Ep. 54 - What is the Management concentration?

In Episode 54 of the CSUSB Advising Podcast, Matt Markin chats with professors Dr. Maggie Boyraz and Dr. Jacqueline Coyle-Shapiro about the Management concentration within the Administration major! What are students learning in management courses? What career opportunities are there? What department resources are offered?  Find out in this episode!

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Transcript

Welcome back to the CSUSB advising podcast. My name is Matt Markin, an academic advisor here at Cal State San Bernardino. And on today's episode, we are going to be learning more about the management concentration within the administration bachelor's degree. And we have two phenomenal faculty from the management department joining us today. And they are Dr. Maggie Boyraz and Dr. Jacqueline Coyle-Shapiro. Welcome to the podcast and thank you both for joining today. 

Thank you. 

So let's dive right in. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your path into higher ed and being at CSUSB?

I can start first. So again, my name is Maggie Boyraz. I have not really imagined that I would be in higher education. I, I was first Marketing and Management major in Poland. But I had strong interests in psychology, I knew I wanted to help people in the workplace. And I worked in HR. This was my dream job. I had some internships, but it wasn't quite what I imagine it to be. So I decided to go back to get a different degree, I received a PhD in communication from Rutgers University. And at that point, I realized that I need to be a researcher. So I had to polish my methods, I conducted an ethnographic study of a tech company. And it was fascinating. So after reading a lot, I realized that it is really so cool to be part of an organization to be that fly on the wall to listen to meetings, see how people collaborate, and talk to people. So I conducted interviews, observations, and also a survey in that company. But going back a little bit, I had experience working professionally, right. So I was always intrigued with the tensions between people. So how people naturally kind of create subgroups, right? I am an immigrant myself, I came back came to the US from Poland. And I am a woman. I worked in, in HR technology company. And I noticed that people naturally group themselves. So there are multiple layers of diversity in different organizations. And I was, I felt how to be an outsider. So I was really intrigued. How can we explore this? How can we explore diversity in teams? And how can we overcome challenges related to technology diversity in global organizations? So that led me to my research interest. And I'll give Jackie a turn about your invitation.

Thank you, Maggie. I have probably have the opposite experience to to Maggie. I've never had a job in a organization, but I've spent a career in organizations, helping them become more effective addressing issues. I always knew that I wanted to get a PhD, I got a PhD from the London School of Economics. I started my career at the University of Oxford, spent the next 26 years back at the London School of Economics and have recently joined CSUSB. My research focuses on the employee organization relationship. I do a lot of research on psychological contracts. So what happens when employers break promises to to employees? How do they respond? And so this, what I'm currently looking at, we've got funding for a three year project looking at exploitation and health. So to what extent do employees who feel exploited to what extent that impacts their health, and recently I finished a project looking at social impact amongst teachers in India, and so at CSUSB I teach organizational behavior and I also teach leadership. And so, through those courses, I want students to get the critical skills, the reasoning skills to actually understand people in organizations. So that when So, when they graduate, they have a greater understanding of how organizations work and also some of the issues that employees and managers in organizations face and with the leadership course, there is self development leadership activities, to try and actually develop students as future leaders.

Wonderful, thank you both and within the management concentration, can you describe management within this within the Administration major?

Sure. So, the administration is a very broad major at Jack H Brown, right? You can have different specializations such as finance and accounting and marketing, in general, all of them are supposed to expose students to some decision making tools and critical thinking skills that will allow them to function in today's organizations, which are very complex organizations, right. And by the junior years, students have to or are encouraged to select concentration, the management concentration, in particular, prepare students for being a critical thinker, decision maker within knowledge based organizations. So, essentially, students learn not just how to be managers, but how to be well rounded individuals to be able to, to see the world around them the complex world and facilitate how to help people grow, how to lead people how to manage resources, and increasingly that is complicated not just because are going to organizations are global, but because of the impact of technology that increasingly affects all of us, right? So managers need to be able to have access to technology, analyze it, but also they need to keep in touch with the human component, right? So they will they have to be able to know how to read the room lead, read the room and, and be able to make connections that will be significant to their business unit, right. So they need to know how to collaborate in teams how to facilitate that. And we so when I was thinking about this, how can we put what management is in simple words, and I really liked that terminology used by Henry Mintzberg. He's one of the professor's leaders, who with thought provoking leader who has defined management and in terms of three main areas, one is informational, interpersonal, and the third one is decisional. So a good leader need to needs to know how to be able to disseminate and monitor information sometimes act as a spokesperson, on behalf of the team organization, how to be a liaison, how to create connections between people, how to be a good team leader and department leader, and how to make good decisions based on data, how to allocate resources, how to negotiate. And all of these are not really easy to do, right? Some are very rational, and might be easier, right? You have your key performance performance metrics, and you can make decisions based on that. But a lot of it is based on intuition. And this is what people management deals with. I personally teach courses in applied communication, and teams and organizations. So I am focused more on the micro level of management and how to lead people in a team how to present yourself in a way way that others listen, how to brand, your own skills so that you get the jobs that you want. So that is pretty much in a nutshell what the management is about.

Yeah. And then aside from the concentration within the Administration major, do you also offer a minor in management?

We do. Yes. So minor in management involves 18 additional units and 15 of these units would be required courses, and one three unit elective course. So if anyone out there wants to get a minor in management, that 18 additional units would be the requirement.

Awesome. And then you talked about what what the management concentration is, can you talk a little bit about, generally speaking, what students are learning like in their classes within management? 

