Applied Numeracy For Business

This unit is part of a core spine of units that all Business students will encounter as part of their learning journey. This journey takes you through the begin stage at Level 4, to the thrive stage at level 5, to succeed stage at level 6.  
This unit is designed to support your Begin stage at level 4, it develops the numeracy skills and abilities you need to succeed in your studies and in the business world. The unit is designed to support you and develop your confidence in essential mathematics and statistics techniques, it applies these techniques in business context to give you an understanding of how they are used to solve problems and make decision in business organisations.

The connected core spine of units also enables you to network with peers from across the faculty just as you will be expected to work with colleagues throughout the organisation in the world of business.¿¿¿ 

The unit aims to achieve 

• provide students with the fundamental knowledge and understanding of numeracy in business.   
• develop student confidence in a range of numerical and statistical techniques.
• enable students apply a range of numerical and statistical techniques to practical business problems.   

Evolution And Revolution Of Business

The unit is designed to provide an introduction to business and the context in which businesses operate. It explores business advances allowing students to acquire an understanding of how businesses have developed, their impact on society, and how business may progress in the future. The unit aims to achieve:

1.       The identification and examination of key developments within business and management practices and their impact on trade and commerce.

2.       Awareness of management models and approaches and their context.

3.       Identify the progress and breakthroughs achieved in various business sectors and management practices. 

4.       Awareness of revolutionary developments in business and its future potential direction.

5.       Explore new opportunities and risks that exist for business. 

Relevance: The unit explores past and future developments in business and will allow students to apply context and develop a basic level of business acumen.

Management In Practice

This unit aims to develop management skills in the following areas

1.       Management and strategy setting 

2.       Leadership and entrepreneurship

3.       Management analysis and decision making

4.       Teamwork and critical thinking

5.       Finance and Marketing

Beginning Your Professional Business Journey

This unit is part of a core spine of units that all Business students will encounter as part of their learning journey. This journey takes you from the Begin stage at Level 4, to the Thrive stage at Level 5 through to the Succeed stage at Level 6. This unit is designed to support the Begin/Thrive/Succeed stage by introducing you to the skills that you will require in order to develop your professional practice.

The connected core spine of units also enables you to network with peers from across the faculty just as you will be expected to work with colleagues throughout the organisation in the world of business.  

This unit will help you to begin your journey in Business and provide you with the support you will need to develop your professional practice.

In this unit you will be presented with Business challenges which will allow you to collaborate with peers, and provide an insight in to a professional Business environment. 

Economics For Business

This unit aims to provide you the essential understanding of concepts in microeconomics and macroeconomics, as relevant for the study of business; to develop a sound understanding of the resource allocation issues facing the business corporation and the global environment in which firms operate. It examines the main concepts of economic theory and explores the importance of these within a business context, with emphasis on developing students the capacity to apply analytical techniques to real-world problems, especially in the business context

It answers the following question:

How firms, consumers and government interact in markets and how business decision-making is shaped by internal factors such as costs and by external market conditions. How are models of markets developed and used by economists to explain the pricing of goods and services. What are the impacts of macroeconomic policies on business decision-making?

Managerial Accounting And Finance

The main aim of the unit is to enable you to understand how relevantaccounting and financial information can be harnessed to assist and inform management in planning, decision-making, performance measurement and control.

This will involve analysis of the core financial statements, the identification of relevant revenues and costs, managing limiting factors, performing analysis and providing solutions that assist and inform management at all levels. The unit also addresses the core finance theories and practice financial structuring, risk mitigation, long-term capital planning and short-term working capital management that augment the management accounting theories and techniques to inform management decision-making.

Sustainable Business Management

The central question underlying this unit asks students to analyse how business can be more sustainably manage its inter-relationship with the natural environment. The syllabus draws from the new Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA) diploma in Sustainable Business Practice. This emphasise the recognised need within business to develop the skills of managers to address the issues that this unit will cover.

The overall objectives will be two-fold:

Firstly to enable students to appreciate the dependency of business on natural resources and to recognise how aspects of business operations impact on the environment and how these can be better managed. This will help students to (i) understand how the business relationship with the environment needs to become more sustainable in order for business to survive; (ii) help students to engage with resource efficiency and environmental management practices at work and (iii) to think creatively about eco-efficient product design and innovation as young entrepreneurs. Links with the University’s Green Hub Fund, or similar, will be made as long as such funds continue, with local projects developed as part of the syllabus.

