Online Business Management Degree – Wayne State College Nebraska

Explore the Management degree program

Are you looking for a degree that can land you a job in virtually any business? A business management degree can provide you with job security and give you a competitive edge. Managers are critical to getting the job done well and are always on the cutting edge of decision making and problem-solving.

A business management degree is incredibly versatile and can be used in a variety of industries, giving you the flexibility to explore different career paths. Wayne State’s Management degree program offers you a solid background in leadership and management science, business operations and organizational structure, financial literacy, management information systems, and human behavior in organizations. You’ll also learn practical skills such as communication, problem-solving, decision-making, and strategic thinking for businesses.

Our Management degree program also provides you with skills needed to manage and grown your own business. And, if you’re wanting to advance to the next level, you’ll be well-prepared for a graduate program to earn your online MBA.

View program courses

Fast facts

Degree options: B.S. in Business Administration / Management

Delivery format: Online

Program credit hours: 69

Business foundation (21 credit hours)
Business core (27 credit hours)
Management concentration (21 credit hours)

Note: Students must also take 30 credit hours of General Studies courses. A total of 120 credit hours are needed to graduate from WSC. Additional majors or minors can be added to help meet graduation requirements.

School: Business and Technology

Department: Business and Economics

Prepare for your future

Student outcomes

Business management topics covered

Analytical approaches to management issues
Foundations of human resource management
Project management and strategies
Using big data in decision-making processes
Workforce planning and organizational design
Legal and ethical standards of business

Student learning outcomes

Demonstrate an understanding of the core areas of business, which includes accounting, economics, management, quantitative business, finance, marketing, legal environment, information systems, and international
Demonstrate effective skills in written and oral communication in business settings
Work effectively in a team environment
Apply ethical frameworks to formulate management decision alternatives

Graduates of the online Management degree program work in their chosen field using the skills they learned while at Wayne State College. Each year, eager employers welcome WSC graduates into their organizations.

Jobs of recent graduates:

Assistant Manager - JC Penney (Sioux City, Iowa)
Health Promotions Director - Winnebago Comprehensive Health Systems (Winnebago, Neb.)
Insurance Agent - State Farm Insurance (Plainview, Neb.)
Manufacturing Systems Supervisor - Behlen Manufacturing (Columbus, Neb.)
Pharmaceutical Sales Rep - Eli Lilly (Denver, Colo.)
Senior Sales Manager - Tyson Fresh Meats (Dakota Dunes, S.D.)
Supervisor - Premier Bankcard (Sioux Falls, S.D.)
Transportation Manager - Associated Wholesale Grocers (Norfolk, Neb.)

Public disclosure of student achievement

job or grad school placement rate
within six months of graduation
Data based on most recent
employment outcomes survey

After graduating from Wayne State College, recent grads pursued advanced degrees at the following schools:

Business Administration (MBA) – Wayne State College (Wayne, Neb.)

Credits: 3
Description: Development of critical communication skills used in business and industry. Emphasis on assisting Business students to become more effective and efficient writers. Includes instructions, reports, memos, and letters.
Prerequisite: ENG 102 Composition Skills
Credits: 3
Description: Introduction to the study of law, the law of contracts, agency and employment, negotiable instruments, personal property and bailments, and the laws governing the sale of goods.
Credits: 3
Description: A study of the following statistical tools as applied to the business and economic milieu: collection and presentation of data, distributional measurements, probability and sampling, statistical inferences, linear regression and correlation, analysis of variance, and selected nonparametric statistics.
Prerequisite: MAT 105 Intermediate Algebra, or General Studies math requirement
Credits: 3
Description: A study of the role of accounting in the business environment. Emphasis is on applying basic terminology, concepts, processes, and outputs of the modern accounting system; development of an understanding of the nature and purpose of the major financial statements; and development of the ability to evaluate financial accounting information in problem-solving and decision making.
Credits: 3
Description: Continuation of BUS 240 Accounting I. Emphasis is on further study of items reported within major financial statements and development of the ability to evaluate managerial accounting information in problem-solving and decision making.
Prerequisite: BUS 240 Accounting I
Credits: 3
Description: In this course, the principal macroeconomic measurements of national production; unemployment and inflation will be introduced. Theories of how these measures interact and how they are influenced by activity in households, businesses, the federal government, and the Federal Reserve System, as well as the impact of international trade, will also be studied.
Credits: 3
Description: In this course, the principal microeconomic market model of supply and demand will be studied. Additional topics introduced to add to our understanding of the basic model will include resource allocation concepts, production and cost theory, consumer theory, and market structure conditions.

Business core courses (27 credits)

Credits: 3
Description: Develops the management art and science of planning, organizing, actuating, and controlling through people to make ideas materialize within economic constraints of a business enterprise. Develops ability to construct policy, to make scientifically sound decisions within that policy, and to establish ethical procedures to insure organized productive effort to intended objectives. Develops a management attitude, outlook, and ability.
Credits: 3
Description: Survey of the problems and opportunities involved in conducting business operations across national boundaries. Analysis of the concepts, tools, institutions, and environmental factors controlling international flows of money, personnel, information, goods, and services.
Credits: 3
Description: This course facilitates students in conquering the essential concepts of product, price, promotion, distribution, segmentation, ethics, and social responsibility, while addressing the evolving digital and social media influences. The fundamentals will be stressed allowing for useful decision processes by managers while encouraging the development of the marketing specialist as one of the key decision makers in a firm. Marketing is critical to implementing strategy, gaining competitive advantages, and ensuring positive organizational results.
Credits: 3
Description: A study of the financial function within a business enterprise. Areas addressed include financial analysis, working capital management, capital budgeting, sources and forms of long-term financing, financial structure, and cost of capital.
Prerequisites: BUS 226 Business Statistics, and BUS 241 Accounting II or BUS 142 Survey of Accounting
Credits: 3
Description: Successfully managing operations is vital to the long-term viability of every type of organization. This course provides a broad overview of issues in operations and supply chain management emphasizing a strategic orientation toward design and improvement issues. Specific topics include competitiveness; operations strategy; quality management; statistical process control; design of products, services, processes, and facilities; forecasting; supply chain management; logistics; project management; inventory management; lean production; and scheduling.
Credits: 3
Description: This course will examine theoretical structures that shape or influence Western thought and review specific professional codes of ethics relevant to business majors. Students will learn a decision-making framework for examining and articulating well-reasoned positions on ethical issues in business.
Credits: 3
Description: This course focuses on public, administrative, and regulatory law, and the relationship of business to the legal structure. Topics include employee and consumer protection, environmental regulation, labor law, monopolies, price-fixing, and the regulation of domestic and international trade.
Credits: 3
Description: Involves analysis of cases in which knowledge from basic courses in marketing, accounting, finance, management, and economics is integrated and applied. Demonstrated interrelationship between the functions of business, complexities of business problems, and strategic management models are addressed.
Prerequisites: BUS 270 Principles of Marketing, BUS 322 Managerial Finance, BUS 352 Operations and Supply Chain Management, or instructor approval; and completion of 105 semester credit hours
Credits: 0
Description: This course requires students to demonstrate or report their level of achievement of the student learning objectives developed for the Business Administration major foundation, core, and concentration courses. Various assessment measures such as surveys, comprehensive exams, and capstone projects will be used to gather student data. Completion of this course is a graduation requirement. Graded S/N.
Prerequisite: Completion of 100 semester credit hours
Credits: 3
Description: Emphasis is on providing breadth of knowledge in the organizational concepts and considerations surrounding the use of information systems technologies such as computer systems and communications systems. Topics include role of information systems in managerial functions, general systems theory, design and implementation of Management Information Systems (MIS), decision support systems, expert systems, and artificial intelligence.

Management concentration courses (21 credit hours)

