Master of Business Administration and Global Project Management

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This subject is the culminating experience for the MBA course. Drawing on concepts covered in other subjects, the capstone focuses on developing students' strategic thinking to build and sustain competitive advantage in organisations. Specifically, students are exposed to the frameworks and tools used to develop and evaluate business strategies, including industry analysis and analysis of a firm's competitive advantage, resources and capabilities. This subject also addresses the issues of business scope, diversification, and managing strategic change. A final project enables students to demonstrate their ability to think strategically and apply the concepts and tools learned in this subject to an organisation of their choice. Prerequisites: All core subjects in the MBA course.

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Being a leader in a dynamic era requires educated judgement and decision-making skills. How do leaders collect the most pertinent and important information to make decisions that impact human and financial capital? On what basis are decisions made? This subject engages students in the nuances of data collection, how to filter data and how to use it most effectively in decision-making. Students will apply decision-making theory and behavioural economics to a range of case studies to acquire situational-based leadership, judgement and decision-making skills.

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21st Century professionals who wish to achieve a position of leadership must have a clear understanding of the importance of marketing and a grasp of effective marketing practices. This subject provides an overview of both marketing theory and the practical application of innovative marketing strategies. Students will also come to understand how product, price, place, and promotion contribute to the marketing mix as they explore research-‐‐based insights into consumer behaviour. This subject focuses on research methods relating to samples and inference, particularly with regards to market research data collection and analysis.

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This subject is focused on how to utilise financial information for internal decision-making purposes. It is designed for the leader who will be using, rather than producing financial information. This subject also addresses the various types of financial decisions that leaders must make, and the strategies necessary to anticipate the alternatives, evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each and recognise the trade-offs inherent in each alternative. The objective of this subject is for students to learn how to apply finance theory and principles to the analysis of important business problems. Specific topics will include capital budgeting, cost of capital, risk, capital structure, payout policy, and enterprise valuation.

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This subject focuses on the development of knowledge and skills to enable students to identify, analyse and make effective decisions to resolve people- related issues in organisations, facilitate employee development, and develop and sustain effective teams in complex, diverse, and increasingly global operating environments. Topics include strategic human resource management, organisational design, culture and ethics, organisational behaviour, motivation and performance management, retention and succession planning, and organisation, project and functional teams. Students will focus on group based research methods in this subject including the use of focus groups, surveys and other instruments that provide data about group samples.

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Business leaders are expected to make considered and rational decisions that take cognisance of the complex competitive and often volatile environment in which they operate. This subject explains the micro and macroeconomic context needed for making these decisions. It also outlines how institutions, particularly the government and regulatory authorities, shape and constrain that environment. By the end of the subject, students will be able to use economic theories to help them make decisions about the optimal allocation of business resources and to understand the potential impact of regulatory and economy-wide changes on their business environments.

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Understanding organisational behaviour, politics, dynamics and environments and how they impact on the role and legitimacy of the management function is the core of this subject. This subject helps individuals understand the constraints they face as managers and emerging leaders and how they can develop strategies to leverage advantages and overcome constraints and barriers in their organisations. The subject also focuses on developing some of the advanced communication skills necessary in management and leadership roles, and the ability of the individual to influence others. The subject introduces students to the concept of naturally occurring data and qualitative analysis.

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Being an effective and genuine leader in a dynamic era requires an understanding of leadership concepts, how leaders think and act, and how various management styles impact situations and relationships within an organisation. Being a dynamic leader also demands a strong set of competencies such as motivating self and others, leading creativity in an organisation, cultural intelligence, and navigating ambiguity. This subject provides students with a foundation of leadership theory, styles, and approaches, and an opportunity for students to assess and build on their own leadership styles throughout the course.

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Choose an elective from any approved Masters Course. These electives are offered in various frequencies throughout the year.

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This course introduces program participants to the nature and importance of concepts that go beyond the twin imperatives of time and (financial) cost. Specific topics include sustainability in terms of social equity, economic efficiency, and environmental performance; project management life cycles; resource management; and change management. Students learn how to assess and evaluate the performance of multiple projects, and how to apply a range of tools and techniques when managing product portfolios, along with the nature of sustainability in project management in terms of how project management processes align with the three fundamentals of sustainable development: social equity, economic efficiency, and environmental performance.

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Procurement and contracts are integral to successful project management. In this course, students learn about planning for purchases and acquisitions, requests for proposal, vendor selection, contract administration, and contract closure.  Students learn how to approach key issues with regard to short and long-term contracts, and small and large contracts. Topics covered include the examination of procurement strategies, responsiveness, and supplier-client relationships. Students will also examine tendering, bidding and order management processes, relevant legal and commercial implications, as well as managing the relationship between buyer and seller, assessing vendor performance, contract change control, and conflict resolution.

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The process of creation, from conception through distribution, is complicated and requires a diverse set of management skills. Students in this course are introduced to the knowledge, tools, and techniques needed to manage projects successfully throughout a project life cycle, and to the language used by practitioners in conjunction with the terminology recognised by the Project Management Institute (PMI). Students explore the project management knowledge areas and process groups of the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) guide. Students also examine the ways these two dimensions of project management interact in initiating (scoping), planning, executing (launching), monitoring and controlling, and closing a project.

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One role of the project manager is to lead teams in complex and diverse organisational settings while concurrently communicating with all stakeholders. In this subject, students examine how to support and motivate team members to perform to the best of their ability, producing quality results within the required time and cost limits, and how individual and group behaviour impacts organisational effectiveness. Students learn ways to design projects to support organisational goals and how to build and engage organisational capital (intellectual, human, physical, financial, and structural). They also assess communications management as a tool to manage internal and external relationships with stakeholders, partners, vendors, and customers.

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To be effective, project managers must understand relationships between operational factors and projects. In this subject, students learn about scope, time and cost planning, developing an appropriate work breakdown structure (WBS). Students will also learn about the importance of managing project change, quality and risk, as well as the role of effective stakeholder communications in achieving successful project outcomes. They engage in practical exercises designed to help them develop project management skills. Students also examine planning considerations associated with global projects.

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In this subject, students implement a project plan and manage progress by applying performance reporting, analysis, and measurement techniques to ensure that activities are executed as planned. This will include responding to risk events and issues; managing scope changes; communicating with team members and stakeholders; acceptance of deliverables, and administrative and financial closure.

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In this subject, students learn the integrative nature of project management and develop skills to coordinate the various project management processes and activities. Students formulate appropriate project life cycle and apply the PMBOK project management process groups to their selected case study. They update the project management plan and other artefacts impacted by the change management process. Students evaluate environmental factors influencing project outcomes and develop effective management strategies. They apply a range of communication media to manage stakeholder relationships.