Information Video Script
Would you like to earn a graduate degree - while you work – that builds your managerial skills and increases your value to your organization?
Hello, I’m Alex Mironoff and I’m speaking to you from the main campus of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
I work with the Master of Science program in Operations Management -- a graduate management program in the department of Industrial Engineering.
While it operates out of the College of Engineering, Operations Management is not a technical program. It focuses instead on the effective management of work processes and people. And it’s open to qualified college graduates from any major.
The U of A main campus is one of several sites where we present live Operations Management classes several evenings a week.
But most of our courses are also available in video or internet formats, making this highly relevant program optimally convenient, for working students, managers, and professionals around the country.
For the next few minutes, I’ll be giving you a quick overview of the Operations Management Master’s Program to help you decide if it’s the right one for you.
1. The Master of Science in Operations Management has a 35-year history as a graduate program for working professionals. It’s the oldest program of its kind at the U of A, and with over 400 students currently enrolled, it is also the U of A’s largest graduate program.
2. Before we take a closer look at the program itself, let’s make sure it’s one that lines up with your goals
– Would you like to position yourself for entry into management - especially if your undergraduate degree wasn’t applicable to the business you’re in today? Do you want to open the door to better management jobs in virtually any type of organization?
– Are you seeking to qualify yourself for promotion to a management position and to increase your importance and value to your company?
– If already in management, would you like to enhance your skills and effectiveness in managing people and work processes?
– Do you want to obtain formal credentials as a professional in your field?
– Do you want to qualify for a higher salary as your value to your company increases?
– Would you like to gain a deeper knowledge of the theory and practice of management as a profession?
3. If you’ve answered “yes” to any of these questions… If you currently are or want to be in “management”… it’s important to consider the best way to get the skills and experience to qualify for the position and to do a good job in it once you have it.
Most managers begin their careers by being the expert or “go-to” person in their group. Someone notices that you know more, work harder, produce more than your peers; and suddenly you’re “management material.” But being expert at the technical content of a job doesn’t ensure that you have the quantitative, organizational, and people skills you’ll need to manage the function that you used to perform.
Without the right preparation, you may find yourself behind the curve, instead of ahead of it. Management is a distinct profession that has been studied for over a 100 years. It is a science unto itself.
There’s a lot to learn, but most managers end up having to play catch-up with the crucial and complex content of their new role. And they learn it in a number of less than ideal ways:
- On-the-job: One mistake at a time
- From their own manager or peers with management
experience
- From an occasional in-house or external seminar
You’d think there has to be a better way - not only to prepare yourself for a management job, but to grow in that role once you have it. There is…
4. Our Master’s Program in Operations Management…
...Provides hands-on content, “news you can use” – practical tools for managing people and business processes for optimal results
Pros: The program is taught by highly qualified graduate faculty, most of whom are also seasoned business professionals with years of on-the-job experience, so you get a “real-world” perspective on the subject matter.
Track Record: We have an excellent track record both in turning out graduates and in what happens to their careers afterward. With nearly 4000 graduates since 1974 and 400 students currently enrolled, ours is the largest Master’s Program at the U of A;
Schedule: The program is conducted in five 8-week terms per year. With 10 courses total, you can complete it in as little as a year.
Classes: This program is designed for the working professional (or working student). All live classes are taught evenings so as not to interfere with your job. Many web-based and video self-study options are also available.
Personalized: With over 50 faculty members, located at six program sites, we have a low student/teacher ratio. So you can get lots of face time with your professors.
Customizable: There are four required core courses; the other 6 are electives that can be combined to provide specialization in a variety of areas. Plus, up to two courses from other graduate programs at the U of A or other accredited schools can be transferred in to further customize your course of study.
Info: Because many of our students are managers from local companies you’ll get “real life” input on best practices in your class discussions. You’ll also get to know others who work in the field of Operations Management.
Tuition: Finally, at $240 per credit hour, the Operations Management Program offers the lowest tuition rate among all U of A graduate programs.
5. But what exactly is Operations Management and how does it differ from other business-oriented programs offered by the University? To answer this we’ll need to take a look at a typical company organization chart at the most general level. Basically, business organizations require the application of management methodologies and skills in several areas.
-Executive Mgmt. is charged with integrating all functions within an enterprise and guiding the organization safely and profitably in its interactions with the larger world of economic, political, regulatory and competitive forces – those external pressures that the enterprise must successfully contend with if it’s going to flourish.
--Marketing and Sales are typically responsible for securing an ever-increasing customer base and revenue stream for the enterprise
--While Financial and Accounting Management make sure that none of this revenue stream gets lost, by accurately tracking, allocating and managing income and expenses.
-- But virtually every other function and work process that must be managed in an enterprise comes under the heading of “Operations Management.” Not surprisingly then, the vast majority of management jobs available in any company turn out to be positions in Operations Management.
6. The Operations Management function is charged with organizing and overseeing the design, production and delivery of the goods and services that make up an organization’s primary outputs - whether these are cars or hamburgers; pc’s or packages delivered; consumer goods or consulting services. So whether you work for Toyota or McDonald’s; Dell Computer or FedEx; Wal-Mart or Coopers-Lybrand, you’ll find many opportunities to apply your skills as an operations manager.
And the need for these skills isn’t limited to your company’s primary outputs. Operations Management also plays a vital role in organizing and overseeing the many support functions critical to the smooth operation of all businesses: Human Resources, Safety, Facilities Maintenance, Procurement, and other support operations you'll find in any organization.
