About This Course

As one course among many offered in our curriculum, What Managers Do has been designed specifically for the practicing manager and the future manager. It provides private, self-paced, individualized study; learning and self-evaluation through in-text exercises; and communication between the student and our staff of instructors through case studies and a final examination. Paralleling a business school course of study, our curriculum makes available a stable, inclusive, and continuing transmittal of practices and perspectives to those working managers who, on their own time and at their own pace, want to continue their education.

William R. Allen is a consultant to business and government and President of William R. Allen Associates, a consulting firm specializing in management education, development, and evaluation. He has extensive management and supervisory experience and he is currently associate professor of management at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. He is a highly regarded leader of professional development seminars, workshops, and programs for all levels of management. He has written two books, Explorations in Management and Social Forces and the Manager, and articles for numerous journals, including Journal of Applied Psychology and The Journal of Plant and Facilities Management and Engineering. Dr. Allen holds a B.S. from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and an M.B.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Florida.

Harold L. Gilmore has extensive international experience, as well as industrial and public service with Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Avco Corporation, and the Department of Defense. As a Fulbright Scholar, he lectured in Zambia, India, and Ethiopia, and he held an endowed chair at the University of Technology in Compeigne, France. He is currently Professor of Management at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, and at St. John’s University, Queens. He is the author/coauthor of numerous articles and a book on product testing and evaluation service quality. He is a Fellow of the American Society for Quality Control and a member of the Academy of Management, Production/Operations Management Society, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Dr. Gilmore received his Ph.D. from Syracuse University.

The publisher wishes to thank Professor Vicki LaFarge, Department of Management, Bentley College, and Professor Janice C. Sipior, Department of Management, Villanova University, for their help in reviewing the manuscript of this course.