“Effective design and assessment of an MBA degree program through benchmarking”

This study describes how Mount Olive College, a four-year liberal arts college in Eastern North Carolina, designed and successfully implemented an MBA degree program. This led to the establishment of a graduate school, change of status from college to university, and development and offering of additional graduate degree programs. The University of Mount Olive (UMO) started offering this MBA degree program in spring 2014. This online degree program has been offered in an accelerated one-year format and in a traditional two-year format. This program has been very successful and enrollment has continued to grow. As of fall 2017, the UMO MBA program was the 9 th largest MBA degree program in North Carolina. A two-year assurance of learning and outcomes assessment was recently completed and the results showed that the UMO MBA faculty has successfully aligned the course Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) with the MBA program goals and Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs). This assessment provided valuable insights that are presented in this study. The UMO has planned to soon offer a hybrid (face-to-face seated plus online) MBA degree program and a healthcare MBA degree program.


Pursuing responsible growth
This section presents the main reasons for developing and introducing an MBA degree program at the University of Mount Olive. The rationale for pursuing a feasibility study for a graduate degree program lies in the Mount Olive College's strategic plan that includes the following:  We will connect to our future with responsible growth and stewardship.  We will analyze our readiness for providing graduate programs.
The President of MOC formed a MOC Graduate Committee in spring 2011 to address these strategic objectives. There were seven team members including the college president and vice president of academic affairs. Three faculty members were from the School of Business, while the rest were from the School of Arts and Sciences.

A feasibility study for a graduate degree program
The strategic plan for Mount Olive College (MOC) called for evaluating the college's readiness for graduate programs. The newly formed MOC Graduate Committee held its first meeting on Monday April 4, 2011. This committee evaluated the feasibility and nature of introducing a graduate degree program. This committee designed four survey instruments that were administered and data were collected and analyzed. These surveys interviewed the employers, alumni, faculty, and students regarding offering a graduate degree program starting in fall 2013.
Some of the main points of the meetings and work accomplished by this team and presented to the Strategic Planning Committee are listed below:  The MOC Graduate Committee presented its findings to the Strategic Planning Committee on October 10, 2011.  The MOC Graduate Committee, recommended that the College should explore graduate programming.  The surveys showed strong support for creating a graduate level degree program in Business Administration.  Students, alumni, and faculty preferred courses offered in the evenings and online formats.  Students and alumni would seriously consider MOC for their graduate education, if available.  Faculty had concerns regarding the institution's ability to provide financial resources to offer graduate degree programs; to recruit and retain qualified graduate faculty; and accreditation with a graduate degree program.  Faculty, student, and alumni chose business administration as their first choice for a graduate degree at MOC.  Students and alumni identified financial, time, and work commitments as barriers to pursuing a graduate degree.  Employers preferred that the personnel take courses at hours that did not clash with normal working hours.  Conduct a competitor analysis of ACBSP graduate programs in business in North Carolina.  Select an existing campus location to introduce a graduate business program.

The timeline for seeking substantive change
The MOC Graduate Committee expressed a desire to submit an application to the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) to seek a substantive change to a level III institution (graduate degree granting) and also to submit a graduate degree program for their consideration by end of March 2012.

Informing COCSACS for intent to seek status change
The President sent a letter of notification to COCSACS for seeking substantive change in his forthcoming application in April 2013.

Competitive market analysis for benchmarking
The Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) provides accreditation to business schools and programs all over the world. Their findings also suggested that the logical MOC location to rollout such an MBA program would be at the main campus with online options, since there were a sufficient number of terminally degreed business faculty, facilities, and student support services to facilitate a successful launching.

