Executive Master of Business Administration (MBA) part-time

Programme Specification http://programmes.bolton.ac.uk/BAM082-P-UOB-MX

What you will learn

You will study a contemporary curriculum which focusses on the key functional areas of management: Human Resource Management, Financial Management, Strategic Management and so forth, many of which will be beyond the borders of your current, familiar management responsibilities. The aim is to stretch your management competencies into new areas of potential responsibility.

The MBA programme offers a suite of contemporary modules which allow you to develop your knowledge of organisations and their management in today’s fast-moving global economy, in order to reflect and improve your own management practice

What you will study Year One

Executive Management and Leadership

This module is designed to enable you to explore your values, attitudes, style and interpersonal skills and to provide a platform for continuing personal development as managers and leaders. It invites you to critically evaluate theories pertinent to personal development, management and leadership; and to develop your interpersonal and team working skills to enhance the current and future roles as managers and leaders.

Executive Sales Management and Marketing

This module aims to provide you with a critical understanding of the sales management and marketing processes and the opportunity to develop and refine relevant skills in the practice of sales management and marketing. You will gain experience of evaluating and analysing the challenges managers face in the development and deployment of sales and marketing planning, and you will develop an advanced awareness of the need to consider a range of alternative approaches to dealing with planning and management issues in order to achieve competitive advantage and successful sales.

To gain and enhance your critical knowledge and understanding you will consider and critically evaluate key stages of the organisations’ marketing and sales planning process. By the end of the module you will have developed a superior appreciation of the processes and outcomes in the implementation of the strategic choices facing an organisation with regard to marketing and sales management

Executive Financial Management and Decision Making

This module is designed to introduce managers (usually who have no previous background in finance) to the concepts of financial management, and to explore the corporate aspects, and their differing organisational contexts, that determine sources of corporate funding. The module will also consider legal and other key issues, affecting corporate financial management. It will develop your knowledge and understanding of the theoretical concepts of financial management, and enable you to analyse and evaluate financial statements to provide a basis for informed decision making. You will develop an understanding of capital budgeting, strategic financial issues and control systems and how they can assist more informed decisions.

Year Two

Human Resource Management (Executive)

This module aims to provide a general introduction to HRM in organisations. It will show an awareness of the merits and difficulties associated with new and different forms of work patterns and job designs aimed at enhancing performance, motivation and commitment. It will contribute to the wider debate by examining the organisational functions that are attributed to human resource managers.

Executive Change Management

This module will introduce you to managing change. You will investigate the types of change that affect modern organisations and their scope and scale. You will analyse the structural and cultural accelerators/impediments to change, the notion that organisations can learn to innovate faster than their competitors and the prominent roles of strategy and leadership. Throughout this module you will be called upon to exercise and improve your powers of critical evaluation as applied to conceptual models of innovation and change and both internal and external contingencies that impinge on organisational efforts to innovate.

Executive Strategic Management

The module aims to provide you with a critical understanding of the strategic management process, and will integrate material from other parts of the course within a strategic management framework. Initially lectures will be used to develop knowledge of the concepts underpinning the study of strategic management. As your knowledge increases you will participate more fully in a critical exploration of the concepts. The case studies will enable you to explore the application of strategic management concepts and models, apply them to complex business problems, and evaluate the strategic issues within the case study, while critically assessing the applicability and usefulness of the theoretical models.

Year Three

Executive Research Methods

This module prepares you for the dissertation. It will enable you to make informed decisions about which research methods are appropriate under particular circumstances and specifically in relation to your own research. You will develop your knowledge of a range of research tools and analytical techniques. You will also receive guidance on the structuring of your dissertation.

Executive MBA Dissertation

The dissertation provides you with the opportunity to undertake an extended and substantial piece of research. It allows students to synthesise their academic knowledge acquired from the taught modules and to produce an evaluative and critical discussion of a strategic issue relevant to your organisation, your recommendations following the research process and a proposed implementation plan.