Managing for Sustainability, Innovation, and Quality

Sustainability. Innovation. Quality. Three words you should know how to use in every job interview.

Chances are you either are now, or soon will be, employed in an organization that has incorporated these three core principles into its business strategy. Every successful company needs leaders who can understand and fully implement these concepts.This certificate prepares you to be part of that endeavor: to help lead sustainability, innovation, and quality in your organization and to manage the opportunities and challenges that result.

In the Certificate in Applied Business with a focus on Managing for Sustainability, Innovation, and Quality, you will take courses in these three areas--along with a course in leadership--and the elective option allows you to study either management in general or in the context of health care organizations.

You will learn:

• How managers stimulate innovation;
• Why companies invest in sustainable technology;
• How profits relate to improved quality;
• How “lean can be green” in both the environmental and fiscal sense;
• Why tomorrow’s business leaders are building their careers on these three concepts.

This certificate is intended as either a stand-alone credential or as a complement to a primary course of study. Adding the certificate to your studies—either at the beginning or later in your career—positions you to apply what you know to making the world better, improving your company’s profits, and creating a meaningful career.

Why formal management education?

• You’ll have an edge in job interviews and salary negotiations. Employers struggle to find recent graduates with formal knowledge on the cutting edge of management.
• You can earn more money. Numerous studies have shown a direct correlation between management competency and higher earnings.
• Job satisfaction. Knowing how to manage quality, sustainability, and innovation not only makes you more valuable to an organization, but also helps you get more out of your career.
• More career options. You will develop capabilities in management in addition to the expertise you already have (or are developing) in your own field.

Why the Certificate in Applied Business?

It’s focused, relevant, and fully online. The sheer size of many business curricula can require a multi-year, full-time commitment and may include course work not directly applicable to your goals. By limiting the certificate curriculum to only the essential 21st-century competencies required of today’s managers, the Certificate in Applied Business, Managing for Sustainability, Innovation, and Quality, is designed for maximum relevance at minimum cost.

Courses (15 credits)*

The Certificate in Applied Business, Managing for Sustainability, Innovation, and Quality comprises five online courses, each focusing on a core managerial competency. All courses are three credits and must be taken for a letter grade.

• ABus 4515 Strategy and Management for a Sustainable Future
• ABus 4151 Innovation for Leaders and Organizations
• ABus 3301 Introduction to Quality Management
• ABus 4041 Dynamics of Leadership
• ABus 4022 Management in Organizations or
• HSM 4561 Health Care Administration and Management

* You may request to substitute ABus 3xxx/4xxx and/or HSM 3xxx/4xxx management-related and/or business-related courses with adviser approval.