Mgt448/BA448/Mgt548 SYLLABUS

Small Business Consulting to any organization, public, private, education, non-profit

Professor David M. Boje, Ph.D.
Management Department
College of Business
( 575-532-1693); E-Mail Address:    

PART I: Contact info and Steps

Spring semester (when & where): 2:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Tuesdays Gu 201
            Course Numbers:             Mgt 448/Mgt548/BA448          
            Course Title:                   Small Business Consulting
            Prerequisites:                  none          
            Credit Hours:                  3                                 
            Instructor:                        David M. Boje, Ph.D.
             
              Office Phone:                        575-532-1693
              Office Hours:                         Mon.. Noon- 2PM in Frenger Food Court or call for appointment
            Teaching Assistant                   Doctoral Student, Rohny Saylors
               E-Mail Address:              rsaylors@nmsu.edu (575) 323-0183 Gutherie GU 300      

Resource 4: Your Major Client Tools

1. Buy tape recorder or record with cell phone (record answers to 11 D-questions in Boje's YouTube film on blacksmithing small businesses.
2. Put this on your computer and edit:
3. Print out your Mid-term report Check List   (what you need to get done in Report by mid-term).
4. Print out your Final report Check list  (what you need to get done by end of term).
5. Print out SMALL BUSINESS APPLICATION (keep copy for your report)
6. Print Confidentiality Agreement (you sign it and give to client, put copy in your report)
7. Print Client Rating/Grading Sheet for Student's Report (give to client to grade your report; include in sealed envelop with report)

Resource 5: Learn 4 Phases of your project and Do the 23 Steps to Consulting

• Phase I: Diagnosis (Hidden Costs/Hidden Revenue charts); submit mid-term report - see Mid-term Check List 
• Phase II do the Mirror Effect meeting (show client excerpts of fieldnotes, hidden costs and revenue calculations, make your expert consultant recommendations)
• Phase III (Project) - carry out your proposed Project
• Phase IV (Final Report) - present and turn in your final report - see Final report Check list

• Please study the 23 Steps to doing your mid-term and final report Small Business Consulting found in Quantum Spiral Book on line

Resource 6. OK you are ready for the 3 most important tools

1. 4-leaf clover - diagnostic model - know this for quiz 1
2. A - B- C - D - Axes course model and visual outline of your report and this course - know this for quiz 1
3. Draw in the 4,leaf, the A-B-C-D spiral axes (drawing and writing helps you memorize and learn them). And draw in a Q-Spiral (which is the entire point of the course).

Resource 7. Some Extra material when needed

1. Read Short article on Metatheatre and SEAM. by Boje & Rosile. 
2. Bookmark -
3. Read on line power point introduction to 448/548 course: click here for day one slides; click here for additional slides 
4. SEAM Intro and overview (Study Guide with all six SEAM figures explained)
5. Business Writing Resources to help you write your report
6. Presentation Resources to help you present professionally
7. Bookmark - sustainability at NMSU, Faculty Senate Memorial; and NMSU Sustainability Council, Business Plan.
8. Read the sustainability Talloires Declaration

PART V.        COURSE DESCRIPTION

We will learn Intervention Research (aka Socio-Economic Approach to Management, SEAM). http://web.nmsu.edu/%7Edboje/TDseam.html
Intervention Research using SEAM (Socio Economic Approach to Management, SEAM) means getting into to the field, collecting observations, making verbatim notes from interviews, doing co-designed interventions with clients that add value to the small business.

Service Learning Project: Each year small business consulting teams bring ethical virtue of happiness to clients with free-to-the-public service learning /civic engagement projects with different sectors of the small business economy: restaurants, wellness, hotels, and so forth. This year's focus is sustainability at NMSU and in each small business. Please include a section on sustainability in your report. Power (utility) bill $750,000 for month at NMSU for August 2010
Green paper ordering - recycled paper option
200 classes at NMSU have sustainability in them

PART VI. OBJECTIVES

VII. COURSE OBJECTIVES

The primary objective of this course is to conduct 'intervention research' in a small business that makes a value-added difference in lowering costs and enhancing revenue potent ion.  The primary skill focus will be on your field notes kept as an online blog, then analysed in the Mirror Effect section for final term paper. Field notes are ‘direct observations’, ‘interview transcripts’, ‘content analysis of documents’, and ‘diary entries of your reflexivity.’ This will be supported by a series of conversation starters about our primary text: Releasing the Untapped Potential of Enterprises Through Socio-Economic Management.