The second objective of this unit is to facilitate students’ ability to see the ‘big picture’ and the growing importance of sustainability at a strategic level. This will help students to analyse their own decision making and the complexity of sustainable business management (including ethical) decision making in theory and practice. Students will apply strategic thinking skills to analyse the inter-connectivity of ideas within the unit and to reflect on connections (competing and complimentary) with management theory and practice elsewhere in their course.

Entrepreneurship And Leadership Of Business Ventures

Evaluate the qualities of leadership and entrepreneurship required to effectively operate a range of business organisations.

To analyse the effectiveness of operations and functions within  organisations including the leadership and management of individuals, teams and stakeholders in all forms of business ventures;

Develop analytical skills appropriate to the themes, ideas and concepts within the unit;

Critically consider the internal and external operating environments relevant to small business examples and situations;

Identify a business idea and substantiate it with rigorous research and logical evaluation;

Demonstrate the appropriate competencies required for the implementation of an innovative idea;

Use methods and techniques for you to be able to evaluate your own strengths and weaknesses as potential entrepreneurs and leaders.

Marketing Planning

Understanding how to create a marketing plan is essential to any business and will help you to establish your employability. Building on the first year Principles of Marketing unit, Marketing Planning enables you to plan for defined operational marketing activities through the development of a competent and sensible marketing plan.
The unit will explore competitive analysis and gap identification, how current issues give rise to marketing problems, market opportunities and new approaches for achieving marketing objectives to help you to:

• Achieve an understanding of decisions facing marketers and the complex and dynamic environment in which these decisions need to be made
• Develop critical insight into current techniques and practices in a variety of marketing environments including both corporate and entrepreneurial
• Build your “tool box” and use your critical evaluation skills to select as situation- appropriate
• Establish realistic marketing objectives
• Explore how marketing plans are created
• Match plans to corporate objectives and strategies.

Intercultural Management In Business

Aims: The aims of this unit are to :

• To conceptualise intercultural interaction and produce frameworks for comparing cultures in international business and develop rapport management competencies in business interactions
• To undertake a detailed investigation of the changing face of management across cultures

Relevance: In this unit you will explore the application of intercultural communication theories in an international business environment. Emphasis is placed on developing intercultural interactive competence and introducing key aspects of managing behaviour and expectations across cultures. You will explore working relationships and different communication preferences with people from different cultural backgrounds, preparing you to work in an increasingly global environment.

Human Resource Management

This unit introduces you to the role and purpose of Human Resource Management in a contemporary context. People are often the most expensive and valuable resource a business can draw upon, yet individuals are diverse and complex and maximising this resource can be challenging to HR and managers. The unit provides you with a framework to explore and understand people management and development to ensure high levels of employee performance, as you develop your graduate career. The unit will be significantly underpinned by a range of research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.  

The unit aims to make the business case for the effective, efficient, ethical and professional management of human resources as real sources of competitive advantage in organisations, by situating its activities in the context of topical and relevant debates and controversies.   

 The question key to this unit is: what are the people strategies that organisations must deploy in order to maximise and sustain employee organisational performance whilst simultaneously promoting healthy and productive relationships between individuals and organisations at all levels in different types of contemporary organisations?

Strategy And Change Management

To develop independent strategic assessment skills using appropriate techniques and resources and demonstrate an understanding of and an ability to appraise strategy.

To be able to prepare a well thought out plan for change based upon analysis and to formulate, justify and evaluate a range of actions for promoting an effective and strategic approach to change.

This unit should enable you to understand the broader context of the business environment and the underlying drivers of change. That should enable you to make informed decisions once you enter the professional environment. 

Furthermore it will consider how concepts of strategy and change management overlap, and the importance of these processes to a contemporary business manager working anywhere in the world.

Digital Business Management

The majority of businesses now use information and communication technology (ICT) as part of their business model. Digital information systems increasingly impact on all aspects of the commercial and personal space. In this rapidly changing and evolving environment of digital information systems, it is vital that future managers are equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills to exploit and manage digital business opportunities and initiatives.

This unit examines the main strands of digital business management. It will focus on the applications of technology, exploring issues such as the integration of the business environment, business models, Internet marketing and electronic customer relationship management, the use of web analytics, cultural aspects, etc.

This unit aims to help you develop a holistic view of digital business. You will consider theoretical and practical applications of e-business and have to justify the use of e-business approaches.

More specifically, the unit aims to enable you to:

·        Develop your in-depth understanding of digital business. You will consider and evaluate a variety of information systems and ICT in a variety of environments and analyse the impact of these on conducting business

·        Acquaint you with issues relevant to marketing and customer relationship management in digital business

·        Understand the foundations of web analytics and use the results to modify an e-commerce website

Research and critically evaluate relevant literature in academic journals, textbooks and on appropriate websites in order to apprise and report on the societal, business and managerial impacts of 

applying digital information systems and ICT, also reflecting on ethical, legal and social aspects of digital business.

In terms of increasing your employability, the insights acquired in this unit will help you to apply information systems and e-business concepts to support you in your day-to-day work.

Management And Administration Of Operations

This unit develops your knowledge and understanding of the use of operations management in strategic and functional roles.
 
You will learn about and appraise the importance of the management of operations and processes in business and apply core concepts of operations management. You will learn how operations management concepts and approaches influence the planning of operations, product and process design, control of enterprise systems, logistics and supply chain management.
 
Using a mixture of lectures, seminar activities, case studies and independent reading, the unit will  develop an appreciation of the importance and broad reach of  operations management in all aspects of a company’s activities

International Business Management

This unit aims to:
1.    Develop your core knowledge of managing International Businesses, informed by theory and current practice.
2.    Provide you with a coherent, rigorous and contemporary view of the nature of business within an international context.
3.    Develop a systematic understanding of the complexity of the environments in which International Businesses operate as well as the impact on, and from, society, culture and governance 
4.    Enable you to carry out secondary research on foreign markets and International companies and synthesise data to recommend actions.

Specialist Project (Business Management)

You will be able to apply the research process and data construction in the business environment and construct your own knowledge during problem-solving activities at workplace. 

The unit will provide structure, support and assistance centred around the supervisor/supervisee model where the supervisor will assist you in critically evaluating and utilizing a range of appropriate literature sources, methods and techniques in order to complete the investigation.

Eventually the unit aims to encourage a critical, inquiring and rigorous mind-frame when approaching knowledge construction and understanding in your chosen field of study.

Research Methods In Business Practice

This unit enables you to understand the way you can construct meaningful data in a professional and academic context and enhances your ability to do research that is relevant, reliable and valid in the business context.

This unit enables the application of appropriate research methods and techniques within a range of business and management contexts and provides the opportunity to advance your skills in generating ideas and developing critical insights into primary and secondary sources of information.

Accounting For Business

This unit covers the fundamentals of financial and managerial accounting.

These are the essential building blocks for all students studying business degrees. This unit contains two areas of focus at the introductory level of study, namely: financial accounting and managerial accounting as follows:

Financial Accounting sessions

To develop an appreciation of elementary accounting theory and the conceptual underpinning for the reporting process;

To introduce the practice of organisational record-keeping;

To develop skills in the preparation and interpretation of the main accounting statements;

To provide an understanding of some of the difficulties and limitations in current financial reporting practice;

Managerial Accounting sessions

To develop an appreciation of elementary management accounting theory and the conceptual underpinning for the decision-making process;

To develop skills in the calculation and interpretation of absorption and marginal costing systems and budgeting processes;

To provide an understanding of some of the difficulties and limitations of the costing techniques available;

To appreciate the importance of theories and practice involved in the business decision-making process.

Foundations Of Business Management

To discuss how business organisations, develop and how functions are integrated to provide efficiency and effectiveness in delivering the business’ mission and objectives.

To identify and examine the key internal factors that impact internally upon the organisation being able to add value and deliver high performance and profitability.

To develop skills to work professionally in a business environment and improve your employability by developing high-order academic skills and self-awareness and personal development planning.

This unit will enhance your skills at an operational level so after graduation you can operate within a complex organisational setting. In addition, you will have practical skills that will enhance your employability by providing practical skills such as MS office and risk assessment skills etc. 

Principles Of Marketing

Marketing permeates every aspect of contemporary business practice and an understanding of marketing is a prerequisite for any aspiring manager. This pragmatic unit aims to develop your understanding of a range of key marketing tools, techniques and concepts used in business to consumer marketing. Theories are underpinned by practical examples and current activities from a wide range of businesses, and a wide variety of teaching approaches are used. The unit aims to help you to:

Develop an appreciation of commonly used theories and concepts that used to inform and shape decisions in business to consumer marketing.

Explore how to segment a market place and tailor offerings accordingly

Foundations Of Business Communication

To develop your body of knowledge in terms of the different management theories and approaches and to be aware of the basics of Macro and Micro economics.

To examine the external influences and environmental issues that affect organisations and their sustained development in the market place.

This unit will enhance your skills at an operational level so that after graduation you can operate within a complex organizational setting. In addition, you will have developed practical skills that will enhance your employability by providing practical skills such as MS office, basic accounting skills, risk assessment skills etc.

Law For Business Managers

Companies and their managers are often confronted with legal issues that may be crucial to the company’s future and a manager’s career. This unit aims to provide and equip future business managers with an awareness and understanding of the relevant legal framework, including that regulating company structures, risks and liabilities which will allow them to make considered use of professional legal advice.
The unit will explore what constitutes a simple contact, how contracts are formed and the rights and obligations that flow from basic contractual relations and tortious situations.
Particular emphasis will be placed on the relevance of intellectual property and brand awareness. In addition, the unit aims to consider issues that arise from contracts of employment and business disputes, mergers and acquisitions, international trade, and product liability.
Company structures and governance policy will be considered. Particular emphasis will be placed on the role of directors within a company, their executive management function, and their duties and obligations.

Intercultural Competence In Business

Aims: The aims of this unit is to :

• To define the true nature of culture through a comparison of frameworks from multidisciplinary perspectives
• To analyse the dynamic nature of behaviour and language use in different contexts
• To apply theoretical concepts in promoting intercultural competence and provide solutions in a variety of business situations.

Relevance: International business demands intercultural competence in managing differences in interpersonal interactions. This unit introduces you to the principles of intercultural communication giving you the tools and theoretical knowledge to understand the role of culture in a variety of interpersonal encounters. You will explore conceptual issues: what is culture and intercultural interaction competence; how language impacts on understanding, rapport and impression management; and the adaptation process. You will then learn to apply these concepts in business situations and to your role as a future manager in an international/multicultural organisation.

A Students' Guide To Being Curious And Competent

Starting university is an exciting but also scary time and this unit will support and develop students with the core study skills to prepare them for studying successfully now and in the future. It is expected that everyone on this first semester unit will join with varying levels of experience in studying within an educational environment and that some will be returning to studies after a considerable break. There will also be an interesting mix of different career aspirations and a variety of different and valuable life skills and work experience to share with peers.

This unit will aim for students to become confident, competent, credible, creative, and curious learners who have a clear vision of opportunities available to them so that they can move into the first year of higher education as active and competent learners.  

Students will take control of their own skills journey with an individual learning plan, where they will develop and stretch themselves through a process of self-discovery and experimentation.  The supportive approach of this unit is to ensure students can experiment with different time management techniques, note taking methods and learning styles.  Students will also gain the knowledge and skills to navigate the key university systems, processes, procedures, and support systems available to students. A core aspiration of the unit is for students to be able to take responsibility for their own learning because they have the base skills to know how they need to study in order to succeed.

This unit will energise students for the future and provide a major step forward towards the kind of future they envisage for themselves. 

Upon completion of this unit students will be equipped and prepared to progress their studies successfully and have the confidence to reach out for support both within and outside of the university. 

Developing A Business Radar

In this second semester of study students will be feeling more confident in the university environment and will have the core study skills in place so that they are in a position to stretch and challenge themselves.  

This unit will aim for students to continue their journey towards being confident, competent, credible, creative and curious learners by offering the opportunity for them to explore how to continue to challenge themselves through further self discovery and experimentation. Students will be able to continue to expand their horizons and be encouraged to look to the wider world so that they can begin to develop a business radar.

A core aspiration of the unit is for students to investigate how the business world is ever changing and how organisations have to be agile in order to survive and thrive. Students will demonstrate a curiosity of business contexts and be encouraged to draw inspiration from the business world and to investigate how to fulfil their aspirational goals within this world.

Credibility And Your Professional Future

In the first semester units students gained a clear vision of the opportunities available to them so that they can move into the first year of higher education as active and competent learners. In this second semester of study students will continue their journey towards being confident, competent, credible, creative and curious learners by developing a wider perspective on skills to succeed and demonstrate credibility to future employers. 

This unit will aim for students to develop what it means to be a credible students and how students can learn how to be trusted to participate in a variety of learning communities and to adhere to professional codes of conduct.  

Students will take control of what professionalism means to their chosen career pathway, and continue to develop their curious mind set on what it means to study and work within a professional community.

The approach of this unit is to ensure students gain the knowledge and skills to maintain their academic integrity and successfully navigate the professional world of business.  Throughout this unit students will build their own academic glossary to take with them on their learning journey.

Students will move onto higher levels of education fully understanding ethical integrity and the rigours of fulfilling academic codes of practice.  

