Course description

This module encourages Postgraduate students to develop an analysis and evaluation of research methodology. Students will develop a critical awareness of how knowledge in the theory and practice of management is constructed, developed and codified. A range of research strategies, designs and methods will be examined and their application to business and management research will be evaluated. Students will engage in the practical activity of designing research methods. This module provides the requisite knowledge and skills to successfully plan and implement an independent research project.

Learning outcomes

On completion of this module, the student will be able to:

1. Apply epistemological theories to the interpretation of management knowledge and discourse.
2. Identify and define researchable business and management-related issues
3. Critically evaluate published research and literature in relation to a chosen area of study.
4. Evaluate the wide range of research designs and methods available to the management and business researcher, and develop competency in the effective application of these methods.
5. Develop the skills necessary for managing the development, implementation and monitoring of a research project.
6. Devise a research proposal, suitable for a major management-related project or a Master's dissertation.
   

Course description

Learning outcomes

1. Successfully complete a self-managed and extended piece of work, requiring independent thought and initiative.
2. Generate specific and feasible dissertation objectives appropriate for Postgraduate studies.
3. Critically review the literature that constitutes the existing context of an area of investigation.
4. Select, justify and apply appropriate methods for information gathering and research
5. Critically analyse and evaluate relevant data.
6. Draw conclusions and make recommendations related to the presented analysis.
   

Course description

This module is designed to provide business managers with a thorough grounding in a variety of financial and management accounting techniques that they may experience within a practical context. Students will be introduced to published financial statements and given the opportunity to interpret the statements and critically evaluate their usefulness for measuring performance. The module includes coverage of strategic management accounting and the construction of computerised financial planning models. Students will examine the formulation and evaluation of the outcome of active budgets. Linked to the budget process is the knowledge of cost behaviour and, in consequence, the module will discuss the nature of costs and introduce students to costing concepts and techniques. Finally students will cover aspects of financial management which will include cost of capital calculations and discounted cashflow techniques applied to investment appraisal. Value-based management and various methods of valuing the entire equity of a company will be explored and evaluated and the link to company performance will be demonstrated.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the module students will be able to:

1. Critically review the qualitative and quantitative content of corporate annual reports and the usefulness of the financial statements.
2. Compute and critically evaluate corporate financial performance using ratio analysis
3. Analyse budgetary processes, structures and concepts.
4. Formulate and construct budgets within various business settings.
5. Describe and analyse the different elements of cost and use of a range of costing systems.
6. Use standard costing and variance analysis to evaluate budgetary performance and control.
7. Calculate cost of capital and use this to appraise alternative investment proposals using discounted cash flow techniques
8. Compute and evaluate the entire equity in a company using different methods of valuation.br />

Course description

Managers must plan for the future, but they regularly face the unexpected. Managers have to make decisions and execute them with some degree of certainty, yet they expect that the unexpected, and sometimes the undesirable, will probably happen. The reality of management is that work organisations behave in a manner that is complex, changeable, political and difficult to control. Behaviour in work organisation is ostensibly rational, but is often guided more by emotions and affect. Effective managers seek to understand organisational behaviour, and use this understanding to help avoid pitfalls and to deal with those that still occur. This module will help learners to make sense of work organisations and help them manage salient aspects of organisational life. The aim of the module is to balance critical analysis with practical learning. This is a challenge, but people who have to ‘manage’ team-working, performance, change, diversity and the like, should also be able to see beyond taken-for-granted notions about these things.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the module, students will be able to:

1. Critically analyse salient aspect of organisational behaviour
2. Evaluate the impact of salient aspect of organisational behaviour on business effectiveness
3. Apply relevant concepts, models and theories to the management of organisational behaviour
   

Course description

This module adopts a synthetical approach, examining how aspects of marketing, human resource management, finance and managerial leadership impact upon the formulation and implementation of strategy. The module recognises a strong link with operational capability, based on existing resources, and the achievement of longer-term goals and objectives. Within the module, the quality of management decision-making in the planning process is emphasised: firstly from a knowledge base of planning, auditing tools and techniques; and secondly from classical and contemporary aspects of strategic planning. Within the module, a clear emphasis is given to developing and enhancing students understanding of operational capability, followed by the application of those tools and techniques from an implementation perspective.

Within the module, and drawing on essential planning data, we are particularly concerned with the way in which decisions are made and on data availability. The quality of data, and the way in which it is manipulated from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives, is seen as being integral with managerial decision making. In both public and private sector organisations, implementation, or 'making-it-happen', follows on from and integrates with the assessment and critical evaluation of internal and external influences as they variously impact upon goal-related operational and strategic planning. Due to the frequently complex and dynamic issues associated with globalisation and outsourcing, the module seeks, through the use of active case work, to explore strategic planning and implementation issues that incorporate an international perspective.

Learning outcomes

1. Critically compare and contrast key elements of contemporary strategic management, its planning and implementation.
2. Appreciate the practical issues and problems of corporate strategy so that the compromises and constraints of real organisations are considered.
3. Develop an appraisal of major underpinning models and theories with regard to both to their applicability and to their limitations.
4. Formulate (or synthesise) strategic implementation plans that take into account operational capability, competitive 'market dynamics' and corporate aims and objectives.
   

Course description

This module examines the management of organisational projects. It will begin by considering the range of different types of projects within contemporary businesses and organisations. Students will develop an understanding of the life-cycle of projects, and gain an ability to manage the stages within this cycle: from definition, planning and scheduling; through budgeting, monitoring and control; to auditing and closure. Particular emphasis will be placed upon collaborative projects. Students will: examine case studies of project management; learn relevant concepts, models and theories; and apply learning to the management a real-life project. The module provides students with an opportunity to develop key transferable skills, and to apply reflective practice to personal and professional development in project management.

Learning outcomes

1. Align the objectives and management of an individual project to organisational goals and strategy
2. Develop and apply the ability to manage a project from conception to closure
3. Construct an effective risk management strategy for project success
4. Manage the collaborative processes essential for project success

Course description

This module is designed to provide business managers with a thorough grounding in a variety of financial and management accounting techniques that they may experience within a practical context. Students will be introduced to published financial statements and given the opportunity to interpret the statements and critically evaluate their usefulness for measuring performance. The module includes coverage of strategic management accounting and the construction of computerised financial planning models. Students will examine the formulation and evaluation of the outcome of active budgets. Linked to the budget process is the knowledge of cost behaviour and, in consequence, the module will discuss the nature of costs and introduce students to costing concepts and techniques. Finally students will cover aspects of financial management which will include cost of capital calculations and discounted cashflow techniques applied to investment appraisal. Value-based management and various methods of valuing the entire equity of a company will be explored and evaluated and the link to company performance will be demonstrated.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the module students will be able to:

1. Critically review the qualitative and quantitative content of corporate annual reports and the usefulness of the financial statements.
2. Compute and critically evaluate corporate financial performance using ratio analysis
3. Analyse budgetary processes, structures and concepts.
4. Formulate and construct budgets within various business settings.
5. Describe and analyse the different elements of cost and use of a range of costing systems.
6. Use standard costing and variance analysis to evaluate budgetary performance and control.
7. Calculate cost of capital and use this to appraise alternative investment proposals using discounted cash flow techniques
8. Compute and evaluate the entire equity in a company using different methods of valuation.br />

Course description

This module enables students to understand and assess the process of marketing management and how this fits into the organisation’s overall management and planning process. The emphasis will be on the role that marketing management can play in implementing and controlling the marketing mix processes. Both for-profit and non-profit organisations will be considered.

Learning outcomes

On completion of this module, the student will be able to:

1. Demonstrate how organisational goals and strategy may be met through market planning and control.
2. Construct and develop marketing plans utilising all elements of the marketing mix.
3. Critically assess and evaluate the application ofmarketing concepts, models and theories.
4. Communicate the outcomes of the market planning process effectively
   

Course description

This module focuses on four main themes: organisational theory and perspectives; the external business environment; tools and techniques needed to evaluate the likely impact of external influences on the organisation; the legislative context of organisational and operational behaviour. Module participants are encouraged to develop a critical instinct for key factors which influence their own (or other) organisation: research and development, advances in technology, competitive forces, the economy, the regulatory environment, and so on. Critical analysis of these themes leads to a greater awareness that these and other key forces variously represent opportunities and threats to organisations and their operations.

Business organisations, and not-for-profit organisations, operate in a dynamic, complex, interconnected world that requires an understanding of costs, market, marketing and the factors that influence consumer behaviour. These factors constitute another element of study in this module.

Learning outcomes

On completion of the module students will be able to:

1. Analyse and evaluate environmental impact on the organisation using models such as SWOT, PESTLE and Porter’s Five Forces.
2. Analyse organizations as a combination of resources and competencies where context (e.g. public/private sector, service/industry sector) is significant.
3. Analyse the role and reflect on the purpose of strategic environmental analysis within the broader context of the strategic management process.
4. Evaluate and apply theoretical models and a range of strategic analysis techniques to contemporary business environments.