For All Students: Develop & demonstrate this ability by these metrics:

1. Develop an appreciation for Principle-Based and Virtue Ethics in small business consulting.
2. Read, understand & analyze actual experiential field case in small business consulting
3. Investigate & describe a business situation using socioeconomic tools such as priority action plans, time management, etc.
4. Develop interpersonal skills in oral and written presentation, and cooperative behavior with consulting clients.
5. Design meaningful recommendations to problems and feedback to client using Mirror Effect Diagnosis (See Axis A)
6. Design a useful implementation plan for integrating recommendations into an ongoing business & for controlling the integration & impact of those recommendations (The Implementation)
7. Perform research of current literature with regard to small business
8. Study the dynamics of the environment, its history, and develop antenarratives of the future as context to work with client organization.
9. Listen, analyze, question the storytelling using storytelling standpoint methodology, analysis of costs, and untapped revenue potential, & recommend business objectives, strategies, policies & procedures
10. Understand about getting crowd funding; Lucky Ant's Crowdfunding for Small Businesses; RocketHub.org - The Community for Creative Crowdfunding

MBA GOALS (Mgt 548 students)

1. Demonstrate well-developed oral and written communication skills (measured in report & presentations)

2. Demonstrate well-developed critical thinking skills (measured in use of antenarrative, root cause, and intervention)

3. Demonstrate proficiency in quantitative analysis (measured in indicators logged into notebook field notes & report)

4. Demonstrate well-developed interpersonal skills (measured by behavior with clients)

5. Demonstrate proficiency in dealing with ethical and legal issues in business (measured in Axis C - ethical behaviors analysis & in answerability for conduct in consultation).

6. Demonstrate the sustainability improvements achieved in the small business you consult - use the SEAM tools and 3 axes for this.

PART VII.   EVALUATION CRITERIA

1)    Clarity of Description in Axis A, B & C in reports and quizzes- Is the organizational storytelling (narrative, living stories, & antenarrative) you do to consult with your client clear Project solution to their dysfunctions (Axis A)?  Is all (and only) the relevant qualimetric data presented in Mirror Effect? Have several Socioeconomic Tools (Axis B) been applied?  Are the implications of the Intervention developed for the industry (Axis C)?

2)    Breadth & Depth of Reflections- Are all viewpoints in the organization presented in a plausible manner? (Is there a Mirror Effect that has field quotes in it from various stakeholders: owner, manager, employees, customers, expert student consultant opinion?)  Are all important terms understood for their various meanings? What are the biases you see operating in the structures & behaviors of the organization? This is measured by assessment of your fieldnotes (or transcriptions) of interviews done in the field with your client (10 hours are required with an average of 5 to 12 pages of notes per hour of field time).

3)    Concise & Sound Reasoning- Does your central argument address all of the important issues raised in your description & reflections based in your field notes in Notebook, as entered into Blackboard? Do you incorporate all of the various perspectives with sound reasoning (can you listen to clients)?

4)    Powerful, Interesting & Useful Implications- Are the conclusions based on the preceding argument?  Was the central argument powerful, i.e. did it offer leverage for understanding and action? What value-added (lowering costs, raising revenues) happened from the intervention research?

PART VIII. GRADING, LATE WORK, AND ATTENDANCE POLICIES

A. Grading Policy

GRADING WEIGHTS

1. 30% of Quiz scores (drop lowest of 6 quiz grades)
2. 50% Mid-term and Final Report & Presentation (Note: low score on mid-term can be replaced by higher score on final report. Note: If you work in team, this grade weighted by peer evaluation. Note: Evaluation of report is done by clients,instructors, and by peer review of presentations). Policy: no grade higher than C if you do not have an average of at least 5 to 10 pages written in your field notebook, or same number of single-spaced pages of transcript for total of 10 interview hours by end of term.
3. 20% Active Intelligent Participation in Class, with well prepared- comprehensive Storytelling Notebook achieved. Half of your participation score is form actually doing online course evlaution. Your instructor gets a list of who filled out the course evaluation, but does not receive actual results until after the end of term, and never receives names of who gave whatever scores and comments. Thank you for doing the online course evalution.