Aspiring To Succeed

As a new student you may have several thoughts buzzing through your mind, you may be wondering if you have made the right choice on embarking on this learning journey, you may be thinking will this course help me achieve my dream job that I desire? Whatever the scenario may be, this unit will help you have a clear vision, by taking you on an adventure of exploring what your aspirations are and what you need to do to achieve them, so that the world of work can be an oyster in your own hands. 

This unit will assist students to become a confident, competent, credible, creative, and curious learners who have a clear vision of opportunities available to them in the world of graduate work and the skills needed to enable them to follow and achieve their dreams. 

It will encourage you to appreciate the different sectors and roles available to work in and support you to understand the skills that are needed in different job roles. This unit will give you the chance to review your job interests against your current skill set and highlight what you need to develop or improve on. It will set you with the foundation that you need to know about employability skills and what is out there in the world beyond your current job role and how your desires and aspirations can be achieved. 

This unit will run alongside the other first semester unit with the aim of providing an insight into graduate job roles and linking it to student aspirations. You will find that while studying this unit you will grow as learner and develop resilience and be stretched and challenged on the way of exploring your aspirations and ways of meeting them by developing the skills and planning to develop those skills. This will help you with further studies and the world of work. 

English Language Foundation

This unit focuses on your ability to understand and use the English language accurately when you read, speak, listen and write. We will concentrate on the English you need for undergraduate level study in your chosen subject area, covering grammar, subject area vocabulary and the four language skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking.

A key element of the unit is the grammar of the language, and particularly the verb tense system in English, because your ability to use the verb tense system accurately will be extremely important when you come to write essays and reports. This unit will focus in particular on the grammar of the language.

We will also focus on reading, listening and speaking skills in the context of your chosen subject area. Beginning with short texts, we will practise each skill and practise it again, so that gradually you will see, hear and feel that your command of the language is improving. 

A recurring focus of the unit will be your acquisition of 'learner autonomy'. This means your ability to acquire the language yourself, without needing a teacher's help. This is important because from next year you will not have an English teacher to help you. So we will consider and practise strategies to help you gain confidence in your own ability to increase your knowledge of and ability to use the language, including for instance guessing meaning of difficult words, deciding which words are important in a text, recognising differences between formal and informal language, and other strategies, so that as the first semester continues, you begin to feel more confident in your use and experience with the English Language.

Academic Skills Foundation

When you begin your undergraduate level studies, you will be expected to have knowledge of and ability to use a large range of 'study skills'. You will also be expected to have some knowledge of the subject area you will  be studying. This unit deals with both of these aspects of your preparation for undergraduate level study. 

All of the academic skills are practised in English, so you will use your developing acquisition of the language from the partner unit 'English Language Foundation' to practise and gain mastery of these skills. You will also use your language and study skills as you learn the foundation of your subject area, putting the skills into practice as you learn.

Developing English Language Skills

This unit builds on the progress you made during its partner semester 1 unit 'English Language Foundation' and increasing your level from that which you had achieved by the end of semester 1. 

We will recycle the tense system in English and other elements of the grammar system, but you will  now learn how to use other aspects of the grammar, including the passive voice, as well as linking words and phrases and devices which enable you to write longer sentences but retain grammatical accuracy. 

You will notice that we gradually introduce more specialist language that you need in preparation for your degree and we will expect you to use and develop the skills that you gained in the previous units so that you are able to work more independently.

Academic Skills Development

This unit builds on the skills learnt and practised in its partner semester 1 unit 'Foundation Academic Skills'. We will add more skills to the list, including summarizing and synthesising, argumentation, critical thinking and referencing and citation skills, as well as several others and practise and test them in the same way as with the semester 1 unit.

We will also investigate the research skill and you will learn how to prepare a research proposal and conduct a literature review, and how to plan a research project, learning about the research tools available and how they can be used to conduct research in your chosen field. 

You will continue to broaden your knowledge of key current issues and theory in your chosen subject area, and apply the critical thinking and argumentation skills you acquire in this unit to argue for and against propositions you have studied in the form of in both essays and presentations and in seminar situations, ensuring that you are ready to step up to your chosen undergraduate course with a base level of subject area knowledge from which to continue your academic development as you progress to level 4 study.

Professional Practice Year (Business)

The aim of this unit is to provide the opportunity to undertake career-related experience which will allow you to understand and undertake responsibilities in the work place at an appropriate level and use the opportunity to assess your readiness to undertake a career in your chosen field.