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Dr Paul A Ruffin Company http://www.ecinetworks.com
Mr Ruffin brings to the organization 31yrs as an IT professional with a background in business management, international trade and information sciences specializing in business development and information technology systems. His experience includes designing, deploying and managing projects both in the private and non-profit business sectors of banking, real estate finance, international trade, construction, public utilities and education.
Paul was the first system administrator for Free A&M University now Free Open University. He has been a pioneer in open source - open course education. He has helped bring Free Education to people in over 100 countries.
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The Free Open University School of Business has two main purposes. One is to aid those who seek a solid group of self study courses that will aid and equip them to gain the knowledge and tools equivalent to a Masters in Business. The second purpose of our school is to assist those who are in business to gain the proper knowledge that will equip them to run successful businesses that make profit both in the local and global marketplaces. The dean of the Free Open University School of Business is Dr Paul Ruffin who will assist you and work at providing true resources and quality content, that when learned and applied equate to success.
This unit examines how companies and individual designers have established a distinctive profile and have invested much of their creativity towards Sustainable Product Design (SPD). We know that culture guides the way people behave in society as a whole. But culture also plays a key role in organisations, which have their own unique set of values, beliefs and ways of doing business. This unit explores the concepts of national and organisational culture and the factors that influence both. Have you ever wanted to start your own business? This unit will give you the opportunity to consider and reflect on the personal aspects involved in transforming an innovative idea into an entrepreneurial product. You will also learn how to identify the requirements for building an appropriate entrepreneurial team. The interactions of business with the non-commercial enviromnent are under increasing scrutiny. This unit looks at the relationships between business and social and ecological environments, often referred to under the umbrella term of Corporate Social Responsibility. The unit examines efforts to reconcile what often look to be competing demands by moving towards a more ethical environment. Concern for the environment is playing a major role in society nationally and internationally. Transboundary issues such as acid rain, ozone layer depletion and global warming have assisted in placing environmental issues firmly in our consciousness. This unit examines some of these issues. What is your experience of work and what did you learn from this experience? This unit will enable you to reflect upon what you have learned from work and support you in improving how you learn at work. It will encourage you to think critically about work-based learning and review your own professional knowledge and skills. This unit explores knowledge technologies, that is, software systems that can represent, interpret, formalise or interrogate phenomena and create models of how the world works. It demonstrates how a well designed system can have positive effects on the work ‘ecosystem’, potentially allowing more time for people to concentrate on their strengths. Emphasising core concepts of representation, interpretation and situated use in context, this unit will help masters students and those involved in specifying and designing software for business understand how such systems can help manage knowledge as well as providing a framework for evaluating claims made by technology vendors and researchers. This unit examines the development of eco-business practice and local eco-business communities and will outline the public, participatory and inclusive imperitives. This unit examines by examples presented as a series of case studies, the technology fix and intermediate approaches to environmental problem solving. It then goes on to consider options beyond the technical fix. This unit examines the number of challenges associated with personal and organisational learning. Disney and Google are just two companies renowned for their ‘business culture’. Have you ever wondered why the company you work for is different from others? This unit explores how the concept of culture developed to the point where it is now possible to see and (feel) the difference between companies. Much literature on the public policy process focusses narrowly on the policy-making part. This unit widens the focus to examine the implementation phase, and how change happens as a result of new policies: that is, policy – action relationship. It does this by looking at four different models of how this relationship can work through examples from varying fields. The unit will be of interest to public sector managers, their staff and the general reader. Corporate governance and shareholder activism have gained in importance over recent years. This unit will enable you to consider the issues addressed by corporate governance. You will examine some of the recent scandals and the regulatory reactions to them, before looking at the elements that continue to drive this area. This unit explores the concept of the triple bottom line and the take-up of this philosophy in business. It also covers the value base of this approach in underpinning Sustainable Development. Managing people in a period of organisational change is never easy. This unit will demonstrate how the ability to understand and manage the processes of development, learning and change is essential for all mid-level managers who want to improve their own performance and effectiveness and that of their team. This unit examines CSR in the global context, the business case for it