BA 301 Research & Analysis of Business Problems
Fall 2009
Professor Nobles
Main Course Page - All Sections
General Information
Welcome to BA 301 for the Fall term of 2009. I've created this web site as a central resource for the course. There is a custom text book available at the PSU bookstore, and we'll talk about it in the first class. But, after the first class, most of the materials needed for day-to-day class activities will be available on this site. I'm trying to save a few trees, so you can access the latest versions of these documents right here (look further down this page). I won't hand most of them out in class. I will also update the site often, so I would encourage you to visit the site at least once a week. Since I am teaching three sections of the course this term, most of what I've written is generic. There may occasionally be special notes and instructions for your particular section. You can find those on your section page. Links to those pages are shown below.
As described in the syllabus, there are no big exams in this class, only a few quizzes. There are homework assignments and an end-of-term project. Most of these have their own instructions. I would encourage you to look at the instructions early in the term so you can plan your work. The concepts in this class are not particularly difficult, but they can be time consuming. I promise you, if you keep up with the work, do the reading, and come to class and participate in your groups, you'll do fine in this class. Don't get behind!
And - if you have questions - come see me or send me an email. If office hours don't work, we can set up another time that's more convenient.
Section Notes & Information
Section 001 - MW 0800-0950
Section 002 - MW 1415-1605
Section 004 - T 1740
Week 8 (Week of 11/16/2009)
Project Planning Software:
Link to MSDN PSU, where you can sign up to get a copy of MSDN
Well, there's only three more weeks of class, and we have Thanksgiving in the middle. You should be making quite a bit of progress on your research paper. HW #3 includes an outline, so this should help you to begin structuring your thoughts and information, if you haven't yet gotten to that point. If you have additional questions about your problem statements after reviewing HW#2, just let me know after class or by email. I'll try to provide some guidance. As mentioned in class, you might want to check out the template, and the paper instructions. You must follow guidelines in both of those documents. Don't forget, you will be required to bring a draft of your paper to class during Week 9. I'll remind you again about this in class.
Here's a link to the web site where you can download some software to help with mindmaps and fishbone diagrams.
Download the Excel Class Survey file here for use with Group Activity B.
Here's the link to the German problem-solver video.
Here's the link to the "spinning woman" graphic.
As discussed the first day of class, you must write a term-long research paper in this class. This is a substantial project. Strong writing and research skills are required for this class, for graduation from the School of Business Administration, and for the careers you expect to have as a result of your degree. If you feel that your writing skills are not very strong, or that you are rusty, there are plenty of places to go for help. At the least, come and talk with me. If you didn't already know about it, the school has an excellent Writing Center. You pay for that as part of your tuition - why not use it? If you start early and follow the recommended steps, I think that you'll find that the paper can be an interesting project. It requires a specific format - check out and use the template. I've also written this to provide some additional guidance. And, you may wish to check out the Ballenger book.
Here's the link to Week 1 lecture notes:
Build - All Parts (new)
Achieve (new)
Course Documents
For simplicity and compatibility, all of these documents were created with Microsoft Word 2003 and standard fonts. Please let me know if you have any trouble downloading or opening these documents.
The Term Paper is due on the last day of class. The Instructions and Template provide some formatting and structural guidance for this paper. Your task is to choose a corporation from the list, research that company, identify some problems that they currently face, choose one to focus on, and then apply the lessons from the class to develop a solution . You need to choose your company by the second week of class. I would encourage you to review these documents early in the term, just in case you have any questions.
You will do a great deal of work in groups during class. This document includes specific suggestions for how best to accomplish and organize the group work. You will collect and turn in all of your group work. I will talk more about this in class.
Also, you will need the specific instructions for each daily activity. Download this and bring it to class every day. This is IMPORTANT.
Daily Group Activity Instructions (Download this during the first week of class)
Homework assignments are due throughout the term. See the Assignment Notes or the Class Schedule for the specific due date for your section. Homework will be collected. Trust me, keep up on the homework and everything else will go much more smoothly. I'll try to remind you about assignment due dates - but it's really up to you to keep track of them.
Personal Information Sheet (handed out in the first class)
Microsoft Excel is a great tool for data manipulation and analysis. Two of the assignments include Excel projects. Data for these portions of the homework assignments are linked below.
Fun With Excel Instructions (Office 2003 Version)
Fun With Excel Instructions (Office 2007 Version)
Other Links
Global Reporting Initiative Web Site
Wikipedia List of Cognitive Biases