Earning a Master of Business Administration can be an excellent way to advance your career and open doors to new opportunities. But every MBA student must start somewhere. Completing a Bachelor of Science in Business Management can be step one on the road to achieving the MBA distinction.
When evaluating candidates, MBA admissions committees look for people who are hard workers, good learners, confident leaders, and effective communicators. These qualities come naturally for some people, but for others, it takes some effort and practice to build these skills. Working toward your bachelor’s of business management degree can help you hone these traits and prepare you to apply for an MBA program.
Develop leadership skills
Leadership skills are among the most important factors in business school admissions, according to U.S. News & World Report. They also tend to worry applicants. People may be concerned that what one person views as leadership may not resonate with the admissions committee. Additionally, some applicants wonder whether “leadership” is synonymous with “management experience” — and for someone just exiting the Bachelor of Science program with little full-time work experience, professional management experience may feel out of reach.
In reality, there are plenty of opportunities to develop your leadership skills outside the workplace. U.S. News & World Report recounted a story of a man who didn’t hold a management position but regularly participated in an annual charity bike race. He decided to organize the event one year and needed to coordinate vendors, recruit volunteers, and collect donations. In his business school application essay, he described his duties and the outcome: a 14 percent increase in funds raised during the event.
Students in the BS in Management program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham can develop leadership skills and techniques through several distinct courses:
MG 425: Managing Through Leadership
This course will give students a look into what leadership is and the theories surrounding this concept. Understanding the part leadership plays in teams, and the role it has taken throughout history, can help students develop their own leadership styles. Additionally, workshops and hands-on experiences will give students the ability to try out their leadership abilities and identify their strengths and weaknesses.
MG 417: Project Management
An important part of leadership is keeping teams on track for completing shared goals. This course will give students the knowledge and strategies they need to plan, schedule, budget, and evaluate projects and their progress toward an objective. The class will also cover which tools can help teams stay on task, as well as methods and techniques that project managers can use. It will also dive into how to handle a project where the goals, timeline, or other aspects are uncertain.
MG 302: Management Processes and Behavior
Sound decision-making skills are an essential aspect of effective leadership. This course will dive into how to make ethical decisions and explore key issues that arise in management positions today. The class will also look into motivation and job attitudes — important qualities in team members, and ones that good leaders can influence — as well as performance evaluations. Overall, there will be a heavy emphasis on civic responsibility and ethics as components of decision-making.
Learn communication skills
All good leaders should know how to effectively communicate with others, regardless of what type of industry they are in, whether it be business, political, educational, or others. In business environments, the people in charge need to understand how to communicate with their own teams, other departments within the company, other business leaders, and more.
There are many different types and styles of communication, and professionals should know how to identify when and how to use them. Students earning their BS in Business Management can gain a thorough understanding of the various forms of communication through their coursework and have a plethora of opportunities to sharpen their skills. A few of these courses include:
BUS 350: Business Communications
This important class will teach students the various styles and formats of communication they’ll be expected to understand in business. It’s a writing-intensive course that will review grammar and organization, as well as research methods and analysis. Further, it will teach students how to write a collaborative document. This can be a challenge to people who have never experienced this type of writing before and requires multiple communication skill sets, including how to effectively relay your message through your writing and how to ensure the whole team’s input is being considered.
MK 303: Basic Marketing
Communication doesn’t always occur between individuals or small teams; sometimes, it needs to happen between a company and its audience. That’s where marketing comes in. In this course, students can gain an understanding of what it takes to plan, distribute, and promote goods or services. It will also discuss how to fairly price items. Further, it will lay out key differences between marketing for domestic consumers and what considerations to take when expanding your message to an international audience.
BUS 450: Strategic Management Capstone Experience
This course, reserved for seniors in their final term, combines a wide range of knowledge students gather throughout their online business management program with the Collat School of Business, including accounting, economics, finance, information technology and systems, management, marketing, production policy, and decision-making. It also draws on many of the communications skills learned in the Business Communications course and others, requiring that students demonstrate an ability to write to a variety of audiences and identify which external sources to include. This is a writing-intensive course but also has a strong focus on ethical reasoning and decision-making, skills learned in the Management Processes and Behavior course.
BS in Business Management can benefit future MBA students
Gaining entry into an MBA program requires several key attributes, with communication and leadership skills among the most sought-after. Students can work to develop these traits when taking advantage of the lessons taught throughout the online Bachelor of Science in Management program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. To learn more, reach out to an enrollment advisor today.
Recommended Readings:
Top 5 Industries for MBA Graduates
The differences between an online and on-campus MBA
Sources:
U.S. News & World Report
UAB BS in Management Course Descriptions
UAB BS in Management