Accelerated Online MBA Curriculum and Course Descriptions

This course explores the principles and practices of quality management. Key concepts include elements of quality planning, quality assurance, and quality control.

Specifically, this course covers the following:

1. Ensure quality is effectively planned and executed in organizations.
2. Assess how well quality will be instituted and measured.
3. Determine activities that are unique to quality assurance.
4. Define and determine how to control quality specific activities.
5. Define quality standards that are acceptable and scalable and flexible to meet continuous change and efficiency.

This course explores the principles and practices of risk management. Key concepts in managing uncertainty include: developing a risk approach, identifying, analyzing, responding to and monitoring risks in organizations. Specifically, this course covers the following:

1. Determine the tolerance for uncertainty within an organization.
2. Identify potential problems and opportunities.
3. Analyze the likelihood of the risk occurring and its impact.
4. Determine appropriate responses to significant risks.
5. Monitor and control risk events.
6. Evaluate the traditions and practices in the field that are often accepted unquestioningly.

It is only logical and understandable for an individual trained in leadership and management to believe that what has been taught is wise, practical and useful. As a result, an individual who suddenly acquires international management responsibilities will tend to manage and make decisions based on what has proven successful in the United States.

We all are in agreement that cultures vary in different countries of the world. We are, however, seldom exposed to applications that integrate law, human resources practice, ethics, operations, leadership and motivation in one practical learning experience. In this module our objective is to do just that.

The learning objective of this section is to understand how and why managers in Europe and Asia think very differently when making everyday business decision’s that impact their employees. To accomplish this objective, we will study fundamental foreign decision-making processes in Europe and Asia in one integrated cultural practice and law, human resources practice, ethics, operations, leadership and motivation -- all in one practical learning experience.

Individuals, whether assigned overseas or retain international operating responsibilities in their home country, must understand the impact of their decisions on the outcome of the business compliance with local laws and the motivation of local employees.

Understanding of these issues will not only prevent poor operational decisions but will enable a manager to make decisions that will contribute to the competitive advantage of the company. Additionally, the overseas company will yield more profitable and sustainable results compared to companies whose managers use adversarial management styles because they do not understand local decision decision-making processes.

In this section we focus on how employees participate and are held responsible for decisions at all levels in Europe and Japan. We will study in detail the German model that dominates the thinking and laws of virtually all European countries. The German model also has had a significant impact on legislation from the EU that affects all other member states. Finally, we will study the impact of the culturally dominate decision making practices in Japan. As, again, this model is replicated to a certain extent in other Asiatic countries.

The purpose of this course is to introduce the foundational concepts underlying enterprise architecture and discuss the business value that enterprise architecture brings to an organization.

This course will enable students to explore and learn the following questions:

1. What are the foundational concepts underlying enterprise architecture?
2. What is the business value that enterprise architecture brings to an organization?
3. How can I plan enterprise architecture initiatives?
4. How do I model the different layers of an enterprise?
5. How do I design a results-oriented enterprise architecture?

As business strategy and technology change over time it’s important to understand what an organization has for its current applications on their platform, whether that technology continues to meet the needs of the organization. Knowing when to upgrade technology, understanding how it will fit into the current suit of applications and how to analyze costs associated with technology decisions that will continue to push toward that competitive edge is of the utmost important for good sound business.

According to IGI Global enterprise security is the: “Security mechanism dealing with providing confidentiality, integrity, authentication, authorization and non-repudiation related to the entire organization’s computing resources”. In order to understand more about enterprise security we must understand more about information security governance and management, security risks and mitigation of those risks as well as understanding how to respond to those risks. The following readings and videos will assist you in understanding more about those topics as they relate to enterprise security. Once you’ve overviewed the materials, you will have an opportunity to glean from the materials what you’ve learned and choose a topic that sparks your interest. Further research specific to your topic will be done to develop a list of resources pertaining to your topic and a final paper that will allow you to demonstrate mastery of the concepts.

This section of MBA 635 will explore the organization and operation of financial markets and institutions. This will include stock, bond, and derivative markets, as well as markets that operate as black pools. This section will include depository institutions and shadow banking. It will also explore the role and activity of government institutions that regulate financial markets and institutions, such as the Securities Exchange Commission, and legislation such as Glass – Steagall and Dodd – Frank.

