Accounting for Decision Makers

15 credits
Autumn teaching, year 1

This module is designed as an introduction for non-financial managers to comparative international accounting, and financial reporting and analysis, within the context of converging standards.

No prior knowledge of accounting procedures is assumed or required.

Accounting, Organisations and Society

15 credits
Spring teaching, year 1

The major aims of this module are several. The first is to increase your knowledge of controversies over what constitutes legitimate accounting knowledge and practice, research methods, its social role, and how practice and policy, research, and methodological assumptions are intertwined. The second is to raise awareness of how and why accounting impacts constituencies beyond organisations and their management, and to evaluate possibilities of its reform in the public interest. The module is research led, entails considerable self-reflection and guided self-study, and is interdisciplinary in nature.

The module commences with an intensive lecture series (weeks one to four) that will outline why and how accounting research has adopted a variety of conflicting social science theories and methods, detail their fundamental assumptions and findings, and illustrate how they raise or cast fresh light on important issues on the role and effects of accounting upon individuals, organisations and society.

The second half of the module (weeks five to eight) will be less structured as you will embark on research essays chosen from a variety of topics drawn up by the course convenor. These may change over time due to faculty interests and expertise, your choices and preferences, and emergence of new issues. An indicative list would include: does accounting merit the status of a profession? Have accounting practices contributed to the rise of an `audit society'? Can accounting address issues of ecology and sustainability? Are the structures and processes of standard setting in the public interest? Are the assumptions of modern finance theory and positive accounting theory justifiable and why have they become influential and to what effect? Have accounting reforms in poor countries enhanced their economic development? Can accounting provide `a true and fair view'? To what extent is culture, either nationally or locally, important for the design and operation of accounting systems? Why is accounting integral to `New Public Sector' management and has its effects met the aims of policy-makers?

For the workshops you will be grouped according to common interests in a topic. The workshops will be relatively unstructured and devoted to refining individual essay titles/topics, advice on literature and searches, and helping you construct a suitable essay that should: identify and review a selection of significant research articles on their topic, compare and contrast their assumptions about ontology, epistemology, and involvement in social change; which topics they investigate, and their empirical findings on these and common topics, clearly justify and identify the methodological criteria adopted by the writer to evaluate this work and make reasoned and considered choices and recommendations for changed practices and policies or justify why they are unnecessary.

Change and Leadership

15 credits
Autumn teaching, year 1

Change and Leadership will provide you with the theoretical grounding to understand and appraise different modes of organisational change, their drivers, the responses of staff and other stakeholders, and the role of leaders in leading and responding to change. The relevance of theory will be explored in contexts including cultural change, restructuring and mergers/acquisitions. The module examines the principles of managing change at a number of levels building progressively from individual change, to team change and organisational change up to change at the meso-macro level in complex economic systems (eg change of sectoral or even national importance). The distinctive roles for leaders and approaches to leadership will be explored in relation to these levels.

Within the continuum, reflecting positioning of the module between organisational behaviour and strategy, topics to be addressed will cover six main areas including: 

• Behavioural, cognitive, humanistic and psychodynamic theories of individual change 
• Teams: their constitution, internal dynamics and role in organisational change
• Historical approaches to organisational change (under ad-hoc management, scientific management, human relations and contigent approaches) 
• More recent (and emerging) paradigms in organisational change
• Planned vs. emergent change: complexity and inter-organisational influences
• Leadership: role choices and constraint, and frameworks for managing change

The assessment is a coursework-based task requiring you to select a change scenario for a chosen organisation and to describe how that change process should be undertaken, with specific reference to options for change and appraisal of their suitability, through reference to relevant theories of change. Strengths and weakness of relevant approaches will be identified. Specific attention to the role and style of leadership required for the change process or programme will be a key component of the report.

Global Business

15 credits
Autumn teaching, year 1

The module will widen the perspective of aspiring managers regarding the strategic implications of global change and facilitate more informed strategic planning and implementation within companies. The module is introductory and wide ranging in scope. A balance is sought between theory and practice with seminars placing an emphasis on contemporary case studies.

Information Systems and Management

15 credits
Spring teaching, year 1

Management, Innovation and Organisational Performance

15 credits
Autumn teaching, year 1

This module aims to help you develop a critical awareness and deep understanding of the principles and practices associated with management and performance excellence, and provides insight into the drive for continuous improvement of products, services and processes for enhanced competitive positioning from effective innovation management.

The module includes a focus on strategies for sustainable improvement in performance of operating systems, ethical practice, organisational mindset, and planning and control mechanisms employed to effectively manage and monitor socio-economic performance for sustainable business operations.

By critically assessing the application of a range of tools, techniques and frameworks within a variety of best practice organisations across a number of industry sectors, at both national and international level, you will examine 'value' from a range of stakeholder perspectives.

Managing Complex Projects, Products and Systems

15 credits
Spring teaching, year 1

During this module you will address three central issues:

Organisational capabilities: how organisational forms and capabilities in project management, systems integration and software engineering are essential in the design and production of CoPS. Special emphasis is given to project management capabilities.