B. Late Work Policy

• Work that is submitted 1 –7 calendar days AFTER its due date will be graded down 10%
• Work that is submitted 8 - 14 calendar days AFTER its due date will be graded down 20%
• No work will be accepted more than 14 days past its due date unless prior approval of the instructor has been obtained. Otherwise the student will receive a zero for the assignment.
• Final course projects and end-of-term papers must be turned in no later than final exam day of class UNLESS an "Incomplete" grade has been arranged in advance of the final course date
• Incomplete grades must be completed within 2 months following the end of the term

C. Attendance Policy

• Required class attendance days are indicated in course schedule schedule.
• You must contact the Instructor if you miss any scheduled class or your Team’s appointment with instructor or Client for consultation, for any reason. Individuals missing a scheduled class (for whatever reason: sick, job, sports, sleeping, wedding, etc.) owe a 2-page single spaced makeup assignment based on assigned book in schedule for day you missed.
• Make-Up for Missed Exam - There are six scheduled quizzes. If you miss one drop that score. If you take all six, then drop the lowest score. If you have a written excused absence from doctor or from sports Athletics Office for missing an exam, and have already dropped one exam score (or missed it), then you can have a quiz make up covering material taken form entire course, on last class day.
• Make-Up Work for Missed Class: 2 pages (single spaced) based on any appendix worksheet in the Savall et al textbook. Final grade is reduced by half a letter grade in the course for each missed hour. Make-up work is due the week following a missed day. When Can Make-Up Work for All Types of Absences Be Submitted:
• Work that is submitted 1 –7 calendar days AFTER its due date will be graded down 10%
• Work that is submitted 8 - 14 calendar days AFTER its due date will be graded down 20%
• No work will be accepted more than 14 days past its due date unless prior approval of the instructor has been obtained. Otherwise the student will receive a zero for the assignment

• Required client attendance is 10 hours total time during the semester. Policy: no grade higher than C if you do not have an average of at least 5 pages written in your field notebook, or same number of single-spaced pages of transcript for total of 10 interview hourse by end of term. We recommend 10 one hour field visits. There is no make-up for not doing 10 field visit hours or not taking verbaim field notes (or doing the transcription). Final grade is reduced by half a letter grade in the course for each day without a make-up.

PART IX. GENERAL COURSE POLICIES

• All assignments are to be typed in accordance with APA Guidelines and are due as shown in the class schedule at the end of this syllabus.  Please single space reports, use 2-sided printing.
• Substandard and late work as well as unprepared students will have a negative impact on the classroom exchange of ideas and will be downgraded accordingly.
• Although adjustments to the course schedule and syllabus are uncommon, it is the student’s responsibility to keep abreast of all changes and to adapt accordingly. Therefore check Syllabus on line weekly:    http://business.nmsu.edu/~dboje/448/448template.htm
• Any student’s with special needs or simply special requests should notify the instructor at their earliest convenience so that accommodations may be made on quizzes.
• Please provide feedback to the instructor on a regular basis to improve the learning environment and your experience in the class. Thank you.
• Please report immediately to the Instructor, any and all instances of unprofessional conduct, team member not doing their fair share of the workload, and any instance of cheating, plagiarism, and/or any sort of student on student harassment. dboje@nmsu.edu  

A. PLAGARISM POLICY

NMSU’s policy on plagiarism: http://lib.nmsu.edu/plagiarism/  .This appears to be a growing problem. It is fairly easy to Google excerpts from papers and assignments to check for plagiarism. If you find any cases, refer to the Academic Misconduct pages in the undergraduate (p. 21) or graduate (p.15) catalog. Thank you for your assistance on this matter. All students are expected to conform to the accepted standards of academic honesty. Any clear violations of these standards, such as cheating, violating copyright laws, or plagiarism are handled promptly, firmly, privately, and fairly by the Professor and may result in sanctions up to and including, receiving an “F” for the course, and dismissal from the University. If you observe cheating or plagiarism, please report it to your Professor, who will promptly notify the University (Dean, Chair, or appropriate academic official) of the discovery of the incident.

