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MBA

BUS 5910 Management Capstone

BUS 5910: Management Capstone

Credits: 3

Prerequisites:  BUS 5111, BUS 5114, and BUS 5117. As this is the final course in the MBA program, all eight Core Courses, in addition to at least three elective courses must be completed first before taking.

Course Description: The intent of the Capstone course is to integrate what was learned during the students’ MBA program into an applied context. This course addresses the business-related fields of organizational theory, human resources, project/program management, accounting/finance, operations management, business law and ethics, leadership, and globalization. Students will place into practice their acquired skills to evaluate comprehensive business enterprise situations through an integrated view of various functional disciplines. Students will be required to present their final project via live video interview with the instructor as part of this course. 

Required Textbook and Materials: UoPeople courses use open educational resources (OER) and other materials specifically donated to the University with free permissions for educational use. Therefore, students are not required to purchase any textbooks or sign up for any websites that have a cost associated with them. The main required textbooks for this course are listed below and can be readily accessed using the provided links. There may be additional required/recommended readings, supplemental materials, or other resources and websites necessary for lessons; these will be provided for you in the course's General Information and Forums area, and throughout the term via the weekly course Unit areas and the Learning Guides.

  • This course does not contain a main textbook; resources to all required reading will be provided in the course Learning Guide for each week.

Software Requirements/Installation: No special requirements.

Learning Objectives and Outcomes:

By the end of this course students will be able to:

  1. Evaluate comprehensive business enterprise situations through an integrated view of various functional disciplines.
  2. Analyze challenges and engage in decision-making through multiple frames, including organizational theory, human resources, project/program management, accounting/finance, operations management, business law and ethics, leadership, and globalization.
  3. Apply concepts and approaches to strategy formulation and implementation.
  4. Create a final, comprehensive work that demonstrates a broad understanding, as well as some mastery, of concepts acquired during MBA study, demonstrating the following: critical analysis, clear communication, innovative problem-solving, and synthesis of multiple business constructs, theories and models.

Course Schedule and Topics: This course will cover the following topics in eight learning sessions, with one Unit per week.

Week 1: Unit 1- Organizational Theory

Week 2: Unit 2- Organizational Theory and Human Resources

Week 3: Unit 3- Project/Program Management viewed through the Organizational Frame

Week 4: Unit 4- Managerial Accounting viewed through the Project/Program Management Frame

Week 5: Unit 5- Operations Management viewed through Managerial Finance/Accounting Frame

Week 6: Unit 6- Business Law viewed through the Business Ethics Frame

Week 7: Unit 7- Globalization and Cultural Intelligence

Week 8: Unit 8- Leadership: Styles and communication.

Learning Guide: The following is an outline of how this course will be conducted, with suggested best practices for students.

Unit 1: Organizational Theory

  • Post an introduction in the Course Forum
  • Read BUS 5910: Course Guide for Final Paper and Presentation
  • Read the Learning Guide and Reading Assignments
  • Participate in the Discussion Assignment (post, comment, and rate in the Discussion Forum)
  • Respond to the Assignment Activity 

Unit 2: Organizational Theory, Human Resources, and Root Cause Analysis

  • Read the Learning Guide and Reading Assignments.
  • Participate in the Discussion Forum Assignment (post and comment Discussion Forum).
  • Respond to the Assignment Activity. 

Unit 3: Project Management and The Problem-Solving Process

  • Read the Learning Guide and Reading Assignments.
  • Read BUS 5910: Course Guide for Final Paper and Presentation.
  • Participate in the Discussion Assignment (post and comment).
  • Complete and submit the Assignment Activity.

Unit 4: Accounting, finance, and the problem-solving process

  • Read through the Learning Guide and the Reading Assignment 
  • Complete the Discussion Assignment by posting in the Discussion Forum  
  • Respond to three of your fellow classmates’ posts in the Discussion Forum 
  • Complete the Assignment Activity. 

Unit 5: Operations Management, Project management, and the problem-solving process

  • Read through the Learning Guide and the Reading Assignment.
  • Complete the Discussion Assignment by posting in the Discussion Forum. 
  • Respond to three of your fellow classmates’ posts in the Discussion Forum.
  • Submit the literature review for the Assignment Activity this week.

Unit 6: Business Law and Ethics

  • Read through the Learning Guide and the Reading Assignment.
  • Complete the Discussion Assignment by posting in the Discussion Forum. 
  • Respond to three of your fellow classmates’ posts in the Discussion Forum.
  • Submit the week 6 graded assignment.

 Unit 7: Globalization and Cultural Intelligence

  • Read through the Learning Guide and the Reading Assignment 
  • Complete the discussion thread for this week. 
  • Ensure your presentation has been scheduled with your instructor.  

Unit 8: Globalization viewed through the Strategic Frame

  • Read through the Learning Guide and the Reading Assignment 
  • Complete the Discussion Assignment by posting in the Discussion Forum 
  • Respond to three of your fellow classmates’ posts in the Discussion Forum 
  • Submit the final project.  

Course Requirements:

Discussion Assignments & Response Posts/Ratings
Some units in this course require that you complete a Discussion Assignment. You are required to develop and post a substantive response to the Discussion Assignment in the Discussion Forum. A substantive response is one that fully answers the question that has been posted by the instructor. In addition, you must extend the discussion by responding to at least three (3) of your peers’ postings in the Discussion Forum. Discussion Forums are only active for each current and relevant learning week, so it is not possible to contribute to the forum once the learning week has come to an end. Failure to participate in the Discussion Assignment by posting in the Discussion Forum and responding to peers as required may result in failure of the course.

Assignment Activity
Assignment Activity is graded by your instructor. The grading rubric is listed under the assignment instructions. The grading rubric is a document that outlines the criteria that your instructor will use to grade your work.

