MBA Information Technology

Rationale and Philosophy

The MBA has been shaped to form what the programme team believes to be a unique curriculum. It allows students to:

• Gain a UK Higher Education Institution accredited MBA.
• Study in their own time (in whatever time-zone in which they live).
• Study at their own pace (within the current period of University of Cumbria regulations for part-time study).
• Attend an optional residential event in Zurich, Switzerland.
• Continue to live in their own country/location without disrupting family life.
• Continue to pursue their existing career without a break.

Programme Outline

The scheme has been designed to meet the aims of the online MBA in a flexible manner and can be tailored to the individual preferences of each student. The MBA requires you to complete six courses plus a final dissertation. The programme consists of the following modules:

Introductory

Not-for-credit

Induction

This is the first module of the programme which gives an orientation to the course and the online learning style. It does not carry credits, and students are encouraged to go through the material in this module at their own pace and get accustomed to the online medium.

Stage 1

120 credits - Six taught modules

Compulsory

• Organisational Behaviour
• Information Management
• Digital Marketing
• Internet of Things
  

Elective

Choose one of the following modules:

• Corporate Strategy and Competitiveness (Residential - in Zurich, Switzerland)
• Leadership and Sustainability
  

Final Capstone

• Strategic Management

Stage 2

60 credits - Individual dissertation

Dissertation Work

As an exit qualification, the Postgraduate Certificate in Business Administration is awarded to candidates who have completed 60 credits (three modules), while the Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration is awarded to candidates who have completed 120 credits (six modules) but have been unable to complete the dissertation. Students who achieve the full 180 credits, and have successfully completed the dissertation, exit with the award of Master of Business Administration (MBA).

Module Descriptions

There are no average courses within our MBA programme. We are bound to provide an exceptional learning experience, and there is no better way to achieve this aim than with outstanding courses. They have been carefully crafted by experienced professors and are all meant to make you a more successful and efficient manager.

There are no old-fashioned exams. Instead you are given real-life case studies and essays, which allow you to think critically about your company and your own career. All this might seem too glossy but there is one catch: we do not accept average candidates. Only individuals as outstanding as our values can find their way toward admission at the Robert Kennedy College.

Induction

Not-for-credit module

A not-for-credit induction module will be the starting point of the programme. The induction process is designed to familiarise you with the programme design, requirements and resources, as well as with the way online interaction, learning and grading will take place. After the induction you should be familiar with academic life, including academic writing, library services and library access, OnlineCampus access, and academic support services.

Organisational Behaviour

The aims of this module are to provide an introduction to core concepts of the way people are managed in organisations. To that end it will offer opportunities for study by prospective as well as experienced managers, to consider the history and development of management thinking and theory, using modern ideas to assess and evaluate their own personal experiences of organisations and dynamics. The introduction to the module will act as bedrock upon which other managerial ideas and processes can be developed later in the course.

Information Management

This module enables you to develop a conceptual and comprehensive understanding of the manager's role in relation to the leading of the effective management and use of information, information technology and information systems and to apply these within both organisational and strategic contexts.

Digital Marketing

The primary aim of this module is to provide the student with a deep understanding of the issues facing digital marketing managers, by examining the strategically significant issues facing e-commerce such as environment and online marketplace, consumer behaviour and digital influence. The aim is to actively develop students’ knowledge of key marketing and digital marketing theories and apply this knowledge to strategic issues based on current research and industry practice, and facilitate the effective strategic decision making of a digital marketing professional.

Internet of Things

IoT, short for Internet of Things, is the ever-growing network of objects that use their data transmission capabilities to communicate with other devices over the Internet. This promises to create new business models, improve business processes and reduce costs and risks. The aim of this module is to critically explore the range of concepts and functions employed by IoT technologies while evaluating the efficiency and correctness of the applications of such designs.

Corporate Strategy and Competitiveness

Elective module - Residential (in Zurich, Switzerland)

This module aims to introduce students to the importance of competitiveness to firms, regions and countries, as a means of improving wealth. Students will learn how to use various models for strategy development for institutions, and tools for improving their competitiveness, applying theories developed by Professor Michael E. Porter at Harvard Business School.

Leadership and Sustainability

Elective module

The aim of this module is to examine the nature of leadership, and in particular its role in the development of sustainable business and business practices. Students will analyse and evaluate sustainable practice in selected sectors and the potential for implementing sustainable business practices, and evaluate the personal relevance of and implications for leading sustainable change in business.

Strategic Management

This module aims to develop your knowledge and understanding across a range of appropriate topic areas, to undertake an analysis of inherent strategic complexity with a view to selecting appropriate conceptual ‘tools’ for strategic development. The module will develop your awareness of the complex inter-relationship of organisational problems and develop your critical ability to select and ‘argue’ for alternative approaches emanating from conceptual alternative dimensions in relation to organisational problems and strategy. In addition the module will develop your ability to select complementary approaches and/or techniques appropriate for a stated problem and apply them to resolve or improve the problem. The module seeks to extend your current cognitive and transferable skills applicable across the manager’s role. These include self-appraisal, problem-solving, communication, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.

Aims and Outcomes

The overall aims of the Programme are to:

1.    further develop relevant business, organisation, information technology (in particular internet of things) knowledge, both academic and professional, in line with postgraduate standards/benchmarks;

2.    develop critical reflection skills and engagement with organisational and professional theory to understand and, where appropriate, challenge existing individual and organisational perspectives and practices in a connected, internet enabled environment (in particular, with a focus on IoT, as well as how IoT can improve sustainability);

3.    develop, and where appropriate apply, new knowledge to add value by enhancing organisational capability using IoT concepts and applications;

4.    develop understanding of an organisation’s strategic focus and environment, and the impact of the inter-relationship between the organisation’s resources and clients in the evolving global business environment;

5.    develop commitment to continuous personal and professional development, independence and reflective learning;

6.    develop particular expertise and understanding in the fields of information technology, IoT, business and management.

Successful students will be able to:

1.    engage in effective individual research and demonstrate the ability to understand and apply management theory, and to make, when necessary, sound judgments under conditions of uncertainty;

2.    exhibit improved independent research and time management skills, having undertaken a substantial self-managed research project which involved application of a variety of management and research practices, and demonstrates expertise and understanding of issues in IoT, leadership and sustainability;

3.    demonstrate enhanced interpersonal and team skills, through working with others from different industry or cultural backgrounds;

4.    continue to reflect on their existing experiences, and learn from and build on the experience of others;

5.    develop into modern, well rounded and outward looking managers with a high concern for customers and colleagues, capable of taking responsibility for themselves, their people, their areas of responsibility and their organisation.