Does Executive MBA Deliver? Exploration of Developmental Outcomes and Participants’ Perceptions of Delivery Effectiveness

Critics of the value of the Executive MBA program have not adequately considered the perceptions of Executive MBA students. This paper evaluates performance of an Executive MBA program by exploring students’ preferred developmental outcomes and perceptions about the effectiveness of their Executive MBA program towards delivering the targeted outcomes. Interviews, focus groups and survey were conducted with program’s directors, staff, and current and graduated students in a large privately run university in Punjab province of Pakistan. As a result of a rigorous process, the study identified twenty-seven critical outcomes under two categories namely “personal outcomes” and “professional outcomes” which students consider important and urge their Executive MBA program to deliver. On the whole students appear to be satisfied with their Executive MBA program; however, the effectiveness of their program is below their expectations. Identification of the exact outcomes in this study provide directions for Executive MBA administrators to make their curriculum and pedagogical/andragogical techniques more relevant and value-oriented for their students. Based on these findings, it is inferred that Executive MBA programs’ planning should consider students as the protagonist of their programs’ planning process.

Winning at the Acquisition Game

Winning at the Acquisition Game is a collection of the best materials, insights, tools, and templates which comprise the popular Mergers and Acquisitions course taught in the MBA and Executive MBA programs at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. Each chapter provides readers with practical knowledge and tools to help them understand the entire mergers and acquisitions (M&A) process from pre-deal strategy and due diligence, through transaction valuation, negotiations, and closing, to post-deal implementation, workforce motivation, innovation for revenue growth, and results measurement and reporting. As a result, readers will gain valuable insights into the entire M&A process, from beginning to end, connecting traditionally distinct, “siloed” functional expertise across the process. Case examples in the chapters describe how each stage of the process has been implemented by companies across various industries. Each chapter concludes with a set of discussion questions and a self-assessment that readers can use to determine their firm’s current level of M&A capability. Practical frameworks, tools, and templates are also provided in an “M&A Workbook” that readers can apply to their own transactions, now or in the future.

Transforming an organization into a learning organization: Liberty Shoes Ltd, Karnal Unit

Subject area Liberty Shoes Ltd, had been experiencing falling sales and decreased production as a result of frequent strikes by workers. By 2010, total sales had fallen to INR 300 crores (from INR 500 crores in 2005). In the Annual Board meeting in 2010, Mr Shammi Bansal, the Executive Director expressed his concerns and told the board members that “they must learn to survive or be extinct”. The case study discusses how The Executive Director turned the company around and how the organization became a “learning organization”. Study level/applicability MBA and Executive MBA programs. Case overview In 2004, Liberty Shoes Ltd, had a sales turnover of INR 500 crores. In the year 2006, this dropped to INR 300 crores as a result of regular staff strikes and low morale. However, by 2013, the company had registered sales of INR 800 crores and a growth rate of around 30 per cent on a year-to-year basis. With continued focused initiatives in the organization from 2010 the management aimed to reach a sales turnover of INR 1,000 crores by March, 2014. The contributing factors to this turnaround were the leadership roles which encouraged a learning organization culture with an emphasis placed on the importance of “communication”, “employee development” and “employee empowerment”. Expected learning outcomes Understand the role of a business leader in building a learning organization. Understand the factors contributing to the building of a culture of a learning organization. Understand the critical aspects and benefits to the organization from becoming a learning organization. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or [email protected] to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS: 6 Human resource management.

Identifying Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Curricula of Leading U.S. Executive MBA Programs

Our society has witnessed large enterprises collapse from a disregard for Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) and illegal and unethical comportments. This chapter provides an understanding of the basic concepts of CSR in the context of lawful and ethical responsibilities, while recognizing the power of CSR branding. Moreover, in accordance with the theory that higher education can elevate the importance of CSR strategies, it reports the results from a qualitative content analysis study identifying explicit and implicit inclusions of CSR, law, and ethics in course titles and descriptions from 20 leading Executive Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs at institutions of higher education in the United States. The results report that while law and ethics are commonly part of the reviewed Executive MBA programs, CSR has minimal representation in these programs.

Identifying Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Curricula of Leading U.S. Executive MBA Programs

Our society has witnessed large enterprises collapse from a disregard for Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) and illegal and unethical comportments. This chapter provides an understanding of the basic concepts of CSR in the context of lawful and ethical responsibilities, while recognizing the power of CSR branding. Moreover, in accordance with the theory that higher education can elevate the importance of CSR strategies, it reports the results from a qualitative content analysis study identifying explicit and implicit inclusions of CSR, law, and ethics in course titles and descriptions from 20 leading Executive Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs at institutions of higher education in the United States. The results report that while law and ethics are commonly part of the reviewed Executive MBA programs, CSR has minimal representation in these programs.

Executive MBA programs: what do students perceive as value for their practices?

This paper explores MBA students' perceptions about their learning process and the outcomes of development of capabilities and competences. A qualitative exploratory study was conducted between 2004 and 2008 with 160 students enrolled in 6 different MBA programs in Brazil. The data were collected at group activities using a questionnaire to lead the participants to identify the contents and experiences from their MBA's that were associated with the development of capabilities and competences relevant to practice. Examining the current literature and its indications of a myriad of pedagogical approaches, we discuss the MBA educators' pedagogical planning for developing capacities and competences without considering which knowledge is valued as relevant by students. Our results identified three aspects as the most relevant in MBA students' learning experiences: (a) openness to exploit new ways of interpreting the world; (b) development of specific capabilities; and (c) development of relational competence. The main contribution of our study is to highlight the students' active engagement in the learning opportunities created by MBA educators and their outcomes. Based on the evidence, we argue that the pedagogical planning developed by educators should consider MBA students as the protagonist of their management education process.

Examining the Diversity Curriculum of Leading Executive MBA Programs in the United States

Properly managed diversity practices enable organizations to maximize human capital, create a sustainable competitive advantage, attract more customers, and become more profitable. Many organizations conduct diversity training to address workplace diversity issues. Top management communicates the value of and commitment to diversity, whereas managers facilitate an environment that embraces diversity. Diversity management has emerged as a prominent strategy to handle diversity issues. This chapter examines diversity curriculum of leading Executive MBA (EMBA) programs in the United States and highlights the current state of the educational environment in addition to explaining how curriculum supports diversity and inclusion reforms at the organizational level. Through content analysis, the authors summarized the diversity topics featured in 20 leading EMBA programs in the United States. None of the reviewed programs explicitly utilized the word “diversity” in any of their core or elective course titles, and only three (3) explicitly mentioned the words “diverse” or “diversity” within course descriptions. Nevertheless, the data suggest that programs do seek to offer some form of experiences which have the potential and intent to enhance cultural awareness. The majority of programs under study require students to travel to a foreign country to participate in global travel exploration. The authors provide recommendations for future research related to effectively implementing diversity practices and curriculum so that leaders become better equipped to address the challenges of diversity for their organizations.