Course Descriptions
Doctor of Business Administration
DBA 7100
Organizational Strategy
3 credits
Organizations must continually adapt strategy to compete in high-uncertainty global environments. This course examines strategic management from an international perspective, including planning, strategy formulation, implementation, and performance evaluation. Students apply contemporary strategy frameworks to global cases and to a self-selected strategic issue in their organization, profession, or industry, using decision framing, risk–tradeoff analysis, and execution planning to evaluate options and develop implementable recommendations. Ethical implications are integrated throughout, including stakeholder impact, compliance expectations, sustainability tradeoffs, and governance responsibilities. Emphasis is placed on evidence-based analysis and clear written and oral communication for executive audiences.
Prerequisite(s): LDR 7000 and DBA 7505
DBA 7200
Advanced Organizational Behavior
3 credits
The focus of this course is the theoretical and practical implications of organizational behavior, as addressed from a social science perspective. It stresses how being a consumer of organizational research can help the manager with everyday problems and help the researcher to answer organizational behavior questions. Upon completion of the course, the student will have mastered the concepts of the field, such as diversity in the workplace, perception and attribution processes, motivation and individual differences in organizations, group dynamics and decision-making, teamwork, leadership, and quality improvement programs.
Prerequisite(s): LDR 7000
DBA 7310
Executive Decision-Making
3 credits
Building on decision intelligence and analytic insight, this course develops decision quality for strategic issues where ambiguity and uncertainty are high. Students learn to structure complex decisions, clarify objectives and decision criteria, generate meaningful alternatives, and evaluate tradeoffs with balanced judgment. Using quantitative tools such as decision trees, sensitivity analysis, and simulation—along with relevant decision-support technologies, students strengthen their ability to estimate uncertainty, assess risk, and determine when additional information is worth pursuing. By the end of the course, students will be able to defend a decision recommendation with a clear rationale that earns stakeholder support despite competing objectives and bias.
Prerequisite(s): LDR 7000 and DBA 7510
DBA 7400
Executive Finance
3 credits
This doctoral-level seminar strengthens financial and managerial accounting judgment for evidence-informed strategic decision-making. Students apply core corporate finance and performance measurement concepts to real organizational choices, including investment prioritization, capital structure decisions, growth planning, and working-capital optimization. Emphasis is placed on interpreting financial statements and ratios, building and stress-testing valuation models, and evaluating risk under uncertainty using scenario analysis and decision-focused evidence. The course also examines how emerging technologies (analytics and AI-enabled tools), governance expectations, and sustainability/ESG pressures are reshaping financial strategy and resource allocation in both business and public-sector environments.
Prerequisite(s): LDR 7000
DBA 7505
Strategic Problem Framing
3 credits
This course prepares students to apply evidence-informed thinking to real organizational challenges. Students learn to frame a practice-based issue, opportunity, or problem using a PICOC approach—Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome, and Context. Students will locate and evaluate evidence from key practice-relevant sources (organizational information, stakeholder perspectives, and scholar and practitioner literature) and identify what evidence is still needed to support sound decisions.
Throughout the course, students consider how emerging technologies (e.g., analytics, AI-enabled tools, automation, digital platforms) may shape the problem context, expand solution options, and introduce new constraints and risks. The course emphasizes clear framing, disciplined evaluation of evidence quality, and development of a practical evidence plan that builds momentum toward a consultancy project or traditional dissertation.
DBA 7510
Business Intelligence
3 credits
This course integrates and applies key concepts of business intelligence and critical thinking from an executive management perspective. Students learn how to leverage data and systems to develop and evaluate strategic alternates, make better informed decisions, and effectively manage business. A critical thinking process which can help managers ''ask the right questions'' is explained and applied to a business intelligence project. The course includes the uses and users of business intelligence, as well as the type of applications and tools that may be deployed to help students better understand the power of business intelligence in making better-informed decisions that rely on data, analysis, and systematic reasoning, in order to avoid poor business decisions based on culture, assumptions and biases.
