B.A.(Hons.) Business Management Programme Information
Learn about program information, Its Educational aims, Learning Outcome and Modules
Fundamentals of accounting
Welcome to B124 Fundamentals of accounting will focus on the accounting that is required for the most straightforward and common of all business types: the sole trader or sole proprietor. The knowledge and skills you will learn, however, are of fundamental importance for accounting in any size or type of organisation: for-profit, not-for-profit or governmental.
Making it happen! Leadership, influence and change
B204 is work-based (or practice-based). By this we mean that, throughout the module, you will do much of your learning as you put it into practice. We define ‘work’ very broadly, and see opportunities for work-based learning outside paid employment. However, it will be crucial to your enjoyment and learning that you do have some sort of work context, collaborating with other people, where you are seeking to make things happen.
Exploring innovation and entrepreneurship
This module provides you with a wide-ranging introduction to innovation and entrepreneurship. You’ll examine different forms of innovative and entrepreneurial practice around the world and at different scales, including: technological and social innovation; commercial and social enterprise; independent and corporate entrepreneurship. You’ll also have many opportunities to develop subject-related skills by creating your own ‘visual essay’, taking part in an online negotiation activity, researching and presenting a case study based on your own chosen example, and working with a small team of students to develop your own proposal for an innovative entrepreneurial venture.
Making sense of strategy
The fascinating world of strategy – from its origins and development as a subject to the controversies that dominate contemporary strategic debate – is introduced in this module. It’s relevant to anyone interested in how organisations and individuals make sense of the world and strive for success. You’ll develop skills in clear thinking, independent enquiry and collaborative working as you analyse and apply the ideas and approaches that have done most to influence how strategy is conceived and carried out in today’s organisations, whether commercial or not-for-profit, locally, nationally and internationally. You’ll take part in an online collaboration with other students for three weeks during February.
Creating futures: sustainable enterprise and innovation
This module provides you with intermediate/advanced conceptual and practical learning in entrepreneurship and innovation in different specialist sectors. Through a mix of study activities and self-selected experiential projects you will develop independent research and online collaborative skills necessary to engage in enterprise and innovation practices in new and existing organisations. The module encourages you to do so by articulating how entrepreneurship and innovation can be used to satisfy individual goals, while contributing to solving societal problems in an ethical and sustainable manner.
Marketing and society
Are you interested in exploring the application of marketing concepts beyond commercial marketing and considering the issues of ethics and responsible practice in marketing? In this module you’ll explore the role and responsibility of marketing in relation to society. Your study will be based around three key themes: social marketing – how marketing can have a positive influence on health and social behaviour; ethics and marketing – how decision making and marketing activities can be affected by taking an ethical perspective; and responsible business marketing – how organisations might adopt responsible marketing behaviour in the context of corporate social responsibility.
Managing across organisational and cultural boundaries
This module is about collaboration – working, managing and organising across organisational and cultural boundaries. Whether within or across organisations, via partnerships, joint ventures and alliances, collaboration can be both stimulating and rewarding. It entails the combination of resources and expertise which enables partners to achieve something jointly that they cannot achieve working alone. However, collaboration is also fraught with difficulties and dilemmas. In this module you’ll explore the many issues and challenges associated with working collaboratively across different contexts. You will also learn about concepts and theories that can help you to better manage collaborative situations in the future.
Managing 1: organisations and people
This module investigates organisational behaviour and human resource management. Designed for working managers, those who deputise for managers, management trainees, supervisors and team leaders, it takes a very practice-based approach to studying management concepts, focusing on your own role. It is suitable for aspiring managers provided you have experience of either paid or unpaid (voluntary) work involving leading a group or team; a project or task involving one or more others; or running/helping to run a voluntary organisation. It is not suitable if you have no previous work experience (paid or unpaid) on which to draw.
Managing 2: marketing and finance
This practical module covers topics in marketing and accounting and finance through activities and problem-solving. It takes a very practice-based approach to studying management concepts focusing on your own role. You can study this module on its own or start your OU management studies with it. However, you may find this module easier to engage with if you have studied Managing 1: organisations and people (B628) first.