Back to Work: the 540 professional consulting engagement

Queenstown - Lake Wakatipu

The holiday's over and it's time to get back to work.  You may have surmised from previous posts that our 2013 Phase One coursework has ended and our MBA 37 students are either completing Phase Two electives through an Int'l exchange (e.g., at Duke and UNC) or starting their 540 consulting engagement. Most students will enhance their marketability with both an Int'l exchange and project, but they have some flexibility about the timing of these endeavors.

It is my intention to allow future students to "peek inside the Otago MBA," so we (our students and I) plan to open up our discussion of current projects to you. You can listen in and direct questions to me. This format for discussion has two benefits for us: 1) I do not need to repeat explanations N times; and 2) our students can learn from each other. Students face the challenge of completing the 540 project away from Dunedin and separate from their MBA support network: something we can address here.  For you, our future students, this is what you need to know up front:

Preparation for the BUSI 540 project begins the moment the student walks through our front door.  The Otago MBA programme is designed as an integrated educational experience from orientation to 540 business project, with core courses introducing students to relevant academic disciplines, business analyses and quantitative methods; and professional development activities affording opportunities to clarify career ambitions, hone professional skills and build a network. 

The formal project process begins with a conversation between you and the Academic Leader (me) about your career ambitions: “What do you want to do with your career?” and “Where do you want to go?” 

We then work with you to identify a suitable client and project aligned with your career interests and with an appropriate intellectual challenge.

It is your responsibility to find a sponsor (your contact) in a corporate or nonprofit client (oftentimes with our assistance), gain an understanding of the client’s operation, and map a well-defined challenge this organization faces.

Please be aware, the client does not define the project. Clients are oftentimes confused (why they need our help), define the project in terms of a solution, and lack the ability to capture the work in an appropriate academic frame.

You will need to think through the challenge (i.e., a complex business problem), ask a lot of questions and push back on your client to steer the project in an appropriate direction. We (our MBA team and professional educators) assist in this process.

Most of our MBA 37 students have identified a client and are currently drafting a proposal for their project.  You should now have a suitable frame for grasping the conversations that will occur under a common title: The 540 Professional Consulting Engagement. 

 Cheers,

David