up. Use print preview to be sure that rows and columns don't awkwardly hang over onto the next page. No credit (zero, zip, nada) will be given for Excel work which contains values in formulas. When you submit an Excel file for evaluation, the first thing I will do is test the reliability of your model by assigning randomly selected alternative values for the parameters of the model. If your model "bombs" [i.e., does not recalculate correctly], I will stop and move on to the next file, with a predicable impact on your grade on the assignment. For further information on the evaluation of spreadsheet work, go to  Assessment of Technology.

Microsoft Visio [for BUSA 320]: All system diagrams and related materials are to be prepared using Microsoft Visio. There are NO exceptions to this rule. I do not accept hand-drawn diagrams.

Additional Grading and evaluation information

The hyperlinks below will give you additional perspective on how I evaluate the various aspects of your work. 

Written communication
Oral communication
Effective use of technology
Critical thinking and problem solving (including quantitative analysis)

I do NOT give "exams," if "exam" is defined as the traditional cram-regurgitate-forget cycle with which you are no doubt familiar. I do not give exams precisely because the biggest result is the forgetting. As noted elsewhere in this syllabus, I am most concerned that you learn to DO the sorts of activities that are associated with a professional career in business, irrespective of the discipline in which you are interested. Decision making, communication, teamwork, quantitative analysis, ethical choices, problem solving and use of technology are skills you will use daily. The content of a course is the vehicle that you use to demonstrate your level of skill in decision making, communication, etc. In the process, you also demonstrate your understanding of content. Because the emphasis is on doing rather than on memorization, the "glue" tends to stick better and there is a higher probability that you will have really learned something.

Participation is an important part of the grade in all my classes. The following categories provide a general description of letter grade performance on individual assignments and for the final grade in any of my classes.

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Appeals of grading decisions

I have identified standards of performance for the various criteria on which you will be evaluated, and I use those when I grade your work. You will know what these criteria are in advance, so you have every opportunity to meet those standards. While I make every effort to be both thorough and fair in grading your work, there may be points at which we will disagree about the relative merits of your efforts on a particular assignment. Under such circumstances, I will agree to review your work, subject to the following conditions:

1. All appeals MUST be in writing. I don't need a lengthy essay, but at least give me enough information to clearly understand what the area of disagreement is. Oral conversations about such matters are invariably long forgotten by the time I finally get enough quiet time to sit down and review your work.
2. Appeals MUST be submitted within one week of the time that the paper was initially returned to you. The longer the lag between the return of the paper to you and your appeal, the less likely it is that I will be able to reconstruct my thought processes as I graded your work in the first place.
3. Except in cases of obvious, egregious errors on my part, all work submitted for review is automatically regraded in its entirety. Consequently, your grade on the assignment may be raised or lowered (or remain unchanged), depending on the merits of your appeal and my reassessment of your work. Therefore, consider any decision to request a review of your work extremely carefully. I do not make decisions to lower a grade capriciously or vindictively. However, once those decisions are made, they are final.
4. Grades are not a matter for negotiation, and you will not benefit from quibbling over relatively minor discrepancies or issues of interpretation. The difference between, say, a B- and a B on a particular question may seem monumental when you get your paper back, but the practical impact of such differences on a final grade is typically immaterial. Suppose an assignment is worth 20% of your final grade, and one question on that assignment is 15% of the grade on the assignment itself. Suppose you got a B- on this part of the assignment and you thought it was worth a B. The difference between a B and a B- is 0.333, so we are talking about 20% * 15% * 0.333, or 0.009. Trust me! If you are nine one-thousandths of a point away from the next highest grade at the end of the semester, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. 
5. Requests for a review of your final grade in the course will initiate an automatic review of ALL of your work for the entire semester. [Yes, that's correct. This means that you return all your graded work to me and I start over again from square one.] Again, the result may be no change, an increase or a decrease in your final grade. Finally, you should be aware of the School of Business policy regarding disputes over final grades in courses: there will be no formal review unless the difference in dispute is equivalent to at least a full letter grade. In other words, if the difference is between, say a B+ and an A-, you can appeal to the instructor, but if the instructor finds no justification for increasing the final grade, there will no appeal beyond that point. Furthermore, all formal grade appeals must be submitted to the Dean of the School of Business no later than 6 weeks into the semester following the receipt of the grade.

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Class meetings, collection of assignments and related matters

There are 27 regularly scheduled class sessions over 14 weeks. Since all BUSA classes [except 201] are now 3 hours [where an "hour" is actually 50 minutes], the total meeting time for the semester is 14 weeks * 3 hours/week * 50 minutes/hour or 2,100 minutes over the entire semester. For Tuesday/Thursday classes, that works out to about 77 minutes per session, which I will arbitrarily round to 80 minutes. For sections starting at 8:00, 9:55, and 1:45, we'll plan to end class at 9:20, 11:15, and 3:05, respectively. On days when we are working on software applications [Excel, Visio, MS Access], the 25 minutes remaining in the "official" class period [e.g., from 9:20 to 9:45] will be run as an "open lab." On those days, you will be free to leave after the 80 minute period is up if you wish, but if you want to stay in the room and work on the assigned material, I will stay to answer questions and offer assistance as needed. I strongly recommend that you take advantage of these sessions.

In the event of class cancellations due to bad weather, attack by Martians, or other calamities, I will redistribute our class time to make up as much of the lost time as possible. Under such circumstances it may be necessary to take advantage of the slack time between the end of our class and the next official class period.

University deadlines:

Click here for a full list of deadlines for withdrawal from classes and related matters

Copyright © 2010 Gerald M. Myers
Last modified: 01/24/2012; 17:00