Master of Business Administration (MBA)
1. ADMISSION INFORMATION
Thank you for choosing Divine Word University to offer you a world class Masters of Business Administration program. The DWU MBA program is a program of the Faculty of Business and Informatics offered in a collaborative partnership with Macquarie Graduate School of Management of Macquarie University Sydney Australia. Divine Word University is renowned for the high standards of its graduates. To maintain these standards, the following entry requirements for entry to the MBA program are set in place:
| Course | Direct entry | Exit point |
| Master of Business Administration | 1. A bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) from a recognised university and 5 years or more of relevant work experience; OR 2. A bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) from a recognised university with a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.3 out of 4 and 2 years or more of relevant work experience. |
Postgraduate Diploma with options defined as follows:
Postgraduate Certificate in Management |
In order to register for the MBA program, the applicant needs to provide:
The application package needs to be submitted to the Assistant Registrar at the Divine Word University campus in Port Moresby. Please note: incomplete or unpaid applications will not be processed. |
Calculating your GPA: Grade Points High Distinction 4 Distinction 3 Credit 2.5 Upper pass 2 Pass 1 Fail 0 To calculate GPA, add up the total number of grade points earned, multiply the result by 10 and divide by the total number of credit points attempted. |
Intake date
For the 2011 intake, the application period opens on 14 July 2010 and closes 29 October 2010.
Successful candidates will be informed in December 2010. Candidates are only eligible to attend classes after having paid for three units in advance.
2. DELIVERY
The units are taught in a 'block' mode. Blocks consist of two weekend periods of fulltime face-to-face lectures followed by 3 – 4 weeks of assignments and exam preparation. The face-to-face lectures will be offered from Friday to Sunday with 20 contact hours per weekend. Each unit will be offered once only in a single year. For units in which a final exam is prescribed, the final exam will be held on the third or fourth Saturday following the end of lectures. The MBA coordinator and assistant registrar maintain open communication with lecturers and students as well as the Dean of the Faculty and University Registrar to provide the best teaching and learning support for the program.
| Weekend 1 | ||
| Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| 8.00am - 12 noon; 1.00pm - 5pm | 8.00am - 12 noon; 1.00pm – 5.00pm | 8.00am – 12 noon |
| Weekend 2 | ||
| Friday | Saturday | Sunday |
| 8.00am -12 noon; 1.00pm - 5pm | 8.00am - 12 noon; 1.00pm – 5.00pm | 8.00am – 12 noon |
| Total : 40 hours | ||
Commencement date
Each year is divided into two semesters. A student is expected to take three units per semester. Each unit is delivered over two weekends. Students may commence the program at the start date of any unit except MB614 for which MB611 is a pre-requisite. A student who wishes to take more than three units per semester is advised to discuss their plan with the MBA coordinator and obtain approval of the Dean of the Faculty. All 12 units must be completed in order to qualify for the award of MBA. Exit points serve to facilitate an individual’s unavoidable circumstance.
3. PROGRAM UNITS
MBA PROGRAM SCHEDULE |
||
Semester |
Unit |
Credit points |
Year 1 |
||
1 |
MB616 Business Ethics | 10 |
| MB612 Information & Decision Analysis | 10 | |
| MB613 Marketing Management | 10 | |
2 |
MB611 Accounting for Management | 10 |
| MB615 Organisational Behaviour | 10 | |
| MB614 Financial Management | 10 | |
Year 2 |
||
1 |
MB617 Business Law | 10 |
| MB618 Business Economics | 10 | |
| MB619 Human Resource Management | 10 | |
2 |
MB622 Management Information Systems | 10 |
| MB620 Cross Cultural Management | 10 | |
| MB621 Strategic Management | 10 | |
4. UNIT DESCRIPTIONS
Accounting for Management - MB611
An introduction is provided to Financial Accounting, Management Accounting and the analysis of the Financial Accounting statements: the Profit and Loss Statement, the Balance Sheet, and the Statement of Cash Flows. This unit aims to equip managers with the ability to analyse and interpret financial data, and use their knowledge for projecting and assessing the performance of companies and business units. The unit covers financial accounting and the construction of key financial statements, the analysis and interpretation of financial statements, and the use and application of basic management accounting. Accounting based data is found at every level of each organisation. It represents a vital input into a wide range of day-to-day and strategic decisions.