beyond the goal of good publicity, and also the factors that influence it. Businesses are increasingly making explicit their committment to dealing with ethical concerns. This unit explores the business case for an ethical approach to human resources management and examines whether a more 'human-centred' approach can bring dividends, and how an ethical approach fits within an organisation's strategy. Have you ever wondered what ‘management’ means? What kinds of ideas and activities are involved? What or who makes a good manager? Or a bad one? This unit provides a taste of the Open University's Understanding management course which could point you towards some of the answers to these questions. Do you find fundraising difficult? Are others around you making your role as a fundraiser more difficult than it need be? This unit will help you to understand your role by analysing a variety of issues about the fundraising and the dilemmas and problems that organisations involved in winning resources and support are likely to face. Operations management is one of the central functions of all organisations whether producing goods or services, or in the private, public or voluntary sectors. This unit will provide you with a basic framework for understanding this function and discusses the role of operations managers, in particular the importance of focusing on suppliers and customers. This unit will help you to identify and use information in business and management, whether for your work, study or personal purposes. Experiment with some of the key resources in this subject area, and learn about the skills which will enable you to plan searches for information, so you can find what you are looking for more easily. Discover the meaning of information quality, and learn how to evaluate the information you come across. You will also be introduced to the many different ways of organising your own information, and learn how to reference it properly in your work. Finally, discover how to keep up to date with the latest developments in your area of interest by using tools such as RSS and mailing lists. Strategic management and planning are no longer the preserve of senior executives. This unit looks at three different approaches to strategy before analysing the direction that strategic management may take now that it has become an accumulation of small tactical decisions rather than a top-down process. If you are interested in ‘ how’ a business ‘ ticks’, this unit could provide some of the answers. Human resources consultancies have become invaluable to businesses looking for improvements and efficiencies in their operations. This unit explores the issues surrounding how you might go about selecting and using a consultant, examining the risks involved in the venture, fitting the consultant to the task, setting fees and evaluating work. If you are in business and looking to hire a consultant, are a consultant yourself or are studying business at masters level this unit will be useful to you. Does the recruitment and selection process fill you with dread? Discrimination and equal opportunities legislation can make this area feel like a minefield. If you are faced with appointing a new employee, then this unit will provide a straight-forward guide to the process: from writing job descriptions to finally assessing who to appoint. Do you hate making decisions? Does the ability of others to make snap decisions really frustrate you? This unit will help you understand some of the processes involved in decision making. Attention to the psychology of decision making and the social context in which decisions are made can improve your understanding of others and yourself. It is hard to think of a part of the world that has not been touched by globalisation. From ‘Big Macs’ in Moscow to Blockbuster video in Beijing the world seems less distant and twenty-four-hour-a-day news makes foreign places more familiar. This unit examines the dimensions of globalisation and the processes that connect people together. Do you want to progress in management? This unit will offer you the skills, confidence and sense of responsibility necessary for successfully managing an organization’s separately accountable functions. The middle manager’s role in providing information and making other contributions to an organisation’s strategic planning is the main point of attention. Are you new to management? If you have had no formal training for your role, then this unit will help to develop your capabilities in the key areas of managing people, operations and marketing, information and finance. It will also help you to recognise your strengths and overcome your weaknesses as a manager. This unit uses SWOT and PEST analysis and SMART targets models to help you to identify your current market position, identify your customer’s needs and plan for future changes. This unit will outline the concept of sustainable product innovation, explore the benefits of ‘green’ designs and examine the social-take up of such approaches. If you've ever been involved in campaigning for change, you probably know that getting the desired result is much harder than it seems. Moreover, the decision to campaign on a particular issue can expose tensions and cracks within an organisation itself. This unit explores effective approaches to campaigning. Just what is innovation? This unit examines the issues surrounding the concept of innovation. What is the difference between innovation and invention? How are organisations affected by innovation: are all of the outcomes positive? You will learn how to analyse this concept and its impact on resources, capabilities and competencies. Legacy fundraising, big-gift seeking are all part of the professional fundraiser's role. This unit will help you to gain the skills necessary to persuade individuals to become donors. How do you change people's ideas about methods of giving, moving them from casual street donations to regular direct debit giving? Addition of photographs for each section and improved illustrations for the most valuable customer quiz.