Models of innovation: how industrial structures, product life cycles and innovation management in CoPS differ from the conventional model of innovation often based on the mass production of consumer goods.

Firm strategy: how firms are changing their strategic positions, building new service capabilities and creating customer-centric organisations to provide bundles of products and services as integrated solutions to their customer's needs.

Managing Intellectual Property

15 credits
Spring teaching, year 1

Protecting intellectual assets has become a key success factor for organisations in the knowledge-based economy. This module provides you with the knowledge and tools for managing intellectual property (IP), and how best to deploy and appropriate these to create value from the perspective of both private and public-sector organisations. More specifically, you will gain an understanding of IP strategies and approaches in multinational corporations, small and medium-sized enterprises as well as universities and research institutes. You will learn about patents and copyrights as instruments to protect IP as well as develop an understanding of less formal, alternative approaches.

Personal and Professional Development

15 credits
All year teaching, year 1

This module aims to develop your mastery of personal and interpersonal effectiveness in order to support career entry and development, thereby enabling positive and professional organisational impacts. The module facilitates acclimatisation to your local learning environment as a basis for contributing to contemporary working environments at local, national and international/global levels. From employers' point of view, the module develops rounded graduates who have not only a subject/technical capacity but also a personal and professional capability.

This capability, which is readily transferable to the workplace, distinguishes those who successfully complete the module from other graduates. The module comprises study of, and development in, the individual and interactive organisational behaviours that underpin professional performance and mindful practices in the workplace.

1. Elements of effective self-management in the workplace
   
   Content/applications: self-perception, self-awareness, personal values, learning preferences, personal reflection, communication styles, verbal and nonverbal communication, self-management, stress management, reflective practice.
   
   Core concepts: perception, perceptual world and filters, habituation, mental sets, conditioning, behaviour modification, cognitive and social learning, reflective thinking.
   
   
2. Elements of effective interpersonal relationships in the workplace
   
   Content/applications: confidence and assertiveness, cultural awareness and sensitivity to diversity factors, crosscultural communication, teams and team building, team-based and creative decision-making, listening and communicating, handling emotion and conflict. 
   
   Core concepts: socialisation, behaviour modification, cultural similarities and differences, prejudice, group working.
   
   
3. Individual strategies and techniques for self-development
   
   Content/applications: personal development planning, goal setting, identification of priority learning and training needs, receiving feedback, crosscultural relations.
   
   Core concepts: motivation and exchange.
   
   
4. Qualities of personal leadership approaches and their impacts on others
   
   Content/applications: influence and persuasion, negotiation, networking, diversity management, managing feedback, cooperation and compromise, goal accomplishment.
   
   Core concepts: leadership, power, leaderful behaviour. 
   
   
5. Development of continuing professionalism in engaging with others in the workplace
   
   Content/applications: continuous professional development, ethical principles in the management of others, international and global mindsets.
   
   Core concepts: life-long learning, emotional and social literacy, ethics.

Research Methods (Management and Human Resources Management)

15 credits
Spring teaching, year 1

Research Project (Management)

30 credits
Summer teaching, year 1

The Research Project module provides an opportunity for you to undertake a significant independent piece of research, drawing upon the knowledge and skills that have been learned during the taught components of the course. You will apply concepts, theories and research techniques, draw on internationally published literature, and develop and interpret knowledge about management practice in your area of interest. 

You will write a dissertation on a management-related topic of your own choosing. The dissertation will normally be 12,000 (plus/minus 10%) words in length and will include the following sections: abstract, introduction, literature review, methodology, finding, conclusions, reflection and references. You will be given detailed instructions and guidelines on the content of individual sections as well as the assessment requirements and marking criteria. Each project will be supervised by an appropriate member of academic staff on the one-to-one basis.

Strategic Management - Business Mgmnt Course

15 credits
Spring teaching, year 1

This module aims to give you a strong grasp of the issues, tools and theoretical perspectives underlying the practice of strategy and its links with management. Using a combination of theory, practice and cases you will learn how to apply principles of strategy to companies.

The module begins by covering key skills and tools for strategic analysis. These include tools for analysing a firm's macroenvironment and competitive environment, as well as an organisation's own resources and capabilities. It then provides an in-depth summary of the strategy process as it is used by managers, and then discusses the range of theoretical perspectives that inform our understanding of this process.

The Business Context in East Asia

15 credits
Spring teaching, year 1

The main aims of this module are to explore the international business environment in East Asia, to provide an overview of the various East Asian economies, their interrelationship, and their importance in the world economy, and to examine the lessons which may be drawn both from the economic success of the East Asian economies, and from the Asian financial crisis.

The Business Context in Europe

15 credits
Spring teaching, year 1

The main aims of this module are to explore the international business environment in Europe, to provide an overview of the various European economies, their inter-relationships, and their importance in the world economy. Attention will be paid not just to the major member States of the European Union, but to newer member States and other European economies.