Free Micro-eMBA Courseware from Free Management Library

Who Can Benefit From Program

• Highly motivated learners who:
  - Wish to understand key principles, concepts and terms in business
  - Have limited time and / or money
  - Prefer to manage, schedule and locate their own learning experiences
  - Prefer highly practical results from programs
• Leaders and managers:
  - Seeking guidance to understand business, start a business organization or to firm up the foundation of an already established organization
• Service providers (associations, training centers, etc.)
  - That wish to offer highly accessible and practical professional and organization development programs in their areas
• Middle managers or entry-level personnel
  - Who desire highly accessible and adaptable means to professional development for advancement in their careers
• Consultants who
  - Desire better understanding of business and organizations, their systems and practices, in order to provide more effective services to clients
  - Wish to establish stronger credibility with clients by understanding the world of managers and leaders in the workplace

Program is Non-Degree-Granting -- It's Entirely for Your Learning!

Results for Learners and Their Organizations

Basic understanding and skills about:

• Self-directed learning and self-management (in preparation for completing this program)
• Feasibility analysis during considerations to start a business
• Common structures, systems, cultures and life cycles
• Roles and functions of chief executive officer and board of directors
• Building and operating a board of directors (in the case of corporations)
• Basic, critical skills in management and leadership in order to plan, organize, lead and coordinate activities in an organization
• Strategic analysis, planning and implementation
• Marketing, including market research and analysis, pricing, competitive analysis, production, distribution, sales and customer service
• Financial management, including basics of bookkeeping, cash management, financial reporting and analysis
• Staffing and supervising employees, including job definition, recruiting, hiring, performance management and personnel policies
• Business ethics, including practical guidelines for managing ethics, roles and responsibilities, codes of ethics, codes of conduct, policies, resolving ethical dilemmas and training of employees

Program Outputs

Learners in the program might be able to produce the following results based on the studied courses (examples):

• Job description of chief executive officer
• Management and leadership training plans
• Complete resources to equip board members
• Training plan and materials to train the board
• Strategic plan
• Operating budgets
• Product marketing analysis
• Public and media relations plan
• Sales plan
• Advertising and promotions plan
• Financial reports and analysis
• Customer service plan
• Policies for staffing and supervising employees
• Policies and codes to guide toward highly ethical behavior in the workplace
• Substantial cost savings from continued access to free, complete, online materials for personal, professional and organizational development

Program Design and Format of Learning Modules

The program includes 10, online learning modules. Modules are "courses" through which learners progress in the program. Materials and activities for learning are tightly integrated with each other across various modules in the program

Learners Can Start Anywhere in the Program

The program can be highly useful to learners regardless of the order in which they go through the modules in the program. Learning modules are arranged generally in the order needed to develop an organization from the ground up. Learners who are going through the program primarily as a form of training and development can proceed in a sequential fashion through the Links to Learning Modules, and in each module address the a) topics for discussion and reflection and the b) activities to build systems and practices.

Note that the activities required to build and manage a healthy organization are usually very cyclical in nature -- for example, product planning often produces learning that, in turn, polishes previous strategic planning activities. Therefore, learners are guided to revisit certain portions of various learning modules at various points in the program.

Format of Each Learning Module

Learning modules (other than the first and last) have the following format:

• Introduction -- explains how the module fits into the program and the overall process of business and organization development
• Specific Materials for Review -- references specific and free materials for review and study; these are needed to respond to all suggested topics for discussion and reflection and to the learning activities required to build basic systems and practices
• Specific Topics and Questions for Reflection and Discussion -- highlights key concepts to understand about the overall topic of the learning module
• Specific Activities to Build Systems and Practices -- guides the learner to develop the basic systems and practices to successfully build and manage the organization
• Assessments -- helps the learner measure and / or evaluate extent of application of that topic to the learner's organization
• Tracking Open Action Items -- guides the learner throughout the program to consistently record and track any incomplete action items remaining from the current and previous learning modules
• Reminders to Learners -- poses miscellaneous reminders for learners to ensure they're using information and skills from previous learning modules

Time to Complete Program

Learners can go through all of the modules in the program or they can choose their own set of modules and how those modules will be completed. Consequently, the amount of time to complete the program depends very much on how the learner chooses to go through the program. The more time and energy that learners invest in the program, the more they will learn and accomplish for their organizations and careers.