This section will afford the student the opportunity to investigate the fundamentals of financial markets and institutions and will aid the student in forming an intelligent and informed opinion of the following:

• What are the major issues facing financial markets and institutions?
• What role and which specific activities would you, as an ethical business leader, propose for the governmental institutions that regulate financial markets and institutions?

MBA 517 Special Topics in International Finance will explore current issues and topics in the general area of International Finance, as it relates to: international trade, capital raising, investment, financial regulation, and financial institutions. These issues can be explored from the context of the U.S. market, an emerging market economy, a transnational corporation, an international financial institution, or a small-medium size company entering international activities. This course will give you an opportunity to explore issues of international finance of interest to you, and possibly of direct relationship to your employment or industry. The goal of the course is to assist you in understanding the dynamics of international trade from the perspective of finance, capital, investments and regulatory agencies.

The MBA 635 Healthcare Policy Special Topics, Section M course will examine and focus on the impact national and state level policy has on healthcare service delivery. Various initiatives and policy will include legislation and jurisprudence related to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Medicaid Expansion, Medicare, Electronic Health Records and a comparative analysis of global health systems and expenditures using data and statistics provided by the Organisation for Economic and Co-operation and Development (OECD).

This special topics course will create the opportunity for students to critically think and examine the current health system policies in the United States, which will assist students in forming an intelligent and informed opinion of the following:

• What is the basis of political ideology that influences healthcare policy in the United States?
• What might the United States learn from examining healthcare policies in other countries?
• Considering the implementation of the ACA and ‘partnerships’ with private insurance companies to provide access to healthcare, what would you, as a future leader, propose for changes to enhance the existing law, to legislative leaders?

This course will examine and focus on national and international health system models and their impact on healthcare service delivery.

The student will be introduced to four basic health system models, three payment models and five primary funding systems in healthcare. Various initiatives will be examined based on data and information from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Organisation for Economic and Co-operation and Development (OECD). The information will provide a comparative analysis of the U.S. Health System Model to other countries' models. Students may be surprised to learn the United States health system is not considered the best in the world.

This special topics course will create the opportunity for students to critically think and examine the current health system model in the United States, which will assist students in forming an intelligent and informed opinion of the following:

• What is the basis of determining if health care is a ‘right’ vs. a “privileged?”
• What might the United States learn from examining healthcare models in other countries?

Considering that thirty-six countries are ranked as having better health care systems than the United States by WHO, the students' final paper will focus on which of the four basic health system models (or combination of) should be considered to change and improve the health system model in the United States.

Compensation and Benefits will explore major topics pertaining to how organizations best attract, retain and motivate their workforce.

Students will explore the fundamental concepts of topics such as total rewards, pay-for-performance, job descriptions and job design, incentive plan best practice, cost effective retirement programs and cutting edge health and wellness plans.

Each of the topics discussed in this course have a significant impact on both employees and the employer. With issues such as rising costs, competitive labor markets and competition from global and international forces, students are encouraged to balance out how to formulate an effective program for the workforce that achieve objectives while still maintaining budget/cost effectiveness.

This section of MBA635 examines employment law and its impact on business. It reviews employment law practices and trends, the statutory framework, major court cases, how the law of contract and tort apply to employment situations, and anti-discrimination laws.

The topics selected will be directly applicable to your work as a business leader. You will learn to identify basic employment and labor law issues in business and industry. Legal definitions and distinction in the employer-employee relationship will be articulated. Also, state and federal issues like employment discrimination, fair labor standards, occupational safety and health will be analyzed.

Section Q of MBA 635 will explore a theoretical as well as a practical framework to evaluate customer behavior and strategies that can be employed to understand and maximize their buying responses.

Topics include:

• The nature of customer behavior
• Factors affecting buyer decisions
• Formation of customer needs
• Buying motives
• Organizational learning
• Customer buying strategies

This course examines the dramatic transformation in marketing and strategy brought by the Internet as a marketing channel. The thinking skills and techniques used to integrate an E-commerce strategy into an organization’s existing marketing program, or as an individual strategy, are covered.

In this course, students will be exposed to concepts such as -- integrating an E-commerce strategy with a firm's existing marketing plan; evaluating the effectiveness of social media as a marketing tool; and managing E-commerce and social media from the non-technical marketing manager's perspective.

This course will explore a theoretical as well as a practical framework in which to help students understand and evaluate the principles and concepts of marketing research in supporting the rationale of business development decisions.

