Graduate Business Administration

Marketing is the process of identifying, anticipating, and satisfying customer needs and wants through the creation, promotion, and distribution of products and services. It is a concept that has been around for centuries, with evidence of marketing practices dating back to ancient civilizations.  In this course, we will examine the foundations and marketing principles/practices culminating in an original marketing plan for a new or existing organization (you may prefer existing, as information is more readily available). Foundational principles covered are (but not limited to):  Understanding customer needs, creating customer value, segmentation and targeting, the marketing mix, integrating marketing across channels, branding, digital marketing/social media, and marketing ethics. 

Generally taken in the senior baccalaureate year.

This course is the intersection between understanding economics-based decision making (using pricing as an example), economics in practice and the impacts of a global economy (technocratic vs. Malthusian theories. This course is apolitical and will instead focus on the mechanisms that drive the economy, thus driving sound business decision making (with regards to pricing & cost structures). As a graduate level course, you are required to draw connections among economic theories and ideas (synthesis), appraise, defend, argue and support your decisions (evaluate), and design, develop and formulate original thinking (create). These (synthesis, evaluation, and creation) will be evident in both your written work and class dialogue. 

Generally taken in the senior baccalaureate year.

This course is designed to provide students exposure to organizational development (OD) theories and practice. This includes the utilization and application of behavioral science to adapt to change and improve individual performance and systems within an organization. The goal of OD is to help individuals function better within an organizational system.  Organizational Development has the power to dramatically improve companies and the well-being of employees.  Going forward, successful organizations will be those that build an effective employee experience that attracts, retains, and engages the right talent.  The right staffing ensures continuous organizational improvement through strategic alignment of structure, staff, skills, and culture.  OD attempts to bring about positive change throughout the system (individual, group, and organization) using a wide variety of interventions that will ultimately benefit all stakeholders – internally and externally.

In this course, theoretical models and the process of OD will be discussed.  Students will also learn how to improve individual, group/team, and organizational performance through the use of OD techniques or interventions, including:  group dynamics, training, culture change, and work-life balance, among others.

Generally taken in the senior baccalaureate year.

This course utilizes quantitative analysis as well as qualitative skills to analyze and interpret a company’s financial statements and position from a manager’s perspective, with an emphasis on making financial decisions. Cases will be used to illustrate analysis of external and internal financial reporting with a focus on forecasting and valuation. Various types of organizations will be considered.

Business intelligence is the implementation of information technology strategies for data analysis used to provide historical, current and predictive views of business operations. In this course students learn and apply software that facilitates online analytical processing, analytics, data/process/text mining, complex event processing, business performance management, benchmarking, and predictive/prescriptive analytics. This hands-on course emphasizes the application of business intelligence to improve business decision making and strategies. This course will be of vital importance to prepare the Master of Business Administration students for the field experience projects the following semester.

This course guides students through the fundamental project management tools and behavioral skills necessary to successfully launch, lead and realize benefits from projects in profit and nonprofit organizations. Successful project managers possess the skills necessary to manage their teams, schedules, risks and resources to produce a desired outcome. Students explore project management with a practical, hands-on approach through case studies and application exercises. Students will learn to manage the particular challenges of project management, including managing without influence or direct authority, gaining the support of stakeholders and gaining access to resources not directly under their control. Student effort will also be focused on overcoming resistance to change in order to implement successful project management.  

Elective Course for the MBA; included in the Project Management concentration.

In this course, students will learn to plan and run projects with special consideration of risk management. Students will develop strategies for addressing resource constraints in project planning, scheduling and management. They will learn how to align resources with demand and how to address scheduling conflicts in order to deliver the project on time and under budget. Students will apply crashing techniques (compression strategies) to projects running behind schedule and they will address project creep resulting from new customer requirements. We will use MS Project Management in this course to manage resources and the project schedule. We will also focus on the human element and look at some basic effective team management concepts. Finally, we will explore elements of risk and learn how to control or mitigate those risks during the project lifecycle. Specifically, we will learn to identify potential risks, quantify risk impact and likelihood, implement countermeasures where appropriate and establish systems to monitor and control the risks.

Elective Course for the MBA; included in the Project Management Concentration.

Supply chain management covers the flow of materials and products from the raw material and component suppliers through the manufacturer value chain and distribution system to the end-user/customer. The processes crucial to this flow include inventory and production planning, forecasting, purchasing, manufacturing, storage and transportation. Students will learn the fundamental concepts related to supply chain management and will apply those concepts in a variety of actual projects or simulations. This course will also focus on the various techniques for material and production planning, execution of orders and priority planning, quality control strategies and distribution channel decisions.

Elective Course for the MBA; included in the Project Management Concentration

This course explores how leaders in healthcare organizations manage their employees and non-employee labor.  While Human Resources is often seen as a department, the reality is that much of the work of managing human resources is done by supervisors, managers, leaders, and even self-managed teams.  We can’t rise to leadership roles and leave the work of managing people to the HR department.  The risk inherent in managing people, from recruitment practices to discrimination claims to evaluation, compensation, and discharge is greater when problems occur during daily interactions.  A knowledgeable leadership team is the best protection against potential litigation, public relations problems, and unnecessary expense.  We will discuss varied HR topics within the lens of healthcare:  recruiting, hiring, and on-boarding as well as motivating, training, performance evaluation and improvement, safety, quality control, and labor relations issues. 

