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Table of Contents
Whether or not to select the MP option requires serious consideration. Specifically,
students who desire to intellectually explore an applied management issue
and who are willing to spend sufficient time to find its solution(s) may
consider completing an MP. Students who want to address a significant industry
question by reading, thinking, testing, and evaluating methods for the solution
of that question may consider the MP. Students who decide to choose the
MP need to be sure they can allocate the time and energy required to be
successful.
Before deciding on a Management Project, ask yourself the following questions:
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Do I have two full semesters, not
including a summer, to dedicate to a Management
Project?
-
Am I in a research position, or
am I headed to a career in research?
-
Am
I strongly considering a doctoral program?
-
Do I have a topic that my employer will support by time, energy,
access to data, etc.?
-
Is my personal support system sufficient to meet with the demands
of the project so that I can be successful?
-
Does the topic I have in mind engage me intellectually? Will it sustain
me through the months of conceptualizing, data gathering, analyzing,
writing and rewriting that are needed?
- Do
I have strong writing skills and command
of APA style, and have the majority of
my course papers reflected that my classroom
faculty share those views?
If your answer to any of these questions is NO, then the Management Project may not be for you. In
addition, you should not consider completing
an MP on the basis of any of the following:
-
You believe that it will take “less time” than the
two-course option, or you feel that you will have more freedom to
work around your personal and professional schedule. -- The MP
requires a disciplined, sustained commitment of time and effort and
usually takes two semesters.
-
You do not like the selection of the breadth courses you must
choose from in order to complete the two-course end-of-program option.
--The breadth courses give you valuable new perspectives on your own
discipline.
- You believe that faculty perceive that completion of the two-course
end-of-program option is less scholarly than completing an MP.
--The MP is not a higher order of student work. It is an intense research
process consisting of iterative work that is guided by a faculty member.
The MP and two-course options are different processes but equally demanding
intellectually.
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