Not all Master of Business Administration (MBA) programs are created equally. MBA graduates in the Anderson University College of Business can attain a credential that is highly sought by employers nationwide.
The Anderson University College of Business is embedding the Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certification into its MBA program. This enhancement of Anderson University’s MBA, in partnership with MindEdge, prepares students to earn Lean Six Sigma certification, a nationally-recognized credential that qualifies employees to participate in and lead continuous improvement and problem-solving teams.
Lean Six Sigma comes out of a movement by industries towards developing a lean business model to help them better compete globally.
According to Dr. Giovanni Calise, professor of business at the Anderson University College of Business, a large number of American companies have adopted Lean Six Sigma.
“It’s really big as far as customer quality control. It is really big in hospitals, health care, service industries. Marketing has adopted it, in addition to manufacturing,” Dr. Calise said.
Looking back on when he was an MBA student, Dr. Calise recalls that he learned more on the way to becoming Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certified than his other years of college combined. He asserts that employers want to see “tangible results versus just a diploma” and that MBA students “care less about that academic piece of paper and care more about the direct application of skills to their field.”
Dr. Calise led efforts to integrate Lean Six Sigma into the MBA at Anderson University. He created an MBA steering committee that included faculty, advisees and past students.
“I probably interviewed close to 50 to 60 individuals just trying to find out, ‘What does the ideal MBA look like? What skills do we need to have? What certifications do we implement?’ As we’re doing this,” he recalled, “we realized there might be a couple of classes in our current MBA program that we can take out or merge together, which is what we did, and we do have an opening to add a brand new class called ‘Six Sigma, Agile and Lean Systems.’ We actually have a faculty on staff that actually used to teach Lean Systems at Bosch.”
The Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt certification exam was incorporated into the Statistical Quality Management class. In that inaugural class of 23 students, 95.7 percent of the class passed the exam and are now certified Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belts.
The Supply Chain department of the Anderson University College of Business completed its third BUS 580 class in the MBA program titled “Six Sigma, Agile and Lean Systems” in Fall 2022. Students completing that class have the opportunity to earn a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt certification by setting for and passing an exam. The class had an 85.7 percent pass rate on the exam—well above the national average of 65 percent. The fall 2022 class added another 18 certified Green Belts to the college’s total of 48.
Anderson University MBA students take the certification exam separately from their program of study, but Dr. Calise noted that the certification fee is included in the tuition.
Dr. Jeffrey Moore, professor of management and MBA/MOL director, said that the Green Belt Lean Six Sigma certification is a great way to provide MBA students with practical business skills they can immediately use in organizations to improve operations.
“It’s about learning a way to problem solve and use data/information to solve real business issues,” Dr. Moore said. “When you study with us in a graduate business program, we will teach you business knowledge, coach you in applying that knowledge to your business environment, while thinking with you on how your decision making and leadership improves the lives of those around you in a way that honors God. Healthy organizations change everything.”
Anderson University College of Business
Anderson University College of Business graduates work in Fortune 500 companies, small to medium businesses and non-profits, performing functions from management to marketing. The Anderson University College of Business is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP). Details about programs can be found online.