OPS7200 Technology & Operations Management

2 CreditsTechnology & Operations Management (TOM) - This course introduces students to the fundamental components of a firm's operating systems, be it a mature enterprise or an early stage company. The course introduces the new methods and models to analyze, diagnose and improve operations activities for both manufacturing and service firms. We examine key issues for competitiveness including operations strategy, innovation, product and process design and development, global supply chain management, quality management, and sustainable operations. Developing a strong appreciation for the contribution of technology and operations to a company's market success is an essential element of effective decision-making for entrepreneurs and leaders of all types of organizations.

OIM2001 Technology Operations Management

4 Credits

**This course is equivalent to SME2002. Students who took SME2002 cannot take this course.**

This course focuses on the processes and management systems required for entrepreneurial leaders and managers to successfully test and actualize business strategy. To be effective, leaders must accurately interpret customer value through new product development & service system design. They must create, manage and make investments to improve the conversion of resources into delivered value. Ultimately a venture's Operating Model must conform to the business's objectives and tightly link all activities tailored to its strategy such that the intent and the actions achieve the desired results in an ethical and sustainable manner.

The structure of this course builds the critical thinking skills and introduces the managerial methods needed to become entrepreneurial leaders and managers in all operating environments, independent of industry or scope. Students will discover how the design of operations impacts measured performance and affects customer satisfaction. The course further instructs how the digital modeling of expected results before action is taken leads to improved operational decisions.

Managing operations is vital to every type of organization, for it is only through effective and efficient utilization of resources that an organization can be successful in the long run. This is especially true in a globally-networked economy, when we see that significant competitive advantages accrue to those firms that manage their operations effectively. We define operations in the broadest sense, not confining the focus within the boundaries of the firm but defining the scope to the intentions and activities considered in the supply of goods and services from their conception to their consumption.

In the classroom, students will have case-based learning and hands-on experience to apply operating theories and managerial tools to make well-informed decisions. Students engage in project & group activity and assessment to help supplement individual learning throughout this course.

Prerequisites: FME 1000

PHL4609 Technology, Nature and Values
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsInvestigates the ways in which our increasing technological capabilities have influenced our values and the reciprocal influence of beliefs and conceptual systems upon technological progress.

Prerequisites: Any combination of 2 ILA (HSS, LTA, CSP, LVA, CVA)

EPS3536 The Entrepreneurial Innovator
4 Advanced Management CreditsIn the Entrepreneurial Innovator, transdisciplinary teams will identify multiple entrepreneurial innovation opportunities, through user engagement and extensive prototyping, over the course of two separate design sprints. This experimental, hands-on seminar will be held in the Weissman Foundry and offer broad exposure to prototyping processes and capabilities. The seminar is open to 3rd and 4th year Babson, Olin and Wellesley (BOW) community students.

Innovation can be defined as creativity that is new and useful, combining elements of novelty and some compelling utility to an end user or target customer. Entrepreneurship considers ways to generate and monetize innovations, making value-creation profitable and sustainable. Working in transdisciplinary teams, BOW students roll up their sleeves to investigate and define unmet needs and innovation possibilities for two different user groups/customer groups. Participation in the seminar requires an action-orientation, frequent off-campus trips, user engagement, physical prototyping, as well as visual representations of user problems and innovative solutions.

Prerequisites: Open to all Babson, Olin, Wellesley (BOW) community students in their 3rd or 4th
year of study

ECN3625 Economic and Political Integration in the European Union
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Elective CreditsThe European Union is the most important experiment in liberal democracy since the founding of the United States almost three hundred years ago. The question is, will it ultimately succeed in its goals of eliminating trade barriers and increasing political unity in order to promote economic growth and ensure peace. From the "Brexit" movement in the UK, to the rise of right-wing populism in Hungary, Poland and Italy, to the massive influx of migrants from North Africa and the Middle East, the EU faces potentially shattering challenges to its authority and its institutions. Students will learn about the history of the EU, the institutional structures, the democratic nature of decision-making and legislation, the economic foundations of the single market and the impact of adopting a single currency, the Euro. With this knowledge in hand, students will examine the current crises and the future challenges for the success of the European Union experiment.

