HT-MGT 444
Advanced Hotel Management

Course Overview

Advanced Hotel Management is a capstone course designed to expose students to a strategic perspective on issues that concern the hotel as a whole. This viewpoint is integrative in that it draws on concepts from the functional disciplines (i.e. Marketing, Finance, Accounting, Operations) in the diagnosis, analysis and resolution of complex business situations. In addition, students will read, discuss and apply a body of theory and techniques from the field of strategic management.

The course emphasizes the development of practical problem solving skills. Case analysis and computer simulations come closer to simulating real business decision-making than other forms of classroom activity. Consequently, much of the time in class will be devoted to cases and the computer simulation. Prerequisites: HRTA 240, Senior status.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

  • Develop the ability to think strategically
  • Employ strategy theory, concepts and techniques
  • Apply writing skills in analysis of business problems
  • Demonstrate presentation skills and the ability to think on one's feet

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

There are a few assumptions about business education that guide the design of this course:

  • People learn by doing
  • Discovery is better that "spoon feeding"
  • Problems in management stem not only from a lack of knowledge but also from a lack of courage and/or know-how in applying knowledge
  • The instructor's role is to help others learn rather than to simply "teach" them


REQUIRED MATERIALS

1. Textbook - Strategy: A View from the Top (2nd edition). de Kluyver & Pearce. 2006.

2. HBS Case Studies - available from Harvard Business Schooll Press later in the semester..

3. HOTS Computer Simulation Manual - 1 per person (REQUIRED).

ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT

Electronic devices are not to be used in the classroom. This ban includes telephones, personal stereos and laptop computers. Hand held calculators are exempted. Voice recorders may be used to record lectures with prior permission.


 Updated 02/03/2008