Elective Course for the MBA; included in Healthcare Administration Concentration. 

This course is designed as the capstone experience of the 5-Year MBA. The field experience will enhance each student’s skills in participating as a team member towards real-world project goals. Working with a small group of students as a consulting team, the students will conduct an experiential learning opportunity in partnership with a local business, with the business partnerships created in conjunction with the MBA concentration areas (healthcare administration or project management). The field experience opportunity will allow for the students to employ practical application of the concepts learned during the MBA program while working directly with industry professionals on a specific business project. A formal presentation and report to the business client will conclude the project.

The seminar class will provide the students working on the different consulting field experience projects the opportunity to meet together as a larger group and with faculty to better ensure that the goals, objectives and eventual results of each of the projects are successful. The seminar will cover topic areas including effective written and oral business communication skills, to better prepare the students in developing their final project presentations and reports for the business clients.

This course explores how leaders use power and influence to build organizational effectiveness and team and personal performance.  We will discuss sources of power, the ethics involved in the use - and sometimes - abuse of power, and your personal relationship with power and influence in multiple settings.  The use of influence in motivating employees, negotiating, collaborating and maintaining a competitive advantage domestically and globally are additional considerations. 

Advanced Business Practices is a 1 credit introduction to foundational components of economics, accounting, and marketing concepts and applications. This course provides an overview of the scope and skills necessary for current successful business practices and knowledge. In this course, learners will also be introduced to the program requirements and procedures in the online environment.

This course will focus on current microeconomic issues by utilizing economic history and theory. It will address important economic concerns in today’s global economy and make specific recommendations.

This course is designed to provide students exposure to organizational development (OD), which utilizes the application of behavioral science to adapt to change and improve individuals and systems within an organization.  The goal of OD to help individuals function better within an organization system.  Organizational Development has the power to dramatically improve companies and the well-being of employees.  Going forward, successful organizations will be those that build an effective employee experience that attracts, retains, and engages the right talent.  The right staffing ensures continuous organizational improvement through strategic alignment of structure, staff, skills and culture.  OD attempts to bring about positive change throughout the system (individual, group, and organization) using a wide variety of interventions.

Leaders of successful companies understand the importance of marketing strategy and key marketing decisions. This course explores the industry/product life cycle and appropriate competitive strategies and then takes those decisions deeper to include the alignment of business strategy with value disciplines, core purpose, core values, core competencies, and the marketing mix. 

This course utilizes quantitative analysis as well as qualitative skills to analyze and interpret a company’s financial statements and position from a manager’s perspective, with an emphasis on making financial decisions. Cases will be used to illustrate analysis of external and internal financial reporting with a focus on forecasting and valuation. Various types of organizations will be considered. 

This course utilizes quantitative analysis as well as qualitative skills to analyze and interpret a company’s financial statements and position from a manager’s perspective, with an emphasis on making financial decisions. Cases will be used to illustrate analysis of external and internal financial reporting with a focus on forecasting and valuation. Various types of organizations will be considered.

Business intelligence is the implementation of information technology strategies for data analysis in order to provide historical, current and predictive views of business operations. In this course students learn and apply software that facilitates online analytical processing, analytics, data/process/text mining, complex event processing, business performance management, benchmarking, and predictive/prescriptive analytics. This hands-on course emphasizes the application of business intelligence to improve business decision making and strategies.

In this course, students will learn to plan and run projects with special consideration of risk management. Students will develop strategies for addressing resource constraints in project planning, scheduling, and management. They will learn how to align resources with demand and how to address scheduling conflicts in order to deliver the project on-time and under budget. Students will apply crashing techniques (compression strategies) to projects running behind schedule and they will address project creep resulting from new customer requirements. We will use MS Project Management in this course to manage resources and the project schedule. We will also focus on the human element and look at some basic effective team management concepts. Finally, we will explore elements of risk and learn how to control or mitigate those risks during the project lifecycle. Specifically, we will learn to identify potential risks, quantify risk impact and likelihood, implement countermeasures where appropriate, and establish systems to monitor and control the risks.

Supply chain management covers the flow of materials and products from the raw material and component suppliers through the manufacturer value chain and distribution system to the end-user/customer. The processes crucial to this flow include inventory and production planning, forecasting, purchasing, manufacturing, storage, and transportation. Students will learn the fundamental concepts related to supply chain management and will apply those concepts in a variety of actual projects or simulations. This course will also focus on the various techniques for material and production planning, execution of orders and priority planning, quality control strategies, and distribution channel decisions.

This course is designed as the capstone experience of the 5-Year MBA. The field experience will enhance each student’s skills in participating as a team member towards real-world project goals. Working with a small group of students as a consulting team, the students will conduct an experiential learning opportunity in partnership with a local business, with the business partnerships created in conjunction with the MBA concentration areas (Healthcare Administration or Project Management). The field experience opportunity will allow for the students to employ practical application of the concepts learned during the MBA program while working directly with industry professionals on a specific business project. A formal presentation and report to the business client will conclude the project.