OIM3508 Foundations of Project Management
(Formerly MOB3508)
2 Advanced Management Credits

**Students who took this as MOB3508 cannot register for this course**

This course is an approved elective for the Operations Management concentration. Students taking this foundational course may not also register for MOB 3509, given course content overlap.

According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), there are nearly 250,000 open project

management jobs each year across seven project-intensive industries: business services, construction, finance and insurance, information services, manufacturing, oil and gas, and utilities. As more work becomes project-based, projects grow in complexity, and clients demand accountability and efficiency, graduates with project management skills will be in increasingly high demand. In this course, you will learn foundational skills for leading cross functional teams using up-to-date PM best practices, methodologies, and tools. This course is applicable across career paths such as consulting, information technology, entrepreneurship, new product development and many others. Students will be exposed to both the technical and behavioral skills required to effectively lead project teams -- whether as an official "Project Manager" or an unofficial leader temporarily charged with leading a project implementation.

Foundations of Project Management focuses on what is often referred to as the traditional or "waterfall" approach to project management. Taught primarily via case study discussion, course content is consistent with PMP (Project Management Professional) certification principles. CIO magazine ranked the PMP as the top project management certification, as it demonstrates candidates have the specific skills and experience employers seek. This course satisfies 22 of the 23 educational hours required by PMI to apply for the junior-level PMP certification exam (known as the CAPM); the other hour was satisfied by the PM-related content in the SME prerequisites (below).

Foundations of Project Management makes an attractive future pairing with the "Foundations of Agile" course offering.

Prerequisites: SME2001 and SME2002 and SME2011 and SME2012

  • Program: Undergraduate
  • Division: Operations and Information Management
  • Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
  • Course Number: OIM3508
  • Number of Credits: 2

OIM3501 Health Systems Innovation Lab
(Formerly MOB3501)
4 Advanced Management Credits

**Students who took this as MOB3501 cannot take this course**

Global Health Innovation Lab is a learning-by-doing course where student teams are paired with students from universities around the world to identify and solve problems related to the development and implementation of health innovations in low and middle income settings. For our first offering of the course, students will be paired with medical students from the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda. Students will be assigned to a high priority project challenge from a healthcare-related organization in Rwanda. Based on the challenge presented by the organization, students will follow the design thinking process, paired with approaches from healthcare management and entrepreneurship, medical anthropology and sociology, and information technology to prototype and test solutions that address organizational challenges. Organizational challenges may relate to care delivery services or technologies needed within clinic settings or in the community. The students will be expected to interact with the partner organizations regularly to make progress. Students will be connected with alumni or other experts as they need additional project support. Student teams are assessed based on their teamwork, project progress, and completion of course readings and activities. Students will have the opportunity to share their projects with the broader global health community through the Healey Center for Global Healthcare Entrepreneurship at Babson.

Prerequisites: (FME1000 and FME1001) or (EPS1000 and MOB1010)

  • Program: Undergraduate
  • Division: Operations and Information Management
  • Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
  • Course Number: OIM3501
  • Number of Credits: 4

OIM3578 Integrated Product Design
(Formerly MOB3578)
4 Advanced Management Credits

**Students who took this as MOB3578 cannot register for this course**

You will work with industrial design students from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design (in Boston) and engineering students from Olin College of Engineering to develop new products through projects that are student-generated. Students learn first-hand about the techniques and contributions different disciplines bring to product design and practice collaboration common in professional design settings. This course provides valuable multidisciplinary preparation for students interested to work in innovation projects in established firms or develop and launch their own consumer products. Class will be held once a week and rotate between all three campuses.

Babson students should enroll in MOB3578.

Interested Wellesley students should cross-register in this course at Olin under ENGR3250.

Prerequisites: (SME2001 and SME2002) and EPS4515 or EPS4527 or DES3600

Students must have completed ONE (1) of the following courses.

Students who have completed a course from Olin College, from the prerequisite course list, must contact the Registrar for a Pre-Requisite Waiver.

