WELCOME TO THE
MBA PROJECT Course BA 680
Spring 2007
Mohammad Oskoorouchi, Ph.D.
Recommended Text
Paul D. Leedy and Jeanne Ellis Ormrod,
“Practical Research: Planning and
Design”, 8th ed. New Jersey: Prentice
Hall, 2005.
Purpose and Description
• Purpose: To give students opportunity to apply the
knowledge gained in the MBA Program to an actual
problem or situation in a business or non-profit
organization.
• Description: The Masters Project is designed to be a
team effort. The project proposed must be of sufficient
breadth, depth and rigor to justify a graduate level
capstone experience. As a rough rule of thumb, each
student on the team should expect to devote
approximately 150 hours to the project (including in class
time). Only projects that are judged to be of sufficient
magnitude and rigor will be approved.
Evaluation:
• Written Proposal: 15%
• Proposal Presentation: 5%
• Written Report: 50%
• Final Presentation: 20%
• Attendance, etc.: 10%
Attendance:
• All students are expected to attend the scheduled
class meetings.
• It is during the scheduled class time that
your instructor will be available to advise
and consult.
• Your team should also utilize the class time
to work on your projects.
• You are allowed to miss up to two team meeting.
Other team members should show up and report on
the project progress
Formal Proposal: Feb. 3, 2007
• Written Proposal
• Review and follow guidelines in Chapter 6
of Leedy & Ormord
• Identify the MBA courses utilized
• Approximately 10 pages
• Submit two copies
• Oral presentation
• 10 – 15 minutes
• Professional Presentation
• Dress: Business Casual
For the next two weeks:
• Read Chapters 1 – 6 of Leedy & Ormord
• Pay particular attention to Chapters 3, 5 & 6.
• Define your problem
• Literature review
• Plan your project
• List specific steps taken to complete the
project
• Make a Gantt Chart.
• Write your proposal
Team work: Feb 10 – March 17
• Teams meet with me according to the schedule (see the course
syllabus).
• Important dates:
• Feb 10: proposal will be returned with comments
• March 10: no meeting
• March 24: draft due
• April 7: draft will be returned with comments
• April 21: final project due
• April 28: project presentation
• May 5: reflection and feedback.
Draft due: March 24
• Submit 2 copies
• Should be as complete as possible
• Use APA Style
• See
http://www.vanguard.edu/faculty/ddegelm
an/index.aspx?doc_id=796
• Follow recommendations in Chapter 12
of Leedy and Ormord
Work on final project: April 7 & 14
• Team meeting to work on final project
and presentation
Final projects due: April 21
• Two copies
• Bound or with Binder
• Edited
• Formatted in APA Style
Final presentations: April 28
• Professional Dress
• Well prepared
• Each team has 20 – 30 minutes
(including Q&A)
Feedback: May 5
At this final class session, the teams will
be expected to discuss their projects,
• what you would have done differently
• What I should have done differently
• the problems you encountered
• any pleasant surprises during the
experience.