CORPORATE AND ACADEMIC SERVICES

MODULE SPECIFICATION

Part 1: Basic Data

Module Title Meeting the Management Challenge (in a Business, International and
Management Professional Context)
Module Code UMCD9G-30-1 Level 1 Version 1.1

Owning Faculty FBL Field Business and Management

Cross Disciplinary
Contributes towards BA (Hons) Business Management (Leadership, Change & Organisations); BA
(Hons) Business & Management; BA (Hons) International Business; BA (Hons)
Business & HRM.
UWE Credit Rating 30 ECTS Credit 15 Module Standard
Rating Type
Pre-requisites Co- requisites

Excluded UMCD9J-30-1 Module Entry

Combinations UMCDDK-30-1 requirements
UMCD9H-30-1
Valid From September 2013 Valid to

CAP Approval Date 7 May 2013

Part 2: Learning and Teaching

Learning On successful completion of this module students will:

Outcomes
- have a holistic understanding of contemporary business and organisations, and an
overview of the main disciplines & functions of business (B1).
- understand the nature of contemporary organisations, i.e. their management
structures and challenges; and the changing environment in which these
organisations operate (B1).
- have had a simulated experience of managing in an organisational context (B2)
- understand what it means to be a professional within a given context and will have
started to build their professional learner identity and skill set and will have made
short, and longer term plans to achieve learner objectives (A).
- have made the successful transition into HE learning and made an early assessment
of their core skills set so as to identify skills gaps and be able to plan their further
development (A).
- have started to enhance their lifelong learning skills set and be able to take charge of
their ongoing personal and professional development so as to contribute to society at
large (A).
- have started to develop various individual literacies – personal, numeric, information
and digital – required for effective learning and academic achievement (A)

Syllabus The syllabus addresses 5 key themes (not necessarily delivered in this order):
Outline 1. Introduction to Organisations & Management
- The Nature of Contemporary Organisations (small, medium and large,
commercial and not-for-profit)
- Introduction to Core Business Functions
- The Contemporary Nature of Management
 - The Entrepreneurial Manager (Entrepreneurial
thinking/conceiving/behaving)
- Managing Me (self-management - student responsibilities as professional
learners and the development of a professional attitude in working with
others and managing self)

2. Understanding Critical Issues in Management

- Globalisation and the Global Manager (understanding the role of the
manager in a global business context)
- Ethics, Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (the impact of
these factors on the role and responsibility of the manager)
- Business Performance – The Role of Strategy and the Triple Bottom
Line (understanding the management imperative to achieve and be
responsible for business outputs)

3. The ‘Management Challenge’ – Gaining Project and Business Experience

- Planning and Working Together (group work - project and task based
management skills i.e. for the ‘Management Challenge’ Project)
- Management Communications (Written and oral communication skills,
presentation skills, listening and feedback, negotiation skills, project and
report writing)
- Managing Management Information (information literacy – locating &
evaluating resources & acknowledging resources)
- Managing Decisions (Business Statistics & Numeracy /manipulation of
number
◦ Data analysis: Use Excel to create appropriate charts of business data,
such as bar charts, pie charts, line graphs and histograms and to calculate
summary measures such as the mean and standard deviation.
◦ Making inferences from sample data: Distribution of sample means and
percentages. Confidence intervals for population mean and percentage.
Hypotheses tests for population mean and percentage. Chi-square test.
◦ Decision Making Techniques: Payoff tables, decision trees, linear
programming, managing stock levels

4. Managing Organisation and ICT Interface

- Impact of Technology (The impact of technology and how it is changing
and transforming organisations, e.g. electronic business)
- IT Applications in Business (The potential of IT applications within a
business context)
- Technology Support for Managers (how technology supports managers
and assist students in their role as professional learners)
- Technology Tools for Managers (management use of cloud computing
tools e.g. www.huddle.com, www.dropbox.com and basic data bases for
business activities)

5. Understanding The World of the Management Professional

- Professional Management (Managerial Work, Skills and Competence in a
Business, International and Management Professional Context)
- Management – The Employability Market (the nature of employability and
the labour market for Business, International & Management graduates).

