Earn Your University of Fairfax Degree
Doctorate of Business Administration
As an MBA, you can already analyze practical business problems, take calculated risks and make timely decisions for your team. Businesses, especially the Fortune 500, have a huge war chest and spend a significant portion of it for staying ahead in the industry. They do this by solving their customers’ problems of tomorrow while their smaller peers play catch-up. They need professionals with strong research and analytical skills in addition to the business management experience that MBAs possess. If you desire to land a C-level position in an enterprise or are looking for a role in academia, our Doctorate of Business Administration program would be the best complement to your MBA.
This program fosters the development of students who:
- Desire to take on leadership and managerial positions within an organization that demand a higher order of critical thinking, decision-making, and communication skills.
- Apply advanced qualitative and quantitative data analysis to solve complex business problems.
- Analyze and critically assess the dilemmas and issues that impact an organization and its business processes.
- Incorporate problem-solving methods and advanced research techniques that organizations implement to gain a competitive advantage in the global marketplace.
- Master the skill-sets necessary to address a variety of specialized areas within the business world such as organizational management, information security, project management, human resources, accounting, and finance.
Program Objectives
Upon completion of this degree program, graduates will be able to:
- Foster a learning environment that focuses on all facets of an organization including, leadership, information security, project management, supply chain, accounting, and managing an organization.
- Evaluate how organizations inspire employees and nurtures a positive organizational culture.
- Utilize qualitative and/or quantitative methods to analyze critical business issues.
- Employ project management tools, methods, and techniques in effort to reduce waste while improving quality and safety throughout an organization.
- Collaborate effectively as a business practitioner and researcher using both verbal and written communication methods.
Visit our eLearning page for details on our exciting and innovative course delivery methods.
Doctorate of Business Administration comparison dimensions
| Research Project Scope | Focused business procedures and processes |
| Scope of Applied Research Conducted | Using existing research, theory, and trends to design a novel solution, assess its feasibility and describe the real-world knowledge needed by business leaders |
| Dissertation Required | Documentation of how the study was designed, feasibility was assessed, and the implications for business best practices |
| Qualifying Exam | Evaluates mastery of concepts of applied research |
| No. of Comprehensive Exams | One |
| Minimum Number of Credits Required Beyond Master’s | 62 |
| Completion Time | 3-5 years |
| Publishable Research Opportunities | Yes |
| Admissions Requirements | Master’s and three years of relevant experience |
| Online Delivery | Asynchronous and Synchronous |
| Hybrid Delivery | Asynchronous and Synchronous; one 4-day on-campus residency every 16 weeks for international students on F-1 visa. |
| Student Career Objectives | Expert business practitioner in management, business security, and critical thinking and problem-solving skills |
| Title | Dr. |
Comprehensive & Qualifying Exam
Doctoral students enrolled in the DBA program must pass the Comprehensive & Qualifying Exam. This exam is used to evaluate mastery of the concepts and foundations of applied research and is administered concurrently in weeks 4-8 of the RM9100 course in a separate course shell called MB9130-CX (0 credits).
Doctorate of Business Administration Credit Requirements
The Doctorate of Business Administration consists of a minimum of 62 semester credits, including 48 credits of pre-dissertation courses (consisting of 30 credits of content taken from core and specialization courses, 6 credits of research methods courses, 6 credits of research methodologies courses, 6 credits of research-preparation courses) and 14 credits of dissertation development courses.
To ensure that doctoral students make steady progress towards the completion of their dissertations, the University has developed the Dissertation Project Plan. This plan consists of a series of deliverables students produce in research methods courses and dissertation courses.
Finally, prior to conferral of the degree, the doctoral candidate must successfully defend the doctoral dissertation in an oral presentation before the Dissertation Committee.
Transfer Credits
A maximum of nine semester credits equivalent to our courses in content, credit and level and taken for graduate credit, as part of a degree or graduate certificate program, from an accredited institution may be transferred.
Doctorate of Business Administration Courses:
ACC6100: Financial Reporting
Course Description
Students taking this course will develop an understanding of the issues involved in the development of financial accounting information. Emphasis will be placed on current issues facing financial reporting and the potential impact of these issues on the business entity. (3 credits)
ACC6500: Accounting and Multinational Enterprises
Course Description
This course presents international accounting within the context of managing multinational enterprises, focusing on business strategies and how accounting applies to these strategies. Students will have the opportunity to learn about international accounting topics such as: foreign currency transactions, analysis of foreign financial statements, foreign taxation and multinational systems of control. Students will examine the key factors that influence accounting standards and practices in different countries, and how those factors impact the convergence of standards worldwide. Particular emphasis is given to culture and its unique contribution to accounting standards and practices worldwide. The course focuses on the needs of users of financial and accounting information across borders with the aim of enhancing their understanding of how to use information and make more informed decisions in an increasingly complex and dynamic international business environment. (3 credits)
IA7020: Information Security Systems and Organizational Awareness
Course Description
In this course, students will explore a set of core IS principles that will prepare students to function more efficiently and effectively as workers, managers, decision makers, and organizational leaders. This course will provide insights into challenges and changing roles of the IS professional so that students can better appreciate the role of this key individual.
IA8010: Business and Security Risk Analysis
Course Description
This course provides students with an overview of risk management principles. Methods to identify, quantify, and qualify internal and external risks to the organization are examined. Students apply these principles and methods to the current business and risk environment.
DBA8150: Information, Organization & Strategy
Course Description
Students will learn how Organizational Development is an applied field of change that uses behavioral science knowledge to increase the capacity for change, and to improve the functioning and performance of organizations. By understanding information, organization, and strategy, the student will learn that OD is more than change management. It is about learning and improving ways that make individuals, groups, organizations, and ultimately the world better off and more capable of managing change in the future. The students will engage into testable ideas and practices about how social and technical systems can coexist to produce individual satisfaction and sustainable organizational results. The relevance and suggestion of OD being incorporated using strategic perspectives are also discussed.
DBA8350: Sociology of Corporate Culture
Course Description
In this course, students will learn how the study of culture, social customs, family structure, and cultural conditions affect the market climate and corporate culture. This course also will introduce students to the theoretical concepts of ethnography as an effective research tool to assess organizational infrastructures for cultural effectiveness and sensitivity. Research examples will be reviewed so that students can learn how to analyze research results for marketing effectiveness and sensitivity.
DBA8450: Managing, Organizing and Negotiating for Value
Course Description
This course will teach students how to effectively negotiate business interactions and to understand when it is an appropriate tool to use. The course will address standard theories of negotiation and allow students to practice through simulated situations. Students will be taught how to recognize and apply strategic tactics for distributive bargaining, integrative negotiations, and multiparty negotiations. This course will also address special challenges in international negotiations.
DBA8900: Project Management
Course Description
In this course, students utilize PMI’s Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) as a framework, to apply project management concepts in the business arena. Students will learn how to develop project plans which incorporate the technical and behavioral characteristics of high performance teams.
MB6900: Organizational Management
Course Description
Students taking this course will analyze organizations and the methods that management used to plan, organize, staff, and address past or current management issues affecting businesses. This course will provide an advanced understanding of organizational behavior, organizational theory, and management practices that business leaders require in order to effectively manage an organization.
MGT8200: Human Resource Management
Course Description
Students will learn fundamental human resources management terminology and concepts. This course will challenge students to use critical thinking to demonstrate an understanding of the concepts. Students will learn accepted practices and theories in managing personnel effectively, accountability issues in making personnel decisions, financial aspects of human resources management, and emerging human resources trends in a technologically savvy market.
Pre Dissertation:
RM8500: Research Foundations
Course Description
In this course, doctoral students are introduced to the purpose and nature of primary research. Students explore the foundations and concepts of applied field research.
RM9100: Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis
Course Description
(Prerequisite: Program Core Courses completed) In this course, students compare, contrast, and evaluate qualitative and quantitative methods of data analysis for solving business problems and conducting business-related field research. In week 4, the Comprehensive and qualifying exam is released as a separate course shell, IA9130. The Exam is expected to be completed concurrently while completing RM9100 and is due in week 8.
Research Methodologies:
DBA8300: Leading Organizational Change (Qualitative)
Course Description
The intent of this course is to be a vehicle for exploration into the concepts, theories, and best practices in leading organizational change in various environments. The course focuses on the nature of change, change models, change theories, and the linkage to leadership/change theories that are necessary for success in today’s world. The intent is to provide the opportunity for learners to gain a thorough understanding of the critical steps of how to put leadership and change theories into practice in their respective fields.
MB5820: Managing Global Diversity (Quantitative)
Course Description
This course examines benefits and challenges of managing diversity in the international workplace, as well as, methods for using diversity to create a competitive advantage. Students will examine differences between countries, as well as, the internal diversity of each country. The course will examine a country’s customers, employers, employees and suppliers. Students will also focus attention on what constitutes a successful global diversity management program and successful global diverse teams. This course is part of a two-course advanced research methodology sequence DBA8300 and MB5820 that is designed to assess the student’s ability to conduct independent research under the guidance of an instructor. The MB5820 is designed to assess the student’s quantitative research skills.
MB9130-CX: Comp Exam (4 weeks) – 0 credits
Course Description
Students take the comprehensive and qualifying examination.
Phase I:
RM9150: Feasibility Problem Driven Research
Course Description
(Prerequisite: Program Core, Pre-Dissertation and Research Methodologies completed) In this course, students identify a research site, describe a plan for access to the research site, identify a problem affecting the research site that can be developed into a feasible topic area for field research, and develop a working bibliography of recent and relevant peer-reviewed research that supports the theoretical framework of the proposed topic. Students apply the concept of problem-driven research as the basis for selecting a feasible and non-trivial research topic or problem.
BR9200: Designing Solution to Business Problems
Course Description
In this course, continue to evaluate the feasibility of their proposed research site and the potential solutions to be studied. Students present their proposed project at the Dissertation Bootcamp at the end of this course.
