Business Department

Course Syllabus
Fall- 2020/2021
BUS 200 – Business Skills

Course The course introduces the student to the contemporary business world, the
Description: management process and the managerial decision making in organizations. It
demonstrates how people behave in organizations and how Human Resource
management deals with labor’s relations. This course also demonstrates the
basic principles of management, marketing and introduces the major financial
issues.

Credit Hour: Four (4) hours

Session: MW (12:30-14:00) & F (12:30-13:30)

Prerequisites: --
Textbook: Ebert and Griffin, Business Essentials, 11th edition, Pearson, 2017
Supporting Business Skills Pearson Book
Resources: Uploads on MUC Student Portal
Other Online resources as recommended by your instructor

Course Instructor: Farah EL KHATIB

Instructor Email: [email protected]

Course Objectives: On the completion of this course, students should be able to acquire a general
understanding of basic business principles: Global business, Entrepreneurship,
Management and Marketing. The course introduces students to the basic concepts and
tools of the field of business, including financial and operational management,
accounting, marketing, investing and entrepreneurship. It understands the global
context of business in the 21st century and provides real life examples to demonstrate
how business concepts can be of utility to the health sector and especially in the
Middle East zone. It provides a comprehensive introduction to the key elements of the
business organization, and helps competing theories and models of the firm and its
environment, and provides a critical perspective on the main functional areas of
management. It develops analytical skills to identify the links between the functional
areas in management, organizations, management practices and the business
environment.

Course Learning On completion of the course the student will be able to:
Outcomes:

This course syllabus is tentative and subject to change without prior notice. Page 1 of 9
  Understand the objectives of a business, the evolution of the business
organization and management thought, identifying the interconnections
between developments in these areas
 Understand the structure and classification of business, and the
differences among functional, divisional, matrix, international and other
organizational structures
 Demonstrate an understanding of the external environments of business
and discuss how these environments affect the success or failure of any
organization
 Evaluate alternative theories of management critically, recognizing the
centrality of decision making and strategic thinking to the managerial
role and functions
 Discuss and compare different models and approaches to understanding
the firm, evaluating these in the context of the business environment
 Discuss how businesses achieve success by demonstrating ethical
behavior, explaining the difference between social responsibility and
ethics, and identify how organizations and individuals develop their
social responsibility
 Understand the need for human resource planning, and the importance
of motivation in theory and in practice, and define human resource
management and how managers plan for their organization’s human
resource needs
 Demonstrate the use of empowerment in management and the most
important models and concepts of employee motivation
 Demonstrate an understanding of and define leadership and distinguish
leadership from management
 Demonstrate a basic understanding of the various pricing objectives
that govern pricing decisions, and describe the price-setting tools used
in making these decisions, including marketing strategy, marketing
planning and market research

Course The course material will be delivered based on the following techniques;
Approach: Lectures will be supported by the textbook readings and the PowerPoint
presentations to clarify and emphasize key points in the readings. Live
examples will be provided for a better understanding of the materials. Case
studies will be solved in class. Lab work will be assigned during the sessions
for research and analysis.

Grade Attendance and Participation = 5% Midterm = 25% Test I = 10%

Allocation:
Test II = 10% Assignments = 20% Final = 30%

This course syllabus is tentative and subject to change without prior notice. Page 2 of 9
MWF Course Plan:

Fall 2020-2021
Session Day Date Topics
1 M 19/10 Introduction to the Course, the material to be used, the methods of
assessments, and everything related to the course with an introduction to
the first chapter
Chapter 1: The U.S Business environment
Objective 1: Define the concepts of business and profit

2 W 21/10 Chapter 1: The U.S Business environment

Objective 1: Describe the concept of external environment
Objective 2: Describe the different types of global economic systems
according to the means by which they control the factors of production
 Power Point
 Discussion
3 F 23/10 Chapter 1: The U.S Business environment
Objective 2: Describe the different types of global economic systems
according to the means by which they control the factors of production
Objective 3: Show how markets, demand, and supply affect resource
distribution in the United States, identify the elements of private enterprise
 Power Point
 Media
4 M 26/10 Chapter 1: The U.S Business environment
Objective 3: Identify the Four Degrees of Competitions
Objective 4: Explain the importance of the economic environment to
business and identify the factors used to evaluate the performance of an
economic system
 Power Point
 Case Study: TAKING A BITE OUT OF INTERNET RADIO
5 W 28/10 Chapter 1: The U.S Business environment
Objective 4: Identify the factors used to evaluate the performance of an
economic system
 Power Point
 Case Study: TAKING A BITE OUT OF INTERNET RADIO
6 F 30/10 Chapter 2: Organizing the business (chapter 6 in the book)
Objective 1: Discuss and examine the factors that influence firm’s
organizational structure
Objective 2: Explain specialization and departmentalization as two of the
building blocks of organizational structure
 Power Point
 Discussion

