Poor job placement statistics and declining student enrollment prompt Babson College to reevaluate the competitive position of its full-time MBA program. Graduate Dean Tom Moore and select faculty consider how to reposition the program through curriculum reform. Plans to implement a radical modular-based academic program take shape and are “sold” to the larger campus community. While curriculum innovation is supported by a newly-appointed president, numerous managerial challenges emerge as the new curriculum is finalized: issues of institutional governance, implementing academic program change, and overcoming faculty resistance to change. These test the leadership skills of the program designers. Following a six-year process of reform, a modular MBA program is approved and a substantially revised curriculum is offered to first-year MBA students.

Subjects: Curriculum, Strategic Planning, Leadership, Organizational Change
Setting: Small Private

Also available: Curriculum Change at Babson College (B)