Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation: Master of Business Administration (MBA)

A background in the basics of business is often a key to making the most of a graduate business or management program. In this foundational course, students can build their business acumen in major functional areas that are essential to business success including business leadership and management, business ethics, the legal environment of business, accounting, finance, economics, quantitative methods and statistics, information systems management, global business, marketing, and strategic management.

Being an effective leader is essential in business and demands that an individual has a strong set of competencies including the ability to understand one's self, motivate others, understand organizational culture, and manage ambiguity. In this course, students begin their personal and professional transformation by closely examining their current strengths and weaknesses, values, decision-making processes, and approaches to dealing with difficult problems. Students also explore leadership in turbulent times by examining how effective leaders think as well as how various management styles impact situations and relationships within an organization. Topics include key leadership concepts with applications to authentic situations; personal leadership and competency assessment; personal and professional development planning; and ethical values-based leadership decision making.

Contemporary business environments are increasingly competitive, global, fast paced, and knowledge intensive. In these environments, effective use of human capital is vital to an enterprise's success and survival. In this course, students will explore practical issues related to developing individuals and managing collaboration and will examine the skills and strategies necessary to address them effectively. Students will examine ethical and legal implications of managing a diverse workforce including issues that arise from cross-cultural differences and virtual work settings. The importance of communication as a tool to manage internal and external relationships is emphasized as it relates to the effectiveness of managing people to achieve organizational goals. Topics include planning and executing staffing strategies, developing individuals, fostering positive work environments, creating and sustaining teams, maintaining influence in the organization, managing a global workforce, managing programs for productivity improvement, and planning and managing the human side of organizational change.

In today's complex and uncertain environment, innovation is important to achieving business success. In this course, students will examine how to be an effective creative leader who can readily apply imagination to resolve complex problems. Additionally students explore methods to establish a work environment conducive to creative thinking. Students will gain a set of proven methods, skills, and strategies that enable innovative breakthroughs to occur in a much more deliberate and predictable manner. Topics include: an overview of the concepts of creativity, foresight, and innovation; the diversity of different creative thinking styles; the "design thinking" process for business problem solving; work environments that stimulate creativity; characteristics of leaders who exemplify creativity that often leads to innovation; and the application of creativity and innovation concepts in organization settings.

The need for information and dependence on information systems and enabling technologies are ubiquitous in business. Businesses use information systems to collect, process, store, and manage data, which can be aggregated and disseminated in the form of information to support effective decision making. Students in this course explore how to realize optimum benefit from information systems and technology to support and improve business decisions, processes, and services at all levels of business in alignment with business goals to achieve competitive advantage and sustainable business performance. Topics include cost, selection, implementation and use of information systems; quality, reliability, and process standards; and use of information systems to drive strategic advantage.

The ability to communicate with others influences success in both professional and personal settings. As communities and places of work become increasingly diverse, the intersections of interpersonal and intercultural communication also increase, and communicators need to be aware that the cultural diversity of their audiences should affect the way they convey information. Students in this course examine interpersonal and intercultural intersections and study the influence of cultural diversity on interpersonal communication. By examining theory, students develop an approach to practice and hone individual strategies for communicating successfully in diverse interpersonal situations. Topics include interpersonal communication theory, intercultural communication theory, individual communication competence, nonverbal channels, person perception, conflict resolution, and listening and communication barriers.

Over the last few decades, a fundamental shift in the world economy has been underway. No longer are national economic interests and business operations largely confined within well-­defined geographic borders. Phenomena such as the explosion of the Internet, outsourcing, and the reduction in barriers to cross-­border trade have all contributed to the creation of a truly global economy. Students in this course focus on the global environment of business and explore how the international sociocultural, political, legal, economic, physical, and historical environments affect business practices and policies. Students will learn the skills and methodologies required for market analysis and business strategizing on a global scale. In particular, students identify the internal and external forces affecting an organization's ability to compete both domestically and globally.

Managers encounter a variety of challenges on a daily basis, which require the ability to employ existing tools and strategies to strategically communicate with individuals and the organization at large and to understand the different types of attitudes and values of others. Individuals with these skills are most successful when their efforts are coupled with the ability to think critically and analytically. Students are provided with the opportunity to improve their overall critical-thinking and reasoning skills within a managerial context. Using relevant management articles, case studies, and current topics analyses, students sharpen their diagnostic-reading skills and learn to construct effective, ethical, evidence-based arguments, which are fundamental capabilities of effective managers. They also examine common fallacies in thinking and reasoning as well as the rhetorical use of language to formulate convincing and effective arguments.

Effectively using data and information can make the difference in whether the best decisions are made or problems are solved correctly. There are multiple approaches to practical managerial problem solving that are rooted in the systematic collection, analysis, and display of relevant data and information. In this course, students examine the importance of data, beginning with the process of transforming data into information, and then focusing on the best methods for presenting that information in support of sound and ethical decision making. Students evaluate common misinterpretations or errors in working with data and determine how to detect data and information presented in a deceptive manner. Students explore current paradigms in data-based decision making and problem solving. They learn how they can use these analytical-thinking practices to improve their general managerial decision-making skills.

