HOST 1195: Business Management

Dr. Richard Chua, consultant, professor and certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt trainer, explains the fundamentals of operational excellence-from key concepts and tools to methodologies and implementation best practices. He explains lean principles and shows how to eliminate variation, operationalize the voice of the customer (VOC), error proof, and build in quality at the source.

In this course, accounting professors Jim and Kay Stice explain what KPIs your business should consider in a balanced scorecard, from financial goals to employee and customer satisfaction. They describe how to craft a clear mission statement that complements your KPIs, and how to tie performance to incentives. Plus, get a look at KPIs in action, as Jim and Kay break down a case study examining a trucking company's balanced scorecard.

Instructor Jamie Champagne covers the information, skills, and practices that you need to make smart, fast, and informed business decisions. Jamie explains why data skills are required today, how successful leadership choices depend on drawing insights from data, and how to distinguish the driving factors that require analysis skills. She shows how to identify the business problem or opportunity, break down the business problem into data requirements, and drive to prescriptive questions. Jamie also discusses how to identify current data, use data to draw conclusions, and use visuals and storytelling to share data. Plus, Jamie steps through how to present data in response to business requests, identify data gaps, and leverage data to drive business decisions.

In this course, leadership consultant and global workforce expert Dr. Shirley Davis covers the basics of leading yourself and others. Along the way, she identifies the critical competencies and best practices for effectively leading today and in the future. Learn how to lead across differences and cultivate a more inclusive workplace; establish trust; build relationships up, down, and across the organization; lead change through agility and resilience; have difficult conversations; and more.

Learn the art and science of business decision-making from leadership trainer and coach Mike Figliuolo. Mike outlines the four styles of decision making—autocratic, participatory, democratic, and consensual—and reveals which styles are best suited for specific situations. Recognizing that ambiguity is a part of any decision-making process, Mike covers the four types of ambiguity you'll face so that you can recognize what you don't know in order to reduce risk and plan for contingencies. He also presents techniques for involving stakeholders in the decision-making process, and explains how to use a RACI (responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed) matrix. By applying these major concepts, you'll have the tools to help you make better decisions faster, incur less risk, and gain more support for your decisions.

Want to make better decisions at work? In this short course, author, innovation expert, and professor Drew Boyd discusses ways to confront our hardwired cognitive biases, in order to make good decisions and exercise more balanced, sound judgment.