Building a Culture that Grows with the Business: Management Foundations

Quarters
Summer Open
Location
Olympia
Class Standing
Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Taki Hirakawa
The world is in a 'permacrisis': our planet, society, technology, and businesses are changing faster than ever. We'll need to continue to adapt significantly to an ever-changing fragile and unpredictable world. Disruptive forces and frontier AI are accelerating the way enterprises operate and innovate. This places extraordinary demands on business leaders to build trusted organizations, and it exposes entrepreneurs and employees to navigate ambiguous situations in workplaces. How might you apply a sense of humor to turn a difficult conversation with your boss or client into an opportunity to build a resilient relationship? Which interpersonal strengths can propel you forward in a hiring process, and how would you negotiate your next job offer? How might you design an effective team in an innovation setting? What is an ideal organization, and what evidence and conceptual frameworks can we use to answer that question?

In this hands-on, practical class, we explore these types of questions through readings, video blogs, podcasts, live-online activities, discussions, small group assignments, and your own case studies from a real-world organization, testing your ability to build effective relationships. We cover diverse topics, including: influencing people, negotiation strategies; managing hybrid workplaces; designing a culture of innovation; turning knowledge and awareness into action.

The class is designed to accomplish three main goals:

  • Increase your knowledge and awareness of contemporary management, behavioral science, and organizational behavior concepts so that you can understand and analyze how organizations and the people within them work.
  • Develop your own style of leadership and negotiation skills by providing you with opportunities to apply concepts to real-world problems.
  • Build a diverse and inclusive learning community.

To successfully participate in this remote offering, students need a computer and internet access. Students are expected to participate in 3 1/2 hours of synchronous instructional activities (scheduled on Zoom Meeting) each week. All students will work on a capstone group project that will include field work (e.g., interviewing). Students enrolled for 12 credits will, in addition to the capstone project, work in groups to create a management tool. Students enrolled for the 8- or 12-credit options should expect 4 hours or 8 hours per week of asynchronous learning activities, respectively, including group work.

Students enrolled in the program (at 8 or 12 credit level) may also enroll in a mini-course for an additional 2 credits using the 10 or 14 credit options: students enrolled in the additional 2 credits will complete a negotiation project. Students will present their work to others in the course asynchronously.

If you are interested in registering for any of these options (14, 10, or 8 credits), please speak with the faculty at the Academic Fair or contact the faculty directly at taki.hirakawa@evergreen.edu to obtain a faculty signature override.

 

Summer Anticipated Credit Equivalencies
Enrolling at 8 credits: 

4 - Foundations of Management and Organizational Behavior

4 - Capstone: Enterprise, Strategic Design and Management

 

Enrolling at 12 credits: 

4 - Foundations of Management and Organizational Behavior

4 - Capstone: Enterprise, Strategic Design and Management

4 - Management Competencies

 

Enrolling at 10 or 14 credits:

Additional 2 credits in Negotiation & Persuasion

Registration

Course Reference Numbers
Full Session (12): 40120
Full Session (1 - 12): 40121

Academic Details

Business Venture, Small Business Management, Startups, Business Strategy and Operations, Managing Sales and Marketing, Customer Relationship Management, Innovation Consulting, Organizational Design, Leadership Coaching, Mentoring, Teaching, Management Consulting

8
10
12
14
20
Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior

Schedule

Summer
2025
Open
Remote (Su)

See definition of Hybrid, Remote, and In-Person instruction

Evening
Schedule Details
Remote/Online
Olympia

Revisions

Date Revision
2025-05-12 Description revised again to give students information on how to obtain faculty signature permission for registering for the alternate credit amounts.
2025-05-08 Possible credit options, program description, anticipated credit equivalencies, and fields of study information revised