Instructor: Dr. Louisa Ha

Class Time: MWF 11:30 - 12:20 p.m. Hayes Hall 108

Office: West Hall 320

Office Hours: MWF 10:30 a.m.-11:20 a.m. and by appointment

Telephone/Voice-mail: (419) 372-9103

E-mail: louisah@bgnet.bgsu.edu

Homepage: http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/tcom/faculty/ha/home.htm

Course Web Site: http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/tcom/faculty/ha/TCOM455.HTM

Course Objectives

1. To learn the economics, function, organizational structure and procedures involved in the operation and management of the telecommunications industry
2. To develop alertness to the business dynamics in the media industry and understand the implicatons of media industry news events to media management
3. To develop problem-solving and presentation skills required in media management careers
4. To cultivate leadership and interpersonal communication skills required in media management careers

Richard A. Gershon (2001), Telecommunications Management: Industry Structures and Planning Strategies, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Course Structure

The 3-day week is assigned for different purposes. The Monday and Wednesday classes are for lectures and class discussion of course materials. The Friday classes are mostly a review and working session, generally consisting of quizzes, group project meetings, and case studies.
 
 

Make-up Policy

You will not be granted any make-ups for your quizzes, exams, assignments or group projects. Under special circumstances with legitimate written excuses, a student may request the instructor for a special arrangement to make up for the loss of grade or score during his or her absence.

Attendance and Classroom Policy

Class attendance is mandatory and you are obliged to observe classroom disciplines such as no chatting with classmates during the lecture session. You are encouraged to raise questions in class. Feel free to ask for further explanation.

Deadlines

All exercises or projects handed later than the due date are considered as late. No late exercises will be accepted unless a written evidence such as a physician's letter is accompanied with the request for late submission.

Question Box

A Question Box/Bag will put in the classroom at least 5 minutes before the class and in front of the instructor’s office. This box is used for any questions to be answered during the class or suggestions to the course. Submissions can be anonymous or with names. Submissions with names will be counted toward class participation based on the quality of the submission.

Students with Disability Statement

If any member of the class feels that he or she has a disability and needs special accommodations of any nature, please advise the instructor of such disability and the desired accommodations at some point before, during, or immediately after the first scheduled class period. The instructor will work with you and the Office of Disabled Student Services to provide reasonable accommodations to ensure that you have a fair opportunity to perform in the class.

Quizzes

There will be five quizzes for this course. The lowest score will be dropped from counting in the final score for the quizzes. Therefore, only four quiz scores will be computed in the final grade for the quizzes. The format of the quiz will be either true and false, short answers, or multiple choices as appropriate for the course materials. You will be notified on the quiz format a class before the quiz. Only topics covered during the lecture period preceding the quiz and have not been included in previous quizzes will be included in each quiz. The materials for the quizzes include the course lecture, textbooks and other reference materials distributed during the class.

Exams

The exams are not cumulative.  That means Exam 2 will only cover the topics taught between Exam 1 and Exam 2.   Exams will consist of short essay questions to issues covered in the lecture and the textbook.   The final exam is optional. Students have to sign up for the final exam by the last day of class.  The final exam score can be used to replace either exam 1, exam 2, or group project score, whichever is the lowest.

Media Tycoon Profile Presentation

To learn the best practices in media management and individual presentation skills, students in pairs will select from a list of contemporary media tycoons for a profile presentation.  A detailed instruction on the presentation will be given in due course.

Industry News Review

To familiarize with the dynamics of the media industry and develop alertness to news happenings in the media industry, each student will take turns to prepare one media industry news review with a one-page summary and review of the news item, focusing on the implications of the news events on the media industry, the media company itself and its competitiors.  The news item must be recently happened and no longer than one week prior to the class meeting time. At least one discussion question for the class must accompany the review. All the industy news review discussion session will be held at the beginning of Monday classes (January 21  is the only exception).   The review will be submitted to the instructor for grading and a copy be given as handouts to the entire class in the form of e-mail or hard copies. Selected news reviews will be included in the quizzes.

Media Company Investment Game

To get more involved in a media company and develop the ability to assess a media company's business prospects, the media investment game assignment requires students to invest in a selected publicly listed media company of student's choice after company research, using the points obtained from the investment choice justification report.  The final score for this assignment will be adjusted according to the percentage growth or loss of the market closing price on April 14 versus the purchase price attached to the justification report. The assignment will employ a cap of +/- 50% grade adjustment to prevent excessive gain or loss in the market. A printout of the market price for both the purchase price and the closing price from an authoritative online stock quote service must be submitted to the instructor. Failure to submit the stock price information comparison will lead to 20% deduction of the grade of this assignment. An example will be given in due course.

Case Studies
Case studies are important tools to practice the solving of management problems in telecommunications.  You will work in groups and be a team player in preparing the case.  There will be 4 case studies, all of which are to be completed in class.  Detailed instructions on preparing the case studies will be given in due course.

Group Project

The group project will tackle a media managment task.  You will be given a separate detailed instruction sheet in due course.  The objective of the group project is to apply the management knowledge you learn in the class and articulate the solutions to the problems in a formal business presentation format.

Firing of Group Members
With a written petition to the instructor signed by more than 50% of the group members, an individual can be fired from the group.  Accepted justifications for the petition include consecutive absence from group meeting for 2 times or more, failure to turn in the agreed assignment during the meeting, or bad attitudes toward group members during group meetings.

The person who was fired must find a group that allows him to join and notify the instructor in writing within a week being fired. If he/she was unable to find a group to accept him/her,  he/she can turn in the project alone with a 10% lowering of the grade as the penalty.  If the instructor is not notified of any of the changes within the deadline stated above, the individual being fired will receive 0 point for the project.

To ensure that everyone in the group will contribute his or her fair share, a peer evaluation will be conducted after the report is submitted to the instructor.  Failure to submit the peer ratings will decrease your own individual group project grade by 10% in addition to any adjustment on your grade. The peer ratings will affect your grade on the project as follows:
 

Average points allocated  to you by group members	Impact on your grade
91 - 100 points	Grade increased by 10%
71 - 90 points	No grade adjustment
50 - 70 points	Grade lowered by 10%
Below 50 points	Grade lowered by 25%

Class Participation

Class participation grade is determined by your participation (asking and answering questions) in class discussions. Suggestions to the instructors on improving the course are also counted as class participation. Both quality and quantity will be counted in the class participation scores.

Plagiarism

In preparing any written assignment such as your media tycoon profile report, you have to give a complete reference list to the sources of information. You should paraphrase (write in your own words) any information you obtained from another source and write the source according to the reference style guide distributed in this class. DON’T DIRECTLY COPY WORD BY WORD from any source except you put them in "Quotation Marks". Violation of this guideline will constitute plagiarism and is a serious academic dishonesty. Please refer to your student handbook on the university's academic honesty policy.

Scholastic Honesty

Except the group project and case discussions, all assignments or exams must represent individual effort. An individual who copies from another individual's work will automatically receive a grade of F for this class.

Course Schedule
The following schedule is tentative. Students are responsible for any changes made in class.

	Topic	Reading
Jan 12-14	Introduction	Ch. 1,8
Jan 16-21	Telecommunications Economic Principles	Ch. 1,4
Jan 19	Martin Luther King Day.  No Class.
Jan 23	Quiz #1
Jan 26-28	Broadcast Management	Ch. 2
Jan 30	Case Study #1
Feb 2-4	Cable TV Management	Ch. 3
Feb 6	Case Study #2
Feb 9-11	Telephone and Satellite Management	Ch. 5
Feb 13	Media Company Investment Choice Justification Due.  Quiz #2
Feb 16-18	Internet Management	Ch. 6
Feb 20	Exam 1
Feb 23-25	Technology/Innovation Management	Handout
Feb 27	Case Study #3
Mar 1-5	Media Tycoon Profile Presentations
Mar 8-12	Spring Break - No Classes
Mar 15-17	Telecommunications Marketing	Ch.11
Mar 19	Quiz #3 & Group Project Meeting
Mar 22-24	Telecommunications Human Resource Management	Ch.9
Mar 26	Case Study #4
Mar 29-Mar 31	Transnational Media Management	Ch.7
Apr 2	Exam #2
Apr 5-7	Telecommunications Financial Management I	Ch.10
Apr 9	Quiz #4 & Group Project Meeting
Apr 12-14	Telecommunications Financial Management II
Apr 16	Quiz #5 & Group Project Meeting
Apr 19-Apr 23	Telecommunications Strategic Planning and Ethical Issues	Ch. 12
Apr 26 - Apr 30	Group Project Presentation
TBA	Optional Final Exam