Abstract:

The Bachelor's in Business Administration is a professional program and therefore must continually respond to the needs of the workplace, while continuing to uphold the traditional standards of academic rigor. Business schools periodically review their curricula, and develop what the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (their chief accrediting body) has called learning goals. These goals are, in turn, assessed by what is called “assurance of learning standards.” Among the key learning goals often mentioned for undergraduate students are skills connected to communications, quantitative reasoning, technology and analysis or critical thinking. Courses in statistics, technology, and research skills are not only offered but generally required. But the use of these skills is often restricted to these specific courses. There is a need, therefore, for these skills to be embedded into concentration courses, including human resources, industrial management, marketing, and even information systems management. This is not important from just an accreditation standards perspective. High level 21st century jobs increasingly require the ability to integrate qualitative and quantitative skills. Properly taught, statistics is in a unique position of imparting all of these skills: research (the necessity of proper methodological design prior to data collection and analysis), technological (through the use of statistical software), critical thinking (decision analysis and statistical reasoning) and communications (writing up results). The author proposes one way of embedding statistics across the business curriculum. Statistics must be embedded in several courses in such a way that it enhances students’ communications, research and analytical skills, thus furthering several learning goals at once.

Keywords:

Business statistics, business curriculum, statistics education, undergraduate statistics, undergraduate business, BBA, AACSB.