Credits: 3
Description: This course prepares students to lead and manage organizations in a highly competitive environment. Students will understand and identify methods for improving and maintaining aspects of individual and organizational performance. The course includes an examination of management and the applied behavioral sciences; organizational goals, training and performance; organizational culture; motivation and behavior; building effective relationships; planning and implementing change; leadership strategies; and integrating situational leadership.
Credits: 3
Description: Application of quantitative and analytical approaches to management problems within a theoretical framework and behavioral background developed.
Prerequisite: BUS 226 Business Statistics
Credits: 3
Description: This course identifies the foundations of human resources in an organizational setting. The course introduces students to the history of human resource management and its role, and provides an overview of human resource management including: workforce planning and employment; employee recruitment, selection, orientation, performance appraisals; human resource development; job analysis and design; compensation and benefits; employee relations; and Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS).
Credits: 3
Description: This course provides an introduction to the management of projects. Emphasis is placed on both the technical aspects of the project management process and the management of the human behavioral/situational aspects of projects. The nature of projects is explored. The techniques and tools of project management are introduced. Operational, tactical, and strategic implications of project management approaches are considered. The use of current project management software is incorporated. Students are also provided with an understanding of the many environmental and behavioral issues surrounding project management, and approaches to dealing with these issues. Graduate students in these courses have additional requirements beyond those for the undergraduate students.
Choose one of the following:
- BUS 472 Marketing Analytics (3 credits) – Students will be introduced to the power of data-driven decisions and learn to forecast results and measure progress of marketing activity. Students will gain a working knowledge of major and current digital marketing analytics and how to apply it to their marketing career. Understanding the scale of big data available to marketing professionals, students will use software platforms to manipulate this consumer data to build business-to-consumer relationships, enhance consumer communication, and earn a competitive advantage. Students will have practice in optimizing and connecting results across search engines, social media, email, and more. This course will utilize firsthand experience with the major digital platforms and prepare students for platform certifications. Prerequisite: BUS 270 Principles of Marketing
- BUS 485 Introduction to Predictive Analytics (3 credits) – This course introduces an analytical toolset to address modern, data-intensive business problems. The course provides an overview of the key concepts, applications, processes, and techniques relevant to business analytics. The course is intended to provide tools for business applications using data, databases, and reports from analytic models. It covers the basic fundamentals of data analysis and inferential statistics as well as predictive modeling techniques, including linear regression, logistic regression, and decision trees.
Choose two of the following courses:
- BUS 340 Internal Financial Reporting (3 credits) – Study of cost management systems and how accounting information is used within organizations to solve problems, make decisions, and define organizational strategies. Topics include cost determination for products, services, processes, departments, and activities; budgeting; performance evaluation; situational analysis and decision making; and professional ethics. Prerequisite: BUS 241 Accounting II
- BUS 372 Selling and Sales Management (3 credits) – The philosophy and tools of relationship selling are stressed in this course. Use of current sales research with interactive direct sales techniques and training will develop the student's fundamental sales skills while providing the foundation for career advancement as a sales executive. The sales executive's duties and responsibilities include planning, recruiting, and training of the sales force. Prerequisite: BUS 270 Principles of Marketing
- BUS 383 Principles of Transportation (3 credits) – Economic, operating, and service characteristics of the various modes of transportation, with emphasis on factors that influence transportation demand, costs, market structures, carrier pricing, and carrier operating and service characteristics and their influence on other supply chain cost and supply chain performance.
- BUS 452 Human Resource Development (3 credits) – This course focuses on developing and implementing programs and processes directed toward organizational performance improvement, learning, and change; employee training and development; and addressing the unique needs of a diverse workforce. Students will utilize tools for assessment, analysis and evaluation for the purpose of identifying and establishing priorities and measuring the results of human resource development activities.
- BUS 454 Total Compensation (3 credits) – This course focuses on the design and management of total compensation programs. The course will examine the internal consistency and external competitiveness of wage structures and how organizations assign pay rates to various jobs. Students will apply procedures to conduct job evaluation, and tie pay plans to employee performance and skill development. Further, they will assess and recommend benefits plans, such as health care insurance, pensions, and legally mandated benefits; and other incentives, such as tuition reimbursement, flexible schedules.
- BUS 471 Principles of Supervision (3 credits) – This course concentrates on the skills needed by first-line supervisors. Issues covered include the following: supervisor’s job description, organizing an effective department, acquiring employees, motivation, effective leadership, communication skills, supervising groups and work teams, labor relations, and supervisory challenges in the 21st century.
- BUS 476 Omnichannel Retailing Management (3 credits) – Explores the various retail platforms of omnichannel retailing including ecommerce, social media networks, and brick-and-mortar retail. Focusing on key strategic issues that emphasize merchandise management, retail strategy, store management, online retailing, and retail promotions, students will gain an understanding of the importance of utilizing a multichannel retail platform. The use of both small and large retailers will be explored to stay abreast the current trends of retail. Prerequisite: BUS 270 Principles of Marketing
- BUS 497 Internship (3 credits) – The internship program provides undergraduate students with the opportunity to integrate career-related work experience with classroom learning. Work experiences occur in positions relevant to Management. Internships generally require 40-50 work hours for each 1 hour of credit. Contact WSC Career Services, your academic advisor, or department chair for specific details.
- ECO 305 Economics for Managers (3 credits) – The application of economic concepts to decision-making problems faced by managers in private or public sector organizations. The strategic nature of pricing and output decisions is explored in the context of product demand, production and cost, market structure conditions, and public policy. Prerequisite: ECO 203 Principles of Microeconomics
- ECO 320 Labor Economics (3 credits) – A study of the labor market focusing on demand for labor, supply of labor, wage determination and occupational wage differential, investment in human capital, discrimination and labor market outcomes, collective bargaining, industrial relations, labor laws, employment, unemployment, and related public policy issues. Prerequisite: ECO 203 Principles of Microeconomics
- ITE 205 Introduction to Manufacturing Technology (3 credits) – An exploratory course introducing students to the five areas of the manufacturing industry. Hands-on lab activities will reinforce lessons in sheet steel and aluminum, plastics, wood, and the foundry. Appropriate material selection, process selection, safety, use of manufacturing and industrial tools and equipment, and measurement will be presented. Lecture and lab combined. ITE majors must pass with a C or better. Class fee of $25 is required.
- ITE 306 Industrial Safety (3 credits) – This course will focus on safety issues directly related to the industrial environment. Students will look at state and federal regulations associated with the industrial/manufacturing environment. Class fee of $10 is required.

Popular pairings

Many students at Wayne State will add a second major or a minor to complement their program of study or to focus their studies on a specific topic. Students who recently majored in Management at Wayne State also paired this major with one or more of the following programs: