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Our Unique Program Is Designed to Improve the Management Skills of Technical People |
We Bring the Program to Your Workplace
The Master of Science in Technical Management (MSTM) degree program was developed in cooperation with aviation and aerospace industry representatives. The program aims at entry or mid-level managers who aspire to greater management responsibilities.
The curriculum has been designed as a cohesive and integrated educational experience, from the introductory preparatory skills courses to the capstone student project submitted before the end of the final course. The degree requires 36 credit hours and strongly emphasizes building communications (writing and speaking), and management skills needed in technically-oriented enterprises. Students can expect assignments requiring projects, reports, and presentations to exercise the knowledge and skills they have learned. The student capstone project is integrated throughout the program and is focused on addressing real world technical management issues in the work place.
The MSTM degree program is delivered on-site at selected industry and government locations where a group of students have made the commitment to start and complete the program. Various organizations have been willing to provide classroom facilities. The program was designed and structured so that each cohort of students maintains its integrity from start to degree completion. The faculty who teach in the program are recognized experts in the field.
Program Availability: For a listing of Worldwide campuses and teaching sites, by state, offering the MSTM program, please click here.
Corporations or individuals interested in learning more about the Master of Science in Technical Management degree program are invited to write or call:
MSTM Management Office
Embry Riddle Aeronautical University - Worldwide
Telephone: 210-659-7703
E-Mail: mstm.offic@erau.edu or wharsha@ix.netcom.com
What Employers of the MSTM Graduates have to say:
From Candice L. Phelan, Ph.D.
Manager, Human Resources Department
Lockheed Missiles & Space Company
Austin, Texas:
"As our first class nears graduation, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you and the University for the excellent master's degree program in Technical Management. Even though we conducted extensive advance validation of the program's content and quality of teaching before we decided to conduct the program here on-site, I had not fully anticipated the outstanding level of excellence you have built into the program. It appears to be very stringent - students have been studying and working hard and have been learning a great deal. In fact, I have been pleased to periodically hear several 'grumbling' about the amount of work, and, in the same conversation, express satisfaction about how much they have learned.
Over the last eighteen months, the class content has been strengthening our participants' job knowledge and so the program has been yielding returns even before graduation.
It has been a pleasure to work with you and your team. The entire Embry-Riddle staff has gone out of their way to make this an easy program for us to administer and you have made it very responsive to the needs of the students."
Quick Facts about the Program
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The quantitative methods required and used have great depth
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Program is oriented toward mid-level managers, supervisors, and project managers
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Program is designed to improve managing skills of technical people
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Program has a real "Hands on" flavor
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All faculty teaching hold a doctorate
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Group interaction and team-building concepts are key elements
The program has a fixed nature:
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Program often offered at a location only when at least 24 students have committed to the program
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Lockstep program
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Recruitment and admission of cohort of approximately 24 students
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University commitment to continue complete series of 14 classes, even if attrition lowers the number of students
Classroom format and delivery:
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Embry-Riddle will try to accommodate the needs of specific clients
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Three- or four-weekend format for each 3-credit class is most popular
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One night per week for eight weeks
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Sequential presentation
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Three or four terms per year
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Program depends on student and/or faculty availability
Tuition Costs (July 1, 2008):
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$600 per semester hour (July 1, 2008) or $21,600 for 36 semester hour program.
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Comparable programs ranged from $31,000 to $41,000
Value to a company:
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Employees are better trained: make better decisions and fewer mistakes
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If company promotes from within; students are good candidates
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Research Projects: students doing projects related to their jobs
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All Technical Management Capstone Projects (TMCPs) have resulted in direct identifiable savings or new business to company
What some of the graduates of the MSTM program have said:
" The MSTM program was a great way for me to develop the skill set I'll need to take my career to the next level. The extensive use of a "learning by doing" approach in the classroom helped bring the material to life and built my confidence in my ability to use these new skills. The teams we formed in most classes provided a real-time source of feedback and support as well as a chance to practice managing the most important business resource there is -- people. I gained a lot from the program, and for those who are considering enrolling in the program, I'd encourage them to do it. They won't regret it!"
David A. Bacon, Webster, TX
"The MSTM program is teaching up to date and current skills. It also provides a good understanding as to what needs to be done before and
for making decisions. Skills taught are readily applicable to daily work activities. Overall, the MSTM program is an excellent program for aviation/aerospace individuals who are interested in a career in management."
-- Yvon Goudreau, Snohomish, WA
"Working through the MSTM program was a continuously evolving process for me. Having to prepare papers and to give presentations in class helped me with my communication skills. The "instructors" feedback was invaluable. It has given me more self-confidence in my writing and presentation abilities. Each instructor brought many years of industrial experience to the classroom; this added depth beyond the subject matter for each course. The examples they used made concepts real and applicable to my job."
-- K Butler, Class of 2005, Georgia
"I truly believe the goals of the MSTM program (Build on Your Experience, Professors Come to You, Add Value to Your Company, Effective Team Building, Convenient Class Schedule, and Degree in Less than Two Years), is a successful formula for combining the needs of the individual and his/her employer and the demands of providing a meaningful curriculum to a diverse student body.
I am proud of my accomplishments and credit Dr. Harsha and his staff for delivering on all their promises."
-- Robert Wetherly, Class of 2004, Melbourne, Florida
"The MSTM program was good for me. It gave me an opportunity to earn my degree by conveniently making classes available at my workplace, one night a week. The effort spent was a good investment since it opened a door into management, which has been very rewarding."
-- Richard Lemons, Mesa, ARIZONA
"The MSTM degree program has enhanced my job performance giving me the confidence to make better decisions at work. Each course provided beneficial knowledge in communications, writing and developing effective presentations, which I was able to apply in my everyday work assignments. I work for NASA (Kennedy Space Center, FL) as a Launch Site Integration Manager and for each assigned mission I have a customer to support. The MSTM program embedded in me the importance of "the customer"."
-- Dianna Lampert, Class of 2006, Florida
"ERAU and the MSTM program afforded me the opportunity of a lifetime. I have been providing teacher training, conducting English as a Second Language and English as Specific Purpose course work instruction available to 890, eleven language learners at the Hendrik Verwoerd High School in South Africa. I was the very first person of color American or South African to ever teach at the historically white Afrikaans speaking school, in its 80 year history. I owe a great deal of my success to ERAU.
I became fluent in computer technical skills, research and presentation skills from the ERAU courses. This set the foundation for my international career in Education Reform and training. I know if it had not been for ERAU, I would not have the education, knowledge, and many international and logistics career opportunities coming my way.
The instructors cared for the students" success. ERAU MSTM instructors are compassionate and sensitive to our needs. They made us want to succeed. and we did. Attending the MSTM program and ERAU was one of the best moves I have ever made. Thank you."
-- Joann L. Washington, Detroit, MI
MSTM Faculty Comments
From Dr. Wayne Harsha, Program Chair
"The Master of Science in Technical Management degree was designed to meet four major goals.
The first was to meet the needs of working adults who are managers or supervisors working in a technical environment or working with people from the technical environment.
The second goal was to make the program readily available to a broad base of students.This was accomplished by bringing it into the work place at times compatible with the seemingly endless demands of business in the 21st century.
The third goal was to provide a practical application-oriented experience for the student that also generates substantial return-on-investment for the employers of the students.
With the volume of work required to satisfy both professional and academic demands, the last goal was that everyone would have a little fun in the process.
The MSTM program has a superior track record of meeting these goals.The quality of the students and their commitment to the program are the major reasons for that success.
Our industry-experienced faculty contribute their wisdom to this developmental process.
