Online MBA with a Sustainable Business Specialization

One of the following specialization areas

Accounting courses
• MGT 5043 Financial Modeling and Data Analysis
This course trains students to use the financial models that are most useful to accountants and shows how the models can be solved numerically and/or simulated using Excel. This course covers principles of financial modeling illustrated by the standard quantitative models and techniques used in corporate finance and in financial statement simulation and analysis. Techniques in Excel include lookup functions for standardizing data, pivot tables to summarize data, data tables for sensitivity analysis, and goal seek for numerical solutions, among others.
• MGT 5120 Business Law and Government Regulation
This course examines key legal concepts (e.g., torts, contracts, and negotiable instruments) that may affect the work of managers in the USA. In addition, students will be exposed to basic personal and corporate income tax laws and tax preparation forms. Students explore this course in the light of the relationships between man-made, national laws and the eternal principles of natural law that underlie them.
• MGT 5131 Taxation
State and federal taxation are instruments of social policy. The principles of taxation must be considered in the planning and decision-making process of every organization, whether profit or nonprofit. This course surveys basic tax concepts and their use in individual and organizational tax planning. Topics include social policy implications of taxation, concepts of income, tax reporting, taxpaying entities, deductions, property transactions, and gain or loss recognition. Students explore this course in the light of the relationships between man-made, national laws and the eternal principles of natural law that underlie them.
• MGT 5153 Financial Accounting & Reporting
Students explore and gain the knowledge of generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) for business enterprises, not-for-profit organizations, and governmental entities and the skills needed to apply that knowledge. GAAP is seen as a reflection of collective consciousness that specifies rules for financial reporting.
• MGT 5152 Auditing for Financial Accountants
Auditors attest to the quality of information on organizational financial statements and thereby enhance the confidence of those making management, investment, and/or credit decisions. Auditors provide benchmarks for determining the level of usefulness of financial statements. Topics include audit engagement planning, verification and testing of internal controls, and evidence sampling, collection, and testing. In addition, the various types of audit report formats are examined.
• MGT 5160 Managerial Accounting
The sequential transaction processing system of the accounting cycle provides information for both internal and external decision-makers. This course provides a firm basis for any stakeholder to implement “due diligence” in their management, investing, or financing decisions. Topics include the conceptual framework of accounting; the internal control structure; general use financial statements for external decision makers; and the most useful managerial accounting reports for internal decision makers.
• MGT 5165 Metrics for Sustainability
The new goal of sustainability requires new metrics for measuring and reporting its achievement. This course covers systems for disclosing information about sustainability and for certifying the sustainability of products, processes, and firms. Points of theory include the concept of materiality, the institutional context of a standard, philosophies of sustainability, and systems for measurement and evaluation. Systems for disclosure include the Global Reporting Initiative and SASB. Process metrics include the ISO 14001 environmental management standard and the SA8000 social standard. Corporate metrics include the UL 880 and GS-C1 standards for manufacturers, STARS for universities, B-Corp, and corporate rating systems such as the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, Global 100, FTSE4Good, and ASSET4 ESG. Greenhouse gas assessment is treated in depth. We look at life-cycle analysis from the perspective of a manager hiring an expert. Students taking the course for 4 credits complete a research paper or project.
• MGT 5168 Computerized Accounting Systems
Modern financial management utilizes computerized accounting packages for efficient record-keeping, safeguarding of assets, customer service, and financial analysis. This course reviews current computerized accounting packages and applies them to case situations.
• MGT 5301 SAP Finance and Control
In this course, students learn key areas of the financial and management accounting (FI) module of SAP ERP. SAP FI is the core module of SAP ERP, which is integrated with other SAP modules. Students learn by working on the Chart of Accounts, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, and Asset Accounting sections in the FI module. The Controlling (CO) module supports the process of planning, reporting, and monitoring operations of businesses. In the SAP CO module, the students learn how to create a cost center, internal orders, a profit center, view and organize costs that are required for financial reporting. When SAP ERP is properly established, the management of transactions flows smoothly.
• MGT 5952 Strategic Management for Sustainable Business
This course combines strategic management concepts, tools, and frameworks with sustainability innovation and includes leadership for sustainability. The course analyses mankind’s effect on the natural environment and the concept of natural capital. The stakeholder concept leads to the environmental and social requirements of sustainability. The course takes a lifecycle analysis perspective on the sustainability impacts of the business in the natural environment and society. It also includes an analysis of business risks and opportunities associated with sustainability, sustainability strategy models, and sustainability reporting. Students identify how businesses can compete by incorporating sustainability into their processes, products, policies, and public relations.
ERP & Analytics courses
• MGT 5240 Statistical Analysis for Business
In quantitative research, a key step is statistical analysis to discern meaningful patterns in the study data and relationships between variables. This course provides a foundational understanding of statistical concepts and methods for data analysis and interpretation. Topics include principles of statistical thinking for management research; numerical and graphical tools for describing and analyzing business data; the normal distribution, populations, and sampling; confidence intervals, hypothesis testing; correlation coefficients and simple linear regression.