Extra author and link to the Spa Therapies course have been added. How do financial markets match providers with users, and how efficiently does the market determine prices? Can investors rely on notoriously volatile stock markets to function efficiently? It can be difficult to determine whether successful investments are a matter of skill and luck. In this unit, you will interrogate whether markets can function efficiently, and what factors might militate against this. You will also learn the importance of the Efficient Markets Hypothesis. >Conducting market research can involve employing both quantitative and qualitative research models. This unit gives an overview of both and how they can be used effectively to investigate your customer service levels. Marketing communications help to define an orgaisation's relationship with its customers. This unit emphasises the strategic importance of such communication and its long-term effect on consumers. Communication models can act as a predictive guide, but in the end it is important to recognise the autonomy and unpredictability of consumers. Never before have social issues been more at the centre of public and private debate. From concerns about sustainability and the future of the planet to the introduction of smoking bans, there is a growing recognition that social marketing has a role to play in achieving a wide range of social goals. Marketing means different things to different people. How do you decide who to aim a campaign at? If you already have a background in marketing, this unit will improve your understanding of market orientation and (going to market). It also assesses the importance of managing key internal and external relationships. This unit is designed to help managers understand how financial ideas are applied. The original material was recorded in 1994. Risk, in a financial context, is a synonym for uncertainty. This unit will allow those with some background knowledge of the area to explore investment risk. You will examine how and why investors are risk-averse and look at the risk factors involved in making a decision to invest. Financial reporting is a complex issue. This unit looks at the historical development of financial regulation and reporting across Europe and the world. You will also examine how both Anglo-Saxon and ‘commercial code’ accounting have expanded to become the two main accounting systems used today. Private equity, venture capital, stock exchange listing: all are methods of raising equity finance. This unit looks at the processes used and the markets available across the world for raising such finance, as well as looking into the reasons why some companies choose cross-listing on stock exchanges. This unit will examine the particular issues that arise in bringing a project to a close, and ways of evaluating a project on its completion. The key components of project closure will be identified and discussed and their importance in ensuring that the aims and objectives of a project have been successfully attained will be explored. After studying this unit, you will be able to plan an effective project closure. The importance of managing people for the success of a project cannot be underestimated. This unit identifies the groups and individuals whose appropriate involvement in a project is important for its success, and considers the ways in which their contribution might be maximised. Managing projects is something most managers will find themselves doing at some point in their career. This unit aims to provide an overview of the features of a project and the issues that arise in managing a project. Day-to-day monitoring of a project is essential to ensure that work is progressing according to the plan, and it will often be necessary to review and revise the plan as circumstances change. This unit will introduce some of the key techniques that help managers to monitor and control projects, and consider what approaches work best in particular circumstances. Gantt charts, critical path analysis, SMART objectives and estimation skills are just some of the topics covered in this unit to help you understand how to plan for a project. You will gain an appreciation of the range of planning techniques available and the situations in which it is appropriate to use them. This unit is based upon a case study scenario – it simulates the experience of moving around an organisation, talking to people, and looking at organisational documents. Many managers find that they are required to manage projects. In this unit we aim to help you work through a series of tasks associated with a project set in a realistic context and give you experience of grappling with the issues that arise in managing a project. The unit takes a problem-based learning approach and you work through a series of tasks drawing on case study materials and project management resources that describe approaches that have proven effective in managing projects.
 This course introduces the fundamental Lean Six Sigma principles that underlay modern continuous improvement approaches for industry, government and other organizations. Lean emerged from the Japanese automotive industry, particularly Toyota, and is focused on the creation of value through the relentless elimination of waste. Six Sigma is a quality system developed at Motorola which focuses on elimination of variation from all processes. The basic principles have been applied to a wide range of organizations and sectors to improve quality, productivity, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, time-to-market and financial performance.
This unit covers the emergence of the Life Sciences sector out of its precursor the pharmaceutical industry. After examining some historical perspectives it uses case studies to look at developments in the science, business and, primarily, management strategies used in Life Sciences. It also briefly considers Life Sciences' place in the wider story of health provision. This introductory unit will be of interest to managers in the Life Sciences sector and to the general reader. This is a blank course container for your user defined course content. This course is connected to the state of Minnesota website and their set of articles pertaining how to conduct a business in Minnesota
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Welcome to the Free Open University School of Business. Here you can access classes that will provide you the business courses required for a major in business and a Masters of Business Administration. Any one can join at any time but we do not have students, only learners. Free Open University supports all Collegiate Independent Study and Open Graduate Studies.
An Open Graduate Program is similar to Open Source Software in that it is completely open and as a learner, you do not belong to a University.
Free Open University will assist you in determining what should most likely be included in your open grad program but you must create a set of publications that your peers will acclaim to be of graduate quality and sufficient to meet the requirements of a Master, Extended Masters or Doctorate in the subject area.
Our way of doing this is to place a Moodle Server on line to hold your course work. We place material on that server that you are responsible to complete. When your peers look at the materials and conclude that you have completed your program, you are done. Your peer evaluators are instructed as to what amount of work and level of learning constitutes the completion of the program and they evaluate you.
At no point does anyone issue you a degree, diploma or certificate. You declare yourself to have completed the program and once you convince your peers to agree, you are done. |