What are students learning in their classes? So, starting point it for for students, studying management is learning a bit about the sub disciplines in management. So a little bit about marketing, a little bit about accounting and finance, a little bit about strategy, a little bit about organizational behavior, communication, the degree offers students a broad pathway to understanding the different functions and tasks of management. And then students can choose electives. So they can focus in on leadership, if they want, if they're interested in honing and developing their their leadership skills, those that are kind of interested in more macro level courses, you know, would go down the strategy route or managing across cultural borders. So students are given the opportunity of learning knowledge, and also being able to kind of think critically about phenomena that happen in organizations or else at the boundaries of organizations, between organizations and the external stakeholders. We also emphasize ethics, because we want our students to be ethical managers and ethical leaders. So students will get exposed to sustainability management, you know, ethical dilemmas, you know, what would you do if this dilemma, you were faced with this dilemma? So we want students to have the critical reasoning skills, we want them to be thinking practitioners, but we also want them to be ethical in terms of the decisions they make the role modeling they do as future leaders.

Nice. And one of the questions we get a lot is the career question like, What can I do with this concentration when I graduate? Can you talk a little bit more about, you know, maybe career opportunities, or what you've seen some of your students go into after graduating?

Sure, the first thing to say is that there is no one career. students go on to a range of careers. Some work with public sector organizations, others go into government agencies, a range of private companies from giant multinationals, Amazon, UPS, to small, entrepreneurial or family owned businesses. And so our students essentially have a range of opportunities, depending upon their interests, or their callings, so to speak, in terms of the type of career they want to have. And many of our students well, I, I'm not sure whether many, some of our students then come back after a year or two and study for an MBA, you know, so when they've had a year or two, in an organization, you know, they have decided that an MBA would give them additional skills and additional foundation to launch. A more true to launch trajectory into management and leadership within an organization.

I would like to add to this so when I advise students on careers in the applied management course I tell them because a lot of our students at California State University San Bernardino work, they have a lot of work experience. But this is more of an entry level food service or retail experience. And I tell them that because of these experiences, they've gained so many valuable transferable skills, that it takes a little bit of effort to, to frame these skills for the jobs that they really want in the knowledge sector, right? So, upon graduation, we have to be thinking about jobs that require a college degree. And that is not easy to do to be more confident, oh, I just worked at this and this fast food joint. And I encourage them, yes, it does matter because you've gained customer service you've gained, how to be dependable. And so that helps them select those jobs that that they want, as future leaders in the local community.

Thank you both for answering that. And let's say a student is interested in management. But maybe they're on the fence of declaring it or officially changing it through the registrar's office. Do you have any suggestions for that student?

Yes, what if the student has the goal of working in an organization and if you think about it, you know, most of us work in organizations. And unless you've got an entrepreneurial idea, you're going to end up working in some sort of organization. And so management will actually help develop your knowledge and skills to effectively work in organizations and understand what's happening in organizations and how they work. And so if a student is sitting on a fence, you know, let me say to the student, think a couple of years from now, what are you going to be doing? And if your answer is working in an organization, then this is the degree that helps provide provide you with the foundations and the skills to be more effective.

That's perfect way to put that. And let's say, you know, with any major concentration, there might be misconceptions that someone might have or student might have. Do you feel that there are any misconceptions about a management that others might have?

Yes. Probably one miss conception is that students think that once they get their degree, they're straight into a leadership position, right after graduation. And some students do, particularly those, as Maggie has said, that have accumulated work experience as they've undertaken their degree. But a lot of students will actually start off with internships, start off with, you know, initial supervisory positions, and then get promoted to more of a senior leadership role. And so students will need to be a little patient. And, you know, it's the same with any students, they want the dream job, and they wanted right after graduation. And so students need to exercise just a little patience, because, you know, one job is a stepping stone to another job, and accumulating, you know, those skills, the diversity of skills. And so eventually, you know, students get, you know, the, the job that they wanted. So, I would say to students, you know, you've got to be a little patient. You've, you've got to actually allow your skills and experience, you know, to to bubble to the surface before you get your dream job. That's not to say that some students, you know, are on the pathway to their dream job upon graduation.

And within the Department of Management, are there any resources that your department offers students?

Yeah, we, I think have a lot of resources. We have a number of centers the Global Management Center, which facilitate students interested in studying abroad to do so, the speaking center and I'm going to ask Maggie to to jump in and talk a little bit about the speaking center, and then I'll continue.

Sure. So the speaking Center is an interdisciplinary collaboration between a few professors from the management department, including myself, and the communication department at CSUSB. So, essentially, what the speaking center is, it is the only center on campus focused specifically on improving students public speaking skills. So imagine, you know, we facilitate preparation for class presentations, but the ultimate goal is to improving students and you know, upon graduation, to become a better public speakers. So, the soft skills are really on demand right now, among all employers, regardless if it's a stem organization or not. So this is the mission, that improvement of skills but we collaborate closely with the writing office, another resource that is based within the Jack H. Brown College and one of our full time lecturers, Mel Bakeman is the leading director of that. So, I will let Jackie continue with the answer.

And so in addition to those centers, we've got three very active student clubs, the Society for Human Resource Management student club, the Future Business Leaders Association club, and the International collegiate business strategy, competition. So a lot of these clubs, enter competitions, and we've got a very good track record in performance in these competitions. And so some of the competitions, give students credit. Others such as the the bit future business leader, competition can get students a little bit of credit, you know, in my course in in the leadership course, that tries to, again, develop students as the future ethical leaders of tomorrow.

Let's say student has a question or they like more information, what's the best way for students to find that info.

So, probably the best way to find information about the department is to go to csusb.edu. In the search bar, enter management, and you will find our website with information about faculty and with contact information to our wonderful administrative service coordinators. You can step by in person. We are located in the Jack H. Brown building on fourth floor. The room number is 461. 

All right. Wonderful. A lot of great information. Thank you both for being on. So Dr. Coyle-Shapiro, Dr. Boyraz, thank you so much. 

Thank you for having us.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai