Business smarts don't hurt

Students in sciences, liberal arts sign on for MBA courses

You don't have to have an MBA to know the value of basic business skills. Just ask Greg Shaw, 22, and the 54 other recent graduates of the Carolina Business Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill.

These new biologists, psychologists and arts majors added the business course to their resumes before stepping out into the real world. Many think it will give them a competitive edge in the workplace. Some think such skills are necessary if they want to one day run their own businesses. And others want the confidence of knowing how to manage personal finances.

UNC's Friday Center has offered a 4 1/2-week business boot camp to nonbusiness students for 16 years. The intense course covers basic business practices including marketing, accounting, finance and operations management.

Its latest class graduated last week.

Among them was Shaw, who received a bachelor's degree in biology at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Shaw said that in addition to helping with his personal budget, the class gave him the skills to one day manage his own medical practice. "Running a clinic is a business," he said. "You have to know what to pay people and how to buy equipment and machines."

Other schools across the nation offer similar programs, including the Tuck Business Bridge program at Dartmouth College and the Summer Institute for General Management at Stanford University.

At N.C. State University, nonbusiness students are offered four business minors, in accounting, business administration, economics and entrepreneurship, said Steve Barr, a professor who heads the department of management, innovation and entrepreneurship.

In the past, students took such classes mainly to bolster their resumes. But the curriculums have been enhanced to help with a variety of business practices, and students are gleaning practical use from such programs.

Will Aldridge, 28, a UNC psychology graduate who completed the institute in 2006, said the courses give him a competitive advantage in the workplace.

Aldridge was working as an intern at a workplace consulting firm in Atlanta when a client needed advice about the benefits of Six Sigma. It's a management program that identifies and replaces the causes of defects and errors in manufacturing and business processes.

"I told them, 'Hey, I just had a class on that,' " Aldridge said. His boss was not familiar with Six Sigma, so Aldridge used what he had learned to help the client.

Courses are evolving

Since the institute started in 1992, the curriculum has evolved to keep up with the business world, said Richard Blackburn, associate professor at the Kenan-Flagler Business School and the academic director of the Carolina Business Institute.

Some of the changes have included more focus on business ethics -- because of corporate finance scandals -- and team-building.

"Those are the key issues that organizations are dealing with right now," Blackburn said. "We see more and more that the importance of ethics and teamwork collaborations confront organizations all the time."

Other changes involved different ways of producing goods and services, such as using of Six Sigma, lean manufacturing principals and marketing strategies using the Internet, e-mail and direct mail, Blackburn said.

"Companies are using marketing alternatives, like placing products on YouTube and online networking," he said.

Demand for the $2,500 program continues to grow, said Annette Madden, associate director for conferences and institutes at UNC.

So much so that the school has considered offering the program twice a year, she said. "The word has spread, and we have gotten a lot of participation from students at other schools," Madden said. "We always have more participants apply than we can accept."