Master of Science in Management (MSM) – Integrated Business

The Integrated Business track in the Master of Science in Management (MSM/IB) provides students who have a recent, non-business undergraduate degree and limited professional work experience with an introduction to critical, in-demand business processes and helps them develop a wide range of transferable skills that employers value highly. Skills learned in this degree program are applicable across industries and organizations whether they be large or small, for-profit or nonprofit.

This is a full-time, lock-step, one-year program offered on the main campus.

The 30-credit hour, a 10-course curriculum introduces students to business operations from a managerial perspective and to a variety of important business processes that are useful across industries and job titles, including data analysis, human resources management, project management, and sales. In addition, a wide variety of important transferable skills are emphasized, including conflict resolution, critical thinking, data-driven decision making, ethics, leadership, negotiation, oral presentation, teamwork, and written communication. The fully face-to-face program uses a unique flipped-classroom design, which involves providing access to students to online course materials prior to in-class meetings during which students engage in team-based active learning that requires integrating the activities with course materials in practical ways. In this pedagogical model, the instructor serves as a facilitator, consultant, coach, and mentor to the team, rather than a talking head who lectures at the front of the room. The program is designed for recent graduates from non-business disciplines who wish to enter into a professional business career but who do not feel workplace ready. The program culminates in a business strategy class coupled with either an internship or a team-based applied field project.

Highlights:

• A 12-month, full-time program
• 12-hour course load in each of the first two semesters, 6-hour load in the third (final) semester.
• Offered at UCF's main campus
• Cohort (lock-step) program
• Each class meets once per week
• No work experience requirement

Total Credit Hours Required: 30 Credit Hours Minimum beyond the Bachelor's Degree

Track Prerequisites

A Bachelor's degree in a non-business discipline from an accredited institution.

Degree Requirements

Required Courses

• Earn at least 30 credits from the following:
  • GEB6037 - Business Foundations and Career Development (3)
  • ENT6418 - Small Business Accounting and Finance (3)
  • GEB6895 - Business Intelligence (3)
  • MAN6245 - Organizational Behavior and Development (3)
  • MAN6305 - Human Resources Management (3)
  • MAN6448 - Conflict Resolution and Negotiation (3)
  • MAN6581 - Project Management (3)
  • MAN6721 - Applied Strategy and Business Policy (3)
  • MAR6416 - Sales and Marketing Strategies (3)
  • MAN6915 - Applied Field Project (3 - 6)

Grand Total Credits: 30

Application Requirements

Financial Information

Graduate students may receive financial assistance through fellowships, assistantships, tuition support, or loans. For more information, see the College of Graduate Studies Funding website, which describes the types of financial assistance available at UCF and provides general guidance in planning your graduate finances. The Financial Information section of the Graduate Catalog is another key resource.

Fellowship Information

Fellowships are awarded to highly qualified students based on academic merit. They are paid to students through the Office of Student Financial Assistance, based on instructions provided by the College of Graduate Studies. Fellowships are given to support a student's graduate study and do not have a work obligation. For more information, see UCF Graduate Fellowships, which includes descriptions of university fellowships and what students should do to be considered for a fellowship.

Timeline

First Semester

• GEB 6037 – Business Foundations and Career Development. 3 credit hours. Students will study the concepts, principles, and operations of private enterprise. They will be introduced to the essential functions of modern business management, including marketing, finance, accounting, operations, economics, and human resource management. They will learn how to identify the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs, also known as competencies) associated with success in various job titles and how to map their interests and past educational, work, and life experiences to those KSAs.
• GEB 6895 – Business Intelligence. 3 credit hours. Provides an introduction to a critical thinking process designed to solve business problems that incorporate careful data analysis and persuasive writing.
• MAN 6425 – Organizational Behavior. 3 credit hours. Students learn to analyze human behavior in organizations in terms of the individual, small group, and intergroup relationships, and the total organization.
• MAR 6416 – Sales and Marketing Strategies. 3 credit hours. Students will study strategic issues faced by firms when they seek to market and sell their goods and services. The course will cover the basic principles of marketing. Students will also be introduced to the sales process, in business-to-business (B2B) markets.

Second Semester

• ENT 6418 – Small Business Accounting and Finance. 3 credit hours. Students will learn concepts of accrual accounting, the contents and uses of financial statements and how they relate to one another, ratio analysis, business structure and valuation, time value of money, cash flow management and budgeting, forecasting, funding courses for various types of businesses, the cost of capital, and capital budgeting.
• MAN 6305 – Human Resources Management. 3 credit hours. Students learn to contribute to the development and implementation of human resource policies and practices. Legal issues and relationships with other business functions are emphasized.
• MAN 6448 – Conflict Resolution and Negotiation. 3 credit hours. The student will come to recognize the pervasiveness and importance of negotiation and acquire a repertoire of negotiating skills. They will develop a systematic and positive approach to negotiating with colleagues, bosses, clients, other stakeholders, and external groups of all kinds—in ways that equip them to deal also with all kinds of conditions and circumstances.
• MAN 6581 – Project Management. 3 credit hours. Students will be introduced to key project management skills and strategies with a focus on methods needed to initiate and manage projects efficiently and effectively. They will study the project management life cycle, defining project parameters, matrix management challenges, effective project management tools and techniques, and the role of a project manager.

Third Semester

• MAN 6915 – Applied Field Project. 3 credit hours.
• MAN 6721 – Applied Strategy and Business Policy. 3 credit hours.

Capstone Course

The Master of Science in Management/Integrated Business (MSM/IB) capstone course, MAN 6915 - Applied Field Project, is required for all MSM/IB students. This capstone course applies concepts, theories and methods learned earlier in the program to organizational problems in business settings.

With the permission of the program director, during the third (final) semester in the program a student may substitute a professional internship of no less than 192 hours for MAN 6915 Applied Field Project.