Students are also required to schedule a Skype conference call with the instructor. The purpose of the call is for the student to conduct a brief presentation of the important aspects of the assignment and to answer questions from the instructor.  Under certain conditions where an interview may not be possible, students will be given permission to submit a PowerPoint presentation with audio narration.  The presentation will serve as an Identification Verification assignment in addition to presenting important aspects of the final project. The presentation should begin with the student displaying a government issued photo ID so the student and the government issued photo ID are both on camera at the same time. The student’s photo and name should be clearly visible in the camera view. The instructor will acknowledge the identification verification and the presentation can begin. If the student is unable to present live and is recording the presentation, the following instructions apply.

You will begin your presentation by validating your ID by recording yourself and showing your government-issued photo ID in front of the camera. Be sure the image is clear and readable. Your ID validation portion of the presentation should be about 30 seconds to one minute. To validate your ID:

  • Introduce yourself
  • State your full name
  • Include the country/region where you live
  • Hold your ID in front of the camera for five to 10 seconds insuring your image and the ID with your photo and name are visible to the camera.

Students who do not complete the Identity Verification Assignment by the end of a course will be issued a 0.00 in the course regardless of the student’s prior performance in the course.

Comprehensive Final Paper

The final written assignment is a substantive effort on your part in contributing to the work required to successfully pass this course.  In this paper, the student will comprehensively discuss the case study they have selected. The case study selection should represent many (but not all) of the topics covered by the Master’s Program at the University of the People. This work will demonstrate the synthesis of their acquired knowledge from the various disciplines represented in the case study selected. In doing so, the student should strive to introduce into the discussion creative solutions and flexible, critical thinking. The final paper also represents an integration of the work performed with Written Assignments 3 and 6. 

The paper final written assignment will contain the following five sections:

 

·        Section One – Problem Statement

·        Section Two – Literature Review

·        Section Three – Case Elements

·        Section Four – Case Solution

·        Section Five – Case Conclusions 

Students are also required to schedule a Skype conference call with the instructor. The purpose of the call is for the student to conduct a brief presentation of the important aspects of the assignment and to answer questions from the instructor.  Under certain conditions where an interview may not be possible, students will be given permission to submit a PowerPoint presentation with audio narration. 

Unit 3, Unit 6 and the FInal Paper are instructor-assessed.

Course Forum
The Course Forum is the place to raise issues and questions relating to the course. It is regularly monitored by the instructors and is a good place to meet fellow students taking the same course. While it is not required to participate in the Course Forum, it is highly recommended.

Course Policies:

Grading Components and Weights
Each graded component of the course will contribute some percentage to the final grading scale, as indicated here:

Discussion Forums (Units 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 , 7, 8) 15%
Assignment Activities  (Units 3 and 6) 30% (2 @ 15% each)
Assignment Activity (Unit 8)
Final Paper and Presentation 		 35%
Assignment Activities Units (1, 2, 4, 5)
 20% (4@ 5% each)
TOTAL 100%


Grading Scale
This course will follow the standard 100-point grading scale defined by the University of the People, as indicated here:

Letter Grade
 Grade Scale Grade Points
A+ 98-100 4.00
A 93-97 4.00
A- 90-92 3.67
B+ 88-89 3.33
B 83-87 3.00
B- 80-82 2.67
C+ 78-79 0.00
C 73-77 0.00
C- 70-72 0.00
D+ 68-69 0.00
D 63-67 0.00
D- 60-62 0.00
F Under 60 0.00
CR N/A N/A
NC N/A N/A
NF N/A N/A
W N/A N/A


Grade Appeal
If you believe that the final grade you received for a course is erroneous, unjust, or unfair, please contact your course instructor. This must be done within seven days of the posted final grade. For more information on this topic, please review the Grade Appeal Procedure in the University Catalog.

Participation
Non-participation is characterized by lack of any assignment submissions, inadequate contributions to the Discussion Forums, and/or lack of peer feedback to Discussion/Written Assignments. Also, please note the following important points about course participation:

  • Assignments must be submitted on or before the specified deadline. A course timeline is provided in the course schedule, and the instructor will specify deadlines for each assignment.
  • Any student showing non-participation for two weeks (consecutive or non-consecutive) is likely to automatically fail the course.
  • Occasionally there may be a legitimate reason for submitting an assignment late. Most of the time, late assignments will not be accepted and there will be no make-up assignments.
  • All students are obligated to inform their instructor in advance of any known absences which may result in their non-participation.

Academic Honesty and Integrity
When you submit any work that requires research and writing, it is essential to cite and reference all source material. Failure to properly acknowledge your sources is known as “plagiarism” – which is effectively passing off an individual’s words or ideas as your own. University of the People adheres to a strict policy of academic honesty and integrity. Failure to comply with these guidelines may result in sanctions by the University, including dismissal from the University or course failure. For more information on this topic, please review the Academic Integrity Policy in the University Catalog.

Any materials cited in this course should be referenced using the style guidelines established by the American Psychological Association (APA). The APA format is widely used in colleges and universities across the world and is one of several styles and citation formats required for publication in professional and academic journals. Refer to the UoPeople APA Tutorials in the LRC for help with APA citations. For help with using library, kindly refer to UoPeople Library.

Code of Conduct
University of the People expects that students conduct themselves in a respectful, collaborative, and honest manner at all times. Harassment, threatening behavior, or deliberate embarrassment of others will not be permitted. Any conduct that interferes with the quality of the educational experience is not allowed and may result in disciplinary action, such as course failure, probation, suspension, or dismissal. For more information on this topic, please review the Code of Conduct Policy in the University Catalog.

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