What you will learn

  • How to design your communication so that you enhance your audience’s understanding.
  • The power of blending logic, emotions, and your personal presence to increase your persuasive abilities.
  • Best practices for effectively handling the complex information flows in programs and projects.
  • How to use coordinated management of meaning tools to build program or project teams, negotiate with stakeholders, and convince executives to support your programs/projects.

Program Overview

You may have heard that “90% of a project manager’s work is communication.” Well that’s even more true as a program manager. But do you know why communication is so important and what is good communication for making projects successful?

If you have even a little project management experience, you know communication is no longer just the transfer of information and giving directives to project managers and project teams. Modern communication theory is based upon creating shared understanding – “the coordinated management of meaning.” And nowhere is it more important to manage and coordinate meaning – and understanding – than in programs and projects.

Earn up to 50 PDUs as you progress in this professional certificate, you will learn:

  • How to communicate for understanding instead of just giving information.
  • What Aristotle taught us about effective communication and why his 2,000-year old advice is still vital to persuasive communication.
  • How the “Coordinated Management of Meaning” can help you develop and lead high-performing project teams and programs.
  • How you can better manage the flow of program or project communication, as the information hub on your project.
  • How to master both emotional intelligence and cultural intelligence when communicating with your project managers, teams and stakeholders.
  • How to negotiate effectively using hidden emotional and cultural subtexts.How to effectively communicate online with a distributed workforce by being “virtually present.”
  • Approaches for communicating for understanding as the foundation of being a coaching, situational leadership, and servant leadership program/project manager.
  • To use storytelling as a powerful risk management tool.

This certificate program is not just about theory; I also give the working project manager aspiring to program management practical tips and tools to help them improve their most important skill: communication. You’ve worked hard to gain the Project Management Institute, Inc’s (PMI) Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) certification or similar project management certification. And, you have mastered the PMBOK guide (“A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge) communication knowledge area while preparing for the PMP exam.

These workplace-tested tips and tools are ready to use today as you manage your programs and projects whether you have project management training in traditional or agile project management (PMI-ACP). Even certified scrum masters can benefit from this online course Along with gaining professional development units (PDU), upgrade your project management training with the power skill of communication.

Courses in this program

1
Effective Communication for Program and Project Stakeholders and Teams

Course Details
Go beyond the communication methods you learned in the project management training. Learn how to structure your program and project communications for the most effective understanding by your stakeholders, project managers, and project teams.

2
Persuasion and Presence for Program and Project Managers

Course Details
Logic is not enough. Program managers need presence and to move stakeholders emotionally. Project professionals only follow people they both respect and trust. Learn to apply Aristotle’s persuasion triad to create successful communication that persuades.

3
Managing Conflicts on Programs and Projects with Cultural and Emotional Intelligence

Course Details
Great program managers understand and heal bad communication habits and conflicts that arise within project teams and stakeholders. Learn how by leveraging emotional and cultural intelligence using the Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM).

4
Designing Project Information Hubs for Program and Project Performance

Course Details
The most valuable resource on a project is timely information. Why? Because information changes the decisions that determine project outcomes. Learn the planning skills and techniques needed to manage information across complex programs or projects.

5
Storytelling That Delivers Program and Project Outcomes

Course Details
Storytelling is how leaders lead other leaders. Tell your project’s story to inspire your project teams, encourage your stakeholders, and gain customer commitment to project and program success.

Meet your instructor

Bill Brantley

Dr. Brantley is a certified training manager and certified in creating leadership development programs. He is the program manager for the Career Coaching Program at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. He’s served as a trainer for over two decades, designing courses completely from the ground-up. He concurrently held positions as an adjunct college professor at UMD and the University of Louisville (Kentucky). There he designed and delivered courses in a wide variety of topics, consistently using leading-edge techniques such as microlearning and flipped classroom to create courses and training programs. In 2019, Dr. Brantley was recognized as an Emerging Training Leader by Training Magazine for his work in the Enterprise Training Division - specifically the recovery and redesign of the Supervisory Certificate Program (SCP) training he developed at USPTO. The Emerging Training Leader is a national award given out annually to the top 25 training leaders in industry, government, and the nonprofit sector. Dr. Brantley’s relentless focus on ensuring delivery of benefits and incorporation of modern course pedagogy.

What you will learn

  • Understand and apply mathematical and statistical principles underlying key quantitative concepts
  • Understand the fundamentals of Accounting and Finance
  • Fundamental analytical skills, including presenting and summarizing data and how to make data-based decisions
  • Quantitative methods that will help you in your career and in an MBA program should you choose to pursue one

Program Overview

Gain a solid foundation in essential quantitative and analytical skills to succeed as a business professional and prepare yourself to pursue an MBA.

In this Professional Certificate program, you will learn key quantitative and analytical skills needed to succeed as a business professional. In the era of big data, it is vital for business professionals to understand what the numbers say, whether it be analyzing financial reports or presenting data in an effective way.

The subjects covered in this program not only provide foundational business skills but also prepare you to further your business studies and pursue an MBA, where you can build upon these skills and gain theoretical and practical training at a graduate-level to better understand general business management functions.

Each course offers a personalised learning plan that highlights the areas you need to focus on to give you a competitive edge within your company or in an MBA program.

Guided by experts in the field, you will use real world examples, interactive exercises and the support of your peers to learn the fundamentals of:

  • Accounting
  • Finance
  • Maths
  • Data Analysis

This Professional Certificate program is targeted at:

  • Professionals preparing to or already working in a business environment who want to enhance their quantitative business skills.
  • Learners who are ready to embark on or considering an MBA program and want to identify and remove any gaps in their quantitative and analytical skills to ensure they are prepared to succeed in the program.

 

The “PreMBA Essentials for Professionals” Professional Certificate program will prepare you for success in an MBA at an institution such as Imperial Business School by helping you gain the fundamental skills you need to advance your studies. Imperial College Business School offers a world-class Global Online MBA program and we invite you to visit their website to learn more.

Courses in this program

1
Accounting Essentials

Course Details
An introduction to the financial and management accounting skills needed to succeed in both MBA study and in business.

2
Finance Essentials

Course Details
Discover how to use fundamental finance tools in both management and MBA learning contexts and understand common financial situations faced in everyday life.

3
Maths Essentials

Course Details
Discover and acquire the fundamental maths skills that you will need to use while studying an MBA program, from algebra to differentiation and geometric series.

4
Data Analysis Essentials

Course Details
Discover and acquire the quantitative data analysis skills that you will typically need to succeed on an MBA program. This course will cover the fundamentals of collecting, presenting, describing and making inferences from sets of data.

Meet your instructors

Robert Kosowski

Robert is Associate Professor in the Finance Group of Imperial College Business School, a research fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) and an associate member of the Oxford-Man Institute of Quantitative Finance at Oxford University. He is also on the editorial board of the Journal of Alternative Investments and a member of AIMA's research committee. Robert holds a BA (First Class Honours) and MA in Economics from Trinity College, Cambridge University, and an MSc in Economics and PhD from the London School of Economics.

Catarina Sismeiro

Dr. Catarina Sismeiro is an Associate Professor at Imperial College Business School where she teaches on the Full-Time and Executive MBA programs. Catarina’s research has been published in The Journal of Marketing Research, Management Science, and The International Journal of Research in Marketing and has won several awards. Previously she was an Assistant Professor at Marshall Business School, University of Southern California. She holds a PhD in Management from the Anderson School, UCLA, and a Licenciatura in Management from Faculdade de Economia do Porto (Portugal).

David Lefevre

David is the Director of the EdTech Lab at Imperial College Business School. He is also the course leader on the Business School’s Pre-study module in Maths. David holds an MSc in Computing Science and a PhD in the field of instructional systems from Imperial College London and, perhaps most importantly, a BSc in Mathematics from the University of East Anglia (UEA). David and his EdTech Lab team launched the Global Online MBA program in 2015 and have received awards along the way including a Gold award at the IMS Learning Impact awards in 2010 and an Effective Practice Award at the Sloan-C Blended Learning Conference in 2011.
Jeremy Fernando - Pearson Advance

Jeremy Fernando

Jeremy is a Senior Teaching Fellow, specialising in Financial and Management Accounting, and a Chartered Accountant. Previously he worked for the accounting firm Kidsons Impey; working for a variety of clients including Arsenal FC, L’Oreal, Nissan and the NHS. Jeremy has also taught at the University of London (Birkbeck College), City University, Kingston University, London School of Economics and Helsinki School of Economics. Jeremy received his BA in Accounting from the University of Kent, and later obtained his Post Graduate Certificate in Education.

Program Overview

Learn how to drive quality and productivity programs by mastering the powerful analytical and management tools of the Six Sigma methodology and the revolutionary concepts of Lean Management.

Six Sigma and Lean enable organizations to measure and analyze production processes, to eliminate waste and to evolve their management structures in order to motivate employees and improve quality and productivity.

The series of courses is provided in collaboration with the TUM School of Management Executive Education Center and the Chair of Production and Supply Chain Management.

