Business 101: Principles of Management - A Free Course

Great managers are made, not born. Learn about the qualities and skills of great managers in this Business 101 course.

Instructor Sherri Hartzell holds both an MBA and Doctor of Education, so she’s an excellent choice to teach you about principles of management.

Start by learning about the different levels of management in organizations and then dive into how good managers lead to great employees. Students of business, budding entrepreneurs and independent online learners alike can benefit from these short, engaging video lessons and interactive online quizzes. Business 101: Principles of Management can prepare you to earn real, widely transferable college credit by taking the Principles of Management CLEP exam or the Excelsior Principles of Management exam.

Chapter	Objectives
Management Basics	Learn about the three levels of management and their purposes. Explore how good managers promote productivity. Examine Henry Mintzberg’s 10 roles of management. Study the four functions of management.
Classical School of Management Theory	Discuss classical management theory from 1900-1930. Explore Max Weber’s theory of impersonal management. Describe the development of the classical scientific and classical administrative schools of management. Explain Henri Fayol’s principles of management. Examine Henry Gantt, Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, Mary Parker Follett and Chester Barnard’s contributions to the field of management.
Behavioral School of Management Theory	Explore the evolution of the neo-classical theory of management. Describe the development of behavioral management theory. Learn about Hawthorne’s study of employee productivity. Discuss the needs theory and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and how they’re used to motivate employees. Describe the two types of managers and the idea of self-fulfilling prophecies.
Contemporary and Future School of Management Theory	Get an overview of the evolution of the modern theory of management. Describe how the quantitative school of management was developed. Learn about the roles of operations management and information systems as branches of quantitative management. Explain systems management theory and how it’s used. Describe contingency and quality management.
Planning in Organizations	Examine planning as a function of management. Study the four types of planning. Describe SWOT analysis. Explain the role of a mission statement.
Organizational Change	Discuss how internal and external factors drive organizational change. Learn about types of internal organizational change. Discuss managerial challenges caused by organizational change. Explore the steps in the planned change process. Discuss Kurt Lewin’s force-field analysis change model and Kotter’s 8-step change model of management. Learn how companies become learning organizations. Define organizational culture and describe how it’s accounted for in the change process.
Organizing in Business Management	Explore organizing as a function of management. Describe the relationship between organizational design and structure and the differences between mechanistic and organic organizational structures. Explain the purpose of role specialization in an organization. Discuss authority in centralized and decentralized organizations. Identify types of traditional and contemporary organizational designs. Discuss characteristics of informal organizations.
Work Teams	Learn about groups, mobs and teams in organizations. Identify types of work teams. Explain the five stages of group development. Discuss what it means to be a cohesive group and how team-building activities can increase group cohesion. Explain the concept of group think. Discuss team conflict and the work process.
Leading	Define leadership and its role in organizations. Explain the differences between a manager and a leader. Explore the role of leading as a function of management. Differentiate between task-oriented and people-oriented leaders. Describe the characteristics of transformational, transactional, servant, laissez-fair, participative (or democratic), authoritarian (or autocratic), charismatic, situational and bureaucratic leaders. Explore the five leadership styles of the Blake Mouton managerial grid. Describe types of positional and personal power.
Leadership Theory	Explore Fiedler’s contingency theory and elements that dictate a leader’s situational control. Explain the Hersey-Blanchard model of situational leadership. Examine the path-goal theory and leadership styles associated with this theory. Define Machiavellianism and how it’s used to justify the means by the ends.
Motivation in the Workplace	Define motivation and describe needs-based and behavior-based theories of motivation. Discuss the Pygmalion effect and how it’s used to influence employee behavior. Describe how hygiene factors and motivators are used to understand motivation in work environments. Explain Alderfer’s ERG theory and how it accounts for employee motivation. Explain how equity, expectancy, reinforcement and goal-setting theories are used to motivate employees. Discuss how managers use intrinsic and extrinsic rewards to reinforce positive employee behavior. Describe how managers can redesign jobs and empower employees to motivate employee performance. Explore the various ways managers can increase job flexibility to encourage employees.
Communication in the Workplace	Discuss the role of communication for management. Describe the communication process and the role of organizational communication. Distinguish among types of communication used by managers. Discuss managing conflict in organizations and reasons for third-party intervention, including mediation and arbitration. Learn about perception and bias when interpreting behavior.
Controlling	Explore controlling as a function of management. Describe the steps in the organizational control process and types of organizational controls, including feedforward, concurrent and feedback. Explain the purpose of financial, budget, marketing, human resource, and computer and information controls in organizations and learn related vocabulary.
Human Resources	Describe the role of a manager in hiring and staffing. Explain various recruitment strategies. Describe the function of new employee orientation. Explain the process of assessing training needs. Describe types of employee training programs and different training methods. Discuss various laws and regulations related to human resource management. Explain the process of terminating an employee and best practices associated with it. Learn the purpose of evaluating an employee’s performance and describe types of evaluation systems. Define employee compensation. Describe the function of collective bargaining.
Strategic Management and Managerial Decision Making	Discuss the steps in the strategic management planning process. Provide an overview of business environments and the four functions of management. Describe the steps of the decision-making process. Explain how certainty, risk and uncertainty influence the decision-making process for managers. Describe quantitative tools used by management to make informed decisions. Explore PERT analysis and how it’s used to complete projects in time.
Production and Quality Assurance	Explain how productivity and quality affect profitability and the role of managers. Define Total Quality Management (TQM) and its five principles. Explain considerations of implementing TQM in an organization. Discuss contributions made to TQM by Deming, Juran and Crosby. Describe the ISO 9000 certification.
International Management and Contemporary Issues	Explore managerial functions in international organizations. Discuss characteristics of the international manager in global organizations. Explain ways a company can go international. Discuss considerations, such as politics, economics and technology, for managers who work for international companies. Explain regional integration, including its influence and purpose. Describe what it means to manage a diverse workforce in a contemporary organization. Explore Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory. Discuss the role of ethics in contemporary business. Define social responsibility and how it’s used by organizations. Describe the role of e-business in contemporary organizations and what it means to be e-business enhanced. Explain the relationship between creativity, innovation and change and how it’s important to be change-savvy in a knowledge economy.