Prerequisite(s): LDR 7000 and DBA 7505
DBA 7800
Global & Ethical Management Models
3 credits
This course examines global management with ethics as a central decision lens. Students analyze the drivers and consequences of globalization, assess national differences in political, economic, legal, and cultural systems, and evaluate how multinational enterprises compete and operate across borders. Throughout the course, students apply responsible management principles to real global decision, assessing stakeholder impact, compliance expectations, human rights and labor considerations, sustainability tradeoffs, and professional accountability in multinational contexts. Using cases and global management frameworks, students synthesize evidence, weigh ethical tensions alongside strategic objectives, and develop recommendations that are both competitive and defensible. By the end of the course, students will be able to apply an ethical decision approach to justify global recommendations and anticipate stakeholder consequences. The course culminates in a comprehensive proposal that integrates global analysis, research-based reasoning, and ethically grounded managerial judgment.
Prerequisite(s): LDR 7000 and DBA 7505
DBA 7810
Global Leadership and Digital Transformation
3 credits
This course explores how global leaders can use AI and emerging technologies for strategic transformation in multinational environments. It emphasizes ethical, culturally aware, and inclusive leadership to guide cross-border teams, manage regional complexities, and drive innovation. Students will integrate digital platforms with human-centric leadership to influence organizational design and decision-making. They will also develop research questions linking global leadership challenges with technological solutions. A key component is a simulation exercise where students lead virtual global teams to solve complex problems, involving AI-driven decision-making, cross-cultural communication, and crisis management, using an interactive online platform with real-time feedback and a reflective journal. Prerequisite(s): LDR 7100 and DBA 7600
DBA 7820
Emerging Technologies for Global Decision Making
3 credits
Building on the foundation established in DBA7810, this course examines how multinational companies navigate global challenges and make strategic decisions. Students will explore frameworks for decision-making, stakeholder engagement, ethical considerations, and inclusive leadership, emphasizing critical thinking to evaluate global opportunities and risks while fostering human-centric leadership. The course prepares students to identify business challenges and formulate research questions for future dissertation work. A key component is the development of a Cross-Cultural Effectiveness Dashboard, which tracks and visualizes metrics related to multicultural team performance and collaboration, including CQ scores, communication effectiveness, project metrics, stakeholder engagement, conflict resolution, cultural competency training, team bonding, and performance reviews. This dashboard helps organizations improve cross-cultural collaboration in global decision-making contexts.
Prerequisite(s): LDR 7100, DBA 7600, and DBA 7810
DBA 7900
Advanced Marketing Seminar
3 credits
This seminar is designed to strengthen critical thinking skills and ability to plan strategic marketing approaches in the broad sense of engaging with a variety of stakeholders to co-create value. Students will explore and critique cutting edge stakeholder engagement theories as presented in recent scholarly articles as well as marketing trend predictions from practitioner experts. They will develop strategies for co-creating value with stakeholders in their employers’ economic, political, and technological spheres.
Prerequisite(s): LDR 7000
DBA 7950
AI in Leadership
3 credits
This course aims to equip doctoral students with the knowledge and skills necessary to lead in an AI-driven world, balancing the innovative potential of AI with the ethical and practical challenges it presents. This course explores AI risks and benefits, impacts and opportunities, internal and external influences on AI leadership and governance needs, and practical steps to govern effectively.
The course will enhance students’ understanding of:
- practical, real-world AI use cases augmenting the organization’s capabilities and employee job roles
- approaches to organizational AI governance practices that harness AI opportunities while simultaneously managing the risks
- AI risk assessments and how to establish proportionate risk mitigations and controls to protect your operations, brand, and stakeholders
- assumptions and bias that lead to unintended impacts on worker well-being and workplace culture
- near-term and long-term regulatory implications of AI governance and the need to agile teams and reliable change management practices
DBA 7960
AI-Powered Decision for Business Leaders
3 credits
This course builds on the ethical, strategic, and operational foundations developed in DBA7950 to help doctoral students become effective decision-makers in AI-augmented business environments. Through a mix of case analysis, simulations, and decision-modeling frameworks, students will explore how AI tools can enhance executive judgment, scenario forecasting, and stakeholder-centered strategy development. Students will explore how to optimize decision quality by crafting effective AI prompts, interpreting model outputs, and integrating human oversight to address ethical risks, bias, and explainability.Prerequisite(s): DBA 7950
DBA 7970
Executive Seminar: Analytics for Strategic Change
3 credits
This course enables doctoral students to integrate and apply knowledge gained from DBA7950 and DBA7960 to solve strategic business challenges using advanced analytics and digital transformation frameworks. Students will work individually or in teams to develop actionable, data-driven solutions aligned with real-world organizational goals. Emphasis is placed on strategic insight, ethical decision-making, and effective executive communication. The final deliverable is a comprehensive solution (e.g., report, solution framework, or executive briefing) that demonstrates mastery of both theory and applied practice in the context of digital innovation.