In this Professional Certificate program, you will learn the fundamentals of the Six Sigma methodology and Lean Manufacturing. You will learn the DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) process improvement cycle and examine how the principles of Lean production improve quality and productivity and enable organizational transformation.

You will be challenged to learn both the quantitative and qualitative methods associated with Six Sigma and Lean, including:

  • problem definition;
  • baseline performance measurement and process capability;
  • measurement system analysis;
  • root cause analysis;
  • regression and correlation;
  • design of experiments;
  • control charts implementation.

 

Both descriptive and inferential statistics will be applied and all concepts are exercised using online problems and interactive exercises and case studies.

A TUM Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt Certificate will help you advance your career, increase your salary earnings and improve your organization through your mastery of quality skills.

Upon successful completion of this program, learners will earn the TUM Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt certificate, confirming mastery of Lean Six Sigma theory to a Green Belt level. The Six Sigma material is based on the American Society for Quality (www.asq.org) Six Sigma Body of Knowledge up to a Green Belt level. The Lean Production course material is based on the TUM School of Management’s course in Lean Operations

The Professional Certificate program is designed as preparation for a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certification project. If you are interested in obtaining both the TUM Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt and Green Belt certificates.

NOTE: In order to achieve the TUM Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt Certificate it is MANDATORY to complete all 3 courses mentioned below, pursuing all 3 Verified Certificates. Then, automatically, you will earn the Professional Certificate. Courses can be taken in any order, but since Six Sigma: Analyze, Improve, Control builds on the material learned in Six Sigma: Define and Measure, we recommend you to take Define and Measure first.

Program Class List

1
Six Sigma: Define and Measure

Course Details
An introduction to the Six Sigma methodology and the DMAIC cycle for process improvement with a focus on the Define and Measure phases, including basic statistics for understanding sampling plans and calculating process capability.

2
Six Sigma: Analyze, Improve, Control

Course Details
Learn how to statistically analyze process data to determine the root cause and propose solutions for process problems, to implement quality management tools, such as 8D and the 5 Whys, and to understand the concept of Design for Six Sigma (DFSS).

3
Lean Production

Course Details
Learn how to apply key elements of Lean Production, from minimizing inventory and reducing setup times, to using 5S and Kaizen, in order to improve quality and productivity in your workplace.

Meet your instructors

Martin Grunow

Martin Grunow is a professor of production and supply chain management at Technische Universität München and an adjunct professor at Technical University Denmark, where he previously held a professorship in Operations Management. Earlier, he worked at Technical University Berlin and in the R&D department of Degussa, a multinational company producing special chemicals. His research interests are in production and logistics management with a focus on the process, electronics and automotive industries. He has coauthored more than 100 publications amongst others in International Journal of Production Economics, International Journal of Production Research, European Journal of Operational Research, CIRP Annals, Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, and OR Spectrum. For the latter two journals, he also acts as an editor. Martin Grunow has been on the program committee and track organizer of more than 30 international conferences and is an associate member of The International Academy of Production Engineering.

Holly Ott

Holly Ott is a professor of Production Management and IT Systems at the University of Rosenheim Applied Sciences and Management, a senior lecturer at the Technical University of Munich and an adjunct professor at Singapore Management University (Singapore), IE Business School (Madrid) and Syracuse University (New York). She holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Virginia and has worked for twelve years in quality and supply chain management in the USA, Europe and Asia for Siemens, Motorola, IBM and Infineon. Her work has been in the areas of device simulation, electrical and reliability testing, and quality and supply chain management. She holds a International Association for Six Sigma Certification (IASSC) Certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (ICGB) and is a member of the American Society for Quality (asq.org). Holly is the program chair for the Singapore Semiconductor Industry Association's Supply Chain Forum and academic director of the TUM Case Centre.

Program Endorsements

Six Sigma and Lean are key to quality and productivity through its powerful combination of best practice tools and data-driven methodologies in a structured way. At Infineon, aspiration towards continuous improvement and problem solving is deeply anchored in our company culture. It enhances the performance of our products, processes and services in terms of quality and stability. Our method to support continuous improvement and problem solving is called Thinking Six Sigma & Lean. This unique improvement methodology is based on the Six Sigma DMAIC flow and enriched with 8D tools and Lean methods to improve the quality and efficiency of our business processes. “Thinking Six Sigma & Lean” is deployed at all production sites and a cornerstone of our global quality excellence program to serve the automotive and security industries. The edX Professional Program offered by the Technical University of Munich Six Sigma and Lean: Quantitative Tools for Quality and Productivity is one of the best programs available for developing quality professionals that know how to solve problems and can apply the Six Sigma and Lean toolset. The program provides solid Six Sigma and Lean fundamentals up to a Green Belt level, reinforced with practice and test questions and provides real depth on how these tools are applied in industry, using case studies and real examples from participants.

