Pandemic-prepared: How Spring Hill College can help MBA students navigate the business challenges of COVID-19.
Budget opportunities vs. cost-cutting. Employee growth vs. downsizing.
There’s nothing normal about business during this pandemic. Learning how to understand the challenges can help Spring Hill College’s MBA students get real world ready — for whatever the post-pandemic world brings.
Dr. Samir Khoury, Graduate Program Director of the Spring Hill College online Master of Business Administration program in Mobile, Alabama knows being proactive with the College’s MBA curriculum means students are learning valuable business lessons during the pandemic. We sat down with Dr. Khoury to get a better understanding of these fresh initiatives for the program and its students.
Spring Hill’s MBA Real World Ready Concentrations
The SHC MBA program has concentrations in logistics and supply chain management, leadership and project management. Students pursuing their MBA complete seven core business classes and three classes from their chosen concentration.
· The logistics and SCM concentration prepares students for managerial roles in a wide array of logistics and SCM industry areas, such as purchasing, transportation management, freight forwarding, inventory control, supplier management and procurement operations.
· The leadership concentration is designed for those who want to further develop their leadership skills through ethical application of leadership theory and practice. Students will complete courses in leadership theory, conflict management, business ethics and in special topics such as quality theory and application.
· The project management concentration is designed for students with project management backgrounds or who are interested in pursuing careers in the field. Students will learn about project management fundamentals by completing the requisite courses plus a capstone course. Emphasis is placed on helping students with backgrounds in project management prepare for the project management professional (PMP) certification exam should they decide to pursue it.
Shifting From Lean Supply Chain Logistics to Addressing Supply Chain Shortages
The COVID-19 pandemic introduced significant new challenges for logistics and supply chain management operations as well as leadership and project management. These areas of specialization within the MBA now face concerns we have not faced before. For example, logistics operations in almost all industries were affected to some degree. There was a shortage of essentials — from cleaning supplies to certain food categories. Other shortages still exist. The lockdowns forced workers, industry and governments to quickly change operations and procedures, which caused some supply chains to come to a complete standstill while others were severely disrupted. For the past two decades, lean logistics was implemented to reduce the amount of goods within supply chains and ultimately reduce inventory and warehousing costs. Unfortunately, this approach contributed to shortages of essentials once the supply chains were interrupted with lockdowns because supply chains were operating in a lean environment. Our MBA program addresses this new challenge and explores ways industry can better prepare for future disruptions to supply chains.
Leadership for the New Work-From-Home-Normal
New leadership and ethical challenges also resulted from the pandemic. In the past, business leadership was concerned with maximizing productivity and improving the bottom line, not with work-at-home arrangements and other issues the pandemic created. It’s now important to understand these new challenges and apply solutions that address them. Faculty in the Business Division at Spring Hill are challenging students to think outside of the box and come up with new, innovative approaches. Real world case studies are used to further critical analysis skills within each of the MBA’s concentrations.
A host of new challenges are now present for project managers as well. Now they must deal with the physical separation of workers, while maintaining productivity and safety. Scheduling and maintaining project timelines has become more challenging. Earning an MBA at Spring Hill College will help current and future business leaders prepare for these new challenges by integrating case studies, exploring current events within industry and society and through rigrous research.
MBA Degree Opportunities for Professional Advancement
Although the pandemic has negatively affected all of us, it has opened our eyes to what most of us never thought would happen. Very few managers thought they would have to close offices or work sites and ask employees to work from home. They did not think their supply chains would come to a complete stop. It is now more important than ever for managers to earn their advanced degrees and to acquire new skills if they are to remain competitive and grow in their professions. Managers with an MBA are more likely to remain employed and to earn a higher salary. A higher salary will contribute to their ability to establish an emergency fund that would sustain them through any future disruptions.
Heightened Crisis Management
Crisis management is essential in all business environments, especially during a pandemic. As businesses become more global and workers will once agan be expected to travel worldwide, we are likely to have another pandemic in the future. Therefore, managers need to be prepared to deal with a crisis. The knowledge we have gained in dealing with COVID-19 is already being applied to the MBA program at Spring Hill College. We stress the need for managers who are able to apply critical thinking and industry best practices and who analyze relevant case studies that show how others have approached a crisis in the past. This learning method is applied in each of the concentration areas of the MBA program. For example, we offer a course in case studies within the logistics and SCM concentration. Also, the Business Strategy, Policy, and Sustainability course enables students to demonstrate their ability to establish business strategies and policies that incorporate crisis management concepts and best practices.
Pandemic business lessons through Spring Hill College’s MBA will transcend this time of heightened awareness. Students will be prepared with a real world education that focuses on their future.
The program is fully online and taught in seven-week semesters for the fall and spring and six-week semesters during the summer. Connect today for more information and to apply.
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