If you want to be a better communicator and decision maker, the MSTM program will bolster and hone your ability to meet the challenges of leading and managing in today's complex and demanding world."
From Dr. Wayne Harsha, Instructor -- TMGT 501 Computer Skills for a Technical Environment
"For most of us, the computer is ever-present.We are made to depend on them for everything from email to access to our money.Whether we love them or hate them, the machine called the computer is here on our desks or in our workspace.This course provides the students wit the skills necessary to make that machine a vital tool among his/her decision-making and labor-saving devices."
From Dr. Wayne Harsha, Instructor -- TMGT 502 Communication Skills in a Technical Environment
"Getting your message to the intended receiver in a way that eliminates confusion is the goal of communication.This course focuses on writing and speaking skills and introduces listening as a communication support skill.The student will begin the process of thinking like a manager and perfecting communication to meet the goal of getting the message correct the first time."
From Dr. Gene Round, Instructor, TMGT 503, Quantitative Methods and Statistics
"In this course, students learn to apply mathematics and statistics in the decision-making process.Computer software is used extensively throughout the course, so the emphasis is on selecting the appropriate technique and interpreting and applying the results rather than on plugging numbers into formulas.Topics in mathematics include cost, revenue, and profit functions and their relationships, and applications of differential calculus to find maximum and minimum values of these functions.Our study of statistics includes both descriptive and inferential techniques.Examples using actual sets of business data are used throughout the course.Descriptive statistics deals with methods of describing sets of data using summaries and charts such as frequency distributions and histograms, measures of central tendency, and measures of variation.Inferential statistics deals with methods of drawing conclusions about a larger population based on data taken from a sample of that population.We will discuss sampling methods, confidence intervals, and hypothesis testing including the t-test, analysis of variance, and the chi-square test.Most students will use the statistical techniques covered in this course in completing their Technical Management Capstone Project."
From Dr. Kees Rietsema, Instructor, TMGT 605, Organizational Theory in a Technical Environment.
Ever wonder why your company does what it does? or Acts the way it acts? These are important questions!
Today's rapidly changing economic environment is driven by a number of factors to include globalization, technology, increased competition, and even uncertainty! Business organizations must function and change in consonance with the pressures of the external environment. Organizations are also affected by what happens inside them - the character of the workforce, the nature of strategic objectives, corporate history, and the prevailing corporate culture are among the many factors that drive change within organizations.
As managers, supervisors or employees, we all have a need to understand what is "behind" our organizations. Among the relevant questions are: What drives the organization? How does it make decisions? How does its history affect what it is today? We do that in this course by studying various models of culture, organization, and structure. Although there is no one "right" answer to these issues, an understanding of basic organizational theory and design is essential for anyone who must deal with their own or external organizations. Current challenges of ethics, social responsibility, diversity, and technology must also be understood within the context of organizational theory.
This course will introduce and analyze the basic models of organization structure and culture that define the workplace. Since it makes sense to see how these models apply to our own circumstances you will also learn to assess and understand the nature of organizational structure, culture, and design within your work environments. You will examine your own circumstances in ways you have not thought of before..and gain a better understanding of the business world we live and work in!
From Dr. Jim Schultz, Instructor -- TMGT 610, Managing Effective Technical Work Teams:
This is a unique course, which was specifically designed for students in the MSTM degree program.The course combines aspects of Team Building and Human Resource Management, which are applicable to modern day corporate philosophies.
Additionally, the course encompasses the integration of experiential management concepts, which are applicable to contemporary human resource management practices.Individuals in the course participate in-group exercises, which are directly related to real life management situations. Students role-play problem-solving situations, which relate directly to those, which they may encounter in present-day employment situations.
And from Dr. Guy Smith:
"The TMGT 610 course title, Managing Effective Work Teams, suggests that the course is confined to team management topics. TMGT 610 is really two courses cleverly combining the skills of managing individuals with the ability to organize those individuals into productive teams. The course covers the traditional team management topics of participative management, group processes and conflict resolution; and it extends into the field of Human Resource Management (HRM) with discussions of motivation, retention, evaluation, promotion, recognition and reward.
You would expect to do most of your work in TMGT 610 in some kind of team, but the surprise is that you will find yourself concurrently working as a member of several teams two-person teams, small teams of four or five, large teams of ten or twelve and the class team. Everybody in the class will have the opportunity to practice team leadership in one of those teams and to be responsible for coordinating the team deliverables. Of course, you will also get ample practice as a team member, subordinating yourself to the team goals.
There is plenty of work for the teams to do in TMGT 610. The work of the teams fills the HRM requirements of the course. Each professor has a different way of assigning team projects; many use the case study method. Small teams may be assigned a job analysis or manpower-planning project. They may have to develop and implement a recruiting plan or create a comprehensive selection process. Sometimes teams of four or five are assigned to develop an orientation or training program, to create an appraisal system or to design a compensation/reward system. The larger teams may tackle a major safety or health issue or negotiate a contract during a collective bargaining exercise.
The course does not produce HR Specialists, but students will learn and practice those human resource management skills that successful managers must posses. At the end of the course, you will make an inventory of your strengths and weaknesses in different teams. You will know whether you prefer to work in large or small teams."
From Dr. Kate Quigley, Instructor -- TMGT 616 Production Operations Management
"This course examines Operations Management from a systems perspective, and demonstrates how dynamic interchanges between the constituent parts of the system affect the operations.This course relates to the management of product and process design, operations, and supply chains.A great deal of focus is on efficiency and effectiveness of processes, and this course includes substantial measurement and analysis of internal processes.This course demonstrates that the products or services in an organization, as well as their management, drive how Operations Management is carried out in an organization.
Through this course, you'll gain a better understanding of the interactions between the perspectives an organization's strategy.Financial, Customer, Internal capabilities, and Learning/Growth are different aspects of a strategy that necessarily need to be in alignment for a high functioning organization.You'll also discover the interconnections between how an organization chooses to carry out processes that support the overarching strategies.
One of the key areas of knowledge in this course comes from understanding what types of measurements to use in different situations.Some of the specific problems you'll be covering deal with queuing, labor productivity, standard time vs. normal time, critical paths, capability of assembly lines, line balancing, cost efficiency associated with inspecting vs. accepting a defective rate, inventory turnover, inventory value and expected value and profit."
Dr. Richard Glover, Instructor -- Regulations, Ethics, And The Legal System (TMGT 621)
"This is a survey course of the legal environment of business and technical operations. It is not a law school class, nor is it designed to produce lawyering skills. The course is a broad exposure to many legal topics and the structure used by federal, state and local governments, as well as self-regulation, by industry and professions, to resolve or avoid legal and ethical conflicts. Technical managers will face conflicts that do not implicate a purely legal solution, and they will learn to appreciate the adoption of good business ethics and self-regulatory practices to avoid costly legal remedies and consequences.
The nature and options for conflict resolution are central to the course, focusing on ethical judgments made by technical managers to resolve each unique conflict. Basics of contract law, criminal law, property law, and civil wrongs (torts) are studied in context to present options for avoiding or resolving conflict. Constitutional and statutory construction, regulatory oversight and procedure, international treaty, and ethical systems (formalism and consequentialism) are presented, and students are encouraged to evaluate each system in relation to societal and industry needs. Critical thinking is a cornerstone of the course, both through in-class activities and formal written assignments. Topical and current case studies are used in group and individual assignments. The technical manager will acquire skills allowing identification of legal and ethical conflicts, as well as skills necessary to predict their resolution."
From Dr. Jim Schultz, Instructor -- TMGT 625 Marketing in a Technical Environment
"This class is a quintessential marketing course designed specifically for individuals in scientific, engineering and technical fields who have not had marketing courses at the undergraduate level.The course is designed to acquaint the student with marketing concepts, which can be used for their organizations, both internally and externally.
Students are required to develop a marketing plan and participate in a marketing simulation exercise. The simulation places students in teams, which compete against other in the class in a true-to-life marketing experience. Participants have commented that the simulation experience as an exercise which has greatly enhanced their ability to market concepts, products and services to individuals both within and outside their organizations."
Dr. Guy Smith, Instructor -- Technical Management Information Systems (TMGT 630)
" TMGT 630 is perhaps the most dynamic course in the MSTM program. Beginning with the course title, Technical Management Information Systems, you would expect that the professors must regularly revise course materials to keep pace with the electrifying changes in information technology, telecommunications, database management, and business information strategies. In fact, source material for the course is almost doubled every year and a two-year-old textbook is practically outdated. Thus, the course depends heavily on online resources to keep abreast of systems that change as readily as the lights on a Las Vegas boulevard.
Students in TMGT 630 participate in the modernization process; each student becomes an expert on one of the course topics by doing research on the Web and by making a topic presentation to the class. In a Team Project, students also expand their knowledge about particular information strategies when they apply them to a real-world problem. One of the favorite features of the course is organizing and structuring information into a useful Web page. TMGT 630 challenges students to remember their TMGT 501 foundations in Microsoft Access, because this course expands those essential skills into extracting knowledge from wide-ranging information in relational databases. The course provides opportunities for both professors and students to demonstrate information technologies such as communicating by hypermedia, collaborating by NetMeeting, transferring data by wireless communications, and designing hardware by Computer-Aided Design. Although the course is crowded with topics, your professor will try to create some time to discover emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Fuzzy Logic, Expert Systems, and Neural Networks. With only 45 hours of class time, it is impossible to cover all of the topics in the dynamic field of Information Systems, but the course should lure you into spending many stimulating hours learning more."
From Dr. Mark Bellnap, Instructor -- TMGT 635 Financial and Managerial Accounting and Control in a Technical Environment.
"This course deals with a subject that is of vital concern of most managers that operate in a business setting.That subject is financial management.It is not the intent of this course to train the students who take this course to become accountants.Rather, the intent is to help the students understand a variety of managerial accounting concepts and techniques and how those concepts and techniques may be applied in a business setting.With this knowledge, the student will be able to better understand such things as financial flows, cost factors in production, overhead costs, relevant costs in decision-making and budgets.As a result, the student should be able to make more informed financial decisions in the business environment where they work.
Some of the subjects that will be covered include the balance sheet, the income statement, financial statement analysis, variable costing, absorption costing, product costs, period costs, cost of goods manufactured, cost of goods sold, the cash budget, capital budgets, financial ratios, breakeven analysis, net present value, relevant costs, sunk costs, and mixed costs.As part of this class, students will be required to develop an excel spreadsheet demonstrating the use of a managerial accounting financial technique.In addition, students will be required to analyze and discuss how that managerial accounting technique can be used in a business setting."
From Dr. Gene Round, Instructor -- TMGT 646 Operations Research and Management Science
"In this course, students explore quantitative analysis techniques for program management.Techniques include decision theory, queuing theory, forecasting models, inventory theory, linear and integer programming, transportation and assignment models, and network models.Computer techniques are used to solve problems and to communicate the results in a clear and understandable fashion.Emphasis is placed on understanding analytical methodologies, interpreting quantitative results and communicating conclusions."
From Dr. Ken Romano, Instructor -- TMGT 651 Quality Management and Quality Control
"The quality management course is the student's final course in the MSTM program.It is the culmination of the many previous organizational, operations, statistics, process management and financial management topics within the MSTM program.Therefore, this survey course focuses on the relationship of Quality Management, and the several theories available, to business leadership, process control and metrics, and the primary topic, the customer.