Contact Hours Module delivery will be based on 6 hours of scheduled learning and teaching activities
per teaching week over 12 weeks. This will consist of:

- 1 weekly lecture plus 1 workshop for Management Theory & Practice – core
management concepts in relation to the themes above.
 - 1 weekly lecture plus 1 workshop for Management Competencies – for the
development and practice of management and learner competencies.
- 1 weekly integrative lecture plus 1 workshop for the Management Challenge, in
these sessions students will have the opportunity to apply the various
management concepts and competencies developed and discussed each week
to the context of a business simulation.

Teaching and Central to the module approach to Learning & Teaching will be the ‘Management
Learning Challenge’ business simulation which acts to integrate the different elements of the
Methods module, timely delivery of content and skills allow students to put concepts into
immediate practice. The project therefore acts as the driver of students’ learning. The
‘Management Challenge’ business simulation will see students working in company
groups to work through the issues in running a start-up business.

Extensive use will be made of Blackboard for weekly guided independent study work; to
support students’ learning; to facilitate interactions between students e.g. for group
project work, and as a repository for students’ own work thereby promoting a sense of
learning community.

Scheduled learning includes lectures, seminars, tutorials, project supervision,

demonstration, practical classes and workshops; fieldwork; external visits; work
based learning; supervised time in studio/workshop.

Independent learning includes hours engaged with essential reading, case study
preparation, assignment preparation and completion etc. These sessions constitute
an average time per level as indicated in the table below. Scheduled sessions may
vary slightly depending on the module choices you make.

Key Key Information Sets (KIS) are produced at programme level for all programmes that this
Information module contributes to, which is a requirement set by HESA/HEFCE. KIS are
Sets comparable sets of standardised information about undergraduate courses allowing
Information prospective students to compare and contrast between programmes they are interested
in applying for.

Key Information Set - Module data

Numb er of credits for this module 30

Hours to Scheduled Independent Placement Allocated

be learning and study hours study hours Hours
allocated teaching
study hours

300 72 228 0 300

The table below indicates as a percentage the total assessment of the module which
constitutes a -

Written Exam: Unseen written exam, open book written exam, In-class test
Coursework: Written assignment or essay, report, dissertation, portfolio, project
Practical Exam: Oral Assessment and/or presentation, practical skills assessment,
practical exam

Please note that this is the total of various types of assessment and will not necessarily
reflect the component and module weightings in the Assessment section of this module
description:
 Total assessment of the module:

Written exam assessment percentage 0%

Coursework assessment percentage 80%
Practical exam assessment percentage 20%
100%

Reading All students will be encouraged to make full use of the print and electronic resources
Strategy available to them through membership of the University. These include a range of
electronic journals and a wide variety of resources available through web sites and
information gateways. The University Library’s web pages provide access to subject
relevant resources and services, and to the library catalogue. Many resources can be
accessed remotely.

Due to the interdisciplinary nature of this module there is no set text for this
module.

Instead students will be pointed towards a wide variety of resources to support them in
their learning and development. Therefore students will be directed towards the
University Library online Study Skills resources for the development of skills appropriate
to the level and style of the module. In addition a number of e-learning resources will
also be used:

 The MySkills Study Skills website at http://www.uwe.ac.uk/library/resources/hub/

[Of particular interest will be the pages on ‘Being a student at level 1’
http://www.uwe.ac.uk/library/resources/bbs-study-skills/student/level1.htm
 Skills4study (s4s) as part of the MySkills resource [Academic reading and note
making; Critical thinking; Academic writing; Referencing and plagiarism]
 iSkillzone http://iskillzone.uwe.ac.uk
[ ‘Getting Started’ ;‘Lost in the Library’ ; workshops for information retrieval and
evaluation skills http://www1.uwe.ac.uk/library/help.aspx]
 Learn Higher http://www.learnhigher.ac.uk/Students.html
 espressoMaths http://www.uwe.ac.uk/espressomaths .

By necessity students will need to develop towards autonomy in their learning and will be
actively encouraged to develop information skills to enable them to identify, retrieve and
evaluate relevant sources of information.

