Umass Amherst – School of Management 697PP: Perspectives on Leadership

Those of who read the post about my undergraduate summer class, Management 365: Business and Its Environment, are probably wondering two things right now,

1. This post will tell us whether you Umass-Amherst allowed you to enroll in the graduate class you were referring to, right?
2. Why was that post titled “…Management…” yet this one is titled “…School of Management…”, what’s the difference?

First things first, I passed the tri-party (Undergraduate Office, Graduate Office, & Professor) approval process and am officially registered and enrolled in the graduate level course, School of Management 697PP – Perspectives on Leadership! Some of you may be wondering why I’m taking a graduate class while I still have 36 credits (30 after these two classes, if I pass) left in my undergraduate career. Well, I was planning on taking the undergraduate version of the course, School of Management 397F – Perspectives on Leadership, taught by the same professor, Doctor Terry Porter, with the same textbook, Art and Science of Leadership (4th Edition) by Afsaneh Nahavandibut it was cancelled a few days before the semester started. I figured since I already bought the textbook, the two versions of the course appeared very similar, and I was doing as well as I could in my undergraduate classes (Spring 2007 Grades – University of Massachusetts at Amherst), I might as well take the challenge of a graduate level course.

Now, onto the title of this post versus the Management 365: Business and Its Environment post. The undergraduate class (MGMT 365) is part of the Management major at the Isenberg School of Management; while the graduate class (SCH-MGMT 697PP, as well as it’s undergraduate version, SCH-MGMT 697PP) is an elective course within the Isenberg School of Management. In other words, both classes are management classes (requirement versus elective), I hope that clarifies these two titles a little bit.

I do not have a reading list for this course available right now, as I did with the Business and Its Environment course; however there are outside readings in addition to the textbook and I will share with you all as much about the course as possible. So far, the course is interesting and have heard from good sources that the professor is quite excellent. Although Doctor Porter received her PhD degree from the Isenberg School of Management at Umass-Amherst, she is currently a professor at the University of Maine and is teaching this course during her summer vacation. Personally, I quite appreciate that Umass-Amherst uses outside professors (sometimes) during vacation semesters as it provides me a broad field of excellent professors. Here’s a little background info on Doctor Porter from this University of Maine site, “…her [PhD] research focused on corporate environmentalism. She will be teaching business strategy and policy at the Maine Business School. Previously, she was a professor of management at the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont. Her research program centers on strategic processes, environmentalism, and organizational theory.”

For those who didn’t click on the School of Management 697PP – the Perspectives on Leadership link, here is the official description from the Umass-Amherst web-site:

“An overview of leadership theory, including definitions and assumptions, historical and contemporary theories, ethical dimensions, and the use of authority and power. Current issues and applications including leadership in the new millennium, cultural and gender-based perspectives, groups and teams, the changing global environment, and alternative approaches. Cases and examples will be used throughout, and students are encouraged to develop their own definition and approach to leadership.”

There’s quite a few people in the course with some fancy titles (much better than my “Senior Tax Administrator”) so hopefully they’ll pass along some secrets on fancy title acquisition. Either way, it sounds like a very beneficial course, eh?