Boost efficiency and competitive advantage with an MBA in operations

More than ever before, the ability to understand and be understood is critical for success in the corporate world. Communication is no longer limited by the narrow definitions of the past. Achieving a business leadership position today means not only being adept at both oral and written communication, but also understanding communication from a strategic point-of-view and knowing how to effectively organize and present information to audiences of all sizes. In this course, you will develop and refine these capabilities. What you gain from this course will be of value throughout your MBA program, as well as in the workplace.

This course surveys the fundamental concepts and methods of economic analysis for managers. Real-world decision making is emphasized. Application of key economic concepts such as market demand, market supply, market equilibrium, marginal analysis, production, costs, revenue, profit, and market structure constitute the core material of the course.

In today's business world, success can often be attributed more to the genius of a company's marketing efforts than to the genius of its products or services. A clear understanding of the importance of marketing, as well as a grasp of effective marketing practices, is essential for anyone who wishes to achieve a position of leadership. You will gain a working knowledge of both marketing theory and the practical application of innovative marketing strategies. You will come to understand how product, price, place, and promotion contribute to the marketing mix as you explore research-based insights into consumer behavior. As your final course assignment, you will prepare and present a marketing plan of your own.

Effective leadership in today's complex and highly regulated business environment demands more than a working knowledge of basic accounting practices. Managers must fully grasp sophisticated financial and managerial accounting concepts and be able to apply them with ease in handling day-to-day responsibilities. Managers must also be well versed in the intricacies of corporate governance and asset protection. In this course, students will develop a clear understanding of these critical functions and issues. Students will study the foundational aspects of financial accounting, including professional structure, the interrelationships of financial statements, and multiple forms of financial analysis. Additionally, the functional aspects of managerial accounting will be covered, including planning, decision making, and performance evaluation.

Organizations are composed of groups of people who work together to achieve defined outcomes. Experience has proven time and again that the key factor which differentiates successful companies from those who struggle to survive is people who make up the employee base. While the human resources function is given the specific task of planning for and resolving many employee-related issues and needs, individual managers have direct responsibility and accountability for motivating and leading employees to achieve sustained organizational success. The purpose of this course is to provide students with the knowledge and skills needed to work effectively with human resources to enhance the contributions of all employees to organizational effectiveness. Students will learn about the elements which drive business success, theories of motivation, and methods for creating a plan for maximizing the human capital of an organization.

One of the keys to success for today's organizations is their ability to develop, implement, and accurately evaluate effective business strategies. In this course, you will integrate the knowledge you have gained from your prior MBA courses to develop and sharpen your skills for formulating, deploying, and assessing an organization's strategy for achieving competitive advantage in the marketplace. This course will enable you to merge your knowledge of all of these individual disciplines into a comprehensive and meaningful whole.

This course systematically explores the external environment in which businesses operate - legal and regulatory, macroeconomic, cultural, political, technological, and natural. Additionally, the course will examine the critical opportunities and threats that arise from an analysis of external business conditions. Students will apply scenario planning to a selected industry and synthesize trends in the external environment in the presence of risk and uncertainty.

In today's business environment, the success of organizations depends on the effective and efficient management of operations. Methods to select, plan, and improve organizational processes will be examined. The application of optimal capacity decisions in supply chains, development production, and inventory plans and schedules will be performed. The student will learn quality management and improvement process to increase the efficiency of a process.

Financial decisions made at the higher levels of a business organization can have far-reaching effects. Intended to achieve firm operating goals and create shareholder value, they must be made judiciously, with a thorough understanding of all the factors involved. In this course, you will learn to apply the analytical techniques required for developing effective and workable financial solutions at the executive level. You will gain an overall understanding of the workings of the U.S. financial system. In addition, you will study the concepts of financial risk, return, and the valuation of bonds, common and preferred stock, cost of capital, capital budgeting, capital structure, and the evaluation of investment opportunities.

This course provides an overview of the historical and current leadership concepts, theories and constructs. Application and assessment of the individual leadership style will enable the student to develop their leadership voice. This course will provide a construct that will enable the student to identify transferrable skills that align with the organization that they are serving in. This course will challenge students to assess their own leadership strengths and weaknesses and produce an in-depth plan of action to develop and refine leadership competencies. Students will conduct substantive scholarly research to address and capture relevant and cutting-edge leadership theoretical work for application in course assignments.

This course focuses on research and evaluation of the key theoretical concepts and practices central to the leading of organizational change initiatives. Students will evaluate real-world situations in a manner that supports the ability to initiate, implement and sustain major change. The management of change is a dynamic process. This course focuses on understanding how to plan and implement change in various organizations and other settings.

This course will explore the psychological influences on the development and behavior of managers and organizational leaders. Topics include: follower influences, nature vs. nurture in the development of leaders, relationship of personality to leadership style, behavioral decision- making biases, tactical, operational, and strategic decision-making , group think, and scenario planning.

Financial decisions made at the higher levels of a business organization can have far-reaching effects. Intended to achieve firm operating goals and create shareholder value, they must be made judiciously, with a thorough understanding of all the factors involved. In this course, you will learn to apply the analytical techniques required for developing effective and workable financial solutions at the executive level. You will gain an overall understanding of the workings of the U.S. financial system. In addition, you will study the concepts of financial risk, return, and the valuation of bonds, common and preferred stock, cost of capital, capital budgeting, capital structure, and the evaluation of investment opportunities.

