Master of Business Administration

Program Overview

This MBA program equips students with leadership capabilities for senior management roles. It emphasizes critical thinking, evidence-based communication, and the integration of theory and practice to address complex organizational challenges in various contexts. Graduates are prepared for leadership positions in commercial, public sector, and not-for-profit organizations, with career advancement prospects in executive and strategic roles.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

This course may not be available to international students. Please see the list of distance courses (i.e. online and taken outside of Australia) that are offered to international students.

• Overview:
This course is an opportunity to develop a suite of capabilities to become a leader. It will prepare you for senior management roles with the capability to amplify opportunities that positively influence your organization. You’ll investigate, critique, and completely rethink traditional theories of business while exploring new forms of creative and collaborative leadership.
• Objectives:
Demonstrate self-evaluative managerial capability by reflecting on the impact of managerial behaviors and decision making about sustainable, ethical and socially responsible business practices. Critically evaluate business theory, practices and principles to support analysis of their efficacy, in uncertain organizational contexts. Communicate evidence-based arguments in both written and oral formats across diverse audiences to ensure mutual understanding and accuracy. Resolve complex organizational challenges in local, regional and global contexts by integrating critical analysis, managerial and leadership capability, and relevant theory. Conduct and communicate research into current or emerging topics relevant to organizations locally, regionally or globally.

Outline:

• Content:
The MBA offers a 200 credit point course of which 50 credit points can be drawn from specialization units. 150 credit points are taken from the Transition, Core and Research blocks and elective/specialization units account for 50 credit points. To achieve a specialized MBA students must take all four mandated units from within a specialization. Note: the Organizational Resilience specialization is not on offer in 2023. To achieve a non-specialized MBA students can select any four units from across the specialization units.
• Structure:
Transition units Specialisation or Specialist units Core units Research/project
• Modules with Module Descriptions:

Transition Units

MBA501Managing Contemporary Organisations: This unit offers an investigative insight into the fundamentals of management. Encompassing platform leadership and organisation theory, a brief history of management theory will be followed by investigations into different theories of organisations. MBA503Principles of Financial Management: This unit introduces students to the major concepts and analytical tools used in the theory and practice of financial management within an Australian context. It is designed to provide students with an understanding of: the scope and nature of the… MBA507Marketing in Society: Like all business operations, marketing is undergoing a transformation in response to complex and dynamic business environments. The evolution of marketing thought is progressing beyond a customer orientation, to adoption of an ecosystem perspective whereby marketing can be a driver… MBA583People, Work and Wellbeing: The effective management of human resources is becoming an increasingly vital concern in organizations, whether they are professional practices employing only a few staff, multinational corporations, public sector or not-for-profit organisations. The impact of globalisation, increased competition for talented employees,…

Specialization or Specialist Units

You may want to study a specialization or select a mix of units from each specialization. Note: the Organizational Resilience specialization is not on offer in 2023. MBA613Leading Capability Development in Organisations: The role of leaders and the function of leadership has been the focus of scrutiny for many years. It could be argued that this scrutiny has been amplified in recent times due the recent crises associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.… MBA614Leadership, Process and Capability: The development of organisational capability via formal and informal leadership is often diminished due to ineffective processes or misaligned culture. Leaders therefore must be cognisant of the how processual tools at their disposal can generate appropriate responses to internal and… MBA725Leadership and 'Place': Examination of the role and nature of leadership as a practice, as behaviour and as a suite of capabilities has been reignited in the wake of responses to the current COVID-19 pandemic. However, critique of leaders and the role they… MBA726Contemporary Issues in Organisational Leadership: No organisation operates in a vacuum. Developing an appreciation of global issues and the capacity to determine regional or local consequences for organisations is imperative for good leadership and appropriate management. Leaders, therefore, must be cognisant of contemporary issues that… MBA757Socially Responsible Investing: Investors and lenders have an important role with respect to sustainable development. Through directing their financial resources to socially and environmentally responsible investment options, investors and lenders have the power to make significant contribution to sustainable development. This applies to… MBA758Organisational Social Responsibilities: Organisations impact, and are impacted by, the societies in which they operate. That is, they are part of a broader social system. Society generally, and different groups of stakeholders specifically, expect an organisation to accept various responsibilities with respect to… MBA759Managing and Reporting Sustainability Related Performance: Organisations create various benefits and various costs for stakeholders. Some of these costs and benefits – which can be of a financial, social, or environmental nature - can be quantified in monetary terms while others cannot. Managers have a responsibility… MBA760Sustainability Related Governance and Assurance: Organisations will often have a vision and a mission which will in turn link to goals and objectives and related strategic planning. To enable an organisation to achieve is mission, objectives, and goals requires a well-designed, organisational-relevant governance system. An…

Core Units

MBA674Data and Business Decision Making: Managers need an understanding of statistics for five key reasons: To properly collect, present, describe and interpret information. To draw valid conclusions from incomplete data - typically about large populations based only on information obtained from samples. To obtain reliable… MBA684Economics for Leaders: The purpose of the unit is to build a relevant understanding of how a range of economic and ethical theories relate to management decisions. It will develop a core understanding of neoclassical economics but will not focus upon mathematical application… MBA701Leadership and Change Management: This unit is about understanding why and how leaders influence change. The focus of the unit is increasing the effectiveness of leadership and change management skills at an individual and organisation levels. Leadership and change management are increasingly seen to… MBA799Strategic Management: Strategic management today is a complex process requiring advanced skills. International expansion, network advantage, and resource optimisation pervade every aspect of this critical management skill. Successful managers need up-to-date guidance in the creation and implementation of effective strategy. This unit…

Research/Project:

MBA702Comparative Business Contexts: This unit is designed to offer students an immersive learning experience and to test assumptions about the operation of organisations in different contexts. Students are offered an opportunity to explore different social, cultural, and behavioural dimensions of business through site… MBA727Data Analysis and Research Methods: In this unit students will explore advanced issues connected with the research process in Business Management. You will be equipped with a sound knowledge of a systematic and ethical approach to practice-led, data driven research. The unit will encourage critical… MBA798Business Project: Aims at developing an appreciation of research methodology with particular reference to techniques and approaches of relevance to candidates. Completion of the unit will give candidates the opportunity to design and undertake a significant research study of substantial importance to…

Careers:

• Career Outcomes:
MBA graduates build on existing managerial experience in preparation for senior managerial and executive roles. Capabilities developed during this course are in demand locally, nationally, and globally. They are relevant across commercial, public sector, and not-for-profit organisations at very senior levels.
• Career Opportunities:
An MBA will give you the professional capabilities required to make ethical decisions that can enhance the experience of the workforce, better recognize community expectations, and positively influence the trajectory of your organization.
• Potential Outcomes:
Our graduates have excellent career advancement prospects. You'll accelerate your career from middle to senior leadership roles, including CEOs, executive and key strategist roles.