Many of the learning activities in this program are activities that organizational leaders and managers should do in the workplace anyway to develop a healthy organization. Consequently, time to conduct these learning activities in the program should not be viewed only as "time in the program"; rather, this program helps learners turn their organizations and careers into "learning labs" where they get things done -- and learn at the same time.

As a very rough estimate, learners can spend anywhere from 10-40 hours in each module -- again this amount of time depends very much on how thorough learners are in reviewing learning materials and conducting activities to deepen and enrich that learning.

Certain modules include more learning activities than others. Therefore, the program sponsor and learners may choose to dedicate more than one meeting for these modules.

Learning Modules

Module 1: Program Orientation -- Getting Most from This Program

� Guidelines for You to Get Most from Program
� Tips to Improve Your Reading and Studying Skills
� Extensive Free, Online Resources About Business
� Designing Your Best Approach to Completing the Program

Module 2: Starting and Understanding Your Business Organization

� Conduct Feasibility Analysis About Starting an Organization
� Key Roles in Your Organization
� Basic Structures in Your Organization
� Life Cycles of Your Organization
� Culture of Your Organization

Module 3: Understanding Role of Chief Executive

� What is a Chief Executive Officer (CEO)?
� Major Functions of CEO
� Core Knowledge and Skills for CEO Role
� Early Preparation for Building Board
� Early Preparation for Strong Board-Staff Relationships
� Avoiding "Founder's Syndrome"

Module 4: Developing Your Basic Management & Leadership Skills

� Basic Skills in:
� � � Problem Solving/Decision Making
� � � Planning
� � � Delegation
� � � Internal Communications
� � � Meeting Management
� � � Managing Yourself
� Optional -- Advanced Topics in Management and Leadership
� Optional -- Designing Your Management and Leadership Development Plans

Module 5: Building and Training Your Board of Directors

� Understanding Board Roles and Responsibilities
� Building Policies and Committees
� Building Committees
� Recruiting New Members
� Ensuring Strong Participation
� Board and CEO Evaluations
� Board Calendar and Operations
� Organizing Board Manual
� Training Board Members

Module 6: Developing Your Strategic Plan

� Understanding Strategic Planning
� Writing Your Mission, Vision and Values Statements
� Conducting Strategic Analysis
� Setting Strategic Direction
� Conducting Action Planning
� Developing Operating Budgets
� Writing and Communicating Your Plan
� Monitoring and Evaluating Your Plan

Module 7: Marketing Your Products/Services and Promoting Your Organization

� Conducting Market Analysis for Each Product/Service
� Developing Your Public and Media Relations Plan
� Developing Your Sales Plan
� Developing Your Advertising and Promotions Plan
� Organizing Your Marketing and Promotions Plans

Module 8: Managing Your Accounting and Finances

� Basics of Bookkeeping
� Budgeting
� Cash Management
� Financial Statements
� Financial Analysis

Module 9: Staffing and Supervising Your Employees

� Defining New Job Roles
� Recruiting Job Candidates
� Screening Applicants
� Orienting New Employees
� Delegating to Employees
� Ensuring Strong Performance
� Firing Employees
� Personnel Policies and Handbooks

Module 10: Practical Guide to Managing Ethics in the Workplace

� What is Business Ethics?
� Myths about Business Ethics
� 10 Benefits of Managing Ethics
� Ethics Management System
� 8 Guidelines for Managing Ethics
� 6 Key Roles and Responsibilities
� Ethics Tools: Codes of Ethics
� Ethics Tools: Codes of Conduct
� Ethics Tools: Policies
� Ethics Tools: Resolving Ethical Dilemmas
� Ethics Tools: Training

Web Site: http://ping.fm/2kLhu