The Master of Arts in Management program has undergone a “complete overhaul,” according to Richard Weaver, Ph.D., lead faculty for the program, which is intended for people with non-business backgrounds who wish to function at greater capacity in a management role.
Dr. Weaver sought input from a number of his School of Business and Management (SOBM) colleagues and leaders in the business community to discuss program changes. The consensus was that the MA in Management curricula needed a stronger core of management courses, so five new courses were added.
“The courses we've put into the heart of the program include a fundamentals of management class; then we go into operations, project, service and performance management,” said Dr. Weaver. “Performance management has been taught in various forms at National University for years, but it has always been from a human resource perspective. The new course looks at the subject from a manager's standpoint, as someone who is responsible for outcomes.”
According to Dr. Weaver, management is getting work done through others. It is a topic that he knows something about. He has served in a management capacity for a variety of organizations, including a position as director of quality for Carlson Companies of Minneapolis, a $10 billion company which operates TGI Friday Restaurants, Radisson Hotels, among other entities. Dr. Weaver worked primarily with Carlson Motivation, which developed incentive programs for companies like Shell Oil and Chevrolet.
Part of Dr. Weaver's background is in business, and part is in psychology. His first master's was in counseling. He has taught industrial organizational psychology at UC Irvine, and has experience developing academic programs, including a Master of Arts in Executive Communication degree for Seaton Hall University. Dr. Weaver came to National University in 1997.
It has taken about two years to retool the MA in Management program, and the revisions were first introduced last year in the 2008 National University catalog. Dr. Weaver has had a chance to refine those courses, evaluate the curricula and fine tune the degree to help people to become more effective managers.
About a year and a half into the new curricula, there are approximately 50 students enrolled in the MA in Management program. It is currently the third-largest graduate program in SOBM. Dr. Weaver has observed that students are feeling more challenged and, that those completing the program are better prepared to succeed in their careers.