This course covers each of the topics from a leadership and culture influence, with the primary goal of having students define their own quality philosophies and application as a part of a total quality management system.Each topic as defined by the instructor, is covered to present current theory and then the influence of leadership and organizational culture on the efficiency and effectiveness of the application.Students can be asked to develop process maps of their role in their company, then develop key process indicators to measure their own performance using statistical control charts, regression analysis, and histograms.
Topics include a review of the Deming, Crosby, and Juran concepts of Quality Management and Control, the relationship of quality to human resource and process management, the need and development of Key Process Indicators, the principles of Six Sigma and Statistical Process control, and finally, how all these topics influence customer behavior.It is an intense course with many topics covered to provide the student with a plethora of knowledge that they can use to develop and apply their own quality philosophies."
Dr. Wayne Harsha -- Project Development Techniques (TMGT 660)
"In this course, the students prepares the proposal for their capstone project. This is not called research methods because the focus of the research project is problem solution more than class research. All the normal research tools are presented and the student chooses the most appropriate tool for his/her project. All the skills in the other courses are brought to bear on the selected problem the student chooses to solve. The product of this class is an approved project proposal ready for final approval by the student Technical Management Research committee. The class involves one-on-one work with the instructor to focus and fine tune the planned project. The capstone project has its own identifier, TMGT 660L, so this course is 2 credits. Although any class of this nature entails a sizable commitment of time and energy, the product has brought significant savings to the companies the students represent and positive exposure for the students."
Technical Management Capstone Project (TMGT 660L)
"This is not really a class. The student registers for this one-credit course when he has completed his capstone project which ERAU calls the Technical Management Capstone Project (TMCP). The project provides evidence of the students ability to the skills taught in the other classes to solve problems or improve operations within their workplace. The final products have brought millions of dollars in saving and improvements to the organizations where the research was conducted. Some students elect to publish their projects."
MORE ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Prepare for Management
The Master of Science degree in Technical Management (MSTM) was created in cooperation with industry representatives to meet the needs of those involved in or working with the technical environment. The program prepares technically trained employees for advancement within their companies and for larger managerial responsibilities.
Build on Your Experience
Students are given assignments requiring projects, reports, and presentations that exercise the knowledge and skills they have learned. They also complete a capstone management research project that deals with making an improvement or solving an actual problem faced by their own company.
Professors Come to You
MSTM instructors include both full-time faculty and working professionals that are subject-matter experts who teach courses on-site at the host company's facility. Each class of students remains together from the start of the program until completion of their degree.
Add Value to Your Company
The MSTM degree provides the tools required to effectively manage the issues facing corporations today. From descriptive statistics to project management and modern marketing techniques, problems can be addressed more efficiently.
Effective Team Building
The program is dependent on group interaction and team building concepts. Each student is provided with a laptop computer, which provides the tools to solve complex management and production problems, make group presentations, execute projects, and prepare technical reports.
Convenient Class Schedule
Embry-Riddle will try to accommodate needs of specific clients. A three- or four-weekend format meeting every other week or one night per week for eight weeks effectively balances class work load with your private and professional life.
Degree in Less Than Two Years
Students can expect to complete degree requirements in less than two years while they continue to work.
MSTM Statistics
How many active MSTM cohorts, as of September 20, 2008?
8
How many total cohorts since the MSTM first started?
30
How many total graduates?
Approximately 900
How many different Worldwide campuses have offered the MSTM program?
28
Where was the first ERAU MSTM Cell?
Titusville and Melbourne, Florida.
Where was the first Worldwide campus cell?
Lockheed, Austin, Texas
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tives. This unique degree has evolved into a technical program relating to industry as a whole. The curriculum emphasizes modern management concepts and methods and gives students a set of well-defined technical tools. It also focuses on building the communication and management skills that are needed in technically oriented enterprises. Major management disciplines are studied as a foundation for large-scale planning and decision-making, and students enhance classroom interaction by sharing perspectives and experiences from their work situations. 