Phase II:
BR8110: Dissertation Proposal (Chapter 1)
Course Description
Welcome to Phase II of the doctoral plan. This is the first course in Phase II of the doctoral plan. Phase II consists of the Research Preparation courses (BR8110, BR8120, BR8121, and BR8130) in which doctoral students follow a structured approach to designing their dissertation study, refining their research question/s, and developing the operational details for their study. The focus is on clearly specifying the assessment criteria and organizational requirements needed to justify a proposed improvement in professional practice, and on designing and implementing such an assessment. The goal of the entire BR course sequence (BR8110, 8120, 8121, and 8130) is to complete the dissertation proposal (Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 4.1). In this seminar, students will revisit the foundations of research methods and apply them to the modifications required for creating the required dissertation deliverables. BR8110 is the first course in which students start developing the dissertation proposal (Chapters 1-4.1). Concepts covered include: research problems, questions and hypotheses, data types, quantitative and qualitative approaches, research designs, variables and scales, data collection instruments, and sampling.
BR8120: Dissertation Proposal (Chapter 2)
Course Description
This is the second course in Phase II of the doctoral plan. Phase II consists of the Research
Preparation courses (BR8110, BR8120, BR8121, and BR8130) in which doctoral students follow a structured approach to designing their dissertation study, refining their research question/s, and developing the operational details for their study. The focus is on clearly specifying the assessment criteria and organizational requirements needed to justify a proposed improvement in professional practice, and on designing and implementing such an assessment. The goal of the entire BR course sequence (BR8110, 8120, 8121, and 8130) is to complete the dissertation proposal (Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 4.1). In this seminar, students will revisit the foundations of research methods and apply them to the modifications required for creating the required dissertation deliverables. BR8120 is the second course in which students continue developing the dissertation proposal (Chapters 1-4.1). Concepts covered include: research problems, questions and hypotheses, data types, quantitative and qualitative approaches, research designs, variables and scales, data collection instruments, and sampling.
BR8121: Dissertation Proposal (Chapter 2 Continued)
Course Description
This is the second course in Phase II of the doctoral plan. Phase II consists of the Research Preparation courses (BR8110, BR8120, BR8121, and BR8130) in which doctoral students follow a structured approach to designing their dissertation study, refining their research question/s, and developing the operational details for their study. The focus is on clearly specifying the assessment criteria and organizational requirements needed to justify a proposed improvement in professional practice, and on designing and implementing such an assessment. The goal of the entire BR course sequence (BR8110, 8120, 8121, and 8130) is to complete the dissertation proposal (Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 4.1). In this seminar, students will revisit the foundations of research methods and apply them to the modifications required for creating the required dissertation deliverables. BR8120 is the second course in which students continue developing the dissertation proposal (Chapters 1-4.1). Concepts covered include: research problems, questions and hypotheses, data types, quantitative and qualitative approaches, research designs, variables and scales, data collection instruments, and sampling. Please see the most recent version of the University of Fairfax Dissertation Handbook for all the information needed to complete the dissertation proposal (Chapters 1-4.1).
BR8130: The Dissertation Proposal (Chapters 3 and 4.1 & the IRB)
Course Description
In this seminar, students will revisit the foundations of research methods and apply them to the modifications required for creating the required dissertation deliverables. BR8130 is the fourth and final course in which students continue developing the dissertation proposal (Chapters 1-4.1). Concepts covered include: research problems, questions and hypotheses, data types, quantitative and qualitative approaches, research designs, variables and scales, data collection instruments, and sampling. The fourth and final course, BR8130, requires you to describe the context of your study and the approach and methods you will use in conducting your dissertation research. In this course, students finalize the operational requirements of the dissertation proposal and specify their proposed improvement in professional practice. Students document research procedures utilized as the final deliverable in the course.
Phase III:
DIS8110: Dissertation Manuscript (Chapters 4 and 5)
Course Description
Welcome to Phase III of the doctoral plan. This course (DIS8110) comprises the entirety of Phase III of the doctoral plan. In DIS 8110, doctoral candidates complete the approved field research and collect and analyze data according to the plan set forth in the approved in the dissertation proposal (Chapters 1-4.1) that was completed and approved in the BR course sequence during Phase II. Upon completion of the data collection, analysis and interpretation, doctoral candidates produce the final draft of the dissertation. Students requiring additional time to produce the dissertation draft re-enroll in DIS 8110 until the document is approved for Defense.
Phase IV:
DIS8130X: Final Dissertation Manuscript & Defense
Course Description
In this class, you will work with your assigned doctoral committee consisting of a Mentor/Chair and two or more faculty reviewers/readers to complete your dissertation manuscript. You work with your Mentor/Chair to solidify a solid final working draft of your entire manuscript for submission, review, and approval by your entire committee.
Phase V Final Dissertation:
Final Dissertation
Minimum credits required for Doctorate of Business Administration: 62