• MGT 5301 SAP Finance and Controlling
In this course, students learn key areas of the financial and management accounting (FI) module of SAP ERP. SAP FI is the core module of SAP ERP, which is integrated with other SAP modules. Students learn by working on the Chart of Accounts, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, and Asset Accounting sections in the FI module. The Controlling (CO) module supports the process of planning, reporting, and monitoring operations of businesses. In the SAP CO module, the students learn how to create a cost center, internal orders, a profit center, view and organize costs that are required for financial reporting. When SAP ERP is properly established, the management of transactions flows smoothly.
• MGT 5302 Enterprise Business Processes Execution
In this course, students learn key areas of the business processes of SAP, including accounting, sales and distribution processes, procurement processes, and warehouse management. Students learn not only the procedures of transaction management but also the importance of developing hierarchical structures for organizing an enterprise’s systems. SAP provides the organizing power for action.
• MGT 5303 Integrated Business Processes Configuration
In this course, students learn more detailed functions of SAP to configure the financial accounting, procurement, fulfillment, production, material planning, and warehouse management modules. Students have a greater understanding of how business processes are executed in the system and gain experience in troubleshooting.
• MGT 5304 Data Visualization and Reporting
Explores techniques and best practices in visualizing data. From simple cross tabs to more complex multi-dimensional analysis using the latest business tools e.g., SAP Business objects, PowerBI, etc. This course gives students a thorough overview of the Analytics tools to view and create reports in financial areas. Students get experience with creating standard and customized reports from an actual database. Types of methods and tools include SAP Business objects, predictive analytics, query, and report designers. Successful decision-making requires both awareness of the external environment and deep insights into internal operations.
• MGT 5305 Data Warehousing and Data Queries
This course provides an overview of business intelligence and data warehousing and gives you a look at all the major facets of developing and using a data warehouse to make effective business decisions. Students will learn how a data warehouse fits into the overall strategy of a complex enterprise, how to develop data models useful for business intelligence, and how to combine data from disparate sources into a single database that comprises the core of your data warehouse.
• MGT 5460 Business Intelligence and Data Mining
Data in organizations is growing exponentially, doubling every 18-24 months. Structured data from traditional information systems are augmented by huge and rapid streams of data from social networks, web logs, machines, etc. Organizations need to mine the data in real-time for new insights and initiatives for competitive advantage. Students develop skills in data-driven decision-making. This course covers the fundamental concepts, business and technical knowledge, and the practical skills required of managing and mining data to support business decision-making and drive business value. This is achieved by covering a wide range of topics, including Business Intelligence, Data Mining, Text Mining, Web Mining, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and more. Various statistical and machine learning techniques for data mining are used to analyze large datasets. Software tools such as Excel, R, Weka, and Tableau are used for data analysis and visualization.
• MGT 5465 Artificial Intelligence in Business Applications
Billions of social media users, billions of websites, and trillions of devices generate extremely volatile and voluminous streams of data. It’s called Big Data because it can’t be handled with traditional data management tools such as Relational DMBS. Google developed a new set of tools to manage web-scale datasets and for generating real-time reports from such streams of data. Open-source implementations of those tools such as Hadoop and Mapreduce are used widely in the industry to manage Big Data. More recently, Apache Spark ecosystem of tools have become popular in integratively processing batch as well as streaming data. Artificial Intelligence systems such as Siri and Alexa are increasingly popular tools used to process this data and answer user questions in real-time. We focus on learning these cutting-edge technologies and how they can be deployed for business use.
• MGT 5952 Strategic Management for Sustainable Business
This course combines strategic management concepts, tools, and frameworks with sustainability innovation and includes leadership for sustainability. The course analyses mankind’s effect on the natural environment and the concept of natural capital. The stakeholder concept leads to the environmental and social requirements of sustainability. The course takes a lifecycle analysis perspective on the sustainability impacts of the business in the natural environment and society. It also includes an analysis of business risks and opportunities associated with sustainability, sustainability strategy models, and sustainability reporting. Students identify how businesses can compete by incorporating sustainability into their processes, products, policies, and public relations.
Sustainable Business courses
• MGT 5010 Organizational Change for Sustainability
Leadership means accomplishing through others. Implementing successful change in organizations requires process skills in facilitating the performance of individuals and teams. Developing coherence in the organization’s collective consciousness fosters frictionless flow of communication and implementation. Topics include change management skills; the life cycle of the consulting process; motivation for performance improvement; individual, interpersonal, and team behavior; negotiating collaborative solutions; organizational learning; and the role of training in strategy implementation.
