Program Codes:
BABUHRM
Bachelor of Arts
Introduction
The curriculum of the Business Department within the Walker College of Business is designed to prepare students for management positions in business and industry, with federal, state and municipal agencies performing business functions, to become entrepreneurs, and to prepare students for graduate and professional schools. Mercyhurst University, through its business department, has the following degree programs accredited by the International Accreditation Council for Business Education:
Curriculum in the business majors is designed to develop the “whole person” through a liberal-arts course of study; develop communication skills, both oral and written; offer a broad base of business courses for general understanding of the world of business with specialized study in a functional area of business; provide analytic and decision-making tools; and provide students with off-campus work experience (internship), where theory from coursework is put into practice.
Minor Programs
The Business department offers seven minor programs for interested students: Accounting, Business Administration, Economics, Human Resource Management, Management, Marketing. and Risk Management. The minor program in Business Administration is intended for non-Business majors only. Requirements for each minor are listed on the associated major page.
Business Administration Minor (For Non-Business Majors only)
Required coursework:
ACCT 101 Principles of Accounting I
ACCT 102 Principles of Accounting II
BADM 310 Business Law I
ECON 105 Macroeconomics
ECON 106 Microeconomics
FIN 280 Financial Management
MGMT 120 Principles of Management
MKTG 162 Principles of Marketing
No minor course may be taken on a pass-fail basis, and students must earn a minimum GPA of 2.75 in the required business courses to meet minor program requirements. Students who fail to earn a grade of "C" or better in a required business course must repeat the course. Only two courses from a major may be used to satisfy minor requirements.
Mission Statement
The mission of the Business Department is to prepare students for leadership roles on the national and international level, to become the entrepreneurs of the future, and to continue their education in graduate and professional schools. With its collegial and supportive culture, the department embraces a rigorous and collaborative approach to learning that inspires informed judgment, decisive action and a global, enterprise perspective. Graduates will embrace Mercyhurst’s core values of respect and tolerance for people and their ideas, and dignity in the treatment of all workers.
Business graduates are expected to demonstrate:
Business Majors:
The business majors require the successful completion of 39 credits of common business core courses. These core courses are designed to provide an exposure to fundamental business functions.
Students who select more than one major, or who select a major and minor or minors within business, may take only two overlapping courses. In the case of dual majors within business, an exception is made only for the business core. This policy establishes the uniqueness of each intellectual discipline and assures the intellectual integrity of dual majors and minors.
No course taken as part of the business core or part of a business major (or minor) requirement may be taken on a pass/fail basis. Additionally, students who earn less than a “C” in these courses must repeat them (See Repeat Courses section).
GPA Requirements and Reviews
All students (including transfer students) in the business department must maintain a minimum business and overall GPA of 2.75. Failure to meet these GPA requirements at the time of graduation will result in the student earning a degree of either BA in Business Studies or BA in General Studies, depending upon his/her GPA.
Repeat Courses
Students who fail to earn a grade of C or better in any business program requirement must repeat the course. If the student does not receive a C (or better) after repeating the course, the student will not be permitted to re-take the course resulting in the inability to earn a major or minor in the field of study.
Human resource management includes a variety of activities, and key among them are determining staffing needs, recruiting and training the best employees, ensuring that employees are motivated and high-performing, handling performance issues, and ensuring that management practices conform to various government regulations. Activities of the human resource management practitioner also include managing employee benefits and compensation, employee records, and personnel and privacy policies. Students who graduate with a major in human resource management will be able to provide their skills, knowledge and understanding of human resource functions to organizations in the for-profit, non-profit, and public sectors of the economy. Through the proper selection of coursework, the student can prepare for the certification examinations offered by the Society of Human Resource Management. Mercyhurst’s HR major is aligned with the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and is one of SHRM’s recommended colleges for upholding SHRM’s education standards.
BUSINESS MAJOR CORE COURSES:
This course introduces the basics of financial accounting for business enterprises with a focus on accounting for corporations. Topics include the theory of the financial accounting principles that guide the preparation of financial accounting information and the role of accounting in capital markets as well as the ethical standards imposed on accountants. The course provides a thorough review of the accounting cycle and the operating areas of the balance sheet with special focus on how accounting transactions affect the financial statements and analysis of financial statement information.