Prerequisite(s): DBA 7960
DBA 8000
Seminar on Research in Management
3 credits
The transition from doctoral course work to a successful dissertation effort is often difficult and requires the student have a strong start on the dissertation journey. This course provides students the opportunity to appropriately critique theirs and their colleagues' dissertation topic, refine their research questions and/or hypotheses, and choose the best methodologies for conducting their research. Students will exchange ideas and approaches with their dissertation committee, faculty and other students to assist with the initiation, research and successful completion of a scholarly dissertation. Students should complete the course with a completed research proposal that has been approved by their dissertation committee.
Prerequisite(s): RES 7106, RES 7107, RES 7111, RES 7112, LDR 7000, LDR 7100, DBA 7100, DBA 7310, DBA 7400, DBA 7510, DBA 7800 and DBA 7200
DBA 9000
DBA Research
3 credits
The DBA dissertation or culminating project requires a minimum of 9 semester credit hours for completion. This process involves extensive work by the student with advisement from a faculty member. A dissertation or project proposal must be completed and be reviewed and approved by the student’s culminating project committee before the student moves on to collect data in the area of the research topic. Once the dissertation or project is complete, the student will present the results before the culminating project committee and other colleagues. Students who have not completed their work at the conclusion of DBA 9002 will register for DBA 9004 on a continuing basis in order to receive academic advisement and to remain in good standing in the program
Prerequisite(s): DBA 8000
DBA 9001
DBA Research
3 credits
The DBA dissertation or culminating project requires a minimum of 9 semester credit hours for completion. This process involves extensive work by the student with advisement from a faculty member. A dissertation or project proposal must be completed and be reviewed and approved by the student’s culminating project committee before the student moves on to collect data in the area of the research topic. Once the dissertation or project is complete, the student will present the results before the culminating project committee and other colleagues. Students who have not completed their work at the conclusion of DBA 9002 will register for DBA 9004 on a continuing basis in order to receive academic advisement and to remain in good standing in the program
Prerequisite(s): DBA 9000
DBA 9002
DBA Research
3 credits
The DBA dissertation or culminating project requires a minimum of 9 semester credit hours for completion. This process involves extensive work by the student with advisement from a faculty member. A dissertation or project proposal must be completed and be reviewed and approved by the student’s culminating project committee before the student moves on to collect data in the area of the research topic. Once the dissertation or project is complete, the student will present the results before the culminating project committee and other colleagues. Students who have not completed their work at the conclusion of DBA 9002 will register for DBA 9004 on a continuing basis in order to receive academic advisement and to remain in good standing in the program
Prerequisite(s): Successful completion of all DBA common core courses and program core courses.
DBA 9004
DBA Research
0 credits
The DBA dissertation or culminating project requires a minimum of 9 semester credit hours for completion. This process involves extensive work by the student with advisement from a faculty member. A dissertation or project proposal must be completed and be reviewed and approved by the student’s culminating project committee before the student moves on to collect data in the area of the research topic. Once the dissertation or project is complete, the student will present the results before the culminating project committee and other colleagues. Students who have not completed their work at the conclusion of DBA 9002 will register for DBA 9004 on a continuing basis in order to receive academic advisement and to remain in good standing in the program
Prerequisite(s): Successful completion of all DBA common core courses and program core courses.