MBA or MS in Business Administration
There was a discussion on selecting between Master of Business Administration degree with a general appeal to a large audience and a more focused Master of Science in Business Administration degree. After discussion and evaluation of various aspects, it was decided that an MBA degree should be offered that would have a larger appeal internationally than a MS degree. School of Business had been accredited by SACS and ACBSP. External program assessment was conducted when students took inbound/outbound exams at Peregrine Academic Services. This external assessment of academic programs measured student knowledge associated with the degree program's learning outcomes and was used for quality assurance, and external academic benchmarking and all exams were provided online.  The proposed MBA degree program included a plan for assessment of learning. Following an assessment framework suggested by AACSB and approved by ACBSP, this document described program-level learning goals and learning outcomes that were linked with various required courses in the degree program. In addition, an assessment plan of these program-level learning outcomes was described in terms of internal assessment through course-embedded rubrics and external assessment.  The various aspects and requirements for the proposed MBA degree program were adapted from the MBA degree program requirements at peer universities to fit the needs of our stakeholders. The proposed MBA degree program offered a practical and professional graduate business education that emphasized decision-making, communication, and leadership skills with a consideration for ethical and legal aspects of business. Relevant current business knowledge would be delivered through the use of case studies, simulations, and course projects.  The courses for the MBA program (Table 3) were brought before the Tillman School of Business faculty on January 12, 2012 and recommended to move on to the Curriculum Council. The courses were approved by the

Assessment of learning for institutional effectiveness
The University of Mount Olive uses the software Strategic Planning Online (SPOL) for institutional effectiveness reports. These reports link to the strategic plan, objectives, and assessments. A gap analysis is used to improve programs and services offered by the institution.  The University of Mount Olive uses the SPOL software to house budgets, assessments and annual reviews.  An interim assessment of learning for the MBA Program was completed in January 2016 to measure if course level student learning outcomes were meeting program objectives. The findings of this interim assessment of learning were affirmative and the University President shared these findings with SACS.
13. An interim assessment of MBA program learning objectives report to SACS The MBA program's first artifact assessment was conducted in January 2016. Based on these findings, an interim report was submitted to SACS. This assessment was required to comply with SACS Standard C.R. 2.5 (Institutional Effectiveness), which reads: The institution identifies expected outcomes, assesses the extent to which it achieves these outcomes, and provides evidence of improvement based on analysis of the results in each of the following areas: Educational programs, to include student learning outcomes.
[As part of the response, the report included a description of how the institution was monitoring the quality of the new program(s). The report summarized current procedures for the assessment of learning outcomes and achievement, and how results would be used to improve the new programs].

Assessment of learning and outcomes
This section describes assessment of learning through program assessment. For this purpose, assessment goals and outcomes are described and methods for assessment are indicated below. AACSB (2007) has identified the following five steps of assessment of learning: 1. Definition of student learning goals and objectives. 2. Alignment of curricula with the adopted goals. 3. Identification of instruments and measures to assess learning. 4. Collection, analyzing, and dissemination of assessment information. 5. Using assessment information for continuous improvement of the program curriculum including documentation that the assessment process is being carried out in a systematic, ongoing basis.
TSB followed the above steps for assessing student learning to develop our program goals, program learning outcomes, and course student learning outcomes (Sampson & Betters-Reed, 2008; Zocco, 2011). The principles of good practice for assessing student learning (Astin, et al., 2005) are summarized below: 1. The assessment of student learning begins with educational values. Assessment is not an end in itself but a vehicle for educational improvement. 2. Assessment is most effective when it reflects an understanding of learning as multidimensional, integrated, and revealed in performance over time. 3. Assessment works best when the programs it seeks to improve have clear, explicitly stated purposes. Assessment is a goal-oriented process.
4. Assessment requires attention not only to outcomes, but also and equally to the experiences that lead to those outcomes. 5. Assessment works best when it is ongoing, not episodic. Assessment is a process whose power is cumulative. 6. Assessment fosters wider improvement when representatives from across the educational community are involved. 7. Assessment makes a difference when it begins with issues of use and illuminates questions that people really care about. Assessment recognizes the value of information in the process of improvement. 8. Assessment is most likely to lead to improvement when it is part of a larger set of conditions that promote change. Assessment alone changes little. 9. Through assessment, educators meet responsibilities to students and to the public. Table 2 provides the MBA program's present mission, vision, and values. Table 3 lists the courses in the MBA degree program. Table 4 provides the MBA program learning goals, Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs), and their corresponding course-level Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs). A curriculum map, which was produced by the Curriculum Committee, was a vital part of this report due to its establishment of the Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs), which were later translated into more specific Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) in related courses. These outcomes were utilized as the foundation of this assessment. A total of 17 Program Learning Outcomes were established; 6 being assessed by an internal assessment, while the remaining 11 were assessed through an external assessment conducted by Peregrine Academic Services.

