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The Certificate in Professional Management Consulting

Course Requirements for the Certificate: 21 units

The following courses, or their approved transfer equivalents, are required of all candidates for this certificate.

For students in management, project management, or human resource management MGMT 489F may not be counted towards satisfying their option requirements.

Applicants must qualify for admission to the program. For all students (e.g. existing CSU, Chico students, transfer students, exchange students), a cumulative grade point average of 2.75 is required for admission to the certificate program. Candidates for the certificate must be accepted by the University, but it is not necessary to complete the requirements for a bachelor's degree in order to receive the Professional Management Consulting Certificate. Please consult with the chair of the Department of Management or the Undergraduate Business Advising Office for additional admissions criteria.

A grade point average of 2.5 must be earned for courses required for the certificate, with at least a "C" earned in each course.

Foundation Courses: 6 units

2 courses required:

SUBJ NUM Title Sustainable Units Semester Offered Course Flags
Using a combination of theory and application, this course focuses on the human side of organizations, including issues of 1) making good decisions, 2) enhancing performance, 3) steering through a turbulent global environment, 4) combining and unifying multiple business functions and 5) enabling change. Students gain an understanding of management and how and why organizations are structured. The themes of quality, technology, ethics, and adaptation are emphasized. 3 hours lecture. (005704)
This course surveys human resource management practices needed for effective performance by every manager and employee. The focus of the course is on processes used to effectively recruit, select, develop, evaluate, reward, and ensure the safety of employees in order to attract and retain the best possible workforce in any organization. This course provides students with an understanding of workforce diversity, investigates ethical issues, and explores the international context of HRM. 3 hours lecture. (005690)

Certificate Core Courses: 9 units

3 courses required:

SUBJ NUM Title Sustainable Units Semester Offered Course Flags
Prerequisites: MGMT 303 or faculty permission.
Creating team effectiveness and developing project management skills. Includes coverage of the nine project management body of knowledge areas required for professional certification by PMI, the professional code of ethics, and the benefits of diversity on team performance. The course requires use of information technology including spreadsheets, Web-based file storage and sharing, electronic presentations and use of project management software. 3 hours lecture. (005731)

OR (the following course may be substituted for the above)

SUBJ NUM Title Sustainable Units Semester Offered Course Flags
Prerequisites: BSIS 301 or MINS 301.
Application of Project Management (PM) concepts and tools to systems projects. Students work in teams and apply PM concepts to projects and actual problems in organizations. 3 hours lecture. You may take this course more than once for a maximum of 6.0 units. (001334)
Prerequisites: MGMT 303, MGMT 304.
This course is the first in a two course series undertaken in pursuit of the Professional Management Consulting Certificate. It provides an overview of the consulting profession, the hard and soft skills required in consulting, typical phases of a consulting engagement, and life as a consultant. Particular attention is paid to the integration and application of management theory and practice for the diagnosis and resolution of organizational problems. To this end, this course offers students an opportunity to perform a situational analysis for a real client, allowing students to gain skills in selling a project, entering the client firm, gathering data, and diagnosing issues. Students develop analytical, problem solving, and facilitation skills. Course includes ethical and international considerations. 3 hours seminar. (005714)
Prerequisites: MGMT 488, instructor permission.
This course is the second in a two course series undertaken in pursuit of the Professional Management Consulting Certificate. The course is designed to provide students with the opportunity to build their consulting skills through the execution of an operational review. Students are assigned to work directly with a selected business providing an operational review under the supervision of the Management Department faculty. This course provides an integration of classroom learning and real-world applications resulting in a student-prepared final deliverable in both written and oral form for the client. 3 hours lecture. (021519)

Elective Courses: 6 units

2 courses selected from:

SUBJ NUM Title Sustainable Units Semester Offered Course Flags
Prerequisites: Admission to Business Honors in the Major program.
This course is a common first Honors course for students in all options, to be followed by an option-specific 499H. This is primarily a research methods course where students will learn the methodologies necessary for them to succeed in their Honors projects. Issues range from selecting a topic to the nature of data and specific research methods. The course also helps students integrate knowledge that they have gained from their business studies. 9 hours supervision. (001080)
Prerequisites: MGMT 303.
Effective organizations make active design decisions that support their goals and generate a competitive advantage. This course takes a systems perspective to analyze the different elements of an organization's design, including the fundamental elements of internal design and decisions regarding its interaction with its external environment. Students explore specific organizational design solutions that respond to recent social trends, technological advances, and changing environmental conditions such as increasing global competition. The course introduces students to difficulties inherent to managing a process of change, as well as processes that facilitate its effective implementation. The course further explores the development of continuously changing, learning organizations. 3 hours lecture. (005696)
Prerequisites: MGMT 303.
This course helps you gain an understanding of team processes and team performance in organizations. We examine theories related to teams and group dynamics and learn how to apply them to problems confronting team managers. Topics covered include the nature and use of teams, team formation, and factors that influence team effectiveness such as norms, cohesiveness, statues, roles, process issues, and team leadership. Specific attention is given to understanding how to manage conflict in teams and apply conflict resolution principles to make teams more effective. 3 hours lecture. (005730)
Prerequisite: Junior standing or faculty permission.
Focuses on the critical role of recognizing and creating opportunities as well as critical tools for analyzing a new business idea. Provides an overview of entrepreneurship including success factores and the entrepreneurial process. 3 hours lecture. (005722)
Prerequisites: Junior standing, completion of the BADM lower division core, or faculty permission.
This course offers students training in the use of System Dynamics for managing people in business settings. Students develop computer simulation models that allow them to test alternative management policies. 3 hours lecture. (020495)
Study of fundamental database design principles and techniques, including data modeling with Entity-Relationship diagrams and normalization. Study of SQL (Structured Query Language) database management systems capabilities. Study of the relational data model and relational operations. Study of database security mechanisms. Introduction to PL/SQL. Application of concepts and techniques to practical business scenarios. 3 hours lecture. (005814)
Prerequisites: MINS 235, MINS 325 (for MINS major), BADM 300W (for BSIS majors, may be taken concurrently).
An in-depth examination of tools, techniques, and processes used to support the systems analysis portion of the systems development life cycle. Emphasis is given to requirements gathering, gap-fit analysis, development of the business case for systems development projects, as well as tools and techniques that plan, identify, model and communicate conceptual systems to both end users and programmers. Both case studies and real projects are used to develop hands-on experience with conducting business analysis studies from object, data, and process perspectives. 3 hours lecture. (005818)
Prerequisite: MKTG 371.
Principles and practices of strategic personal selling, including relationship strategy, customer strategy, product strategy, and presentation strategy. The role of personal selling in the marketing mix and the current business environment. 3 hours lecture. (005886)
Prerequisites: MKTG 371, MKTG 473, or faculty permission.
Emerging techniques and issues in sales negotiation, persuasion, and customer relationship management. Financial, ethical and sales leadership issues are also examined. 3 hours lecture. (020786)
Prerequisites: OSCM 306 or faculty permission.
This course is also offered as SMFG 451.
The study and application of the quality management process in both the manufacturing and service sectors of the economy. Topics include process analysis and improvement, statistical process control, cost of quality, quality measurement, and quality in the global marketplace. 3 hours lecture. (005784)

Note: Upper division courses which are related to professional services and which are offered by other academic departments may also be taken but require prior approval by the chair of the Department of Management or the Director of the Professional Consulting Program.

Catalog Cycle:19