Business Administration — Operations Management Concentration, BA

Department of Decision Sciences, College of Business and Economics

88-90 credits

Introduction

The Business Administration program has been designed to prepare students for leadership roles in business and the community. One program objective is to provide students with the perceptual and analytical skills necessary in making decisions and evaluating policy in business; another is to develop student understanding of the social, economic, and regulatory environment of business. The program is designed for students with a variety of career goals, including opportunities with financial institutions, manufacturing and retail firms, service industries and the public sector.

Learning Competency Goals

• Demonstrate breadth of business knowledge
• Produce quality business documents
• Analyze problems using an ethical perspective
• Analyze the legal implications of business decisions
• Critically analyze problems and defend resolutions
• Solve business problems using quantitative techniques
• Apply a global perspective in conducting business
• Identify and analyze social consequences of business activities
• Understand the importance of environmental sustainability

Why Consider an Operations Management (OPS) Concentration in the Business Administration Major?

It is critical for organizations to be effective and efficient with their operations. Operations managers are concerned with each step in providing a service or product from acquisition of the raw materials and component parts to delivery to the customer. They determine what equipment, labor, tools, facilities, materials, energy, and information are required, how these can best be obtained, and how they are used to satisfy the requirements of the marketplace. 

How to Declare (Admission and Declaration Process):

How to apply: For consideration as a pre-major, provisional major or full major for the Business Administration - Operations Management Concentration, complete the online application form at: cbe.wwu.edu/apply-cbe.

Pre-major: Students who have not completed their foundation course work may apply to the College and be given pre-major status. Pre-major status is granted to students who are at least sophomore level, or who have been identified as top quintile students, and who, at the time of application, meet the following requirements:

• Minimum of a 2.50 cumulative college-level GPA including all previous institutions. The cumulative GPA is calculated on all college-level course work completed by the student, including any transfer work.
• Minimum of 2.50 Western cumulative GPA. 
• Students must have a Western cumulative GPA of 2.00 or higher to be considered in good academic standing with the University.

Students with pre-major status may only enroll for foundation or core courses listed. Their progress will be monitored by the College. When students are in provisional full major status (during the quarter they are enrolled in their last foundation course(s)) they will be contacted via email and asked to complete an additional application for the concentration.

Full major: For admission to the Business Administration - Operations Management Concentration as a full major a student must meet the following requirements:

1. Minimum of 2.50 cumulative GPA after having completed all foundation courses. The cumulative GPA is calculated on all college-level course work completed by the student, including any transfer work.
2. Minimum of 2.50 Western cumulative. 
3. Students must have a Western cumulative GPA of 2.00 or higher to be considered in good academic standing with the University.

Students will be contacted via their Western email and asked to complete an additional application for the concentration.

A Decision Sciences faculty admission committee will review all full major and provisional full major applications that meet the above requirements. Admission to the concentration is based on:

• Space available in the concentration
• Past academic performance
  • Western GPA is the primary factor considered but other factors may include:
    • Performance in business courses taken at Western
    • Trends in academic performance
    • Performance in courses taken at other institutions as listed on the Transfer Equivalency Report
• Admission priority will be given to students with the best academic performance relative to the rest of the applicant pool.
• Academic performance will be the primary decision factor, but other factors may be considered (e.g., rationale for pursuing field of study, related work experience, student leadership, etc.).

Grade Requirements

A grade of C- or better is required for a student’s major or minor courses, and supporting courses for majors and minors.