A two-year assessment of MBA degree program
The main findings of A Final Assessment Report on MBA Program Artifact Assessment (Felts, January 2016) are presented below:  The purpose of the assessment. The purpose of this assessment was to comply with SACS Standard C.R. 2.5 (Institutional Effectiveness), which requires an institution to identify expected outcomes, assess the extent to which it achieves these outcomes, and provide evidence of improvement based on analysis of the results.  Faculty assessors. The MBA program assessment involved five faculty members and 150 artifacts from ten MBA courses supplied to each member of the assessment committee prior to beginning their assessments of the artifacts.  Assessment process. During January 2016, five faculty members at the University's Tillman School of Business conducted an internal assessment of randomly selected artifacts that were taken from each of the ten courses offered in the MBA Program.  Supplying artifacts to MBA program director. The graduate program administrators selected artifacts at random from course assignments and supplied them to faculty assessors.  Assessment packets and instructions. The MBA program director provided each faculty assessor with a packet that included the following items: a copy of the artifacts, course syllabus, applicable course assignments and instructions, assignment assessment criteria, and the applicable assessment rubric.  Three program goals. The first two goals were assessed internally through 150 artifacts in ten courses, while the third goal was assessed through external assessment by Peregrine exams that provide national benchmarks for comparison of performance.  PLOs and SLOs artifacts instructions. The faculty assessors were provided with instructions for utilizing rubrics to assess artifacts and each PLO & SLO artifact was assessed by two different faculty assessors. After the packets were distributed, each faculty assessor was given instructions concerning how the assessment was to be conducted and their responsibilities related to the assessment and their subsequent individual reporting responsibilities. The findings were reported to the MBA program director within one week.

Recommendations from interim assessment
The MBA program assessment involved five faculty members and 150 artifacts from ten MBA courses. The results showed that the MBA program faculty had developed and implemented curriculum that had aligned course SLOs with the program goals and outcomes.
Some comments from faculty assessors are noted below: 1. Some of the assignments did not allow development of alternatives responses. 2. Some rubrics needed minor revisions for better evaluation. 3. Not all documents were consistent in terms of formatting and APA style.
4. Some students tended to put forth minimum effort in their writing. 5. Some teams occasionally lacked cohesiveness and evidence of all team members' participation in team assignments. 6. A central repository of program documents should be created. 7. The MBA faculty should review and update the curriculum map: Student Learning Outcomes. 8. The MBA program could be improved by insights from the core professional competences (external assessment) by Peregrine. 9. The Curriculum Map linking courses with SLOs was very helpful. 10. The assessment leaders provided useful insights into the accreditation criteria, assessment team selection, and the artifacts documents used for the assessment.
Some academic recommendations by assessment leaders are given below: 1. The faculty should be trained in rubric development and assessment of SLOs. 2. Each MBA course should be assessed annually for the appropriateness of its textbook, syllabus, its SLO's and their alignment with PLOs, artifact (assignment) for assessment of SLOs and rubrics.
Some administrative recommendations by assessment leaders are given below: 1. The University should have a model artifact assessment plan and a final report template. 2. Each school/department should have a "champion" who can guide others in assurance of learning and outcomes assessment process.

Submitting interim assessment of learning report to SACS
This interim report included findings, conclusions, and recommendations as a result of the assessment process and was submitted to SACS.
18. Planning to offer a hybrid MBA and a healthcare MBA degree programs The TSB had planned to offer a hybrid (face-toface seated plus online) MBA degree program in the near future to supplement its online MBA degree program. A healthcare MBA program was also being developed to serve the community's need for healthcare professionals.

