Become an Effective Leader with UPenn’s Management Development Program

Leadership isn’t easy. An effective leader wears several different hats throughout an average workday. They need the hard skills to deliver projects on time and under a specific budget while also having the soft skills to put out fires within their team and keep everyone motivated.

Some people can naturally develop these skills, but many end up in a degree program to learn crucial management skills. But what if you don’t have the time or money to get a business degree? What if you’re looking to start a business or advance your current career, and you just want some professional guidance to get your dreams off the ground?

The Wharton School’s Management Development Program is a place where you can learn these key business and management skills to elevate your career. Unlike many other online courses, it has the stamp of approval of the University of Pennsylvania.

What’s more? The program was designed with the students’ success in mind. Its well-rounded curriculum covers an excellent blend of hard and soft skills that make for effective leadership. The flexible schedules ensure you maintain a great work-life balance even as you connect with other leaders around the world.

This article covers more about what makes this Management Development Program stand out. It also discusses everything you need to know about the program and how to get started. Before we get into that, here is a brief look into Wharton School, the creators of this unique program.

What Is The Wharton School?

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is America’s first business school and the world’s first collegiate business school. Founded in 1881, this renowned institution drives the vision to raise excellent leaders equipped with knowledge and skills to take on key management roles. Its Executive Education arm teaches critical business fundamentals and competitive strategies leaders need to deliver immediate results.

The Wharton School’s Executive Education Programs typically offer a variety of learning tracks to suit leaders’ specific needs. It provides in-person and online live training on leadership, business, and core management skills. Knowing that one size does not always fit all, it offers various self-paced online programs. The Management Development Program is one of them.

A Review of Wharton’s Management Development Program

Wharton’s Management Development Program is a self-paced online program designed for business leaders of all levels. The self-paced tag means that participants can access the prerecorded video lectures at any time, allowing them to advance their careers without disrupting their day jobs.

Each participant must commit three to five hours to the program weekly. They will spend that time engaging with the prerecorded video lessons, attending weekly live webinars with Wharton faculty, studying core topics, attending peer learning sessions, and completing assignments.

Moreover, they will learn to improve their work process and organizational architecture, which are crucial for planning organizational growth. Ultimately, the Management Development Program’s curriculum teaches participants more effective management and leadership skills.

A Closer Look at Wharton’s Management Development Program Curriculum

The program’s curriculum covers core topics in financial accounting, marketing, brand positioning, investment, customer analytics, and leadership. It splits into the following modules:

1. Managing People. The program begins by introducing you to key aspects of leadership and people management. You will learn about the human resources and effective communication techniques needed to deal with diverse categories of followers.
2. Stakeholder Management. The curriculum advances to teach you how to communicate and build excellent professional relationships with your stakeholders. You will learn to analyze their requirements and plan effectively to meet their needs.
3. Accounting. This module will cover the essentials of bookkeeping and recording financial transactions of a business. This will help you to learn to stay in charge of your finances.
4. Finance. You will learn which techniques to apply to maintain a positive cash flow and scale your profits. You will also discuss other operational topics like managing overheads, performance monitoring, investments, and risk management.
5. Marketing. This module dives into the principles of marketing and brand awareness. The curriculum will teach you how to undertake effective market research, identify customer behavior, and promote products or services.
6. Operations and Strategy. Learn several principles for planning and executing company operations effectively. Through these topics, you will understand how to improve the efficiency, capabilities, and competitive advantage of your products and processes.
7. Managing Yourself. As the program’s end draws closer, emphasis shifts to self-management and personal discipline. You will learn how to avoid common management pitfalls and build the character that drives productivity. Time management, excellent communication, accountability, and discipline are core topics discussed in this module.
8. On-Campus Event: The program closes with a three-day on-campus event on Wharton’s campus, although attendance is not compulsory. The event aims to deepen the peer-to-peer relationships established by bringing participants to connect and network in person. The highlights of this three-day event include discussion sessions on various topics such as career planning and creating a leadership presence.

Thanks to the experienced faculty who also teach at Wharton’s MBA program, participants come to understand the topics profoundly and apply them in their respective businesses and organizations. The event closes with a completion ceremony, a reflection session, and a closing dinner. By the end of the program, participants earn a certificate from the Wharton School.

Is This Program Right for Me?

Whether you’re a longtime C-suite executive looking for new ways to impact your company’s performance or you’ve just been promoted to the manager level at your workplace, Wharton’s Management Development Program serves your needs.

As a C-suite-level executive, the program helps you improve your decision-making skills. It offers you a broad and applicable understanding of customer behavior, operational management, and decision-making processes. A middle-class manager also picks up vital marketing and brand positioning, core business, finance, and operational management concepts.

In short, the program is designed for leaders at different levels who wish to improve their abilities and get better results without considering their professional or educational background. All they’ll need is a steady Internet connection, Microsoft Office, and a PDF reader on their devices to engage fully with the video lectures, live sessions with the faculty, and peer discussions.

Key Takeaways

Here’s a summary of what you need to know about The Wharton School’s Management Development Program:

• The program is curated under its Executive Education scheme, an initiative that serves leaders globally through its live online management, leadership, and business programs.
• It has the stamp of approval from the University of Pennslyvania and is delivered by experienced faculty who also teach at Wharton School’s MBA program.
• While the University of Pennsylvania faculty curates and directs the program, Emeritus manages the technical infrastructure on which the program runs.
• The Management Development Program is relevant to all categories of leaders, whether C-suite-level executives, medium-level managers, or business owners.
• It features a well-rounded curriculum covering key accounting, marketing, management, and leadership topics that help participants improve their decision-making skills and achieve better career productivity.
• While classes are delivered online, you still get the chance to attend a three-day in-person event on campus at the end of the training cycle. Attendance is voluntary.
• The program costs $9,500. Tuition assistance and flexible payment options will be available to students who qualify. If you wish you benefit from these offerings, you may contact the program advisor.

Boost Your Business Acumen

Wharton’s Executive Education’s Management Development Program provides a practical recipe for leaders to boost their knowledge, skillset, and performance. Partnering with Emeritus, who provides the learning platform and support staff, Wharton gives students an impressive self-paced and live learning experience from start to finish.

Petchi Karthikeyan, a former student of the program and Senior Supply Base Manufacturing Engineer at Amazon, said the modules with the transcripts and video were easily one of the best parts of the program. “The try-it assignments every week were fantastic because they gave participants more practice and also lots of insights,” he shared.

Another learner, John Thomas Roger, Compliance and Risk Officer at TJ Regional Health shared his experience in the Wharton Management Development Program. “The best part of the program had to be my real-life application of the concepts I learned and my ability to apply them to my job.”

Download the program’s brochure to learn more about the course. If you are interested in improving your management and leadership without disrupting your current schedule, apply to Wharton’s Management Development program to book a spot in the upcoming cohort.