Whether applied to mainline business operations or to support functions, the principles and techniques of Operations Management have the same aim – that of optimizing work processes through the effective management of the work itself and of the people who perform it.
7. The Operations Manager’s Role can be divided into several areas, including:
-- Analyzing and optimizating Production Systems, Service Delivery Systems, and the jobs associated with these.
-- Managing Projects, People, Quality, and a variety of specific processes central to an organization’s success.
-- Developing strategies in vital areas, such as locating a business, laying out the workplace, and organizing work flow.
-- Anticipating the materials and resources needed to conduct business and projecting future capacity.
-- And of course, long and short-term scheduling.
8. Here’s a sample of the kinds of employment opportunities that you’ll find in the field of Operations Management. On any given day you’ll see many similar positions being offered in the Employment Section of your newspaper or on the web.
9. Now that we’ve covered some of the basics of the Operations Management function, it may be useful to review how our program differs from other management programs offered by the University
- Unlike an MBA, the Masters in Operations Management does not attempt to cover the entire ballpark of business (so subjects like entrepreneurship, high finance, and sales and marketing, are not heavily emphasized in our program.)
- Unlike more narrowly focused Masters’ programs, such as Master of Information Systems and Master of Accountancy, our program does not zero in on the management of only one technical discipline.
- Our program is geared to those whose current or desired profession is the management of an organization’s work processes, projects, and people – regardless of the specific nature of the business or the type of work process that needs to be managed.
- The methods and techniques you’ll be learning in our program are equally applicable to service organizations and to production environments. In addition, our concepts, strategies and tools can be applied to managing operations in non-business settings, such as non-profit service organizations, local and national government agencies, and the armed forces.
- With the flexibility of shaping your own program to suit your needs, you can also zero in on some specific management topics that you want to build expertise in
- And you can further customize your degree by transferring in up to two graduate courses from other departments at the U of A or other accredited schools.
- So if your undergraduate major didn’t prepare you for a role in management, here’s an opportunity to make yourself both more marketable and more expert in the essential management functions common to any enterprise.
- Finally, with 8-week accelerated terms that begin 5 times a year, you don’t have to wait months or years to enter this program, and you can complete your Master’s degree in as little as a year.
10. Within the Operations Management program, you’ll have over twenty practical management courses to select from.
These courses go into depth on a rich variety of useful management topics, such as those shown here. A complete listing with course descriptions can be found in our brochure.
11. In addition to obtaining a Master’s Degree in Operations Management…
...You can also earn a designation in one of these four focus areas by completing the core courses that comprise the certification area.
12. While our program has roots in the field of Industrial Engineering and is sponsored by the College of Engineering, the Master’s in Operations Management is not an Engineering degree and requires no special background in math. What we have taken from Industrial Engineering is its practical, applied perspective on management work. Our concepts, methods, tools and metrics will help you target the right work processes to measure and control, leading to significantly improved managerial performance and business results.
13. Because the Ops Mgmt Program is taught both at live program sites and remotely, distance learning options are many and varied.
In addition to live classes, there are well-developed video, on-line and independent study options, making it possible for you to complete the program without attending any live classes if you so choose.
14. Here is a sample of what our graduates have to say:
-- "The two things that I like about the Operations Management program at the University of Arkansas are the flexiblity of the classes and the quality of the classes. The flexibility allows me to get my Master's degree while balancing my military and civilian careers. The quality of the classes ensures that I'm getting an education that is going to help me further both of my careers.
-- "As a Human Resources professional I was looking for a graduate program that would give me knowledge in operations and manufacturing to better align HR services with the needs of the business. The Operations Management program gave me that knowledge, and was abl to apply on the job lessons learned from every class I had taken."
-- "The biggest advantage that I enjoyed from the Operations Management graduate program was the ability to couple a Business Management overview type of degree with my very technical undergraduat enginering degree."
15. This is a sample of the Fortune 500 companies, well-known regional enterprises, and branches of the military where our current students work.
16. The overall cost of the Master’s Program in Operations Management is the lowest among all U of A graduate programs and substantially below the cost of management programs offered by commercial schools.
- Total tuition is $7200 or $240 per semester hour for the 10 courses that make up the program. For distance courses only there is a $100 production fee per class. Additional fees are minimal.
- You may further lower your costs by transferring in up to 2 approved graduate courses with relevant content, taken at any accredited institution.
- And the program qualifies for full tuition reimbursement under most company plans.
17. In addition to an undergraduate degree, there are four course prerequisites for this program. We require one undergraduate course in each of the following areas - Applied Statistics, Business Law, Accounting, and Information Systems #
- Prerequisites can be met in a variety of ways: through submission of transcripts or course descriptions, by proficiency testing on a standard subject matter test, or by taking self-study or traditional classes in these subjects at any accredited college or jr. college. You can enter our program without completing your prerequisites, as long as you satisfy them by the time you begin your fifth class in the Operations Management graduate program.
18. If the Masters in Operations Management sounds like the kind of educational experience you are looking for to put your management career on the fast track, we invite you to take the following steps:
- Ask us for a complete information packet and application kit today. Submit the one-page application form to our office. Request an official transcript of undergraduate courses from each college you’ve attended.
- That’s all. And note that you will not have to take a Graduate School entrance exam like the GRE or GMAT -- as long as the grade point on your last 60 hours of undergraduate coursework was 3.0 or better.
So, if you’re a manager in any enterprise or a working professional aspiring to a position in management… If you have an undergraduate degree in any field and would like to master concepts, tools and techniques that build your skills as a manager, you may want to learn more about how this valuable program can help you attain your goals.