Master of Business Administration Course Descriptions
ADM 5000 – Masters Level Success 1 CREDIT
To be successful in the online, masters level degree programs at Apollos University, students need to possess a core set of skills. This course provides new students with an overview of these core skills, focusing on 4 specific items: navigating the Apollos systems and expectations; Apollos policies and procedures; Apollos student services and resources; and the LIRN Library Database.
BUS 5301 - Research Methods 3 Credits
The course presents the student with an overview of the general approaches to research methodology. The student learns to investigate the quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methodology approaches to rigorous scholarly inquiry in their field. Emphasis is placed on reliability, validity, dependability, and ethical considerations for developing relevant, appropriate, and professional research methodologies
BUS 5310 Survey of Business Topics 3 Credits (Prerequisite course and does not count toward degree credit requirements)
This course is designed for the student that does not hold a bachelor’s or master’s degree in business. It explores the various disciplines of today’s business environment and provides the student with a detailed overview of the field of business management and how each one is related to the other. The disciplines that are surveyed include: management, finance, accounting, economics, marketing, business law, procurement/contracts, human resources, and international business. The course is required for students that did not major in business in their applicable undergraduate or graduate programs.
BUS 5313 - Production and Operations Management 3 Credits
The course provides the student with a practical understanding of production and operations management concepts and tools and focuses on effective management within today’s competitive, global environment. It addresses concepts and methods to support the management of operations in both service and manufacturing environments. Understanding the organizational processes and how production and operations management is embedded into the overall strategy of the organization is paramount to the success of the organization. Some of the concepts and tools studied in the course are: linear programming, queuing theory, PERT/CPM, decision theory, Kaizen, and lean manufacturing.
BUS 5321 - Managerial Accounting 3 Credits
The course covers the use of accounting information by managers for decision-making purposes. Topics include: analyzing and interpreting financial statements (including cash flow analysis), overhead allocation and product costing, budgeting, accounting, and capital budgeting. Case studies based on actual management decisions are the central method used in this course to enhance student learning of key accounting concepts.
BUS 5322 - Managerial Finance 3 Credits
The course provides the students with the tools and techniques to meet the financial and budgeting challenges they will face in the professional environment. The course provides the student without financial and accounting credentials practical tools and concepts for corporate financial management. (Prerequisite: BUS 5321 or Permission of the Instructor)
BUS 5323 - Managerial Economics 3 Credits
This course provides students with an integrated understanding of the concepts of economics. The emphasis is on the application of economics and the use of actual economic events to encourage the study of the principles of economics and to show how these concepts can help the students understand the complex and dynamic international economy.
BUS 5324 - Business Statistics and Decision Making 3 Credits (Prerequisite course and does not count toward degree credit requirements)
The course familiarizes the student with the use of business statistical procedures for the purpose of generating decision-making information. Understanding the conceptual basis of the methods will be emphasized, which enables students to identify and apply the appropriate statistical procedure to the decision problem.
BUS 5331 - Ethical Issues in Business 3 Credits
The course provides the student with information on the legal and ethical challenges found in today’s business environment. The course is an analytical exploration of the global, organizational, and personal factors of making legal and ethical decisions. It includes an introduction to the western legal system and its effect on current business entities and practices. The student explores current issues and trends in the ethical dealings of the business environment and provides the student with the opportunity to explore their own company’s legal and ethical dilemmas.
BUS 7302 - Elective Project 3 Credits
This course offers the opportunity for the student to select a topic that broadens or encapsulates the MBA program learning goals through the use of a real-world project. The topic and course content will be approved by the student’s advisor as well as by the professor that will facilitate the student’s project. (Prerequisite Requires advisor approval to register for this class. The Department Chair must approve and assign the professor to facilitate the class.)
BUS 7314 - Contracts and Procurement Management 3 Credits
This course provides the student with the tools and skills to understand the complicated and often confusing contractual business environment. The course serves as a survey of the entire acquisition management process from the project management point of view. It spans the life cycle of a program and describes the appropriate contractual requirements for each phase of the program. The student gains knowledge and experience in needs assessment, requirements development and documentation, solicitation development, supply chain management, proposal writing, negotiations, contract writing, contract administration, and contract closeout.
BUS 7316 - Marketing Management 3 Credits
This course provides the student with a survey of marketing management theories and tools. It deals with strategies, tactics, and programs for getting, growing, and keeping mutually beneficial relationships with international and domestic customers. Course assignments provide experience with techniques, analyses, and frameworks necessary for informed decision making for marketing decisions.
BUS 7318 - International Business 3 Credits
The course provides an overview and insight into the international environment of business including cultural, economic, financial, political, legal, and ethical issues that cut across the functional areas of business such as management, marketing, finance, and accounting. It examinations the opportunities and threats that exist for both large and small businesses engaged in international and or global business activities.
BUS 7335 – IT Management & Strategies 3 Credits
The course provides the student with an overview of Information Technology (IT)-enabled transformation and the strategic issues associated with the management of an integrated enterprise IT program. Additionally, the course provides an opportunity for the student to develop a well-balanced repository of IT skills that support enterprise wide decision-making strategies. Case studies provide students with the opportunity to apply their critical thinking skills and explore the world of IT Management from an enterprise wide strategic management view point.