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 7 M 2/11 Chapter 2: Organizing the business (chapter 6 in the book)
Objective 3: Describe centralization & decentralization, delegation, &
authority as the key ingredients in establishing the decision-making
hierarchy
 Power point
 Discussion
 Media
8 W 4/11 Chapter 2: Organizing the business (chapter 6 in the book)
Objective 4: Explain the Basic Forms of Organizational Structure and
describe the most popular new forms of organizational design
Objective 5: Describe the informal organization and discuss
Intrapreneuring
 Power Point
 Case Study
9 F 6/11 Chapter 3: Managing the business (chapter 5 in the book)
Objective 1: Describe the nature of management and identify the four
basic functions that constitute the management process
Objective 2: Identify different types of managers likely to be found in an
organization by level and area
 Power Point
 Media
10 M 9/11 TEST I (Chapters 1 and 2)
11 W 11/11 Chapter 3: Managing the business (chapter 5 in the book)
Objective 3: Describe the basic roles and skills required of managers
Objective 4: Explain the importance of strategic management and
effective goal setting in organizational success
 Power Point
 Discussion
12 F 13/11 Chapter 3: Managing the business (chapter 5 in the book)
Objective 5: Discuss contingency planning and crisis management in
today’s business world
Objective 6: Describe the development and explain the importance of
corporate culture
 Power Point
 Case Study
13 M 16/11 Chapter 4: Understanding Business Ethics and Social responsibility
(chapter 2 in the book)
Objective 1: Explain how individuals develop their personal codes of
ethics and why ethics are important in the workplace
Objective 2: Distinguish social responsibility from ethics, identify
organizational stakeholders, and characterize social consciousness today
Objective 3: Show how the concept of social responsibility applies both to
environmental issues and to a firm’s relationships with customers,
employees, and investors

This course syllabus is tentative and subject to change without prior notice. Page 4 of 9
  Power Point
 Discussion
14 W 18/11 Chapter 4: Understanding Business Ethics and Social responsibility
(chapter 2 in the book)
Objective 4: Identify four general approaches to social responsibility and
note the role of social responsibility in small business
Objective 5: Explain the role of government in social responsibility in
terms of how governments and businesses influence each other
 Power Point
 Discussion
15 F 20/11 Chapter 4: Understanding Business Ethics and Social responsibility
(chapter 2 in the book)
Objective 6: Discuss how businesses manage social responsibility in terms
of both formal and informal dimensions and how organizations can
evaluate their social responsibility
 Power Point
 Case Study
16 M 23/11 Independence day – No teaching hours
17 W 25/11 Chapter 5: Employee Behavior and Motivation (chapter 8 in the book)
Objective 1: Identify and discuss the basic forms of behaviors that
employees exhibit in organizations
Objective 2: Describe the nature and importance of individual differences
among employees
 Power Point
 Discussion
18 F 27/11 Review for the Exam and Discussions
19 M 30/11 Midterm week – No teaching hours
20 W 2/12 Midterm week – No teaching hours
21 F 4/12 Midterm week – No teaching hours
22 M 7/12 Midterm week – No teaching hours
23 W 9/12 Midterm week – No teaching hours
24 F 11/12 Midterm week – No teaching hours
25 M 14/12 Chapter 5: Employee Behavior and Motivation (chapter 8 in the book)
Objective 3: Explain the meaning and importance of psychological
contracts and the person-job fit in the workplace
Objective 4: Identify and summarize the most important models and
concepts of employee motivation
 Power Point

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  Discussion
26 W 16/12 Chapter 5: Employee Behavior and Motivation (chapter 8 in the book)
Objective 5: Describe some of the strategies and techniques used by
organizations to improve employee motivation
 Power Point
 Mini Case Study
27 F 18/12 Chapter 6: Leadership and Decision Making (chapter 9 in the book)
Objective 1: Define leadership and distinguish it from management
Objective 2: Summarize early approaches to the study of leadership
Objective 3: Discuss the concept of situational approaches to leadership
Objective 4: Describe transformational and charismatic perspectives on
leadership
 Media
 Power Point
28 M 21/12 Chapter 6: Leadership and Decision Making (chapter 9 in the book)
Objective 5: Identify and discuss leadership substitutes and neutralizers
Objective 6: Discuss leaders as coaches and examine gender and cross-
cultural issues in leadership
Objective 7: Describe strategic leadership, ethical leadership, and virtual
leadership
 Power Point
 Discussion
29 W 23/12 Christmas &New year vacation – No teaching hours
30 F 25/12 Christmas &New year vacation – No teaching hours
31 M 28/12 Christmas &New year vacation – No teaching hours
32 W 30/12 Christmas &New year vacation – No teaching hours
33 F 1/1 Christmas &New year vacation – No teaching hours
34 M 4/1 Chapter 6: Leadership and Decision Making (chapter 9 in the book)
Objective 8: Relate leadership to decision-making and discuss both
rational and behavioral perspectives on decision-making
 Power Point
 Mini Case Study
35 W 6/1 Armenian Christmas – No teaching hours
36 F 8/1 Chapter 7: Human Resource management and Labor relations
(chapter 10 in the book)
Objective 1: Define human resource management discuss its strategic
significance, and explain how managers plan for their organization’s
human resource needs
 Media
 Power Point

