What You Can Learn in an Executive MBA Program
Are you looking to lead at a higher level? Inspire your team to achieve superior results? Transform your organization? If you are a seasoned leader, manager, business owner, administrator, or board member desiring to achieve unprecedented successes as you take on increasing responsibilities, then the time may be right to consider an Executive MBA Program.
An Executive MBA Program is a highly innovative program designed to teach students about values-based leadership with the rigor of a challenging executive-level graduate business education.
There are many business courses that can be taught from the traditional functional perspective, but a premiere Executive MBA Program will use a unique cross-functional approach that focuses on the often conflicting interests of key stakeholder groups including customers, shareholders, employees, and communities. This unusual teaching approach enables students to develop the critical thinking skills necessary to make the right decisions that create value for customers, keep employees fully engaged, and ensure profitability and sustainability for shareholders.
Here are a few things you can expect to learn in an Executive MBA Program:
Leading Others: This module builds upon Module One, drawing heavily from Ken Blanchard's writings and work related to servant leadership. Upon completion of this module, students will understand what servant leadership really means, for leading individuals as well as teams. Students will use the situational team leadership framework to make better decisions, solve more complex problems, and enhance creativity...with their direct reports. The characteristics and stages of high-performing teams and reasons why teams fail will also be examined. Examples of team leadership from the real business world will be explored.
Community Focus: Students will focus on the societal perspective to decision-making and the responsibilities of the management of human capital. The concept of 'enlightened self-interest' is introduced and explored. The societal costs of doing business and analysis of physical environmental issues (sustainable resources) as well as human issues (social responsibility and community outreach) will be addressed.
Corporate Strategy: In this module, students will learn how to create and sustain a competitive advantage in the global economy. Students will examine the global competitive landscape in which today's organizations must operate and explore how real life CEOs' representing a cross-section of major industries have successfully seized opportunities in unexpected ways. Students will also learn how the international political economic environment can cause large-scale shifts in the global economy. Topics include opportunities and challenges inherent in mergers, acquisitions, partnerships and other types of strategic alliances and growth strategies. Upon completion, students will have the tools necessary to critically analyze the costs, risks and potential gains of growth strategies. A framework will be provided for determining when to pursue organic growth strategies versus external growth options and predatory versus collaborative growth strategies.
Organizational Capabilities: This module will introduce the "hard" side of building organizational capability, namely operations and processes. Students will focus on operational efficiency by examining both the internal operations of firms as well as the entire supply chain from product development to order fulfillment. This module goes beyond mere efficiencies and focuses on how to build innovation into the processes and DNA of the organization. The innovative strategies of several organizations will be examined to provide examples of successful innovation efforts and failures. Topics include operations and process management, supply chain management, organizational structure and systems, technological change, Six Sigma, and innovation.
Leading Organizations: Transformational leadership and the themes of organizational culture and leading change will be covered in this last module. Upon completion of the module, students will understand how and why change efforts get derailed, why people resist change, and how to overcome these challenges as a leader. Real life lessons learned by top CEOs will be examined. Finally, students will gain the knowledge to build and sustain a resilient corporate culture that thrives on change and supports the ongoing implementation of change efforts.
About the Author:
Bill Jenkins is the Online Communications Manager at The Ken Blanchard EMBA Program at Grand Canyon University. For more information about our Executive MBA Program, visit our website
Article Marketing
51 people like this article