This course presents accounting information used for internal business management. The focus of the course is using accounting information to better aid in the planning, controlling and evaluation of company performance. Topics include budgeting, job costing, product pricing, break-even analysis and decision models.
ACCT 101
A survey of the legal principles found in transactions typified in today's business world. Emphasis is placed on the case study method along with real-world examples. Topics covered include: alternative dispute resolution, structure of the court system, contracts, sales, property law, insurance law, and corporate ethics.
This course introduces the field of business analytics, commonly defined as the extensive use of data, statistical and quantitative analysis, exploratory and predictive models, and fact-based management to drive decisions and actions. Business analytics is a process of transforming data into actions through analysis and insights in the context of organizational decision making and problem solving. As such, business analytics is applied in operations, marketing, finance, and strategic planning among other functions. Students actively participate in the delivery of this course through case and project presentations. Offered Fall and Spring Semesters Prerequisites: STAT135, Junior/Senior Standing.
A capstone course which emphasizes business problem solving based on accounting, finance, management and marketing principles. Students will complete and present a case study project.
Managerial Economics focuses on the application of economic theory to managerial decision-making. It applies statistical and quantitative tools and the methodological approaches commonly used by economists to business decisions such as demand estimation, product pricing, profit maximizing level of output, resource management in the short and long run, market analysis, risk analysis and strategic competition. In this course, topics will be presented through the use of case studies that establish a situation in which managers must make key decisions about a firm and its products. Microeconomic principles such as supply and demand, elasticity, short-run and long-run shifts in resource allocation, diminishing returns, economies of scale, and pricing are applied in the analysis. Junior or Senior Standing
ECON-106 and MATH-109 or STAT-135
Application of statistical techniques to business problems. Includes descriptive statistics, business forecasting, statistical inference, and regression. Computer software is used in this course. The goal is to introduce students to a new way of thinking about data, and to help them gain an understanding of how to use, communicate, and interpret statistics in a variety of business contexts. Offered fall and spring semesters.
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT MAJOR REQUIREMENTS:
The second course of study in the legal series. Strongly recommended for all business majors; required in some states for the CPA exam. The case study method and real-world examples are used to cover the following topics: agency and employment law, types of business entities, negotiable instruments, bankruptcy, securities law, antitrust laws and environmental regulation. Not offered every year.
BADM-310
This course examines reward policies, programs and practices over such matters as base-pay, employee benefits and incentives in private and public organizations. This course will provide a theoretical and practical overview of salary administration, job evaluation, compensation, legal requirements, and benefit designs (including medical, life, retirement, and flexible benefits). Emphasis on the role of compensation and benefits in attracting, retaining and motivating employees will also be covered.
RECOMMENDED ELECTIVES
A general introduction to the science of behavior and mental processes. Topics considered include learning, memory, perception, motivation, personality, psychopathology and social interaction.
This course introduces students to the discipline of sociology-the scientific study of human behavior as shaped by collective forces and self-reflections. The primary aim of this course is to enhance students' ability to interpret and evaluate the social and cultural influences around us. To achieve this aim, the course compares and contrasts sociological theoretical paradigms, as well as discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the qualitative and quantitative research methodologies.
This course applies psychological concepts and methods to problems of personnel management, employee motivation and productivity, supervisory leadership, and organizational development.
Human Resource Management Minor Requirements
HRMG 206 Human Resource Management - 3 credits
HRMG 300 Compensation and Benefits - 3 credits
HRMG 316 Labor and Management Relations - 3 credits
HRMG 340 Recruitment and Selection - 3 credits
HRMG 345 Training and Development - 3 credits
MGMT 120 Principles of Management - 3 credits
Choose one (1) additional course:
BADM 310 Business Law I - 3 credits
BADM 325 Business Law II - 3 credits
MGMT 226 Human Behavior in Organizations - 3 credits
HRMG 475 Human Resource Management Internship - 3 credits
PSYC 294 Industrial Organizational Psychology - 3 credits