In your professional career, you will likely manage people, programs, contracts, and perhaps even entire organizations. Unfortunately, management skills are not easily acquired. Management is a craft, not a science. There is no set of techniques that can be applied in all situations. Rather than assume there is one best management technique, the goal of this course is to enhance your skills as a strategic manager.
Strategic managers develop strategies for action appropriate to specific situations.
To develop these strategic management skills, the course relies on organization theory and the case method. Organization theory provides generalizations that help us understand variation in the organizational contexts within which managers operate, while case studies allow us to practice the art of managerial problem solving in specific situations. Throughout, the goal is to apply organizational theories that help us understand specific contexts, and then to choose staff, partners, analytic models, policymaking tools, and organizational structures sensible for that situation. Produced and maintained by the Center For Public Policy and Administration. This is an official page of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.