The workplace is becoming increasingly diverse, creating a need for a high level of cultural awareness among employees. This course focuses on ways of promoting mutual understanding in contemporary cross-cultural and international settings. Specific objectives are to examine ways in which people’s underlying assumptions differ between cultures and how a lack of awareness of this can negatively impact an organization. Emphasis is placed on comparing and contrasting cultural approaches to leading and motivating, collaborating in teams, and determining ethical goals.

This course introduces the methods and tools which help to systematically extract not only information but also insights from the data in various business functions, such as operations, supply chain, marketing, and finance. The course first covers the foundations of business analytics: decision making, definition and categories of business analytics, big data. Then the topics and theories related to the following three pillars of business analytics are discussed: 1) descriptive analytics: descriptive statistics, data visualization, statistical inference, 2) predictive analytics: regression, time series analysis, forecasting, data mining, spreadsheet modeling, and 3) prescriptive analytics: linear optimization, integer optimization, simulation, decision analysis. Students will get hands-on experience by ethically analyzing real world business data using a state-of-the-art business analytics software. The course puts an emphasis on how to effectively communicate findings with business managers and other interested parties.

Leadership is the process by which a person guides and influences others to engage in collective endeavors and achieve common goals. The goal of this course is twofold: 1.To support students as they develop general as well as self-knowledge and skill toward the development of their personal leadership plan, And 2. To educate students about ways in which they can optimize their personal performance as team players and enhance their effectiveness as team leaders. Students will assess their leadership characteristics and will analyze and reflect on their past and present leadership experiences. They will learn about the importance of ethics to the role of leadership and about forces that may influence ethical behavior in the organization. 

Then, they will articulate goal-oriented personal leadership vision and develop their personal leadership plan. Throughout the semester students will work in teams and will be receiving and giving personal feedback from and to their peers. This feedback will be incorporated in their self-evaluation and their personal plan. A before and after assessment will take place at the last meeting and students will present their leadership plan to the class.   

The course aims to provide students with an understanding of, and the ability to apply the tools and methodologies of contemporary finance theory. The course takes a practical perspective; it is theoretically robust but rooted in application. The course will look at the role of financial managers and the scope of their decision making. Financial decision-making takes place against the constraints of the global external environment, and so the course will look at these global factors and the impact that they have. In addition, the course will explore methods for evaluating and presenting decision making choices in an accessible manner. 

To effectively manage and operate a business, managers and leaders need to understand the market characteristics and economic environments they operate in. Managerial economics is the use of economic theory, mathematical and statistical techniques to examine how a firm can make optimal managerial decisions given the constraints it faces. Therefore, this course will build a solid understanding of the operation of markets, assess the macro and micro-economic environment. The course allows students to investigate examples of real-world events and develop an analytical framework to combine the power of theory and data to inform and enhance critical thinking, problem solving, and managerial decision making.   

Operations management is the design, operation, and improvement of the systems that create and deliver goods and services. Students will demonstrate mastery level knowledge of concepts and tools in fundamental areas of operations management, including process design and analysis, quality management, inventory management, demand forecasting, sales and operations planning, material requirements planning, lean production, and supply chain management. Students will also develop the ability to perform both quantitative and qualitative analysis of problems and issues in operations management as well as to analyze the ethical consequences of their decisions.

The project is an independent research work that aims to apply the knowledge and skills students have learned in the classroom to help a client during the Business Consulting Project. Students need to contact a client (in Bahrain or any other GCC country) and a supervisor and manage the whole relationship with them. The project topics may vary but they should involve a description of the real-life problem, review of the literature, and appropriately analyzing and modeling data to develop findings and recommendations.