By mastering a basic understanding of the marketing research process, the student as a future leader in the business community will have an informed understanding of how to:

1. Identify a researchable problem from marketing information.
2. Apply commonly used marketing research techniques.
3. Design, implement, and analyze information from a survey instrument.
4. Research and utilize information from secondary data sources.
5. Interpret the results of market research analysis and recommend marketing decisions based on that research.

This course will explore a theoretical as well as a practical framework in which to help students understand and evaluate the principles and concepts of advertising and promotion used to influence customer buying decisions.

By developing an understanding of the advertising strategy, message concept, and execution, the student as a future leader in the business community will be positioned to:

1. Analyzing the effectiveness of an existing advertisement in terms of target market, purpose of the communication, type of appeal, and effectiveness of the message within a global context.
2. Understand the constructs used to prepare an advertising strategy, and develop an advertising and promotion budget, including allocation of resources among various marketing activities.

This section of MB635 will explore the most common types of fraud schemes and those individuals who commit these types of frauds. Detection, investigation and interrogation of fraud schemes will be covered as well as understanding the legal, regulatory and professional environments involved.

Students will examine the Cressey Fraud Triangle and how that applies to most fraud cases as well as reviewing common behavioral red flats.

Fraud types covered will be:

• Cash Disbursement Frauds
• Cash Receipts Frauds
• Financial Statement Fraud, and
• Ponzi Schemes

The business world moves quickly, driven by entrepreneurial business models, advanced connectivity, and shifting global economic constructs. Accounting standards regularly evolve to constructively incorporate emerging issues. It is critical for accountants to stay informed of emerging issues in accounting, and the impact of these issues on the businesses they support.

This course enables students to build a competency for effectively evaluating and communicating the impacts of contemporary accounting issues. Students will refine and practice research techniques, critical analysis and effective communication skills for an executive level financial and non-financial audience.

As technology changes quickly and the processes to handle our day-to-day operations become more complex, we can no longer rely on old processes and decision making methods based on historical data to predict next steps for success. In order to make the best and most accurate predictions and decisions moving forward we need to utilizing decision management systems, decision modeling techniques and software that will allow our businesses to make real-time decisions that will accurately and successfully move our organizations forward. The modules and topics within this course will give you a glimpse into decision management and the decision modeling process. Students will explore decision modeling and apply some of the tools and techniques in an industry of their choice.

The modules and topics within this course will give you a glimpse into decision management and the decision modeling process. Students will explore decision modeling and apply some of the tools and techniques in an industry of their choice.

This course explores the strategic concepts associated with website analytics and digital presence for business leaders to build competency through an examination of contemporary issues. Through industry-leading online tools, you’ll have the opportunity to learn the basics of Google Analytics. You’ll begin with the basics like creating an account, implementing tracking code, analyzing basic reports, and setting up goals and campaign tracking before transitioning to more advanced features. Topics covered also include ethical considerations associated with website development and management, ecommerce business decisions and other practical applications for business professionals.

This course asks the student, as a future business leader, to create a vision of what they would like the economic environment of business to look like in the future. Should our future economic framework move toward free-market capitalism or more toward socialism? How would you balance profit, greed, incentives, and market pricing mechanisms, entrepreneurship with that of social responsibility, income inequality, economic fairness and ethical leadership? What should be the ideal relationship between the invisible hand of private enterprise and the visible hand of government intervention in the economy? To what extent should the government regulate business and orchestrate the economy? To what extent should entrepreneurial spirits be allowed to run free? The actions of an ethical business leader of the 21st century should be guided by such a vision.

The course will lead the student through the major proponents of capitalism and socialism. It will also examine the major criticisms of capitalism and socialism. It will also include relevant material regarding the Catholic Church’s view of capitalism and prominent ideas of business ethics. It will also introduce the topics of neo-mercantilism and crony capitalism.

The course provides foundation readings in five topic areas:

• Catholicism and Capitalism
• Criticism of Capitalism
• Support of Capitalism
• Neo-mercantilism and Crony Capitalism
• Ethical Leadership within Business

The final paper shall provide the students vision of the relationship between business and society. It will provide concrete governmental policy changes that will foster the student’s vision.

The final paper will also include a contrast and compare analysis of ideas critical of their vision. For example, if the student chooses to support a vision that arises from the criticism of capitalism, the student is required to identify and refute the rebuttal from proponents of capitalism.