Information and Decision Analysis – MB612
This unit introduces a number of quantitative techniques and models of analysis applicable in any decision-making situation. The range of techniques and models includes statistical analysis techniques and mathematical models. Students develop competencies in articulating a situation that requires a decision to be taken by identifying the parameters involved and defining its mathematical equivalent in the form of a system model. Before a system model can be solved, it will require data input. Students develop competencies in statistical methods of data collection, organisation and analysis as well as interpretation and reporting of the findings from the analysis. The relationship between the data input to a model and information output from the model and how these connect to the decision-making situation under consideration form the core of the unit. Teamwork is a significant factor in the development of the required competencies and students will be required to demonstrate this in the project work that will be carried out in teams of 5 – 6 members.
Marketing Management – MB613
Marketing as a business discipline involves amongst other things an understanding of the choices of the 'products' and 'markets' within which the firm will operate. Consequently, marketing performs a critical function in the management of modern organisations and in shaping their strategic directions and ultimate profitability. In this sense, "marketing" means more that the popular traditional "managerial" concerns of advertising and personal selling. Furthermore, in recent years, there has developed a growing awareness of the importance of marketing in emerging "non-traditional" areas such as the service, public and non-profit sectors. The influence of new technology, particularly information technology and the Internet is also a potentially important “driver of change” in marketing. These themes, and others, will be explored during the unit.
The unit is designed to give a broad overview of the field of marketing. It is intended to provide students with a working knowledge of the various aspects, functions, tools and terminology used by marketers and marketing related stakeholders.
Financial Management – MB614
The fundamentals of financial management are introduced from the perspective of the finance manager in a firm, namely those making investment, financing and dividend decisions. Finance theory is applied with the aim of providing a coherent framework and insights to assist in forming reasoned judgements. Topics include financial decision making – capital budgeting and investment evaluation, valuation of assets, projects and businesses, risk and return, an overview of the local debt and equity markets, capital structure decisions, management of equity and financial risk management. Case studies and financial planning models are used to provide context. The unit covers methods used in evaluating investment projects, and an introduction is given to the local debt and equity markets.
Organisational Behaviour - MB615
This unit will provide an overview of organizational behaviour theory, within the context of the external and organizational forces that impact on management. As well the course introduces students to the practical application of organizational theory in managing human resources. Through individual reading of the text, students will learn the theoretical basis of managing people in organizations; through in-class case analysis, experiential exercises and self-assessments, students will have the opportunity to identify and use the skills required to apply theoretical concepts. Key topics will include individual factors, such as personality and perception; organizational processes, such as performance practices, communication, conflict and negotiation management; and contextual issues, such organizational culture and change. Having the knowledge and skills how to design and change organizations is more critical today than it has been in the past.
Business Ethics – MB616
The unit explores ethics and philosophy of human acts as foundations of management thought and action. In today’s business many CEOs need to know what the signs are that an organization is getting it right and addressing the most important dimensions of managing ethics, creating ethical culture and an ethical organization. This unit is designed to assist students to think ethically. Making good business decisions requires a trained sensitivity to ethical issues and a practiced method for exploring the ethical aspects of a decision and weighing the considerations that should impact on the choice of a course of action in any organization. Having a method for ethical decision-making in any organization is absolutely essential in today’s business world. This unit will assist students to create a framework for ethical decision making as a useful process for exploring ethical dilemmas and identifying ethical courses of action in PNG’s complex culturally diverse context. This unit will examine theories of what an ethical community, an ethical business, an ethical government, or an ethical society should be. It will make inquires into different levels of humans acting ethically as individuals, creating ethical culture and organizations or governments, and making PNG society as a whole ethical in the way it does business and treats everyone.
