Skills for Success

Success in business requires skills and capabilities just as it requires solid knowledge of business and its functions. Fundamentally, it requires the ability to work effectively with others and to turn knowledge into action, and action into quality results. The new BBA 3-Year Program at the Ross School of Business develops students' skills, and their comfort and ability to deliver high performance in business–skills ranging from making professional presentations to working effectively in teams, leveraging the ideas and expertise of others, and knowing how to size up and solve problems.

The BBA Program includes a substantial amount of hands-on project work in which students apply the concepts they learn to solve real business problems. It also includes special features that begin preparing BBAs for success in the business world the day they arrive on campus through a crowning experience that corrals key tools and learning from the program and applies them to a real-world business situation.

Team- and Leadership-Building

Being a leader means being able to get things done with and through others, and taking initiative. Ross develops leaders.

It all starts the day BBAs arrive as new students. As part of the transition to business school, BBAs spend part of their orientation in action-learning exercises that begin developing these special skills. The exercises involve breaking into small teams and both learning and using new tools to work effectively together. The exercises are also a great way for students to get to know their new classmates.

Throughout the BBA Program, students engage in extensive project- and team-work that applies their knowledge to solving problems, making decisions, and presenting recommendations for action. In their classes, students learn about business functions, tools for analysis and action, and how to apply all that to getting things done in the business world.

Solving Business Cases

The case-study method is an important way Ross develops BBA students' skills for effectiveness in the workplace. Business cases are demanding. They are the same problems used as part of programs to train both MBAs and, frequently, senior executives. Cases are used in many classes.

Business cases require careful analysis and actionable solutions. Cases simulate the problems and decisions faced by business executives. They describe real issues that have been faced by real companies, such as cash-flow problems, ethical issues, marketing challenges, and mergers. In the cases, students are presented with an issue and a set of facts, and must develop recommended actions.

Capstone Project Course

The capstone project course, corporate strategy, takes place in the final semester of the BBA Program. In the course, students test and further develop both knowledge and skills by being cast in the role of top executives for a major company. In that role, students must analyze the industry in which they are operating and develop a winning strategy for the company they represent.

It is a highly challenging semester-long project, and requires students to deal with a complicated real-world situation. Students work in cross-functional teams of four or five members each, draw on the range of knowledge they have accumulated during the BBA Program, and use major analytical and quantitative tools they have developed. At the conclusion of the semester, students present detailed reports of their findings and recommendations. In addition to a thorough written report, students make formal presentations as if they were presenting to senior management.

Writing Program

Being effective in business requires being an effective communicator. The Ross School of Business offers many workshops, seminars, and classes in communication, which include vital business preparation in areas such as presentation skills.

BBA students also participate in the BBA writing program, which is a requirement for graduation. The program begins during orientation, when new students provide writing samples. The program continues throughout both years of the BBA Program, and includes extensive workshops on writing skills as well as papers written as part of core courses.