Indicative The following list is offered to provide validation panels/accrediting bodies with an
Reading List indication of the type and level of information students may be expected to consult. As
such, its currency may wane during the life span of the module specification. However,
as indicated above, CURRENT advice on readings will be available via other more
frequently updated mechanisms.
th
- Boddy, D. (2008) Management: An Introduction (4 ed) Pearson/ FT Prentice
Hall
- Buckingham, M. and Clifton, D. (2001) Now Discover Your Strengths. New York:
The Free Press.
- Burns, T. Sinfield, S. (2008) Essential study skills: the complete guide to
success at university
- Cameron, S. (2009) The business student's handbook: skills for study and
th
employment.(5 ed) FT Prentice Hall.
- Caproni, P.J. (2004) Management skills for everyday life: the practical coach.
PrenticeHall
- Chaffey D., and Wood S. (2005) Business Information Management. Prentice
Hall, UK.
th
- Cole, G.A. & Kelly, p. (2011) Management Theory and Practice. (7 ed)
Cengage Learning.
 - Cottrell, S. (2003) Skills for success: the personal development planning
handbook. Palgrave Study Skills
th
- Daft, R. (2010) New Era of Management. (10 ed) CENGAGE Learning
- De Jansz, S.C., Dowd, K.O., Schneider, B.Z (2009) Interpersonal Skills in
rd
Organizations, (3 ed) McGraw Hill
- Drucker, P.F.(2008) Management. Revised ed. Oxford : Butterworth-Heinemann.
- Drucker, P.F. (2007) The Practice of Management. Revised ed. Oxford :
Butterworth-Heinemann
- Harrison, M. (2005) Introduction to Business & Management Ethics. Palgrave.
- Jones, G. (2007) Introduction to Business: How Companies Create Value for
People. McGraw Hill
- Knights, D. & Willmott, H. (eds) 2007: Introducing Organizational Behaviour and
Management. London: Thomson Learning
- Kumar, A. (2007) Personal, Academic and Career Development in Higher
Education: SOARing to Success. Routledge
- Lussier, R.N. (2012) Management Fundamentals: Concepts, Applications, Skill
th
Development (5 ed) CENGAGE Learning
- Oakshott, L, 2009, Essential Quantitative Methods for Business, Management
and Finance.4th edition, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan
th
- Pettinger, R. (2007) Introduction to Management (4 edition) Palgrave
- Routledge, C. & Carmichael, J. (2007) Personal Development and Management
Skills. CIPD.
- Winstanley, D. (2006) Personal Effectiveness – A Guide to Action. CIPD.

Part 3: Assessment

Assessment The assessment methods are chosen to assess the full range of students’ skills and
Strategy knowledge. Formative assessment and feedback opportunities are built into module
delivery.

Component A - Personal Development Portfolio which consists of a series of

learning tasks plus a reflective commentary (minimum 500 words) in which students
reflect on the experience and processes of the module and summarize their learning.
(30% of the module)

Component B –
B1: Individual Project Report (1500 words) in which students select a local business
and explore e-commerce opportunities (50% of the module).
B2: group presentation (minimum 20 minutes) – on the experience and outcomes of
the Management Challenge business simulation (20% of the module)

Component A
Identify final assessment component and element
A: B:
% weighting between components A and B (Standard modules only) 30% 70%

First Sit

Component A (controlled conditions) Element weighting

Description of each element (as % of component)

1. Portfolio (learning tasks with a 500 word summarising reflective 100%

commentary)
Component B Element weighting
Description of each element (as % of component)

1. Individual Project Report (1500 words) 70%

2.Group Presentation (20minutes) 30%

Resit (further attendance at taught classes is not required)

Component A (controlled conditions) Element weighting

Description of each element (as % of component)

1. Extended Portfolio summarising reflective commentary (1500 words) 100%

Component B Element weighting
Description of each element (as % of component)

1. Individual Project Report (1500 words) 100%

If a student is permitted an EXCEPTIONAL RETAKE of the module the assessment will be that indicated
by the Module Description at the time that retake commences.