ENGR 2250 (Olin College) User-oriented Collaborative Design
ENGR 1200 (Olin College) Design Nature
ENGR 2199 (Olin College) Engineering for Humanity
ENGR 3220 (Olin College) Human Factors and Interface Design

  • Program: Undergraduate
  • Division: Operations and Information Management
  • Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
  • Course Number: OIM3578
  • Number of Credits: 4

OIM4520 Leading Innovation: At Gorillas, Chimps and Monkeys

(Formerly Innovation Dynamics & Disruption)
2 Advanced Management Credits

IBM was the largest firm (a Gorilla) in the mainframe computer industry. However, a startup (a Monkey) called Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) came and displaced IBM in the next generation of products called mini-computers. Then, another Monkey called Apple created an entirely new personal computer industry. IBM, the Gorilla, was fast becoming obsolete. Yet, IBM avoided disruption by also entering the PC industry in 1981 and then dominating it. However, by the early 1990s, many more Monkeys and Gorillas - Compaq, Dell, HP, and others - entered the PC industry with lower prices and more profitable business models. In 1993, IBM posted the then-biggest loss in history of corporate America - $8 billion. The game between Gorillas, Chimps and Monkeys is never ending and the dynamics of competition and innovation between them changes the world that we live in. This course goes deep into: (1) How Monkeys can beat Gorillas. (2) How Gorillas will fight back. (3) How Chimps can succeed in the middle. (4) How entrepreneurial leaders navigate uncertainty and lead change. (5) How innovation can change the dynamics of competition.

Prerequisites: None

  • Program: Undergraduate
  • Division: Operations and Information Management
  • Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
  • Course Number: OIM4520
  • Number of Credits: 2

SME2012 Managing Information Technology and Systems
3 Intermediate Management CreditsDescription: Managing Information Technology and Systems (MITS), part of the second year management curriculum, is designed to introduce students to the foundational concepts in Information Technology and Systems (ITS) and their application in managing innovation, ITS infrastructure, and organizational partners (suppliers/customers) in the context of a medium/large business. The course will integrate primarily with Marketing and Operations using common/linked cases and joint exercises. The pre-requisites for the course is FME (Foundation of Management and Entrepreneurship).

Prerequisites: FME1000

  • Program: Undergraduate
  • Division: Operations and Information Management
  • Level: Intermediate Management (UGrad)
  • Course Number: SME2012
  • Number of Credits: 3

OIM2645 Modeling with Excel
2 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits

Students who took this as MIS2645 cannot register for this course

Today's employment market requires students to have good Excel modeling skills. Potential employees want newly minted graduates to hit the ground running and this means knowing how to skillfully operate with Spreadsheets. This class will teach intermediate Excel skills using real case studies and hands-on exercises. In particular, you will learn how to use Excel to manage large data sets by using functions like Pivot tables, Vlookup and others.

Prerequisites: None

  • Program: Undergraduate
  • Division: Operations and Information Management
  • Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
  • Course Number: OIM2645
  • Number of Credits: 2

OIM3503 Operations for Entrepreneurs
(Formerly MOB3503)
4 Advanced Management Credits

**Students who took this as MOB3503 cannot register for this course**

This elective course will examine the real-world operational challenges and execution risks associated with getting a venture started and building a start-up operation from scratch. The class will include case-discussions, a semester-long project and guest speakers. The course will provide students with a set of practical frameworks, decision-making techniques and business management tools that can be used in developing their operational processes and managing their operational resources in a start-up. During each session, the students will be exposed to a different operations-related concept which they will apply to their own start-up venture or to the operation of an existing local start-up in the semester-long project.

We will consider the operational challenges experienced by start-up ventures in a variety of industries. Case studies and class discussions will explore operations topics which are unique to start-ups including: Operational Business Models; Start-up Operation Metrics; How to Find a Supplier/Operations Partner; Product/Service Outsourcing Mistakes; Challenges in Achieving Product/Service Quality Control; How to select a Product/Service Distribution Channel; Managing Start-up Inventory; Challenges in meeting Product/Service Demand; Handling Market Uncertainty and Supply Uncertainty; Importance of Operational Flexibility; Bootstrapping Operational Costs; Operational Scalability.