Prerequisites: (SME2031 or ECN2002) and ECN2000

SEN1332 The Greatest American Scandals

(Student Instructor: Elizabeth D'Agostino) Monica Lewinsky, Richard Nixon, and O.J. Simpson all have one thing in common: they were the subjects of journalistic scrutiny. In this course, we will focus on groundbreaking U.S. scandals of the past century to examine the role of journalism and its complex relationship with democracy. Students will explore politics, history, business, crime, and ethics, and questions about truth through interactive lectures, guest speakers, and media analysis. We will discuss how journalism informs facets of American culture, including gender roles, race relations, political battles, and institutions of power. After learning about historical events like Watergate, Clinton's impeachment, and the O.J. Simpson trial, students will be able to contextualize current events and ultimately answer the key question of this course: why does journalism matter? Course materials include podcasts, films, and TV shows such as "Slow Burn," "Catch and Kill", and "O.J.: Made in America."

Tuesdays: 6:30-9:00pm

HIS4670 The History and Ethics of Capitalism
(Formerly History of Capitalism)
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsThis course deals with the history of capitalism from early modern times to the present. It is concerned not just with the story of capitalist enterprise but with the cultural values and social institutions accompanying capitalism. It addresses the tension as well as the affinity between capitalism on the one hand and, on the other, contextual cultural values and social institutions. It especially focuses on the way that capitalist power subverts as well as supports the free market economy and democratic political processes with which it is often identified.

Prerequisites: Any combination of 2 ILA (HSS, LTA, CSP, LVA, CVA)

LTA2080 The Literature of Guilt: I'm Sorry for Apologizing so OftenN
4 Intermediate Liberal Arts CreditsThis course will examine guilt and how it affects us, both personally and societally. Through both literary and cultural texts, we will study guilt in a number of settings including familial guilt, generational guilt, survival guilt, and societal guilt. Students will be challenged to look at guilt in both its helpful and harmful forms, investigating why we feel the emotion and the effects it can have on us. We will read works by Dante Alighieri, Joseph Conrad, J.M. Coetzee, and Jane Smiley, among others. We will also watch Beloved and We Need To Talk About Kevin as well as the first season of Rectify.

Prerequisites: (FCI1000 or AHS1000) and (WRT1001or RHT1000)

OIM3610 The Mobile App
(Formerly MIS3610)
2 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits

**Students who took this as MIS3610 cannot register for this course**

Have you ever considered building a mobile app as an entrepreneurial venture or for a firm you hope to work for? Do you have an app in process that you would like to make stronger? Are you interested in honing your skills in design thinking, agile methodology and other modern-day approaches to project management and development? Do you want to better understand what it takes to successfully move an application from idea to market? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, this course is for you!*

This project-based course will guide you and your team through the process of producing a strong app idea, assessing the feasibility and viability of that idea, prototyping your app, building a requirements list to hand off to development, entering into a successful development relationship, packaging your app for commercial distribution and marketing your app.

During each session, you will learn about your next project step. You will then apply the learnings both inside and outside of class to advance your project.

You will begin your project with a design thinking exercise. You will then move through your project applying agile principles. We conclude the course with "app pitches" to outside experts who will give you professional feedback on your idea.

*Note: This is not a coding class. Instead, student teams will create app mock-ups in preparation for development and then learn how to form and manage successful development relationships.

Prerequisites: SME2012 or OIM2000

HUM4605 The Nature, Culture and Future of Work
4 Advanced Liberal Arts CreditsThis interdisciplinary course examines work from the standpoints of cultural history and organizational behavior. We will explore work as a marker of identity, work as a cultural construct, and work as an ideological and structural apparatus. The course will be organized around weekly film viewings and readings. The films will frame our exploration of work and serve both as cultural artifacts that represent American ideologies and case studies of particular work situations and perspectives. The readings will offer a range of theoretical and historical views from a variety of disciplines: cultural and film history, organizational behavior, economics, management theory, sociology, and others.

Among the questions the course will address are:
- To what extent does what we do professionally define who we are?
- What, if anything, do we expect of our jobs beyond a paycheck?
- What, if anything, do our jobs expect of us beyond our skill and time?
- What is the difference between work as a job, a career and a calling?
- How do American ideologies conflate professional achievement with success?
- In what ways are some organizational structures more conducive than others to contentment at work?
- What does it mean to opt out of or strive not to work?
- What is the past, present and future of work in America?

Prerequisites: Any combination of 2 ILA (HSS, LTA, CSP, LVA, CVA)