Stephan Tente , Principal Continuous Improvement & Problem Solving

Six Sigma and Lean are key to quality and productivity through its powerful combination of best practice tools and data-driven methodologies in a structured way. At Infineon, aspiration towards continuous improvement and problem solving is deeply anchored in our company culture. It enhances the performance of our products, processes and services in terms of quality and stability. Our method to support continuous improvement and problem solving is called Thinking Six Sigma & Lean. This unique improvement methodology is based on the Six Sigma DMAIC flow and enriched with 8D tools and Lean methods to improve the quality and efficiency of our business processes. “Thinking Six Sigma & Lean” is deployed at all production sites and a cornerstone of our global quality excellence program to serve the automotive and security industries. The edX Professional Program offered by the Technical University of Munich Six Sigma and Lean: Quantitative Tools for Quality and Productivity is one of the best programs available for developing quality professionals that know how to solve problems and can apply the Six Sigma and Lean toolset. The program provides solid Six Sigma and Lean fundamentals up to a Green Belt level, reinforced with practice and test questions and provides real depth on how these tools are applied in industry, using case studies and real examples from participants.

Stephan Tente , Principal Continuous Improvement & Problem Solving

What You Will Learn:

  • Fundamental knowledge of computer hardware and operating systems.
  • Understand modern operating systems structure.
  • Use the principles of computational thinking.
  • Gain knowledge of state-of-the-art in network protocols, architectures, and applications.
  • Learn the basic of Python programming.

This program introduces learners to the basics of computer programming and computer systems, including hardware, operating systems and computer networking.

No prior knowledge of programming or computer systems is required.

Basics of Computing & Programming outline:

  1. Positional number systems
  2. Hello world
  3. Numerical data types and arithmetic expressions
  4. Branching statements
  5. Iterative/Loop statements
  6. Strings & Functions
  7. Array-based sequences/Lists

Introduction to Networking outline:

  1. Computer networking overview
  2. Computer networking architecture: application, transport, network and link layers
  3. Network Security overview

Computer Hardware & Operating Systems outline:

  1. Fundamentals of system hardware
  2. Introduction to OS concepts
  3. OS processes and threads
  4. Thread concurrency and deadlocks
  5. Memory management

Courses List:

1
Computer Hardware and Operating Systems

Course Details
This is a self-paced course that provides an Introduction to Computing and Programming.

2
Introduction to Networking

Course Details
This is a self-paced course that provides an Introduction to Networking.

3
Computer Hardware and Operating Systems

Course Details
This is a self-paced course that provides an Introduction to Computer Hardware and Operating Systems.

Meet Your Instructors:

Aspen Olmsted

Adjunct Professor at New York University Tandon School of Engineering Aspen Olmsted is an adjunct faculty member in the New York University Tandon School of Engineering in the Computer Science and Engineering department. Aspen's fulltime job is as an assistant professor and Graduate program director at the College of Charleston. He obtained a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from The University of South Carolina. Before his academic career, he was CEO of Alliance Software Corporation. Alliance Software developed N-Tier enterprise applications for the performing arts and humanities market. Dr Olmsted’s research focus is on the development of algorithms and architectures for distributed enterprise solutions that can guarantee security and correctness while maintaining high-availability. In his Secure Data Engineering Lab, Aspen mentors over a dozen graduate and undergraduate students each year

Itay Tal

Industry Assistant Professor at New York University Tandon School of Engineering Tel-Aviv University 2005 M.Sc., Computer Science Tel-Aviv University 1998 B.Sc., Computer Science and Mathematics

Rafail Portnoy

Adjunct Professor at New York University Tandon School of Engineering Raf Porntoy is currently a Senior Vice President of Technology at Anti-Defamation League, being responsible for Applicaitons, Tech Operations, Marketing technology and IT Secuirty of this premier international civil rights organization. Prior to ADL Raf was a Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Safe Horizon, Inc., largest social services agency in US, focused on issues of domestic violence and child abuse. Prior to Safe Horizon he was a founding CIO at the SUNY Global Center, an international think tank, focused on issues of globalization and commerce. And prior to the SUNY Global Center Raf had a successful technical and managerial career at International Business Machines (IBM), where he built global applications and networks for almost 100 clients. He is a graduate of Brooklyn Polytechnic University and an Executive Mentor @ Columbia University Executive Management of Technology Program. He is happily married with 2 beautiful kids.

Daniel Katz-Braunschweig

Senior Lecturer at New York University Tandon School of Engineering Iona College Master of Science