Business Law - MB617
This unit covers principles or requirements of business law that will guide a person who serves in a leadership or managerial role to make decisions that will better serve the interest of his/her organisation. Knowing those principles or requirements of PNG business law will enable a decision maker to better manage law related risks in a commercial or public enterprise. The basic principles or requirements of PNG business law include: contract law, company law, trust arrangements, banking law, land related law, tax (including stamp duty) and statutory certifications and approvals. Related topics such as basic anatomy of a commercial transaction and issues involved in transacting with the State and its agencies and instrumentalities will also be covered.
Business Economics - MB618
The unit covers all of the major principles of economics but its focus throughout is firmly on applying these economic principles to the real world of business. Demand, supply, elasticity, opportsubjecty costs, comparative advantage, marginal cost and cost-benefit analysis and how economic forces are transmitted, especially across borders (forex markets, share markets, property and bond markets etc.); aggregate demand and supply analysis, using basic Keynesian cross, and IS LM models to understand the forces shaping the direction an economy will move in; getting and interpreting current economic statistics; understanding policy issues and the options for dealing with them by, for example, fiscal and monetary tools; and building and using scenarios of the economy for strategic and tactical management purposes at a firm level.
Human Resource Management – MB619
Human Resource Management (HRM) explores the policies, practices and processes that are used to manage people in the workplace. It focuses on the way HRM can contribute to increased competitive advantage and to improved short-term performance outcomes, longer-term sustainability outcomes and to legal compliance outcomes. The unit explores the impact of the changing context in which organisations operate on the way work is organised and managed. It examines a variety of theoretical approaches to managing people and develops in detail the strategic approach to human resource management. Policies involved in attracting and retaining people, improving employee performance, motivating and rewarding job performance and fostering learning and development are examined. Three of the themes running through the unit are that there are things that can be done to improve the way people are managed; that policies and practices need to be consistent; and that the process of policy implementation could result in practice being different to the intention of the policy.
Cross Cultural Management – MB620
The objective of this unit is to equip students with the knowledge and skills which are necessary for them to interact effectively with members of cultures other than their own, specifically in the context of international business relations. Essentially the unit is concerned with considering the issues and problems of managing in different cultures, in particular, the 'people problems’ that invariably arise in international business relationships.
Strategic Management – MB621
This unit deals with the foundations of the firm's competitive strategy. It covers a range of strategic management issues including industry analysis, strategy based on internal capabilities, business-level competitive strategy and strategy implementation. In the 21st Century the traditional ways of measuring an organisation's value are continuing to change. Value used to be measured predominantly by revenue, profit, P/E multiples and assets. In the new century an organisation's value is increasingly (and in many cases solely) measured by the strength of its brand, the quality of relationships with suppliers, the quality of relationships with customers, its alliances (web and non-web) and, crucially, its marketing, business unit and corporate strategies.
There are few “universal solutions” in the field of strategic management. What we have are different perspectives and lenses which can help in analysing situations, forming judgements, developing sensitivities to issues, and in laying bets that may have above average chances of success. The unit is designed to expose the student to some of the competing perspectives on strategic management and to challenge the candidate to define and develop his/her own approach for dealing with complex problems in the context of high uncertainty, inadequate power and poor information. The focus of the unit is on competition and the formulation and implementation of competitive strategy.
Management Information Systems – MB622
The unit Management Information Systems focuses on the introduction and use of modern information technology for optimising organisational performance. The participants will explore the role of information technology in organisations, the infrastructure that is used for the implementation of management information systems, the types of systems that are identified in organisations and how information technology can change organisations. The unit will also explore the ethical and social dimension that is related to the use of modern technology, its benefits, but also its risks. The unit take a practical angle. During the lectures a case study will be developed and a requirements document will be produced. Participants will be confronted as decision-makers with the question whether the organisation will benefit from the use of Information Technology, how the need of the organistion is assessed and transformed in a management information systems requirements document.
MBA Application for Admission (DOC)
