Bluffton University

Graduate programs in business

Bluffton University offers two graduate programs in business. The master of business administration (MBA) and the master of arts in organizational management (MAOM) share a common core of courses that are taken by both MBA and MAOM students. Each program also has program specific courses that are taken only by MBA or MAOM students.

Within the MBA program, students choose a concentration in health care management or sport management (additional concentrations in leadership, accounting and financial management, or production & operations management will be available beginning in Fall 2015). All students take the same courses during the first year of the two-year program. Except when noted otherwise, admissions policies and academic procedures are identical for both programs.

Master of Business Administration (MBA)

Organizations today seek leaders who offer creative approaches to problems, respect diversity and embrace change. The MBA program prepares graduate students for enhanced roles in their organizations and the larger society. MBA students examine carefully the roles organizations play in an era of rapid and global change. In the process, students increase their capacity for use of quantitative concepts and tools in productive and strategic managing. Grounded in the historic peace church tradition of Bluffton University, the MBA program assists students to develop and nurture healthy organizations and a just society.

Program characteristics

The MBA program enjoys these unique characteristics:

• Admission to the MBA program does not require an undergraduate business degree. Graduates are employed in the for-profit, not-for-profit and public sectors and have a variety of educational backgrounds.
• Students enhance their managerial skills through extensive investigations of management issues. Class presentations, materials and assignments relate closely to the managerial challenges which students confront.
• Classes are interactive in nature with substantial opportunities for experiential learning. Student evaluations are based on papers, class participation and presentations.
• Students enjoy support from a creative, interactive community of advanced learners. They also receive personalized attention from faculty members who hold appropriate advanced degrees in relevant fields of study.
• Evening classes permit students to continue full-time employment.

 

Program requirements

Required courses:
MGT 505 The Theory and Practice of Management (3)
MGT 510 Organizations, Management and American Culture (3)
MGT 515 Data Analysis and Decision-Making (3)
MGT 525 Financial Decision Making (3)
MGT 611 Marketing, Technology and Management (3)
MGT 620 Organizations and the Global Economy (3)
MGT 625 Strategic Issues in Contemporary Management (3)
MGT 635 Managerial Economics (3)
MGT 645 Leadership Communication in the Workplace (3)
MGT 660 Assessing and Developing Leadership Skills (3)
MGT 661 Leading Innovation and Change (3)
MGT 662 Managing People in Organizations (3)

Concentration in Health Care Management
MGT 641 Health Care Economics and Policy (3)
MGT 642 Health Care Informatics (3)
MGT 643 Health Care Financial Management (3)

Master of Arts in Organizational Management (MAOM)

Organizations today seek leaders who offer creative approaches to problems, respect diversity and embrace change. The MAOM program prepares graduate students for enhanced roles in their organizations and the larger society. MAOM students examine carefully the roles organizations play in an era of rapid and global change. In the process, students increase their capacity for imaginative, productive and strategic managing. Grounded in the historic peace church tradition of Bluffton University, the MAOM program assists students to develop and nurture healthy organizations and a just society.

Program characteristics

The MAOM program enjoys these unique characteristics:

• Admission to the MAOM program does not require an undergraduate business degree. Students are employed in the for-profit, not-for-profit and public sectors and have various educational backgrounds.
• Students enhance their managerial skills through extensive investigations of management issues. Class presentations, materials and assignments relate closely to the managerial challenges which students confront.
• Classes are interactive in nature with substantial opportunities for experiential learning. Student evaluations are based on papers, class participation and presentations.
• Students enjoy support from a creative, interactive community of advanced learners. They also receive personalized attention from faculty members who hold appropriate advanced degrees in relevant fields of study.
• Evening classes permit students to continue full-time employment.