Course Policy on doing Your Own Work: Anyone who plagiarizes part of their reports or enters bogus data into field-notebook for non-interviews and observations, will be given a “F” for the entire course. Please reference others' work, "put other people's work in quotation marks" and give full citation. An "F" will also be given for anyone who falsifies attendance sheets or for team members who fain to get by on others' work (including members who collaborate in the deception). Each student is responsible for understanding what is plagiarism. Please consult on line Student Policy on plagiarism. http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/plagiarismforstudents.htm

The New International Dictionary of the English Language, (Funk & Wagnalls, c2000, p. 965) defines plagiarize as “to appropriate and pass off as one’s own (the writings, ideas, etc., of another)”.

Plagiarism involves:

• Submitting another person’s work as one’s own;
• Submitting work from any source that is not properly acknowledged by footnote, bibliography, or reference within a paper;
• Submitting work pieced together from phrases and/or sentences from various sources without acknowledgment;
• Submitting work with another person’s phrase(s) rearranged without acknowledgement;
• Submitting work that uses any phrase, sentence, or stylistic mannerism without acknowledgment;
• Omitting quotation marks from any directly quoted material;
• Failure to use three dots (…) to indicate omission of one or more words;
• Any other actions deemed to be plagiarism by the faculty.

B. PROFESSIONALISM POLICY: Professionalism will be determined by classroom and team behavior. Professionalism will include such variables as attendance, participation, teamwork, attitude, ethics, etc. Attendance is required and will be taken at every class meeting (more than 2 absences will be considered excessive). You are expected to participate in classroom discussion and group work activities. Please turn off your cell phone during class.

C. CELL PHONE & LAPTOP POLICY: Turn off cell phones and pagers during class time (each violation lowers your grade by one unit). Do not accept or place calls or text message during class time (no exceptions).  Cell phones will be confiscated and can be retrieved from the Dean's office, the following class day. Use of computers for note-taking is permissible, but surfing or work on other classes during our class time is not allowable. 1st offense implies that you are volunteering in Boje’s improv theatre training or a warning; repeated offense will lower one letter grade.

Use of cell phones, excessive absences or tardiness, sleeping, reading newspapers, failing to participate, whispering in class, and doing assignments for other classes are just some examples of behaviors that would cause you to lose your professionalism points. Turning in false reports on attendance to class sign-in sheets, or claiming attendance falsely in client interviews or consulting events is defined here as academic misconduct. Cheating or plagiarism are also defined as academic misconduct and will result in loss of all professionalism points and failure grade for the written work of the course.

Consult your Student Handbook
http://www.nmsu.edu/~vpsa/handbook.html

D. TEAM POLICY: We recommend you work alone. Teams is an option, and not required or recommended. Teams not working collaboratively will be asked to split up. If you choose to work in a team, then you are responsible for your own work. You are responsible as a team to maintain a healthy team atmosphere free of harassment, free of unprofessional conduct. All team members are accountable to immediately report harassment, unprofessionalism, or a member shirking responsibility for collaborative work to your Instructor. Each team will do a 360 peer review. Those peer reviews will weight the final grade, and can lower individual member's grades. The client also does a final assessment of your project, which weights the final grade. if you have a problem team member, the team may elect to fire them. The fired team member will do their own independent project. Please fire early, to leave individual sufficient time to move along in their growth and development, in doing an individual project.

FINAL 360 TEAM PEER RATING - your final grade is weighting of the 360 team review times your final report score

Your name _______________________ Your Client ___________________ Date _________

Final Grade for you and each team member below; comments are required if scoring less than A; please be honest. Your name will not be used when instructor relays comments to each team member

PICK ONE GRADE: A+ A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D+ D D- F+ F F-

Comments about your work input, hours of study, contribution to team or any deficiencies in work input, hours of study, lack of attendance to meetings with team, class or client; comments are required if their grade differs from you own, or you get grade they assigned to you.

Do this for each team member and submit it to Instructor in sealed envelope at Mid-Term and Final meeting.

