MSc Business Analysis and Strategic Management / Course details
Year of entry: 2024
- View tabs
- View full page
Course unit details:
Managing Organisations for Growth
Unit code | BMAN73662 |
---|---|
Credit rating | 15 |
Unit level | FHEQ level 7 – master's degree or fourth year of an integrated master's degree |
Teaching period(s) | Semester 2 |
Available as a free choice unit? | No |
Overview
In the last quarter of a century firms have become increasingly focused on cost cutting and outsourcing. The damaging effects of this managerial philosophy is clearly documented in the key ratios (such as sales/asset) of company performance in the major developed economies. The causes of this are complex: agency problems, external pressures, co-ordination breakdowns, employer-employee conflicts, etc. which then manifest themselves in faulty managerial decisions. Theory of Constraints started originally as an operational management toolkit in the late 1980s, but soon changed its focus on the managers’ satisficing behaviour, and the thought process that enables the identification of causalities at a reasonable degree of certainty and cut through the information overload. This conceptual framework can be used for most sectors (including non-profit organisations).
Pre/co-requisites
Aims
The unit aims to:
Show students how to identify the constraints, both external and those introduced by management, on company growth;
Explain how constraints are linked to co-ordination and control systems in a business organisation;
Enable students to use the thought process of the Theory of Constraint for creating managerial focus for breaking the constraint by linking systemic attributes of the firm;
Show students how the results of the business analysis can be built into a process that enables the key stakeholders to buy-into the proposed solution.
Learning outcomes
Students will be able to:
Find business constraints in a systematic analysis, using logical trees;
Correctly identify the key stakeholders in finding, and implementing managerial measures to deal with the constraints;
Develop these measures in a way that accounts for the systemic interdependencies in the business organisation;
Create a buy-in process for the key stakeholders.
Assessment methods
Group assignment (40%)
Individual assignment (60%)
Feedback methods
Verbal feedback during sessions, written feedback to assessed assignments.
Informal advice and discussion during a lecture, seminar, workshop or lab.
Responses to student emails and questions from a member of staff including feedback provided to a group via an online discussion forum.
Written and/or verbal comments on assessed or non-assessed coursework.
Written and/or verbal comments after students have given a group or individual presentation.
Recommended reading
KEY READING FOR THE UNIT:
Cox, J. F. and Schleier, J. G. (eds), 2011, Theory of Constraint Handbook, McGraw Hill.
Study hours
Scheduled activity hours | |
---|---|
Lectures | 20 |
Seminars | 10 |
Independent study hours | |
---|---|
Independent study | 120 |
Teaching staff
Staff member | Role |
---|---|
Laszlo Czaban | Unit coordinator |
Additional notes
Informal contact methods
Peer assisted study sessions
Drop in surgeries (extra help sessions for students on material they may be struggling with)