MBA Experience

Curriculum

First Year (Required Curriculum)

During the first year at HBS, all students pursue the same course of study: the Required Curriculum and FIELD. By studying under a common curriculum, students build a solid, broad foundation of general management concepts and skills across all the key disciplines.

Leadership & Organizational Behavior (LEAD)

This course focuses on how managers become effective leaders by addressing the human side of enterprise. The first modules examine teams, individuals, and networks in the context of:

• The determinants of group culture.

• Managing the performance of individual subordinates.

• Establishing productive relationships with peers and seniors over whom the manager has no formal authority.

The intermediate modules look at successful leaders in action to see how they:

• Develop a vision of the future.

• Align the organization behind that vision.

• Motivate people to achieve the vision.

• Design effective organizations and change them to achieve superior performance.

• The final module introduces a model for strategic career management.

Leadership & Corporate Accountability

In this course, students learn about the complex responsibilities facing business leaders today. Through cases about difficult managerial decisions, the course examines the legal, ethical, and economic responsibilities of corporate leaders. It also teaches students about management and governance systems leaders can use to promote responsible conduct by companies and their employees, and shows how personal values can play a critical role in effective leadership.

Field Immersion Experiences for Leadership Development (FIELD)

FIELD is a year-long, two-part course that gives first-year students meaningful and numerous opportunities to act like leaders, while translating their ideas into practice.

Second Year (Elective Curriculum)

During the second year, students choose from an unparalleled range of elective courses to build on the basic concepts developed in the Required Curriculum. This portion of the program enables students to integrate the functional skills learned in the first year into an understanding of the firm as a total enterprise.

Authentic Leadership Development

Senior Lecturers Scott A. Snook and Anthony Mayo
Fall & Spring

Corporate Governance & Boards of Directors

Professor Jay W. Lorsch and Professor and Senior Associate Dean Lynn S. Paine
Spring

Leadership Execution & Action Planning

Senior Lecturer David G. Fubini and Associate Professor Ryan L. Raffaelli
Fall & Spring

Managing Human Capital

Associate Professor Ethan S.Bernstein
Fall

Power & Influence

Associate Professors Julie Battilana and Lakshmi Ramarajan
Fall & Spring

People Analytics: Leading in a Data-Driven World

Professor Jeffrey Polzer
Spring