E. Disabilities/Employee Relations Policy: Call the Director of Institutional Equity at 575.646.3635 with any questions you may have about NMSU's Non-Discrimination Policy & complaints of discrimination, including sexual harassment. Call the Coordinator of Services for Students with Disabilities at 575.646.6840 regarding student issues related to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and/or Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. All medical information will be treated confidentially.

Nest step: Go to Small Business Consulting - study guides

APPENDIX A: Steve Self's Plan for Center for Sustainaiblity Research

The Center for Sustainability Research (CSR) will be a first-of-its-kind sustainable structure, built mostly of recycled and natural materials, within an area of the Las Cruces campus designated for sustainability research. The architectural style of the building will blend in with the surrounding buildings and is intended to prove that sustainable buildings can fit into previously developed areas.
The initial structure could serve two purposes, housing the Office of Sustainability and it could contain living space for 2-4 FTE students where each spring, an essay contest can be held by the Sustainability Council to decide which contestants will be selected to live in the CSR for the following semester. Criteria for the essay contest would be developed and adopted by the Council. Since this will be the Center for Sustainability Research, the intent is for research to be performed in, around and on the systems and structure itself, to refine methods of sustainable operation and construction. The Sustainability Council would help in developing cross-disciplinary research initiatives where a spirit of cooperation would exist at all times. After all, sustainability is nothing more than organisms working together towards common goals and initiatives that complement each other.   
International programs could play an integral part in the CSR by exposing our international students to new methods of sustainable building and living and they might even be able to teach us a thing or two about sustainability. The hope is that these students take what they learn here, back to their home countries. This not only helps spread the word on how NMSU is being, teaching and living sustainably but will have a direct global impact on providing basic human needs by sustainable methods. Through research at the CSR, increasing the availability of clean, potable water, nutritious food and economical, energy efficient housing built from readily available natural and recycled materials could be a byproduct of our efforts.

Food
Providing nutritious food and water for ourselves and our families is essential to our continued existence. In order to flourish and not just survive we need a sustainable method to provide nutritious food. The CSR will be complete with both indoor and outdoor wetland planters where edible landscaping will be planted and grown. This important system will provide research opportunities to discover better and more productive methods of urban farming, food preservation and nutrition.  

Grey Water
Grey water is defined as waste water from sinks, lavatories and showers or tubs. The CSR will collect and utilize a grey water system to maximize the efficient use of water within the structure and be used to feed and water the edible landscaping. The grey water system consists of a sealed, lined basin filled with large aggregate on the bottom and smaller aggregate closer to the top with garden soil as the top layer. Weirs made from peat moss bales are placed every 10-12’ inside the basin allowing the water to slowly move through the system. The water is “scrubbed” as it moves through the aggregate and the crystal clear water is collected in a grey water sump at the end of the basin where in CAN be used to fill flush type toilets. In our case, the water can simply be used to water plants that are direct buried in the soil surrounding the structure. Drink-wash-water plants-give back to earth equals 4 different uses for the same water! Not only are we using as much water as we need but when we are finished with it we are giving it back to the ground in a very clean condition, recharging our underground aquifers.

Heating & Cooling
Heating will be provided by the passive solar effect, utilizing solar gain through windows’ southern exposure to the low winter sun. Heat will be stored in the insulated thermal mass berm along the west, north and east sides of the structure, utilizing the natural convection effect of heat transfer through mass. In the event the space temperature is outside of the comfort zone, hot water can be circulated through a radiant in-floor heating system. Due to the efficiency of the envelope of the structure, a small amount of heat is all that is required to raise the temperature of the space.
Cooling will be provided by reversing the natural convection process by allowing fresh, cool air from the north side of the building to move into the space through the thermal mass berm and across the floor with warmer air collecting and being evacuated through operable skylights. Deciduous trees will be planted along the south side of the building, shading in summer and allowing the low winter sun to penetrate the south glazing for solar gain. Indoor landscaping will be allowed to grow tall in the summer to filter out sunlight. In the winter months, the plants will be kept shorter to allow the sunlight to pass through into the space.