Effective managers know how to identify, prioritize, and act upon the most important items of the myriad of tasks that can potentially distract them on any given day.  Students will explore  the qualities of effective managers and various management styles to identify those which resonate.  Students will examine critical skills  that are imperative to successful  management including organizing and handling priorities; communicating effectively; motivating, empowering,  and developing people; resolving issues and challenges; and managing oneself. Students will gain valuable skills and knowledge that they can apply immediately.

One of the most critical challenges in maintaining and improving organizational performance is identifying core strengths and weaknesses within the organization and across the more general value creation landscape. The focus of this course is on the challenges and opportunities for managers to create value and to increase organizational performance through the effective deployment of systems thinking and change management skills. Students in the course explore systems thinking as a process whereby problems are viewed as individual components within a larger system, and explore how various operational and systems thinking frameworks such as the Theory of Constraints and Lean Six Sigma can be utilized to optimize organizational performance in both industrial and service settings.

Accounting is the language of business. Managers must understand and be able to effectively use this language to create meaningful measures upon which to make appropriate decisions. They must know what to measure, how to measure, and what the consequences of the measurement might be. In this course, students will take a rigorous stakeholder approach that integrates fundamental managerial accounting topics with strategic business analysis. Topics include the use of accounting information to make effective business decisions; analysis of the impact of decisions on various stakeholder groups; and the development of sustainable solutions based on the information that is measured, analysis of various types of budgets, strategic planning, and forecasting as well as communicating accounting information effectively to various stakeholders. Various specific accounting tools and their usefulness to managers will be evaluated.

Effective managers know that a clear understanding of the role of marketing, as well as a grasp of effective marketing practices, is essential for organizations to succeed in today's fast-paced, competitive environment. In this course, students gain a working knowledge of both marketing theory and the practical application of innovative marketing tools and strategies. Students also explore how product, price, place, promotion, and people contribute to the marketing mix as they explore research-based insights into consumer behavior. Topics include product and service differentiation, competitive analysis, relationship marketing, coordination of marketing functions, and distribution strategies.

Today's companies are challenged to constantly do more with less. Effective managers know how to deploy scarce financial resources in ways to achieve optimum returns on these resources. Students will discover the latest financial tools and analytic methods to strengthen the capital investment decision-making process. Students will use critical-thinking skills to apply and, at times, challenge traditional financial theory, while balancing various stakeholder interests in the financial decision-making process. Students will examine a range of contemporary issues and techniques relevant to sound and ethical financial decision making. Topics include the role of stakeholders in optimizing firm value, assessment of an organization's financial position, effective communication of financial information and goals, the analysis of risk and reward in financial decision making, the impact of financial decisions and capital structure on firm value, the role of ethics in financial decision making, and the evaluation of financial decisions to enter international markets.

The purpose of the capstone course is to integrate the knowledge and concepts students have gained through the MBA program. Students will practice their skills and employ their knowledge by evaluating business strategies capable of achieving sustainable competitive advantage. Students in this course will be required to identify and address challenges and opportunities found in today's complex and often uncertain business environment. Students complete their transformational journey through the program by reflecting on their learning and will consider the next phase of their career development. The aim of the course is to improve the students' ability to manage in an environment requiring both strategic and operational knowledge. Topics include corporate social responsibility and stakeholder management, resource-based capabilities analysis, external competitive analysis, business-level strategy evaluation and development, and change management.

Social entrepreneurs are gaining international attention motivated by the desire for change and to see the world as it can be, not as it is. Students in the course will learn how social entrepreneurs have developed creative solutions to address social problems. The intention of the course is to develop knowledge, appreciate of the role of social entrepreneurs who create social change, deepen students' understanding of the world around them, and to inspire them to use their skills and knowledge to be, as Gandhi said, "the change you wish to see in the world."Students in this course will gain knowledge about social entrepreneurs and how they are creating solutions to address societal problems, learn how to develop creative solutions to address social problems, and empower students to see social entrepreneurship as a force for social change. The course is designed for those who want to gain valuable tools to prepare them to make an impact on the lives of others. This course will be housed in the School of Public Policy and Administration for future upgrades and course maintenance.

Grant writing is the method by which external funding can be secured by educational institutions, community organizations, and nonprofit agencies to provide services to the community. In this course, students will understand processes and gain basic skills needed for successful grant writing. These processes and skills consist of developing a project idea, identifying a funding agency, writing a compelling needs statement with goals and measurable objectives, developing a budget, collaborating with other people, submitting the grant application, understanding the grant review process, responding to the review, and managing the grant award. Course assignments allow students to apply and practice grant writing skills by developing a grant proposal based on an actual Request for Proposal (RFP).

Today's business environment is constantly evolving to accommodate changes in economy, leadership, new regulations, and internal reduction and growth. Organizations require leaders who know how to work through barriers to effect positive and efficient organizational change. Students in this course learn about situations that constitute and require such change. They engage in a variety of assignments through which they explore effective strategies for initiating change and anchoring change into corporate culture to achieve organizational goals as well as for managing unplanned or unwelcome change. Students explore a variety of approaches and methods to transition individuals and organizations within evolving environments. They distinguish between reactive responses and proactive responses to change and examine the implications of culture, inertia, and uncertainty. Additionally, students explore the importance of understanding motivation and effective communication in mitigating negative reactions to change and facilitating the change process itself.