MBA 630: Leadership

This module is designed to help the student develop the capabilities to observe and affect individual and group behavior. Specifically, the focus will be on recognizing the personal, group, and organizational influences on behavior including understanding self and others, what motivates people, making ethical decisions, and diversity in the workplace. This module will also address power, influence, and contemporary practices in management and leadership that affect individual behavior in order to improve organizational performance.

MBA 636: Thinking, Reasoning, & Analysis

This module is designed to raise the critical thinking skills of the student. Emphasis is placed on developing the skills to identify problems and opportunities, determine root causes, evaluate alternative actions, and determine specific implementation plans. In addition to problem solving and decision theory, the module will address the analysis and continuous improvement of processes. The goal is for each student to develop the ability to apply thinking and reasoning skills to business decisions.

MBA 640: External Environment

Building on the overarching principle that management decisions and actions are impacted by conditions in which a manager is operating, this course focuses on the macro setting external to the firm. In addition to the traditional economic focus of macroeconomics, regulation, international trade and finance, and public policy issues, the module incorporates a study of the definition, scope, and dimensions of national culture. Throughout the module, emphasis is on integrating an understanding of how the external environment sets the context for leadership, strategy, and managerial effectiveness.

MBA 646: Measurement

The major focus of the module is to discover and understand the concepts and drivers that influence and create shareholder value. The module begins with online accounting lessons meant to bring all students up to the same level of basic measurement knowledge before exploring more sophisticated concepts such as ratio analysis, cost of capital, internal rate of return, and project valuation. The purpose of these concepts is to provide an operating manager with greater insights around the drivers of success and failure. The learning goes beyond the traditional financial measures and incorporates additional measures of organizational effectiveness such as customer satisfaction, innovation, and process efficiencies. How, and why, the measurement drivers connect to shareholder value and integrate across all business functions is emphasized. Additional measurement applications will be explored in the Satisfying Shareholders Module. 

MBA 656: Satisfying Customers

The primary focus of this module is on achieving sustainable strategic differentiation at the line-of-business level. This requires the simultaneous evaluation and management of the organization’s internal (processes, structures, resources) and external (competitors, suppliers, other stakeholders) environment in an effort to satisfy the selected primary customer needs of the line-of-business strategy. The secondary focus of this module is on achieving sustainable marketing differentiation by managing the marketing function within the organization. Areas to be investigated include: internal and external assessment, customer needs, market segmentation, setting marketing objectives, and managing the marketing mix (product, place, price, and promotion). The application of these concepts will be further explored in the Satisfying Shareholders Module.

MBA 650: Satisfying Shareholders

Building on the Satisfying Customers and Measurement Modules, this module develops the student's ability to anticipate, evaluate, and respond to shareholder expectations using strategy and measurement concepts. This requires the student develop the ability to simultaneously evaluate and manage the organization’s internal and external environment. Skills to satisfy shareholders include: articulating vision, choosing boundaries and lines-of-business, and identifying and managing capabilities/ resources across multiple lines-of-business. The integration of the concepts of free cash flow projection and company valuation explores how strategy drives these measures which in turn drive value back to the shareholder.

MBA 669: Integration Week

The module is comprised of a team-based, five-day intensive business simulation on the Midland campus. The student is required to implement their leadership and management learnings in a dynamic and complex business environment.  Extensive feedback is provided to each student from both faculty and other students.

MBA 670: Integration & Implementation

This module focuses on the development of the student’s ability to synthesize, integrate, and implement concepts and skills across the spectrum of managerial and leadership roles and responsibilities. The uniqueness of the module is the expectation that the student will implement learnings and skills from all previous modules. The focus will help students identify, prioritize, and analyze comprehensive business issues found in complex, integrative case studies. Emphasis will be placed on how a leader would implement the recommendations made in the cases studies. Additionally, issues pertaining to organizational design, change management, and the long-term sustainability of the firm will be explored. Finally, through individualized consultation, each student will receive guidance on the implementation of the skills acquired in the program to their work environment. Ultimately, the module engages the student to reflect on their DeVos experience, learnings, and personal transformation and envision how this integration results in the wisdom to acknowledge and change the way they see and deal with the world, themselves, and opportunities.