Departmental Assessment Report

Latest Revision 3-5-08

Major: General Business

NOTE: The General Business Management major is characterized by its breadth of focus. Relatively few required courses are specific to this major, allowing students to explore a range of topics and techniques associated with different business disciplines. Consequently, the outcomes for the major correspond closely to the core outcomes for the college.

1.	Demonstrate an understanding of the fundamental business disciplines, including accounting, finance, management, marketing, and operations management.
2.	Demonstrate knowledge of the social and economic contexts within which businesses operate. Understands that this context is global, demonstrating appreciation of practices and perspectives associated with other countries and cultures.
3.	Identify business and employment legal issues and assess the legality of possible solutions.
4.	Identify ethical issues and demonstrate sound reasoning in assessing the ethical implications of possible solutions.
5.	Effectively communicate ideas, observations, analyses, conclusions, and recommendations to others in a variety of professional contexts.
6.	Identify employee-related issues, and appropriate managerial practices for dealing with these issues.
7.	To identify and analyze problems, creatively generate alternatives, and formulate a sound plan for implementation. This includes the ability to deal effectively with relatively unstructured situations, as well as the ability to integrate and synthesize different business disciplines to solve business challenges.
8.	Analyze the strategic challenges faced by a business, and develop appropriate competitive strategies.
9.	Form and build an effective problem solving team and facilitate team problem-solving, exercising leadership and interpersonal skills.

Assessment Plan: Measures, Where Assessed, and How Information is Used

Learning Goal	Assessment Measure:	How is the information used?
1: Business Disciplines	Structured testing in capstone course, including ETS Business Field Test.	Results presented to Management faculty in annual department retreat. Implications for this major are discussed in a subgroup which presents proposals to the Management faculty. The Chair establishes action task forces to act on proposals. Results are also provided to administration and faculty in all of the COBE departments.
2. Business Context	Structured testing in capstone test, including ETS Business Field Test.	Same as for Learning Goal 1.
3: Legal Issues	Structured testing in capstone test, including ETS Business Field Test.	Same as for Learning Goal 1.
4: Ethical Issues	Core Improvement and Assessment Team Annual Assessment. These assessments take place in the capstone course, and include performance on cases with embedded ethical issues.	Same as for Learning Goal 1.
5. Communication	Core Improvement and Assessment Team Annual Assessment. Assessments reflect student performance on a variety of written assignments, as well as oral presentations.	Same as for Learning Goal 1.
6: Employee Management	Semester comprehensive assignments in Human Resources courses, scored using standard protocols.	The instructors for HR courses review results annually and make improvements accordingly. Status report given at annual department retreat.
7: Problem Solving	1. Individual performance in MGMT 301 on unstructured problem, scored using standard protocol. 2. Core Improvement and Assessment Team Annual Assessment. This will involve assessment of a number of cases, including at least one comprehensive case requiring the integration of different business disciplines.	Core Coordinator for MGMT 301 meets with instructors and reviews results annually. This group formulates proposals for change which are presented at the annual department retreat. The Chair establishes action task forces to act on proposals. Results from the Core Improvement Team annual assessment will be presented to the management department, as well as administration and the other COBE departments.
8: Strategic Analysis.	Performance on comprehensive cases in GENBUS450 requiring the development of appropriate competitive strategies. 2. Core Improvement and Assessment Team Annual Assessment. ?	Core Coordinator for GENBUS 450 meets with instructors and reviews outcomes and assessment results annually. This group formulates proposals for change which are presented at the annual department retreat. The Chair establishes action task forces to act on proposals.
9. Team Process and Problem Solving Skills	1. Core Improvement and Assessment Team Annual Assessment in capstone class. 2. Also assessment of team process and performance in MGMT 301, scored using standard protocol.	Same as for Goal 1 for Core Improvement Team Annual Assessment. Core Coordinator for MGMT 301 meets with instructors and reviews results annually. This group formulates proposals for change which are presented at the annual department retreat. The Chair establishes action task forces to act on proposals.

	Business Disciplines	Economic/Social Context	Legal Issues	Ethical Issues	Communi-cation	Employee Management	Problem- solving	Strategy/ policy	Team Building
COURSES
Management Department Offerings
Reguired
GENBUS202	C	C	C	C
MGMT301	C	C		C	C	C	C A		C A
GENBUS450	C *	C *	*	*	C *		C *	C A?*	C *
3 of 4, one must be a MGMT-HR course
GENBUS302	C	C	C
GENBUS441	C	C	C	C
MGMT410	C						C
MGMT-HR 305	C		C	C	C	C A
MGMT-HR 340	C		C	C	C	C A
MGMT-HR 408	C		C	C	C	C A
MGMT-ENT 320	C		C	C	C
MGMT-ENT 420	C		C	C	C
Additional Required Courses	C
International Elective	C	C
Core Requirements (ACCT, BUSCOM, BUSSTAT, ECON, FINAN, ITM, MKTG, SCM	C	C

C = Coverage

A = Course-Embedded Assessment Used for Assurance of Learning

* GENBUS 450 is the capstone course for the COBE. In this course, students in this course are assessed on most of goals listed above. Employee management is assessed in the HR courses.