Effective leaders are essential to businesses of every sort, across all industries. Employers highly value and seek out employees with an aptitude for leadership as well as the right training and education. The online Master of Business Administration (MBA) – Leadership Emphasis program from Southern Utah University (SUU) offers students advanced leadership training in combination with an in-depth foundation of comprehensive business studies. The breadth of knowledge and skills gained from this MBA program and its focus on leadership development can greatly benefit business professionals pursuing career advancement in management.
What Areas of Foundational Business Studies Does This MBA Cover?
SUU’s online MBA in Leadership program prepares students for varied leadership roles, including department-specific, general management, upper-level management and executive-level leadership positions. This program provides a broad foundation of core coursework that focuses on all common aspects of business operations and administration as well as management topics concerning individual departments. Hence, core courses delve into subjects like managing people and organizations, marketing, accounting, finance, supply chain management, strategy, leadership and decision-making.
What Areas of Study Are Specific to the Leadership Emphasis?
Building on these subjects and other essential business topics, students take three elective courses. Students must take two required leadership elective courses to complete the online MBA in Leadership program. Students choose their remaining elective course from several advanced courses in finance and marketing.
The two advanced leadership elective courses are Authentic Leadership and Effective Teams. The Authentic Leadership course aims to help students examine their own natural leadership style, further developing that style in a genuine way to maximize its efficacy with diverse groups of people. The Effective Teams course helps students understand the nuances of group dynamics and the benefits of collaboration and a positive team-based work environment.
The additional elective course options help students tailor their degree to their career aspirations and interests. Students choose from among the following options:
- Investments
- Entrepreneurial Finance
- Marketing Analytics
- Integrated Marketing
What Are the Benefits of an MBA Focused on Leadership?
Studies and surveys from the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), Monster and others consistently show that leadership skills and related interpersonal skills like communication and teamwork/collaboration are among the top skills employers want and value. Many employers prize these skills even more than initial job-related knowledge, especially considering management roles where leadership is the focus.
Plus, graduates can apply the knowledge and skills gained from an MBA focused on leadership to any business in any industry. Leadership is more a universal and transferable skill than a field-specific skill. In the context of SUU’s program, a capstone course on strategy integrates leadership development and advanced applications of business management studies. In this sense, SUU’s program tailors leadership education to most business management pursuits a graduate may choose.
The study of leadership can augment traditional MBA studies, increasing a graduate’s competitive advantage in the job market and employability in the eyes of hiring managers. A well-developed aptitude for leadership prepares professionals to excel in managerial and executive-level roles, boding well for career advancement. Plus, SUU’s online MBA in Leadership program provides a tailored yet comprehensive business education, nurturing a student’s versatility in applying diversified knowledge and skills to leadership roles across various fields.
Learn more about SUU’s online MBA – Leadership Emphasis program.