• MGT 5165 Metrics for Sustainability
The new goal of sustainability requires new metrics for measuring and reporting its achievement. This course covers systems for disclosing information about sustainability and for certifying the sustainability of products, processes, and firms. Points of theory include the concept of materiality, the institutional context of a standard, philosophies of sustainability, and systems for measurement and evaluation. Systems for disclosure include the Global Reporting Initiative and SASB. Process metrics include the ISO 14001 environmental management standard and the SA8000 social standard. Corporate metrics include the UL 880 and GS-C1 standards for manufacturers, STARS for universities, B-Corp, and corporate rating systems such as the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, Global 100, FTSE4Good, and ASSET4 ESG. Greenhouse gas assessment is treated in depth. We look at life-cycle analysis from the perspective of a manager hiring an expert. Students taking the course for 4 credits complete a research paper or project.
• MGT 5310 Sustainable Technologies
Using an engineering-economic perspective, students explore the rapidly growing field of emerging technologies for renewable energy, energy efficiency, transportation, construction, and waste management. Students learn the units of measurement and basic terminology for process, capacity, efficiency, and constraints in these technologies. In the 4-credit version of this course, students apply financial analysis to do a feasibility study for technology implementation.
• MGT 5313 Socially and Environmentally Responsible Management
This course looks closely at the different aspects of sustainable business, focusing on examples in Iowa and their unique strengths and challenges. Students gain a practical understanding of CSR and sustainability strategy in a for-profit business setting – balancing financial capital (profit), human/social capital (people), and natural capital (the planet) for long-term success. Students receive a comprehensive set of tools for assessing the current state of an organization and planning a long-term approach to systematic change from all levels in the organization.
• MGT 5681 Socially Responsible Investing
Socially responsible investing screens companies according to their industry and operational practices, looking for the businesses that will be sustainable in the long run. This introductory course reviews the basics of investment analysis, examines the philosophy that money is colored by how it is earned and reviews the practices and performance of socially responsible investment funds.
• MGT 5781 Green Marketing
At the heart of sustainable business are customers who want sustainable products and value sustainable practices. This course explores the evolution of market segments in the sustainability arena, the range of “green” products and services, marketing research for radical product redesign, the role and use of eco-labels, marketing strategies for green products, and the current FTC rulings on environmental marketing claims.
• Sustainable and regenerative living courses
Leadership & Workplace Conflict Resolution courses
• MGT 5342 Human Resource Management
People are an organization’s most important asset. Success comes from organizing and managing people to produce the products and services that customers value. This survey course exposes students to the full array of human resource functions: human resource planning, recruitment and selection, training and development, performance evaluation, and compensation. Topics include the legal rights and responsibilities of employers, employees, and unionization.
• MGT 5820 Leadership and Management
We explore leadership principles in a disruptive digital environment, including leadership styles and management practices and learn how to apply leadership theories, concepts, and skills through self-assessment, value exploration, personal reflection, group feedback, and practice. Students learn how personal development and leadership styles integrate with organizational effectiveness.
• MGT 5821 Leadership and Teamwork
World-class leadership in organizations involves both knowledge about and skills in leading individuals and teams. In this course, students practice effective leadership behaviors, teamwork, and communication through writing emails and making PowerPoint presentations. They also discover leading-edge techniques in behavioral-based interviewing, managing employee performance, and creative employee recruitment techniques. Students are challenged by individual and small group projects, case studies, Harvard Business Review articles, field trips, and guest speakers.
• MGT 5828 Communication Skills for Managers
Communication skills are vital for every leader or manager. This course develops the skills of engaging with others, listening, managing emotions, problem-solving, and empowering yourself and others. These are skills used in the workplace and in every area of your life.
• MGT 5829 Culture and Conflict Resolution
Cultural differences are often the cause of conflict. In this course, students learn to appreciate personal differences that have national, religious, social, or cultural origins. By embracing inclusivity, we can create a harmonious and smoothly functioning work group. Students apply this knowledge in real case scenarios.
• MGT 5831 Negotiation in the Workplace
We all negotiate every day. Learn the skills needed to be a successful negotiator. Topics include Negotiation styles, tactics, defining objectives and planning strategy, gaining the perspective of the other party to find win/win” solutions. Students negotiate case scenarios with each other.
• MGT 5832 Mediation
Mediation is a tool to resolve conflict when negotiation and communication have broken down. Mediators provide a new perspective on a situation and facilitate an agreement between parties. Topics include structure and framework of mediation, tactics and strategy, and creative problem-solving. Students participate in several mock mediations.
• MGT 5834 Conflict Resolution in Teams
Teamwork is an important part of every organization. We examine conceptual models of team effectiveness to gain insight into the management, resolution, and prevention of conflict in work groups, with a special focus on leadership behaviors for conflict resolution.
• MGT 5836 Difficult People and Difficult Conversations
In this course, students develop and use their emotional intelligence to handle high conflict personality types and other difficult people. They practice difficult conversations with peers, subordinates, and supervisors. They perfect the art of giving and receiving feedback.
• FOR 423 Team Building and Performance
• MGT 5060 Advanced Topics in Conflict Resolution