Local entrepreneurs will serve as frequent guest speakers who can provide real-world insights on their own operational challenges, failures and success as they developed their ventures.

This course is an approved elective for the Operations management concentration.

Prerequisites: (SME2001 and SME2002) or permission of the instructor.

  • Program: Undergraduate
  • Division: Operations and Information Management
  • Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
  • Course Number: OIM3503
  • Number of Credits: 4

The sophomore management experience MAC and TOM module (SME) integrates two subject streams: Technology and Operations Management (3 credits) and Managerial Accounting (3 credits). This module focuses on the internal organization and processes required for entrepreneurial leaders and managers to successfully test and execute business strategies. To be effective, entrepreneurs and managers must design operations, model the expected performance of operational designs, make decisions that strategically manage costs, and take actions that achieve desired results in an ethical manner. The two streams in this module will help build the skills you need to become ethical entrepreneurial leaders and managers. You will experience how the design of operations impacts measured performance, and how modeling expected results before action is taken leads to improved operational decisions. SME will also provide learning experiences that demonstrate the interconnections between the streams.

SME2002 Managing Operations

3 Intermediate Management CreditsManaging 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 today, 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 a set of walls but defining the scope to the thoughts and activities necessary to supply goods and services from their conception to their consumption. This course introduces you to the operational challenges that entrepreneurs and managers face and provides a set of tools to aid you in designing, evaluating and managing business processes to meet your organization's objectives. Throughout the semester we will explore interconnections between operational actions and management accounting analyses.

Prerequisites: FME1001 or equivalent

  • Program: Undergraduate
  • Division: Operations and Information Management
  • Level: Intermediate Management (UGrad)
  • Course Number: SME2002
  • Number of Credits: 3

OIM3640 Problem Solving & Software Design
4 Advanced Liberal Arts Credits

Students who took this as MIS3640 cannot take this course

Teaches students assorted techniques and strategies to identify, approach and solve problems in business and personal areas. Students learn how to write computer programs to offer efficient solutions for certain types of problems using a computer programming language of the instructor's choice (currently Python). Students complete a capstone project to demonstrate their learning, create something of value, and add to their personal portfolio. This course emphasizes hands-on computer skill development in a computer lab setting. The examples and problems used in this course are drawn from diverse areas such as text processing, webpage scraping, web development and data analytics.

Prerequisites: (QTM1000 or AQM1000) and (SME2012 or OIM2000)

Students are expected to be able to open command prompt window or terminal window, edit a text file, download and install software, and understand basic programming concepts.

  • Program: Undergraduate
  • Division: Operations and Information Management
  • Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Liberal Arts (UGrad)
  • Course Number: OIM3640
  • Number of Credits: 4

OIM3509 Project Management
(Formerly MOB3509)
4 General Credits

Students who took this as MOB3509 cannot register for this course

According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), there are nearly 250,000 open project management jobs each year across seven project-intensive industries: business services, construction, finance and insurance, information services, manufacturing, oil and gas, and utilities. As more work becomes project-based, projects grow in complexity, and clients demand accountability and efficiency, graduates with project management skills will be in increasingly high demand. In this course, you will learn critical skills for leading cross functional teams using up-to-date PM best practices, methodologies, and tools. This course is applicable across career paths such as consulting, information technology, entrepreneurship, new product development and many others. Students will be exposed to both the technical and behavioral skills required to effectively lead project teams -- whether as an official "Project Manager" or an unofficial leader temporarily charged with leading a project implementation. The course will be taught primarily via case study discussion, with a significant "hands-on" component that includes the authoring of key project plan documents and a solid exposure to Microsoft Project. At the conclusion of this course, students will have satisfied PMI's educational requirements to apply for the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) exam. This course is an approved elective for the Operations Management concentration.

Prerequisites: (SME2001 or ACC2002) and (SME2002 or OIM2001) and (SME2011 or MKT2000) and SME2012 or OIM2000) or permission of the instructor.

  • Program: Undergraduate
  • Division: Operations and Information Management
  • Level: Advanced Elective (UGrad),Advanced Management (UGrad)
  • Course Number: OIM3509
  • Number of Credits: 4