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 37 M 11/1 TEST II (Chapter 5 and 6)
38 W 13/1 Chapter 7: Human resource management and Labor relations
(chapter 10 in the book)
Objective 1: Define human resource management discuss its strategic
significance, and explain how managers plan for their organization’s
human resource needs
Objective 3: Identify the steps in staffing a company and discuss ways in
which organizations recruit and select new employees
 Power Point
 Discussion
39 F 15/1 Chapter 7: Human resource management and Labor relations
(chapter 10 in the book)
Objective 5: Describe how managers develop the workforce in their
organization through training and performance appraisal
Objective 6: Discuss workforce diversity, the management of knowledge
workers, and the use of a contingent workforce as important changes in the
contemporary workplace
 Power Point
 Discussion
40 M 18/1 Chapter 8: Marketing Processes and Consumer Behavior (chapter 11
in the book)
Objective 1: Explain the concept of marketing and identify the five forces
that constitute the external marketing environment
Objective 2: Explain the purpose of a marketing plan and identify its main
components
 Power Point
 Discussion
41 W 20/1 Chapter 8: Marketing Processes and Consumer Behavior (chapter 11
in the book)

Objective 3: Explain market segmentation and how it is used in target

marketing
Objective 4: Discuss the purpose of marketing research, and compare the
four marketing research methods
Objective 7: Discuss the marketing mix as it applies to small business
 Power Point
 Discussion
42 F 22/1 Review for the Exam and discussions

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Assessment Dates:

TEST I Session # 10 Ch. 1 & 2

November 9th + Portal Material
+ class notes
+ book
Midterm 1st & 2nd week of Ch. 2, 3, 4
December + class notes
+ portal material
+ book
TEST II Sessions # 37 Ch. 5, 6
January 11th + Portal Material
+ class notes
+ book

Final 1st week of February Ch. 5, 6, 7, 8

+ class notes
+ portal material
+ book

** Make-up work and tests will not be allowed, except in extreme cases. All make-up
assessment submissions require the approval of the dean and the head of the
department.

Classroom Policies:

Attendance: Class attendance is mandatory and constitutes 5% of the final grade. If for some
reason a student has to miss class unexpectedly, it is the student’s responsibility to make certain
that all assigned work is completed. Excessive absenteeism will be grounds for disciplinary and
corrective actions by MUC and may result in an automatic withdrawal from the course.
Participation: Participation is a necessary part of classroom learning and constitutes 5% of the
final grade. It is not enough to attend courses; students must also participate in the learning
process. Students are graded on participation separately from attendance, however absence from
class necessarily deducts from a student’s total participation grade. Likewise, students who do
not participate, or those who attend class and cause a disruption, will lose participation points.
To fully participate in classes, students should read the chapter prior to the lesson, and add
positive commentary or questions to the session. Cell phones are strictly forbidden in class and
examination rooms, and the use of cell phones constitutes classroom disruption. The use of a cell
phone, without permission attained from the teacher prior to class, will result in the loss of
participation points. If a student fails to put the cell phone away, other disciplinary actions may
be taken.

This course syllabus is tentative and subject to change without prior notice. Page 8 of 9
Student Contribution: Learning is an active process. All students are required to engage
in this learning process and contribute to the learning environment of the university. Given
this students are expected to: Attend and participate in the lecture/seminar discussions and
activities, cooperate in completing individual and collaborative class work/assignments/
presentations, research topics and read chapters prior to their introduction in class, follow-
up on sessions by identifying key concepts in appropriate reference literature and reading
more about them, review tasks/hand-outs and complete further supplementary examples
not covered in class

Makeup Assessments: Exams will be given on the above scheduled dates. However, a makeup
exam or assessment may be given by written consent of the department if the student sends an
electronic petition within 5 days of the date of the exam. The date of the makeup will be decided
by the department concerned, as will any penalty applied toward any assessment not taken on the
scheduled date(s).

Academic Integrity & Misconduct: Plagiarism is defined as the practice of (dishonestly)

claiming or implying original authorship of material which one has not actually created.
Plagiarism, or any form of cheating, will result in a ZERO for the course. In addition, it is
everybody’s responsibility to provide an environment conducive for learning; therefore, mutual
respect is required between students and instructors as well as between students themselves.
Any notion of misconduct will be reported to the administration and may lead to suspension,
probation, or dismissal from the university.
Assignments & Projects: Assignments and projects must be turned in by the set due date.
If you are absent from class, you should call a fellow classmate to find out if there were
any assigned exercises, assignments, homework or practice drills during your absence. You
are responsible for any and all information given during your absence.

The department wishes you a fruitful semester.

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