Course Requirements

This course provides the 21st Century foundation for business students who will need newly shaped perspectives, solid research and communication skills, positive ethical spirit, and new technological resources to work and make decisions in global economy. Through experimental learning, reflective observations, active conceptualization, hands-on research projects and multiple field trips, students learn the basics of business, the process of innovation and the role that business plays in society. Students are encouraged to develop their own innovative capacities, whether they want to start up a business of their own, augment the capabilities of a small business, step up to the myriad of non-profit challenges, or excel in corporate America. Students learn how to think systematically as business professionals, innovators and/or entrepreneurs. By first exploring the economics of business, in this country and beyond, students begin to recognize that all businesses are subject to ongoing trends, discoveries and breakthroughs that must be accommodated. Some represent threats; others opportunities. None can be ignored. Learning that the form of a business should follow the functions it must provide, students discover the range of options available to them as they contemplate career paths that may be of interest to them. Finally, students are provided with insight into each of the areas of functional expertise found in all organizations; i.e., finance and accounting, marketing and sales, customer support, operations, logistics, et. al. This course was formerly known as Innovations in Business. BUS 120 is the prerequisite for all business courses.

Financial Wellness is a practical approach to making informed and empowering decisions about financial health. Students explore values, feelings and knowledge related to money, acquire basic financial knowledge and apply this knowledge to short and long term financial decisions. Curriculum is customized to individual student learning, with four required modules and two elective modules.

BUS235 - Dynamics of Management: This course is an introduction to the basic functions and theories of management in the context of a dynamic environment. Emphasis is on the role of managers in making organizations effective and efficient, in part through developing an understanding of how to assess and capitalize on the changing internal and external environments, but most of all how to deal with the complexities of human behavior in the context of organizational management.


LOS315 - Organizational Behavior and Leadership: Leadership requires a balanced understanding of human behavior and applied managerial skill. In this course, you will be introduced to organizational studies and organizational behavior and understand the history of the field, as well as the critical role that theory and research play in the discipline. Topics include an examination of the characteristics of effective leadership and organizational power, different frameworks for leadership and leadership styles, building and managing high-performing diverse teams, managing a diverse and inclusive organization and supporting diverse employees, and effective and ethical managerial decision-making.

BUS300 - Organization Development and Change: Organizational Development and Change provides students with the opportunity to learn critical theory and application in the field of Organizational Behavior and Change and how to use that knowledge to improve organizational development to adapt quickly and effectively to change. Students apply proven methods to help organizations achieve goals and build capabilities to meet future challenges (Prerequisite: BUS235).


LOS430 - Leading Organizational Change: Those leading today’s business and not-for-profit organizations face unprecedented economic uncertainty, technical advances, speed of communication, and flexibility of human capital. These factors result in the need to manage change in order to prevent organizations from losing their organizational capacity and progress. This course is designed to help students understand frameworks for planning organizational change and the processes, tools and techniques to manage the people side of change to achieve a required business outcome. The course incorporates methods to identify, collect, assess, and deploy data to make decisions to effect change as well as manage potential resistance. Students will become proficient in evaluating various types of data and will learn some of the ways qualitative and quantitative data can be used to inform decision-making.

This course builds a bridge from students’ general education to the work they do in the field of business. With the aim of preparing students for both professional life and graduate work, this writing-intensive course introduces disciplinary strategies for preparing routine business correspondence, for investigating provocative issues, and for communicating to others about them. In this way, the course offers students time to learn and to practice more advanced skills in reading, writing, speaking, and listening; in using appropriate software support in presentations; and in mastering information literacy in the field of business. The course emphasizes fundamental principles of communication with time-on-task and real world, discipline-specific models for communication tasks (Prerequisites: ENG 114, ENG 134, and ENG 124).

BUS334 - Operations Management: The operational management skills you need to run a hospital are the same that you need to run a hotel, retail store, manufacturing facility or nonprofit organization. In this course you will learn skills that are transferable to various industries which will help you to improve productivity, increase responsiveness, provide more choice to the customer, and deliver higher quality standards. In short, you will learn how to analyze business processes and learn how to improve them.

LOS425 - Operations Management and Decision Making: Operations strategy in any organization is to understand and achieve consistent delivery of products and services to meet customer needs and the business’s overall plans. You will learn the concepts involved with operations management including an emphasis on the relationship between operations and other leadership functions and how business processes can be better managed and enhanced for greater efficiency This course emphasizes strategic and tactical decision-making, quantitative and qualitative analysis, project management, and the role of technology in leading and managing organizations. Students will consider services operations, process analysis, and quality management to translate conceptual learning to real-world situations.

BUS343 - Small Business Management: The Small Business Management course addresses issues unique to managing a small business. Using a hands-on approach to learning, students will apply both accounting and business principles to small business management. Students will navigate basic features in QuickBooks in order to develop a customer base, monitor sales and complete operational transactions via QuickBooks accounting software. As students monitor the financial status of a small business, they will be able to connect business decisions to financial information and outcomes.

LOS350 - Organizational Budgeting and Finance: This course is designed to give students an understanding of planning, budgeting, and finance within an organization or business. Managers are responsible for helping an organization understand its financial status, develop strategies to meet goals, and to help earn a profit. You will learn the language of accounting and finance, how to create an effective budget, analyze financial statements to ensure that an organization’s goals are being achieved, and make ethical decisions to maintain the financial health of an organization.

This course introduces the integration of communication skills essential for effective reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college level. In this writing intensive course, students develop composition skills to produce collegiate-level papers modeling rhetorical modes and thematic content in addition to strategies for reading complex texts; presentation skills for personal introductions, verbal summaries of readings and response writings, and peer review of papers; and basic technological skills for word processing, e-mail, and introductory-level online research.

In this course students will apply the practices for effective reading and writing introduced in ENG114 to the distinctive language and forms of various disciplines. This course lays the foundation for academic and professional research and stresses the use of appropriate and effective information sources. Readings for a variety of academic audiences will provide students with strategies to communicate in the sciences, business and technology, psychology, liberal studies, and the social sciences. Research and documentation skills appropriate to the disciplines are stressed. In addition to leading students through the research process from start to finish, this course will examine the many ramifications of academic honesty. (Prerequisite: ENG114)

Selected readings in fiction, poetry, and drama introduce the student to literary types and techniques. These readings provide a basis for collegiate-level discussion, analysis, and the development of critical judgment. Building on the communications and research skills from earlier courses in the sequence, this course emphasizes continued practice in writing, and students complete a documented research paper using primary and secondary sources as one of the course writing assignments. Discussions and oral presentations based on assigned literature support the overall goal of the sequence: to enhance the advancement of the students, first academically and then professionally. (Prerequisite: ENG114)

LOS325 - Leadership and Management in a Global World: Modern businesses are increasingly becoming globalized. It is critical for leaders and managers to understand the global context of business, world cultures and societies, economic interdependence of nations, and organizational decisions related to the global business. This course introduces major factors (economic, sociocultural, transnational management, strategic planning, human resources, marketing, finance and technological) in the global environment and examines the effects on organizational and managerial practices.

MBA520 - Organizational Behavior and Leadership: Organizational Behavior and Leadership The "individual" and employee-management relations are examined so the student can develop an understanding of interpersonal interactions and behavior within entrepreneurial businesses. Both theory and practical perspectives are used. Topics include: motivating and inspiring employees, leadership development, group and team dynamics, human resources systems, decision-making, conflict management, negotiation strategy, intercultural relations, communication in the workplace, innovation and entrepreneurial thinking, and managing change. Learning is reinforced through case studies and experiential exercises.

LOS400 - Ethical Leadership: This course introduces critical aspects of leadership including a focus on power, accountability and ethics. You will examine the legal and moral implications of decisions related to human resources, finances, operations and organizational development. An emphasis is placed on diverse human relationships and ethical dimensions of issues. You will think critically about leadership theories and apply lessons learned to develop your own philosophy and practices.

MBA500 - Introduction to Entrepreneurial Thinking: This course focuses on introducing the concepts of entrepreneurial thinking, innovation and diversity in the entrepreneurial experience. Entrepreneurial diversity is addressed from two perspectives, the types of entrepreneurial ventures and the demographic distinctions of people engaged in this experience. Demographic characteristics of age, gender, ethnic background, and disability are considered in terms of the potential for entrepreneurial and innovative approaches to employment and creative ventures. Topics such as entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurs, and incubation of entrepreneurial ventures will also be discussed. The course also serves as the foundation for the MBA program dealing with a variety of subjects including business and academic writing, effective teamwork, and exploration of personal entrepreneurial opportunities.

This is an introduction to the basic descriptive and inferential statistics for students from all disciplines. It emphasizes the development of statistical literacy and the use of computer for analyzing data. Topics include principles of experimental design; graphical and numerical methods for summarizing, describing, exploring and analyzing data; binomial and normal probability distributions; point and interval estimates for means and proportions; hypothesis testing; and correlation and regression (Pre-requisite: MAT104 or appropriate placement test score).

This course provides a basic foundation in psychology by introducing numerous psychological perspectives as explanations for human behavior and mental processes. Basic neurophysiology, consciousness, learning, personality theories, psychological disorders, and current interventions are discussed. This course is a prerequisite for all other psychology courses.

Women as Empowered Learners and Leaders is an interdisciplinary course, designed to give all students entering Bay Path University a common experience and foundation for their education. This course is an introduction to the University, to academic study, and to various approaches to thinking about personal potential, to understand the process of becoming a learner, and a leader, and composing a life, to appreciate beauty, and work actively toward establishing community and justice in the context of being a woman at the beginning of the 21st century.

(This course is graded Pass/Fail.) In their junior year before the opening of the spring semester, baccalaureate degree students will be offered a special opportunity to learn up-to-date information about the current work world in an intensive two-and-a-half-day workshop format. Students will meet successful professionals who will discuss the challenges and opportunities of their respective fields and help students prepare for interviews as well as learn how to navigate the early stages of their new careers.

By WEL400, you will be ready to blend all the skills you have learned during the WELL program—leadership, critical thinking, research, writing, analysis, and public presentation—with a community service project. Empathy, respect, and tolerance are the core human values that are stressed. It’s what every good leader needs to confidently show the way.