BUS 7390 – Strategy and Policy 3 Credits
This course is taken as one of the final courses in the program. It provides the student with the opportunity to consolidate and utilize the knowledge, tools and concepts that the program provides. In this course the student will complete a detailed case analysis while developing a business strategy which includes concepts and tools such as macro environmental scanning, industry and competitive analysis, value chain analysis, SWOT analysis, identification of critical success factors and driving forces, and development of strategic alternatives and recommendations. Throughout the course the student applies these concepts and tools as they develop the strategic profile for the company or industry that is described in the case study. (Prerequisite: Final term in program or permission from the Academic Dean).
BUS 6340 – Survey Business and Its Leaders 3 Credits
This course provides with business professional with a survey of the historical aspects of American business, its leaders, and the events of the world environment that helped mold the business world of the United States. The course places an emphasis on the historical aspects of the forces, both internal and external to the United States, create these opportunities and threats in which the businesses operated.
MGT 5310 – Entrepreneurship and Innovation 3 Credits
This course explores entrepreneurship and innovation as it relates to the leadership of an organization. This is accomplished by analyzing the entrepreneurial mind in both an individual and organizational environment. This course takes developmental cycle of an entrepreneurial organization or organizational unit, including the stages of resource development, launching, managing growth and evaluating progress. Approaches to problem- solving are developed with applications made to organizational responsibilities and personal growth. (Prerequisite: MGT 5312 – Professional Communications and Writing)
MGT 5312 - Leadership Communications and Writing 3 Credits
The course provides the student with the background knowledge and guidelines that will enable them to analyze their organizational environment and develop effective leadership communication strategies. It will provide the skills that will allow the student to analyze their environments, develop their leadership communications strategy, apply the strategy and formulate alternative approaches. Both oral and written communications skills are covered at five levels: intra-personal, interpersonal, group, organizational, and intercultural. Concepts from several academic disciplines along with actual managerial examples from a variety of organizations are examined. The course includes current topics of concerns for ethics, increasing diversity, greater job stress, and technological advances and how these topics affect our organizational communications.
MGT 5340 - Issues of Management 3 Credits
The course provides the student with information about individual behavior within the context of the business environment. The course surveys current trends and issues that affect today’s businesses. Topics covered are group behavior, high performance teams, goal-framing effects, perceptions, motivation, leadership, and organizational design and change.
MGT 6311 – Human Resource Management 3 Credits
This course focuses on organizational planning, staff acquisition, and team development. This includes assigning project roles and responsibilities, staffing, motivating, leading, team building, and conflict resolution. The relationship between human resource management and project management are explored along with how HR relates to the project life cycle. You will gain an understanding of the processes required to make effective use of people and resources on a project. Techniques are covered related to interfacing with project stakeholders, designing effective organizational structures, dealing with conflict on projects, fostering communication, and managing stress. Practical self-assessment exercises are used to determine learners' communication, conflict resolution, and leadership styles in addition to power orientation, personality type, and motivations to manage.
MGT 7312 - Organizational Behavior 3 Credits
The course provides the student with an overview of the paradigms in organizational group dynamics. It will explore the way in which humans act and organize themselves into groups. It will explore the “norms” that are utilized by organizations and the forces leaders exert upon those organizations. The course is designed to create an understanding of the interactive forces that affect and influence organizations.
MGT 7313 - Critical Thinking and Decision Making 3 Credits
This course provides the tools and skills each student needs to examine and fully develop their analytical skills. It explores the skills of the critical thinking and decision-making process and provides the students with concrete skills that can enhance their decision-making abilities. These skills will allow them to identify and solve organizational problems and enhance their strategic thinking abilities. Topics include problem identification, critical thinking, problem-solving, decision-making, and ethical implications.
MGT 7316 - Survey of High Performing Organizations 3 Credits
This course provides the skills and tools required by today’s leaders to move from managing yesterday’s organizations to leading the organization to its greatest capacity. The student will participate in projects that will allow them to understand how to move an organization through a vision into action. Focus will be placed on evaluating and developing the student’s own leadership skills and how to project the appropriate leadership image that will motivate and inspire others.
MGT 7340 - Organizational Leadership and Change Management 3 Credits
The course provides student with an overview of the theories found within the study of leadership and management during periods of transition. The course explores and analyzes the attributes found in successful leaders and how the leaders deal with periods of transition. The students explore current theories and strategies for leading an organization through a period of change and the course provides them with the tools to improve their own managerial and leadership skills.
MGT 7350 – Strategies in Organizational Leadership 3 Credits
This course builds on the leadership, business, and management concepts contained in the MSOM program. It provides the student with the opportunity to synthesize prior learning and experiences, both personal and professional. It will allow the student to expand personal thinking and explore the arena of leadership and how it will impact the future of the individual, the organization, and the world. (Prerequisite: Final term in program or permission from the Academic Dean. Taken with BUS 7390 - Strategy and Policy)