This course provides students with advanced knowledge of the capital markets, financial institutions, financial products, and analytical tools and skills needed for investments portfolio management. The objective is to provide students with a solid foundation of advanced concepts, tools, and techniques for making informed decisions in the highly dynamic investment environment. Students will utilize computer software, simulations, and internet tools to understand the viewpoint of professional investors more fully. The course will adopt an application-oriented approach so that students will be able to explain their financial decision under conditions of uncertainty. The course will provide students with a framework that will be useful in business settings where such analyses are routinely made.

No longer are only mammoth corporations concerned with the complexities and nuances of multinational financial operations. Today the leaders of companies of even moderate size often must have at least a fundamental knowledge of the global financial environment. In this course, you will be introduced to the workings of international finance as it relates to business operations. You will gain an understanding of such international macroeconomic topics as the balance of payments and models of exchange rate determination, while at the same time focusing on institutional issues such as the choice of exchange rate regime and growth of offshore currency markets. You will examine business and investor decisions involving exchange rate risk management, cross-border investment strategies, and participation in international money and capital markets.

This course provides an introductory overview of methods, concepts, and current practices in the growing field of statistics and data analytics. Topics to be covered include data collection, data analysis and visualization as well as probability, statistical inference and regression methods for informed decision-making. Students will explore these topics with current statistical software. Some emphasis will also be given to ethical principles of data analytics.

This course focuses on collecting, preparing, and analyzing data to create visualizations, dashboards, and stories that can be used to communicate critical business insights. Students will learn how to structure and streamline data analysis projects and highlight their implications efficiently using the most popular visualization tools used by businesses today.

This course teaches data management from an applied perspective. The topics include fundamentals of database management systems, structured query language (SQL) for data analytics, relational database design, and data warehousing.

The purpose of this course is to train individuals in Lean Six Sigma skills and strategies to improve processes and provide safe, effective care environments. The learner will demonstrate the practical application of tools utilized with Lean Six Sigma methodologies. Students will have the opportunity to apply the knowledge learned during this course concurrently with a case study designed specifically to use Six Sigma methodologies. Students will develop a Lean Six Sigma project plan that can serve as the foundation for completing a major project for Lean Six Sigma certification following the completion of the course. Interested students would need to apply for Lean Six Sigma certification and complete the major project with Franklin University's Center for Professional Training & Development.

In today's business environment, the success of organizations depends on the effective and efficient management of operations. Methods to select, plan, and improve organizational processes will be examined. The application of optimal capacity decisions in supply chains, development production, and inventory plans and schedules will be performed. The student will learn quality management and improvement process to increase the efficiency of a process.

Operational excellence can provide an important competitive advantage for firms in today?s marketplace. This course presents the concepts in quality. It builds upon the responses of six sigma and lean principles. This course also blends qualitative and quantitative information so that organizations can capitalize on opportunities and data driven management.

A brief history and overview of the fields of business and psychology as well as a discussion of the issues and opportunities related to their integration. Topics include brain organization and dominance, neuroethics, neurolinguistic programming, multiminds, mindmapping and the application of positive psychology to work settings. Includes the application of recent discoveries in cognitive psychology and neuroscience to resolve contemporary issues in the workplace.

This course focuses on the application of systems theory, social psychology concepts, organizational lifecycles, and biological principles to the understanding of business operations. Includes a review of basic business principles, multiple intelligences, organizational intelligence, organizational culture, emotional intelligence, biomimicry and organizational DNA.

This course provides a study of the relationship between creativity, innovation and change from a psychological perspective. Areas of interest include: social-technical change waves, change facilitation, unintended consequences, Appreciative Inquiry, creativity enhancement, and diffusion of innovation.

The integration of existing and emerging technology with marketing and communication strategies has become a major marketing and societal force. Topics explored in this course will range from social media strategies to the metrics used to analyze the impact of integrated digital marketing campaigns.

The ability to develop communication strategies has never been more important for business leaders than in today's complex digital marketing environment. In this course, you will develop a broad knowledge of the fundamentals of effective marketing communication planning and implementation.

In this course, students will demonstrate their marketing competencies by developing marketing strategies and tactics for a live client, including market analysis, target marketing, branding, and message development.

The primary purpose of this course is to introduce the principle theories and practices in the area of employment and workplace law. Topics include the federal and state laws associated with hiring, firing and discipline, medical leave (including FMLA, ADA and worker's compensation), discrimination, harassment, immigration, labor law, unemployment compensation, workplace privacy. Additional topics may include workplace investigations, workplace violence and employment-related legal processes, including EEOC Charges and lawsuits.

This course addresses the need for planned change focused on an organization's ability to compete strategically. The framework of consultation as helping organizations reach a level of optimum performance will be applied. Topics addressed include individual, team, and organization-wide interventions that can raise productivity/quality, improve competitiveness, increase skills, morale, and commitment.

The course will introduce students to the field of strategic human resource management (SHRM). Current topics in SHRM that have resulted from environmental and organizational challenges, e.g., technology, globalization, legislation, restructuring, work/life balance, changing labor markets, are discussed Emphasis will be placed on problem solving issues, policies, and practices affecting HR specialists, practitioners, and managers.

This course examines various issues related to the management of information systems. Topics include: strategic planning, organizing the technology resources, means of prioritizing and selecting information technology, staffing, personnel management, and assessment.

This course teaches data management from an applied perspective. The topics include fundamentals of database management systems, structured query language (SQL) for data analytics, relational database design, and data warehousing.

This course covers the fundamentals of security in the enterprise environment. Included are coverage of risks and vulnerabilities, threat modeling, policy formation, controls and protection methods, encryption and authentication technologies, network security, cryptography, personnel and physical security issues, as well as ethical and legal issues. This foundational course serves as an introduction to many of the subsequent topics discussed in depth in later security courses. Note, this course has proctored exam(s). This exam requires additional technology, if student uses online proctoring.