 

Program requirements

Required courses:
MGT 505 The Theory and Practice of Management (3)
MGT 510 Organizations, Management and American Culture (3)
MGT 515 Data Analysis and Decision-Making (3)
MGT 525 Financial Decision Making (3)
MGT 611 Marketing, Technology and Management (3)
MGT 620 Organizations and the Global Economy (3)
MGT 625 Strategic Issues in Contemporary Management (3)
MGT 645 Leadership Communication in the Workplace (3)
MGT 660 Assessing and Developing Leadership Skills (3)
MGT 661 Leading Innovation and Change (3)
MGT 662 Managing People in Organizations (3)
MGT 690 Integrative Seminar (3)

Concentration in Health Care Management
MGT 641 Health Care Economics and Policy (3)
MGT 642 Health Care Informatics (3)
MGT 643 Health Care Financial Management (3)

Concentration in Accounting and Financial Management 
MGT 650 Financial Reporting (3) 
MGT 651 Auditing (3)
MGT 653 Business Regulation (3)

 

Courses

MGT 505 The Theory and Practice of Management   (3)
Examines the theory and practice of management from early times through the era of scientific management. Learning organization theory also is investigated.

MGT 510 Organizations, Management, and American Culture   (3)
Provides students with an understanding of models for organizations and management based in historical and cultural realities. Organizations of the industrial revolution to those of our post-modern, multicultural society are examined.

MGT 515 Data Analysis and Decision-Making   (3)
Explores business use of tools and processes to enhance corporate decision-making. This course presents the basics of decision analysis as applied to value-focused thinking, decision modeling risk and uncertainty, sensitivity analysis, and efficient use of statistical decision making and heuristics.

MGT 525 Financial Decision Making   (3)
Emphasizes the use of analytical and critical thinking skills in financial decision-making. Topics include opportunity costs, breakeven analysis, operational and capital budgeting. Spreadsheets are used for decision-making purposes throughout the course.

  MGT 611 Marketing, Technology and Management   (3)
This multdisciplinary course examines the interplay of marketing and social commerce and the implications for effective management. Balancing the synergies of marketing and technology is an emerging field of study as we find our society in the throes of a technological revolution. Social commerce is rapidly reshaping the field for all organizations, whether for profit or non-profit, particularly through the marketing lens. Managing the collaboration of these once distinct areas of organizations requires a new approach to communication and strategy.

MGT 620 Organizations and the Global Economy   (3)
Provides students with an understanding of the increased interdependence of national economies and the spread of common political and economic ideologies. Students use economic tools to research the effects of increased globalization on individual organizations and countries.

MGT 625 Strategic Issues in Contemporary Management   (3)
Combines theory with case analysis to investigate the development and implementation of strategy in the public and private sectors. Key topics include strategy formulation in various environmental contexts, strategy analysis and organizational and managerial impacts on strategy formation.

MGT 635 Managerial Economics   (3)
This course applies insights from economic theory to the functions of managerial planning and decision making within a market-oriented business context. Specific content includes an overview of the market system, consumer demand theory, cost analysis, profit analysis, pricing strategies, the economics of technical change and innovation, the architecture of the firm, employee incentives, international economic impacts and government regulation.

MGT 641 Health Care Economics and Policy   (3)
An overview of the macro environment as it relates to health care organizations. Addresses issues related to health care policy/regulation/laws and fundamental concepts of health care economics.

MGT 642 Health Care Informatics (3)
This course studies the collection, organization and utilization of public data bases and patient records in structuring the provision of care and overall management of health care systems.

MGT 643 Health Care Financial Management (3)
An overview of financial issues for health care organizations including budgeting, planning, and financing.

MGT 645 Leadership Communication in the Workplace   (3)
This course brings theories of language, narrative and performance to a discussion of the ways that communication shapes organizational identity, managerial leadership and employee identification.  All through the course, students are invited to make critical and ethical commentary on the language of management and organizations. The language, narrative and performance of nationally recognized leaders such as Rudy Giuliani, Jack Welch and Stephen Covey are used as illustrations.

MGT 650 Financial Reporting (3)
This course is based primarily on the Financial section of the uniform Certified Public Accounting (CPA) exam. The course is designed to provide students an in-depth understanding of issues related to financial reporting, with an emphasis on preparation and interpretation. In addition, the course will explore techniques to detect financial fraud.

MGT 651 Auditing (3)
This course is based primarily on the Auditing section of the uniform Certified Public Accounting (CPA) exam. The course is designed to provide students an in-depth understanding of the auditing process, from a theoretical perspective. Topics covered in this course will also be reinforced through case analyses.

