About Master Of Business Administration, MBA - at University of Staffordshire
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Information about the MBA (Full-Time)
- The course aims to develop key defined management and leadership competencies
- Teaching and learning is based on a combined theory and practice approach where real and contemporary business issues are evaluated
- The teaching team comprises of those who are engaged in leading edge research or who have significant industrial experience in management and leadership roles
- Study includes underpinning value adding 'Events' and 'Career Advisory' programmes presenting both networking and career planning opportunities
Are you ambitious and do you have an entrepreneurial flair with the appetite to both learn and contribute? Our MBA is aimed at those from all backgrounds - private/public or third sector - and disciplines seeking career advancement into management and leadership.
Based around core management and leadership topics, the MBA is flexible and allows you to tailor your course of study where you can choose up to three option modules from a wide variety of business related topics.
Core topics aim to embrace contemporary aspects of both leadership and management such as strategic and human resource management, strategic marketing, aspects of performance and financial risk management. A wide range of option modules enable exploration of core topics to greater depth. These include such as international aspects of human resource management, innovations in marketing and wider financial concepts. There is also the opportunity to study the dynamics of change leadership, project management, international supply chain management and such as the international dimension of the global economy, entrepreneurship and business law or more abstract topics such as psychology in business. The choice will be yours - to suit your individual career path.
All module learning outcomes in both core and option modules are designed to reflect key underpinning management and leadership competencies.
Course content
Based around core management and leadership topics, the MBA is flexible and allows you to tailor your course of study, where you can choose up to three option modules from a wide variety of business-related topics.
Core modules
- Managing People and Organisations
Explore traditional and contemporary approaches to the strategic management of people both individually and in teams with emphasis on the achievement and development of an effective, efficient and sustainable workforce capable of delivering high levels of organisational performance. Consideration will be given to the managerial challenges of different organisational contexts, managing employees, and managerial ideologies and processes. The module will also seek to evaluate the implementation, application and various implications of managerial action while also taking account of internal and external business environments. The core competencies addressed within this module are: Strategic Agility and Organisational Agility.
Assessment format: Case study
- Leadership and Strategic Management
Focused on Strategic Management from a Leadership perspective, this module involves understanding leadership as a process and the implementation of strategic decisions and its organisational and individual implications. Case study discussions assist in an overall development towards furthering student career. The core competencies addressed within this module are: Strategic Agility and Customer Focus.
Assessment format: Academic essay.
- Risk Management
An innovative module that covers the core principles of risk and uncertainty in a business context. These concepts are applied to the main ways to manage risk such as insurance and hedging within financial markets. The aim of the module is to provide clear strategies for decision-makers to deal with risk and uncertainty despite a rapidly changing and unpredictable economic environment. Also, the module explores other areas of analysis such as Game Theory and Prospect Theory in relation to the role of managing risk.
Assessment format: two-hour exam.
- Performing in Organisations
The Performing in Organisations module uses theory, with examples from practice, of how people and organisations can work more productively while maintaining individual and group wellbeing. The core competencies addressed within this module are: Drive for Results and Career Ambition.
Assessment format: A viva voce examination of the proposed action plan and a case study.
- Strategic Marketing Management
This module is designed to give you an overview of the relationship between marketing strategy and corporate strategy and how strategic marketing decisions are made within an organisation. You will learn about the strategic marketing plan, the elements of a marketing audit and how to create a marketing strategy to meet the needs of your target customers. Elements of the marketing mix will be studied along with an introduction to branding and the influence of digital marketing. We shall also cover corporate reputation and how this can be managed. Core competencies addressed within this module are: Strategic Agility and Customer Focus.
Assessment format: Group Presentation and Individual Marketing Plan.
- Project
The final project represents an opportunity for all MBA students to select a suitable topic and demonstrate the full suite of all five MBA management and leadership competencies derived from the taught modules. Topics will be wide-ranging drawing on different aspects of business but all aiming to address a specific business challenge or problem. Ideally, they should involve external sponsorship to facilitate and support independent study and hence aim to generate robust conclusions and recommendations with real benefit and added value. Following a 'dragons den' style project proposal presentation and allocation of a project supervisor, the assessment requires a 15,000 word project submission.
A final 'vivre' examination completes this final element of MBA study.
Optional modules
- Change Leadership
This module explores a multitude of theories and approaches to organisational change. Going all the way back to the original work of Kurt Lewin, it facilitates a critical understanding of this crucial aspect of organisational life, management and leadership. The core competencies addressed within this module are: Organisational Agility and Drive for Results.
Assessment format: Academic essay.
- Entrepreneurship
An exciting opportunity to act as consultants to a real-life start-up business. This module will challenge you to synthesise your understanding of entrepreneurship theories and empirical research and the knowledge you will have gained from previous studies, other modules on the MBA programme and your previous work experience to develop a business plan which a local enterprise will use to guide them on their start-up journey. The innovative module delivery together with the assessment will equip you with the strategic agility and competencies to support your career advancement and help you develop the skills and confidence to advise other businesses and thus explore other career paths. The core competencies addressed within this module are: Strategic Agility and Career Ambition.
Assessment format: Business plan (including presentation and reflection).
- Financial Concepts and Practice:
Explores techniques and tools to gain insight into an organisation in order to develop strategic agility to improve results in positions of management and leadership. The core competencies addressed within this module are: Strategic Agility and Drive for Results.
Assessment format: Examination.
