Management and Leadership (MA)

This program is offered by the George Herbert Walker School of Business and Technology. It is available online, at the St. Louis main campus, at select U.S.  campuses, and the Geneva campus. Please see the Campus Locations and Offerings section of this catalog for a list of campuses where this program is offered.

Program Description

Learning Outcomes

Graduates of management and leadership program will be able to:

• Demonstrate proficiency with group dynamics, collaboration, interpersonal relations and leading individuals, teams and organizations.
• Analyze and organize proficient solutions for complex business problems and demonstrate logical reasoning and idea generation for making effective business decisions.
• Demonstrate proficiency in the functional areas of business, such as finance, accounting, marketing operations and human resources, as well as the capacity to synthesize and apply this functional knowledge.
• Construct solutions to management problems using facts, concepts, principles and analytical techniques, quantitative skills and theories used in the study of management.

Program Curriculum

The 36 credit hours required for the Master of Arts (MA) in Management and Leadership must include the following courses:

In addition, the student chooses elective courses offered in this major and/or from the program curricula of other George Herbert Walker School of Business & Technology majors.

If the requisite course is waived, the student must choose an elective course from this major or from the program curriculum of another George Herbert Walker School of Business & Technology major. Students pursuing dual majors who have the requisite course(s) waived will complete only the remaining required courses for the dual majors.

Emphasis Options

Management and Leadership has 12 elective credit hours. Students can customize this generalist degree by using these hours to capture an emphasis. Seven (7) emphases are shown below, with their parent departments.

Cybersecurity (Computer & Information Sciences)

This emphasis is only available at Geneva. 

• CSSS 5000 Introduction to Cybersecurity (3 hours)
• CSSS 5120 Cybersecurity Infrastructures (3 hours)
• CSSS 5210 Cybersecurity Law and Policy (3 hours)
• CSSS 5220 Cybersecurity Threat Detection (3 hours)

Digital Marketing Management (Management)

39 Credit Hours Required

• MRKT 5000 Foundations of Marketing Strategic Thinking (3 hours)
• MRKT 5740 Management of Digital Marketing (3 hours)
• MRKT 5750 Management of Social Media (3 hours)
• MRKT 5790 Digital Marketing Strategy (3 hours)
• MRKT 5895 Marketing Analytics* (3 hours)

*BUSN 5760 or MRKT 5890 are prerequisite courses and must be taken prior to MRKT 5895.

Project Management (Business)

• BUSN 5100 Introduction to Project Management (3 hours)
• BUSN 5300 Project Procurement Management (3 hours)
• BUSN 5700 Advances in Project Management (3 hours)
  (prerequisites: BUSN 5100)

Students completing an emphasis in project management may qualify for a graduate certificate in project management, if available. To gain the certificate, students must pay a second graduation fee.

Dual Degree Option: MBA/MA in Management and Leadership

45 Credit Hours

Requirements for a dual degree with the MBA program generally include the required MBA courses (33 hours) and the required coursework in the additional degree program, except where noted below. If BUSN 5000 has been waived, the required hours are reduced by 3 credits and the BUSN 5000 course does not require a substitution.

Upon completion of all required credit hours, two separate diplomas are issued at the same time. The two degrees cannot be awarded separately or sequentially under this arrangement.

• MBA 5010 Value Creation (3 hours)
• MBA 5020 Quantitative Methods for the MBA (3 hours)
• MBA 5030 Market Analysis and Business Planning (3 hours)
• MBA 5200 The Financial Value of Capital Projects (3 hours)
• MBA 5300 Providing Value to Customers (3 hours)
• MBA 5400 The Supply Chain and Business Processes (3 hours)
• MBA 5500 Information Support for Decision Making (3 hours)
• MBA 5910 Cases in Value Creation (3 hours)
• MNGT 5000 Management (3 hours)
• MNGT 5590 Organizational Behavior* (3 hours)
• HRMG 5000 Managing Human Resources (3 hours)
• MNGT 5650 Management and Strategy (3 hours)
• MNGT 5670 Managerial Leadership (3 hours)
• HRDV 5630 Organization Development and Change (3 hours)
• MNGT 6000 Integrated Studies in Management (3 hours)

*MNGT 5590 may substitute for MBA 5100.

Students lacking a prior ACBSP (or equivalent) accredited degree must take BUSN 5000 Business (3) as a program prerequisite

Admission

See the Admission section of this catalog for general admission requirements. Students interested in applying must submit their application online at www.webster.edu/apply. Transcripts should be sent from your institution electronically to transcripts@webster.edu. If this service is not available, send transcripts to:

Office of Admission
Webster University
470 E. Lockwood Ave.
St. Louis, MO 63119 

Additional Requirements

Applicants to the management and leadership (MA) must have completed a business or business-related undergraduate degree meeting the following criteria:

• University/college is regionally accredited
• The business school must have a business-related accreditation (e.g. AACSB, ACBSP, IACBE, etc.)

Applicants who do not meet these qualifications must do one of the following:

• Successfully complete BUSN 5000.
  • Note: BUSN 5000 will count as an elective in the program. This option is only available for students who are required to take BUSN 5000.
• Complete all of the following undergraduate courses (or their equivalents) with a grade of C- or better (17 credit hours total, not including individual course prerequisites:
  • MNGT 2100 Management Theory and Practices
  • ACCT 2010 Financial Accounting
  • BUSN 2750 Introduction to Statistics
  • ECON 2000 Survey of Economics
  • MNGT 2500 Marketing
  • BUSN 3500 Business and Global Issues
  • BUSN 4500 Ethical Issues in Business

Advancement to Candidacy

Students are admitted to their graduate program upon completion of all admission requirements. Students are advanced to candidacy status after successfully completing 12 credit hours with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. In specialized programs, courses required as prerequisites to the program do not count toward the 12 credit hours required for advancement.