 MGT 653 Business Regulation (3)
This course is based primarily on the Regulation section of the uniform Certified Public Accounting (CPA) exam. The course is designed to provide students an in-depth understanding of issues related to business law, corporate structures, and individual and corporate taxation.

MGT 655 Leadership in Sport Administration (3)
Leaders in the sports industry must be able to adapt to an ever changing field and be able to adapt their leadership styles accordingly. The course will examine personal leadership assumptions and practices as well as leadership theory and philosophy.

MGT 656 Sport Marketing and New Media (3)
This course examines relationships between sport and media with a particular emphasis on the current social media climate. The course will utilize various theoretical frameworks including rhetorical analysis in examining both current practices and the potential opportunities for leaders in sport-related organizations.

MGT 657 Sport and Athletics Administration (3)
This course is designed to broaden the students' abilities to respond to the ongoing tasks and challenges of managing in sport-related organizations including educational institutions, professional sport organizations and community- based sport programs.

MGT 660 Assessing and Developing Leadership Skills (3)
This course explores the dynamics of the relationship between leaders and followers using both current leadership theory and widely used self-assessment tools.

MGT 661 Leading Innovation and Change (3)
This course will examine the literature on change management and innovation. Students will develop an understanding of their roles as leaders who seek to create conditions within organizations to support and motivate adaptation, innovation and change.

MGT 662 Managing People in Organizations (3)
Surveys selected topics related to the management of people in organizations, including personnel selection and training, motivation, leadership, team building, the organization of work hours and space.

MGT 690 Integrative Seminar (3)
Involves independent study and a student presentation related to the broad topic of understanding effective management. A final paper demonstrates the use of primary as well as applied sources related to the topic. This paper includes a reflective synthesis by the student of a coherent management philosophy.

Admissions process

Applicants should submit the following materials to the office of adult and graduate studies:

• Official transcripts from all previous college work.
• An application for admission.
• A current resume.

 The following are the criteria for admission to the graduate programs in business:

• Completed application materials.
• A bachelor s degree from an accredited institution.
• A 3.0 grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) in the last half of the bachelor s degree program.
• Satisfactory interview with program director or other designated person.
• Approval for admission by the director of the graduate programs in business.

 

Special student status

Special student status may be granted to applicants to permit them to complete nine semester hours of course-work prior to regular admission to the MBA or MAOM program. During the first nine semester hours, special students must demonstrate an ability to maintain a 3.0 grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) to be considered for regular admission.

As space allows, special student status also may be granted to non-degree-seeking students who hold a bachelor's degree. Applicants should complete special student status forms as a part of the application process.

The MBA and MAOM programs are designed for experienced managers. As space allows, however, a limited number of managers with limited experience may be admitted to the program.

Transfer of graduate credit

If completed within five years of the application date, up to six semester hours (or nine quarter hours) of graduate credit may be transferred to the MBA or MAOM program from another accredited institution. The director of the graduate programs in business must approve credits transferred from another institution. Workshop credits are not transferable.

International students

International applicants are expected to have a minimum score of 565 on the TOEFL exam. This requirement can be waived at the discretion of the director and/or the admissions committee of the MBA and MAOM programs, provided satisfactory English proficiency on an alternative evaluative measure can be demonstrated. In addition, all foreign language documents accompanying the application must include notarized translations.

Tuition and fees

The university reviews tuition and fees annually.

Tuition

MAOM/MBA: $550 (per semester hour) for continuing students
MAOM/MBA: $575 (per credit hour) for new students

Technology fee

MAOM/MBA: $100 (per semester)

Refund policy

Students who withdraw from the MAOM or MBA program following approved withdrawal procedures receive refunds according to the schedule available from the business office or the financial aid office.

Students who are recipients of Title IV aid have refunds and repayments distributed as prescribed by federal law. Distribution schedules are available to all prospective and current students from the business office or the financial aid office. 

Graduation requirements

Students must complete coursework within four years of their admission to the MBA or MAOM program. Graduation requirements include completion of 36 semester hours of coursework (with a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0). Students must earn a grade of C- or above in all courses. They may repeat courses to earn improved grades. Students must pay for courses each time they are taken.

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