Students in the MBA Program have two options for their
culminating experience requirement: Comprehensive Exam or
Project. The majority of MBA students choose to take the
comprehensive exam. For more information on your options, read
the additional information below or contact MBA Program staff.
Comprehensive Exam Description (0 units)
Students are eligible to register for the comprehensive exam in
the term they are scheduled to complete their core courses. Most
students take the comprehensive exam in the term they register
for MGT 5900, the capstone course.
The comprehensive exam consists of seven questions, one question
for each core course in the MBA curriculum. Students will receive
two questions for each core course; they select one question to
answer. Students must pass five out of the seven questions to
pass the comprehensive exam. If students fail the exam, they are
eligible to retake the exam the next term when the comprehensive
exam is offered. Faculty that teach core courses provide the
questions, grade them, and provide feedback to students if they
fail the question. Students are strongly encouraged to keep all
course materials including books, assignments, syllabi, and other
information to use as study materials and guides for the
comprehensive exam.
The MBA Program will notify students of their eligibility for the
comprehensive exam, within the first three weeks of the start of
fall or spring term. There is a $75 fee to take the exam the
first time, and a $50 fee to take the exam subsequent time(s).
Fees are subject to change.
MBA Individual Project (3 units)
(ACC 5960, CIS 5960, FIN 5960, MKT 5960, MGT 5960, OM 5960)
The course 5960 is the graduate project for MBA students who have
completed core course requirements. The project is one of two
options of meeting the “culminating experience” requirement, the
other being the comprehensive examination. The COURSE 5960
replaces one elective (students complete two electives instead of
three electives). Note, if you have a concentration, you
must complete three electives in your concentration subject and
take the COURSE 5960 as an extra course to satisfy your
culminating experience. Students that choose to complete a
project will plan for the project, obtain committee members and
receive project approval one semester (term) prior to enrolling
in the course 5960.
The committee will consist of three-person committee, made up of
a faculty supervisor and two readers. The advisor must be a
full-time College of Business Administration faculty member at
Stanislaus State; they will be the instructor of record. Students
will have one term to complete their project. Their faculty
advisor provides feedback on content. In addition, students are
required to obtain a project editor and pay fees for the editor
(~$200), incorporate this feedback and obtain approval from
faculty supervisor.
An oral presentation to the project committee is required of all
persons defending completed projects, prior to project submission
to the Stanislaus State Library. You have the option of holding
an open presentation, open to all interested parties, or a closed
presentation with the three committee members.
The committee will approve the final project, and the student is
then responsible for submitting to the Stanislaus State Library
to publish online. The Library will advise if any additional
changes are needed, or if the project is final and published. It
is the student’s responsibility to meet submission deadlines, set
forth by the Library, for a timely project submission.
A project consists of original work that contributes new
knowledge to some area of business or organizational studies. The
nature of the project and the discipline of the faculty
supervisor generally determine the concentration under which the
project will be registered. Final written reports should consist
of documents of approximately 70-100 pages in length including
tables, exhibits, and appendixes.
Types of Projects Include:
1. A TOPIC INVESTIGATION
A topic investigation (or report) is based upon some special
business-related topic of interest or work-related project, like
a feasibility study or development plan. A topic investigation
can be based on a work-related program or project of interest or
it may be course-related, or it may be a topic of special
interest to you. One criterion of a topic investigation is that
it serves as some kind of model or “blueprint” for persons within
a similar organization or industry. The details of the project
should be worked out with a faculty supervisor. Prior to meeting
with a prospective faculty supervisor, however, you must develop
a project idea in outline format and be prepared to describe, in
some detail, just what you wish to investigate and what approach
you plan to take. Ultimately this approach will result in a
written document which includes: the project’s purpose, a brief
description, its significance, a description of the methodology
used to collect information, the nature of the findings to come
from the project, and recommendations based on the project’s
outcomes.
2. A CASE AND CASE ANALYSIS
A second project consists of both preparing and analyzing a
“case” related to some strategic issue that an organization is in
the process of dealing with or has recently faced. In the
preparation phase, you generally will be communicating with
individuals involved in the case situation, gathering all
available information pertinent to the issue or situation. The
information then needs to be sorted, organized, and written up in
an objective, case format that presents the material in a logical
format to a reader. (Refer to cases in “Business Policy” or other
case-oriented courses for examples of how cases are written).
Your written case would typically run around 30-40 pages
including tables and exhibits. If undertaking a case study, it is
important to keep all parts of the case objective and factual,
meaning there should be no opinions on your part entered into the
case. A case may report the opinions of persons involved in the
case where appropriate, that have been presented to you, the case
writer.
A separate “case analysis” section represents your analysis of
the case you have written, including a definition, in your words,
of the issue or issues at hand and, in the end, your
recommendations and supporting arguments of what action or
actions the decision makers in the organization should make. A
typical written case analysis would run about 25-35 pages plus
exhibits. If selecting this option, it is important that you
secure the approval of whoever makes significant organizational
decisions, that is whoever’s approval will be necessary for you
to gather the factual information you will need to develop the
case. Generally speaking, the chances of getting the approval are
increased if the decision-maker can be convinced that the results
of the case analysis will likely be beneficial to the
organization.
3. A RESEARCH PROJECT
Research projects typically examine the connections (or
correlations) between different factors (variables) in
cause-effect relationships. Or, they involve investigations of
human behavior in organizations. These types of projects can be
extensive undertakings particularly if one has to gather data for
such a project, be it qualitative data or quantitative data. A
more common practice for persons undertaking such projects is to
examine connections between factors upon which data has already
been gathered and is available in existing data bases.
4. OTHER PROJECTS
There may be other project options that project committees will
be open to approving and supervising. If you have something in
mind that you believe will contribute original knowledge to your
discipline or concentration, and that will meet written project
requirements, you are welcome to develop a proposal on your idea
and present it, in short outline form, to a prospective
supervisor.
Whichever option you pursue, you are encouraged to develop your
idea as thoroughly as possible, and have a written outline in
place that describes what you intend to do and your purpose in so
doing, prior to approaching a prospective faculty supervisor.
Faculty project supervisors are more likely to work with students
who develop projects that fit with that faculty member’s area of
interest or expertise.
The Project Proposal and Registration Process:
In order to initiate a project and get registered, you must first
develop a written project proposal. Students use a draft proposal
to recruit a College of Business Administration faculty member to
serve as their faculty advisor. The proposal and faculty advisor
recruitment must be completed one term prior to the term that you
will register for and enroll in BUS 5960 Individual Project.
Students are required to complete their project one month prior
to the end of the term, to allow time for approvals. The faculty
advisor is responsible for approving content, approves the final
draft, then the project is routed to a project editor for
feedback on formatting and grammar.
The project proposal may be developed independently by you or may
be jointly developed with a sponsoring faculty member who will
serve as advisor. Refer to the MBA Individual Project course
guidelines above regarding committee members required. The
proposal should include the following: 1. the proposed title. 2.
the background and purpose of study, and 3. a brief description
of the project itself: what it will entail and what the
three-person committee can expect to see at completion.
Once your proposal is complete, has been reviewed and accepted by
your faculty supervisor, and distributed to the committee
members, you can proceed with registration. Use the “special
registration form” to register for the exam. Please attach a copy
of the proposal to this form, write the names of the committee
members at the bottom of the form, and email to the MBA office
for processing. This form must be signed by the MBA Director and
the Dean before being submitted to the University for
Registration. The MBA department will keep a file copy of the
registration form and proposal. The course is registered under
the course number 5960 in whichever concentration the project
fits. Students must complete the IRB form under the guidance of
their faculty advisor. Upon receipt of IRB approval, student can
begin research and completing their project using the approved
template (found on the library website).
If the project extends beyond the semester in which it is
initially registered, you must register for the course BUS 7005 –
Continuing Thesis or Project (zero units) using the Special
Registration Form, and pay applicable fees, which allows you use
of the university facilities in completing the project.