Effective leaders are essential to businesses of every sort, across all industries. Employees with an aptitude for leadership, with the right training and education, are highly valued and sought out by employers. Southern Utah University’s MBA – Leadership Emphasis program offers students this advanced leadership training in combination with an in-depth foundation of comprehensive business studies. Both 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 with a focus on leadership is designed to prepare students for varied leadership roles, including department-specific positions, general management positions, and 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 organizational behavior and management, marketing, accounting, supply chain management, strategic development, 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. Two of these electives are leadership courses required for completion of the MBA – Leadership Emphasis degree. The remaining elective course is chosen by students from a number of advanced courses in finance and marketing.
The two advanced leadership elective courses are “Authentic Leadership” and “Effective Teams.” The course on authentic leadership 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 course on effective teams helps students understand the nuances of group dynamics and the benefits of collaboration and a positive team-based work environment.
What Are the Benefits of an MBA Focused on Leadership?
A number of studies and surveys show that leadership skills and soft skills, like communication and teamwork, make up the bulk of skills that employers view as markers of leadership competency. Many employers value these skills even more than initial job-related knowledge, especially considering management roles where leadership is the focus.
Plus, the knowledge and skills gained from an MBA focused on leadership can be applied to any business in any industry. Leadership is more a universal skill than a field-specific skill. As stated by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA), “Graduate students need leadership development programs tailored to their specialized training and career opportunities.” In the context of an MBA in leadership, this leadership development is applied directly to studies in all areas of business management through capstone coursework on integrative strategy. In this sense, SUU’s leadership MBA tailors leadership education to most any business management pursuit 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 – Leadership Emphasis program provides a tailored yet comprehensive business education, nurturing a student’s versatility in applying diversified knowledge and skills to leadership roles across a multitude of fields.
Learn more about Southern Utah University’s online MBA – Leadership Emphasis program.
Sources:
Study.com: Master of Business Administration (MBA): Leadership Degree Overview
The Princeton Review: Why Get an MBA? Pursue Management Leadership