Potable Water
The world’s water tables have steadily dropped over the past 100 years and desertification has spread unchecked across what was once productive farmland. We cover the surface of the earth with materials such as concrete and petroleum based asphalt that do not allow for drainage, cutting off the ability for the ground to absorb storm water runoff. Meager attempts have been made to address this growing problem with the addition of storm water retention ponding into the landscapes of newer residential subdivisions and commercial zones. What is not understood clearly is the fact that in order to keep the retention ponds working properly, one must periodically dredge out the silt in the bottom or any water entering the pond will stand (not soak in) and will become habitat for mosquitos. In addition to not putting water back into the earth, we must stop sucking the earth dry through water wells and start utilizing the purified water that falls from the sky, even in a desert climate. Research has shown that as little as 6” of annual precipitation can support a family of four (4) when used in an efficient manner. By harvesting rainwater for our water needs, using this precious resource as efficiently as possible and giving it back to the earth when we are finished, we can return some of the parched areas of our earth to productive green space.
The CSR will harvest rainwater, storing it in enclosed cisterns for the occupant’s use. The water will be sanitized for consumption using first an activated carbon filter followed by two (2) levels of antimicrobial filtration but no chlorine or fluoride! With the cisterns being located just above the finished floor, enough NPSH (net positive suction head) for a small DC (direct current) pressure building pump will be present to supply the structure with ample water volume and pressure.

Power and Light
Electric power will be generated from solar and wind, with storage in batteries for around-the-clock use.  To reduce power requirements, LED lighting and energy efficient equipment will be used throughout the structure. Research opportunities abound in this area.

The Structure
Built from natural and recycled materials, the construction of the CSR will be an incubator for developing and resurrecting sustainable building practices. The people of the world have built homes from earth for centuries with some of these structures still in use today. Part of sustainability is remembering where we came from and reconnecting with the lessons our ancestors learned thousands of years ago. Some examples of natural building materials are rammed earth, adobe, rammed-brick and straw-bale. A few examples of recycled building materials include shipping containers, used tires, glass bottles, plastic water bottles and aluminum cans. These recyclable materials present a low-to-no cost option for building and in some cases an overabundance exists, adding to our landfills. These materials have been used in home construction since the 1960’s and have been determined to be safe to use. In other words, no off-gassing has been detected to date in structures containing tires, cans and bottles that were built over 20 years ago. That is not true in regard to normally accepted building materials such as treated lumber and laminates (plywood) that are chemically treated with substances that are toxic to humans and animals.
There are literally millions of used tires available, when packed with earth, to be used as high-density, ~300 pound building blocks. By systematically reducing the tire size (diameter) as the wall is built, the wall is automatically buttressed and can be as long as needed without any additional vertical support. This especially holds true when earth is compacted against the outside of the wall. A solid, reinforced concrete bond-beam will be used to finish off the structural integrity of the walls.
Vapor barrier and foam board insulation is installed on top and against the outside of the berm to form the thermal mass used in heating and cooling the interior space. The structure’s envelope must be as air-tight as possible with a roofing system equal to or exceeding R-60 in insulation value for the thermal mass heating system to work efficiently in all seasons and climates. The outer layer of windows will consist of both operable and inoperable windows for air flow through the structure. There will be one internal layer of windows separating the conditioned space from the outer greenhouse area. This method of construction will enable the structure to “stabilize” the interior environment (both temperature and humidity) no matter what the outside conditions are. There are many research opportunities here.
 
Water Heating
An insulated, hot water storage tank will store hot water produced from a solar collector located on the south side of the structure. A high efficiency, tank-less gas fired water heater will be installed to ensure that an optimum tank temperature of 140° F will be maintained and can be used during the coldest, cloud-covered days of the year. A recirculation loop and DC pump will be installed to ensure hot water is available at each point of use with minimum waste. All hot water pipes will be insulated and sealed to reduce heat loss.

Waste
In order to be as sustainable as possible, water-less composting toilets and water-less urinals will be used as opposed to the water consuming flush type. Composting toilets have been in use for quite some time with no negative publicity and there are many reasons why we should be composting human waste with the number one reason being that a properly operated aerobic compost pile safely kills all of the harmful pathogens. The compost produced from the composting toilets will be added to the outdoor compost unit and later incorporated back into the soil of the outdoor landscaping. All food waste and other compostable materials will be composted and all recyclable materials will be recycled reducing solid waste to a minimum.