Conclusion
This study has described the process that Mount Olive College, a four-year liberal arts college in Eastern North Carolina, utilized to successfully accomplish its strategic goals for growth and developing graduate degree programs. Its online MBA degree program is the 9th largest MBA program in North Carolina, and the University of Mount Olive has consistently risen in ranks by several publishers who rate academic institutions.

BUS 500 Business Essentials
This requisite orientation course prepares students for their MBA program of study. Students will become familiar with (a) the online learning environment, (b) tools, techniques and tips to succeed as an online learner, and (c) UMO policies and procedures as well as complete an individualized course of study designed to prepare each student for the rigors of MBA coursework. Students take an inbound assessment to appraise their proficiency along core business topic. Based on the results of the student's inbound assessment, each student's customized course of study will entail the completion of required standalone business modules and supplemental exercises. Each selfpaced online interactive educational module together with the supplemental material equips the student with the essential business knowledge of one core business topic.

ECO 600 Managerial Economics
Survey of microeconomic concepts applied to managerial decisions. Topics include consumer's decision making and managerial decision making; competition, market power, the firm, production, cost, estimation of demand using regression analysis, price elasticity, pricing practices, economics of information, and innovation.

MGT 640 Leadership and Organizational Behavior
This course explores historical and contemporary leadership and organizational behavior theories for organizational effectiveness and change processes that can be used to improve organizational performance.

ACC 610 Managerial Accounting
This course covers the use of an organization's accounting information for decision-making. Course topics include financial and managerial accounting concepts, data measurement, product costing, interpreting financial statements, cost-volume-profit relationships, budgeting, and accounting for planning and control.

FIN 640 Financial Markets and Corporate Strategies
This course examines how firms evaluate investment opportunities and identify the appropriate means of financing them. Specific topics covered include time value of money, cash management, cost of capital, capital budgeting decisions under certainty and uncertainty, capital structure theory and dividend policy, capital market theory, raising external capital, leasing policy, business valuation, options and managerial implications, derivatives, and risk management. Prerequisites: ECO 600, ACC 610.

MKT 640 Marketing Management
This course introduces the marketing perspective on strategy development, the elements of marketing analysis, and to the functional decision areas of the marketing manager including products and product lines, pricing policies, branding, promotion and advertising, and channels of distribution. Topics include customer behavior evaluation, value assessment, market segmentation, targeting, and positioning; how to gain and sustain competitive advantages, how to monitor marketing performance and customer satisfaction, and how to develop and implement marketing plans.

MIS 640 Technology for Managerial Decision Making
This course examines the roles and application of information technology in managerial decision-making. Topics include but are not limited to data warehousing, data mining, business performance management, text-and web mining, and decision theory, such as decision-making under uncertainty, risk, and data-based inferences.

BUS 640 Logistics & Operations Management
This course takes a strategic view of operations in both a manufacturing and service context and stresses linkages to other functional areas like finance and marketing. Topics include process design and analysis, cost structure, inventory management, supply chain, quality, project planning and control, operations, organizational structures, work design, scheduling, materials management, and advanced operations techniques.

BUS 620 Business Ethics
Analysis of ethical dilemmas and development of appropriate responses; relationship of ethical management and law; individual ethical decision making, implications for corporate social responsibility; managing shareholders vs. managing stakeholders; issues such as protection of the environment, workplace safety, product liability, regulation, and fiduciary obligations.

BUS 630 Business Law
This course explores the organization and theory of the American legal system and its relationship to business, including contracts, agency, tort and criminal law, and employment law. Intellectual property law, including patent, copyright, trade secrets and trademark law. International differences in intellectual property law and moves toward harmonization.

BUS 670 Strategic Management
This capstone course presents basic strategic concepts for application at both the corporate and business unit levels. Students will be able to forecast and evaluate the effects of major business decisions; assess the benefits and problems of integrating corporate and functional strategies; and to formulate approaches for managing strategic change. Students will be able to create and implement a sense of corporate direction; make choices about products and markets involving the integration of different functional areas; able to position a business to increase returns for shareholders and stakeholders; acquire the skills involved in identifying critical issues, evaluating various options, and developing and implementing business plans.