MA Management & Leadership brochure

MA Management and Leadership


The objective of the Master of Arts in Management and Leadership curriculum is to expose the student to the tools of management and leadership and to provide experience in decision-making situations. Students acquire familiarity with the analytical techniques of management and develop the ability to apply these techniques in actual problem solving, whether the setting be corporate, military, government or non-profit agencies.

The 36 credit hours required for the Master of Arts (MA) degree must include 8 required courses and 4 electives.

Required courses

MNGT 6000 Integrated Studies in Business and Management

In this capstone course, the student is expected to synthesize and integrate conceptual and theoretical knowledge and understanding acquired in the curriculum by use of case study analysis, a research project, or management plan. The emphasis is on the student's development of written analytical material that can be utilized for program assessment as well as individual student assessment. Prerequisite: completion of all other required courses in this major.

MNGT 5000 Management

In this course, the student is introduced to the basic concepts of management and organizations. Primary emphasis is given to three primary functions: planning, organizing, and controlling. Additional topics include: organization theory, the global environment, ethics, and decision making.

HRMG 5000 Managing Human Resources

This course is a comprehensive view of personnel policy development with emphasis on the interdependence of personnel and operating functions. Students analyze personnel functions of recruitment, development, training, compensation, integration into the workforce, and maintenance of personnel for the purpose of contributing to organizational, societal, and individual goals.

BUSN 5200 Basic Finance for Managers

Managers and human resources management professionals must be able to understand financial information contained in financial statements and reports. Line managers must be able understand financial information contained in financial statements and reports in order to evaluate their unit's financial performance, to communicate clearly with other managers, and to apply financial information when making decisions. Human resources management professionals must understand financial statements and principles if they are to effectively assist line managers and be strategic partners with other business functions. This course will focus on the interpretation and use of basic financial information by non-financial managers, not on the production of financial statements and reports. (FINC 5000 cannot be substituted for BUSN 5200.)

MNGT 5590 Organizational Behavior

This course introduces students to many of the basic principles of human behavior that effective managers use when managing individuals and groups in organizations. These include theories relating to individual differences in abilities and attitude, attribution, motivation, group dynamics, power and politics, leadership, conflict resolution, organizational culture, and organizational structure and design.

MNGT 5650 Management and Strategy

Strategic management refers to managerial decisions and actions that influence the long-run decision and performance of an organization This course introduces the basic analytical concepts and processes underlying environmental scanning, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and evaluation and control of strategies. The course also addresses specific topics, including the central role of organizations purpose in formulating effective strategy, the identification, development, and leveraging of core competencies, the increasing use of strategic alliances, globalization and strategy, and the organizations ability to develop and sustain competitive advantages.

MNGT 5670 Managerial Leadership

Organizational leadership is the process of influencing other people to achieve organizational goals. This leadership course reviews and builds upon the basic knowledge of leadership provided in an introduction organizational behavior course by expanding the scope and depth of the student's knowledge of leadership theories, by providing practice in basic leadership skills, and by developing the students self-knowledge of his or her preferred leadership styles.

HRDV 5630 Organizational Development and Change

Organization development (OD) is the process of planning and implementing interventions to create interpersonal, group, inter-group, or organization-wide change. This course presents the theoretical foundations of organization development as an applied behavioral science. Students will also be introduced to many types of interpersonal, intra-group, inter-group, and organizational interventions that are used to effect comprehensive and lasting changes.