Decision Sciences Courses (DESC)

If a student takes noncore, upper-level business courses before acceptance to the School of Management, those courses will not count on an undergraduate degree application for any major in the School of Management (except as general elective credit). A grade of C or higher must be presented on the graduation application for each upper-level course in the major. Prerequisites are strictly enforced.

Related Catalog Entry: School of Management

Related Mason Website: School of Management (http://sba-gbi.gmu.edu/)

210 Statistical Analysis for Management (4:4:0).Prerequisites: MATH 108 or 113. Corequisite: MIS 102. An introduction to the application of statistical methods to support quantitative decision analysis in resolving business problems.

301 Decision Models in Business and Operations Management (3:3:0).Prerequisite: Completion of at least 48 credits including MATH 108 and DESC 210. An examination of the principal functions of operations managers in various settings. Analytic models are used to describe key planning and control activities in both product and service industries. Linear programming, service systems, network analysis, simulation, inventory models, quality control, forecasting, work measurement, and layout models are introduced as tools for effective management. Extensive use of computers in problem solving.

320 Logistics Systems Management (3:3:0).Prerequisite: DESC 301. A consideration of design, planning, and development of logistics systems with emphasis on the various logistics activities required throughout the system/product life cycle. Topics include development of concepts and factors in system design, test and evaluation, production/construction, operational support, and system retirement/disposal.

352 Methods and Models of Management Science (3:3:0).Prerequisite: DESC 301. Operation research for general management. Emphasis on effective application of math programming and stochastic process analysis. Topics include linear programming, integer programming, goal programming, decision theory, networks, simulation Markov processes, inventory theory, and queuing theory. Extensive use of microcomputer software in problem solving.

415 Computer-Integrated Production Planning and Control (3:3:0).Prerequisite: DESC 301. A focus on production planning, master production scheduling, material requirements planning, shop floor control, and inventory control. Problems in these areas are examined from the viewpoint of modern computer systems (e.g., MRP II systems) currently used for the control of manufacturing operations.

435 Computer Simulation (3:3:0).Prerequisites: DESC 210 and programming course recommended. An introduction to the basic concepts of simulating complex systems by computer. Topics include Monte Carlo methods, discrete-event modeling, a specialized simulation language, and the statistics of input and output analysis.

450 Managerial Economics (3:3:0).Prerequisite: DESC 301. Application of economic reasoning and analysis to management of the firm's resources. Topics include demand theory and analysis, uncertainty and risk in decision making, optimal assignment of resources to production and distribution, measurement of productivity, estimation of cost functions, pricing decisions for joint products and multiple markets, transfer pricing, and related public policy issues.

452 Business Forecasting (3:3:0).Prerequisite: DESC 210. An introduction to forecasting that examines alternative models and their application to a variety of business operations. Topics include trend analysis, moving averages, exponential smoothing, adaptive models, multiple regression and correlation, and time series analysis.

456 Quality Management (3:3:0).Prerequisite: DESC 301. Development of the basic concepts and procedures associated with a quality control system. Extensive use is made of modeling and statistical inference in monitoring and evaluating performance quality control functions. Emphasis is placed on the management aspect of the quality control system. Both microcomputers and cases are used.

463 Seminar in Operations Management (3:3:0).Prerequisite: DESC 352. Discussion of aspects of productivity, technology, new processes, materials, products, equipment, and facilities. Implications of new technology in managing the operation (production) function are treated. Lecture, discussion, cases, and problems.

491 Seminar in Decision Sciences (3:3:0).Prerequisite: DESC 352. Topics include contemporary research findings and case studies of decision sciences in business and other organizations.

492 Field Experience in Decision Sciences (3:3:0).Prerequisite: DESC 352. Faculty-governed field experience in a Northern Virginia business. Teams of students, matched with client firms through the Entrepreneurship Center, propose action plans relating to a major problem or opportunity faced by the company.

493 Management of Technology (3:3:0).Prerequisites: MGMT 302, MKTG 301, and DESC 301. Cross listed as MGMT 493. Technology development and implementation is a key to business success in the 21st century. This course examines issues involved in managing technology including technological lifecycles, sourcing technology (internal or external development), decisions to lead or to follow in innovation, and design of the innovative organization.

499 Independent Study in Decision Sciences (1-3:0:0).Prerequisite: DESC 352. Investigation of a business problem according to individual interest that uses state-of-the-art decision science methodology.

600 Managerial Statistics (3:3:0).Prerequisite: Graduate degree status. The use of statistical methods as scientific tools in the analysis of practical problems in business decision making. Topics include descriptive statistics, probability theory, probability distributions, sampling distributions, inference estimation, hypothesis testing, elementary decision theory, time series analysis, linear regression and correlation, and analysis of variance.

650 Operations Management/Management Science (3:3:0).Prerequisite: DESC 600. A systems approach that addresses a wide range of operations management decisions from long-term policy and systems design questions to daily scheduling, cost control, and quality control decisions. Emphasis on modeling, quantitative analysis of systems, case studies, and use of computer programs to solve operations management problems.

710 Business Forecasting (3:3:0).Prerequisite: DESC 650. A study of forecasting techniques that are employed in the private and public sector. Primary emphasis is on time series techniques. Students will learn to model stationary and nonstationary processes with autoregressive, moving average, and mixed models. These techniques will be demonstrated and used through computer software.

720 Project and Cost Management (3:3:0).Prerequisite: DESC 650. Focus on project scheduling, time-cost tradeoffs, budgeting, cost control, and project monitoring. Special emphasis on cost-management aspects of projects in technology in intensive industries. Use of software and case studies.

746 Operations Management in the Service Industry (3:3:0).Prerequisite: DESC 650. Provides an understanding of the basic concepts, techniques, and practices used in managing operations within a service organization, such as service strategies, service system design, capacity planning, scheduling of services, and quality management.

747 Decision Support Systems for Management (3:3:0).Prerequisites: MIS 600 and DESC 600. Addresses tools and models of decision making. Problem formulation and model specification discussed using decision trees, influence diagrams, and econometric and simulation models.

763 Seminar in Operations Management (3:3:0).Prerequisite: DESC 650. Aspects of productivity, technology, new processes, materials, products, equipment, and facilities. Implications of new technology in managing the operation (production) function. Lecture, discussion, cases, and problems.

796 Independent Study and Directed Readings (3:0:0).Prerequisite: DESC 650. By special arrangement with the professor and approval from the director of Student Services.