Major: Management
School: Robert C. Vackar College of Business and Entrepreneurship
Chair of the Department: Sibin Wu
Prerequisites: None
What is management? “Management is a broad term. So, when you think about overall management, you think of getting things done. You think about, in an organization, how do you get the organizational stakeholders together and get things done quickly, efficiently and effectively. If you ask me about it, that’s what I think when I think of management. Pretty much about how you plan things, and then you try to staff it, and then you get into organizing, and then you try to lead and evaluate if it’s working or not. You may be working on something, and it may not work, so you need to evaluate it to make sure if it’s working or not. In management, in order to get things done efficiently, it’s a process.”
Which classes can students expect to take? “The university foundations, of course, history, English, etc. When you get into management, well, there are some required courses. For example, Principles [of] Management, Organization Management, Strategic Management, Organizational Behavior, Human Resources Management and Foundations of Entrepreneurship everyone has to take, no matter what you want to do. Beyond those, there are about six or seven other management courses that the student can choose that go with their interest. We have human resource management, such as recruitment and selection, training and development, negotiation, compensation, things like that. If you want to go into operations, you can take like project management, purchasing. We have many different courses they can choose based off their own interest.”
What skills will students learn by the time they graduate? “Communication is a very key part of it. In order to manage people, you have to be able to put your ideas out there. The other one would be critical thinking. Management is about planning and finding the best way to get something done. So, you do need to know how to think critically about other peoples’ decision and whether the plan is good or not. The student will also know their area of expertise, or core competence.”
What are some possible careers? “They can be a human resource manager. They have different functions such as staffing, where you have to go through different criteria to determine who should be given an interview. They can also be a recruiter or organization trainer, something like that. They can be a compensation analyst as well, where they deal with pay. The two big categories are human resource management and operation management. They can work for a manufacturing company and make sure they are purchasing the right materials for the right price. Or, they can manage the inventory and they can report when they need more inventory.We sometimes encourage students to start their own business.”
Who are some possible employers? “All the big companies hire people. The companies need HR, human resources. They need people and they need to hire the right people. They need to really motivate their employees to work more efficiently. Operations managers work more in manufacturing. They can be employed in most of the big companies as well.”
What salary can a student expect to earn after graduation? “I would guess a midrange of $40,000 to $70,000 for HR managers. Operations managers tend to get a little bit higher.”
Are there any student clubs? “We have SHRM (Society of Human Resource Management). We have two chapters now, one here and one in [Brownsville]. In total, we have about 40 students. The other one is called Enactus. The faculty adviser is actually from our department, but the students can be from throughout the whole university. They went to compete with other chapters all over the country last year. They were the regional champions and received the Rookie of the Year award.”
For more information: email Wu at sibin.wu@utrgv.edu or call 665-3559.
–Complied by Sarah Carvajal.
