BUS5910: Management Capstone Assignment
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. These fields of study are used as frames through which business case studies are analyzed. 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:
- Evaluate comprehensive business enterprise situations through an integrated view of various functional disciplines.
- 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
- Apply concepts and approaches to strategy formulation and implementation
- 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 viewed through the Human Resources Frame
- Week 3: Unit 3- Project/Program Management viewed through the Organizational Frame
- Week 4: Unit 4- Managerial Finance and 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- Leadership viewed through the Human Resources Frame
- Week 8: Unit 8- Globalization viewed through the Strategic Frame
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 the Learning Guide and Reading Assignments
- Participate in the Discussion Assignment (post, comment, and rate in the Discussion Forum)
- Complete and submit the Written Assignment
- Respond to the Portfolio Activity
Unit 2: Organizational Theory viewed through the Human Resources Frame
- Peer assess Unit 1 Written Assignment
- Read the Learning Guide and Reading Assignments
- Participate in the Discussion Assignment (post, comment, and rate in the Discussion Forum)
- Complete and submit the Written Assignment
- Respond to the Portfolio Activity
Unit 3: Project/Program Management viewed through the Organizational Frame
- Peer assess Unit 2 Written Assignment
- Read the Learning Guide and Reading Assignments
- Review: BUS5910: Course Guide for Final Paper and Presentation
- Participate in the Discussion Assignment (post, comment, and rate in the Discussion Forum)
- Complete and submit the Written Assignment (instructor Graded)
Unit 4: Managerial Finance and Accounting viewed through the Project/Program Management Frame
- Read the Learning Guide and Reading Assignments
- Participate in the Discussion Assignment (post, comment, and rate in the Discussion Forum)
- Complete and submit the Written Assignment
- Respond to the Portfolio Activity
Unit 5: Operations Management viewed through Managerial Finance/Accounting Frame
- Peer assess Unit 4 Written Assignment
- Read the Learning Guide and Reading Assignments
- Participate in the Discussion Assignment (post, comment, and rate in the Discussion Forum)
- Complete and submit the Written Assignment
- Respond to the Portfolio Activity
Unit 6: Business Law viewed through the Business Ethics Frame
- Peer assess Unit 5 Written Assignment
- Read the Learning Guide and Reading Assignments
- Review: BUS5910: Course Guide for Final Paper and Presentation
- Participate in the Discussion Assignment (post, comment, and rate in the Discussion Forum)
- Complete and submit the Written Assignment (Instructor graded)
Unit 7: Leadership viewed through the Human Resources Frame
- Read the Learning Guide and Reading Assignments
- Participate in the Discussion Assignment (post, comment, and rate in the Discussion Forum)
- Complete and submit the Written Assignment
- Respond to the Portfolio Activity
- Schedule your Week 8 interview with your instructor (if you haven’t already)
Unit 8: Globalization viewed through the Strategic Frame
- Peer assess Unit 7 Written Assignment
- Read the Learning Guide and Reading Assignments
- Participate in the Discussion Assignment (post, comment, and rate in the Discussion Forum)
- Complete and submit the Final Paper
- Meet with Instructor by Skype to discuss your final paper.
- Complete and submit the anonymous Course Evaluation
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 posed 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 and by rating their posts. Instructions for proper posting and rating (out of a 10 point scale) are provided inside the Discussion Forum for each week. 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.
Written Assignments & Assessment Forms
- Most units in this course require that you complete a Written Assignment, which may come in many forms (case study, research paper, etc.). You are required to submit your assignments by the indicated deadlines and, in addition, to peer assess three (3) of your classmates’ assignments according to the instructions found in the Assessment Form, which is provided to you during the following week. During this peer assessment period, you are expected to provide details in the feedback section of the Assessment Form, indicating why you awarded the grade that you did to your peer. Please note that each assignment grade is comprised of a combination of your submission (90%) and your peer assessments (10%). Failure to submit Written Assignments and/or Assessment Forms may result in failure of 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.