Overview
This unit is designed to introduce you to the world of business by focusing on the nature, structure and workings of contemporary business organisations. You will learn the terms, concepts and values of business and management. The unit will cover topics related to the major functional areas of business including accounting, finance, management, marketing and information technology as well as other important topics such as ethics and social responsibility, forms of business ownership, entrepreneurship, and international business. Emphasis is placed on appreciating the dynamic role of business in everyday life.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
There are no requisites for this unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 1 - 2020
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback – Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Have your say... Survey and anecdotal experience
Downloading the student's results from the weekly quizzes and sorting the list so that students that achieved over 70% in the Quiz received a positive personal message.
Keep using positive reinforcement following quizzes and congratulating students on their progression in the Unit where possible.
Feedback from Have your say... Survey and anecdotal experience
Arranging guest speakers to attend on campus through the networks of the tutors/lecturers for that campus.
Keep arranging guest speakers from industry to address on campus students face to face by engaging on-campus staff and activating their networks.
Feedback from Have your say... Survey
Student comments from Have your say survey "The best aspects would be the online zoom sessions as I am an external student, although the sessions are during my work hours I find it much easier to learn by watching the (recorded) zoom sessions."
Keep providing six zoom sessions per term in the evenings and recording these sessions and uploading to moodle. Offering more than six Zoom sessions means that students often do not attend after the sixth session.
Feedback from Have your say... Survey
Student comments from Have your say survey "The resources used were excellent considering we didn't have to purchase a textbook."
Keep utilising the Course Resources Online (CRO) to provide electronic links to current textbooks so that students do not have to purchase a textbook for this Unit.
Feedback from Have your say... Survey and anecdotal experience
Clearer explanation of the assessment tasks and examples of previous assessments should be provided for students to view before attempting an assessment task and dedicated video uploaded to ‘Assessments’ section.
Provide video dedicated to how to start assessment utilising links to the Academic Learning Centre and improved 'exemplars' for each term.
- Describe the fundamental roles of each functional area of business within an organisation
- Examine the different forms of business ownership
- Critically assess the factors that influence business environment
- Evaluate the complex role of globalisation
- Analyse the roles of ethics and social responsibility in the business environment.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Online Quiz(zes) - 20% | |||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 40% | |||||
| 3 - Reflective Practice Assignment - 40% | |||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Communication | |||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | |||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | |||||
| 4 - Information Literacy | |||||
| 5 - Team Work | |||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | |||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | |||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | |||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | |||||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | |||||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| 1 - Online Quiz(zes) - 20% | ||||||||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 40% | ||||||||||
| 3 - Reflective Practice Assignment - 40% | ||||||||||
Textbooks
Readings are provided in the e-reading list on the Moodle site
Pearson
Binding: eBook
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: American Psychological Association 6th Edition (APA 6th edition)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
m.n.johnson@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Introduction to contemporary business practices
Chapter
eReading List in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
Workshop: Critical Thinking Skills
Module/Topic
Perspectives on the management of business
Chapter
eReading List in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Ethics, social responsibility and sustainability
Chapter
eReading List in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
Quiz 1 opens
Module/Topic
Environmental factors influencing business
Chapter
eReading List in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
Quiz 2 opens
Module/Topic
Globalisation
Chapter
eReading List in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
Quiz 3 opens
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
The architecture of business models
Chapter
eReading List in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
Quiz 4 opens
Module/Topic
Strategy and structure
Chapter
eReading List in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Organisational design and functional roles
Chapter
eReading List in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Forms of business ownership
Chapter
eReading List in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Managing business operations
Chapter
eReading List in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Managing self; Leading others
Chapter
eReading List in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Looking forward: Skills for the future
Chapter
eReading List in Moodle
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Online Quiz(zes)
This assessment comprises four online quizzes, which will assess your ability to review your understanding of some key concepts in business. Each quiz will comprise ten multiple choice questions and contribute 5% respectively to the final result in the Unit. Covering the material from the preceding week, the quizzes will open in Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, and Week 6 and close the following week respectively.
The quizzes can be accessed from the Assessment tab in Moodle and will be available for completion at the following times:
| Quiz | Content Covered | Quiz Opens | Quiz Closes |
| 1 | Week 2 | Week 3, Monday 23 March at 9:00 am AEST | Week 4, Thursday 2 April at 5:00 pm AEST |
| 2 | Week 3 | Week 4, Monday 30 March at 9:00 am AEST | Week 5, Thursday 9 April at 5:00 pm AEST |
| 3 | Week 4 | Week 5, Monday 6 April at 9:00 am AEST | Week 6, Thursday 23 April at 5:00 pm AEST |
| 4 | Week 5 | Week 6, Monday 20 April at 9:00 am AEST | Week 7, Thursday 30 April at 5:00 pm AEST |
4
Other
As detailed in the table above
Score for the quiz is shown when the quiz is completed.
Each quiz has 10 questions and each correct answer is awarded 0.5 per cent. The total value of each quiz is 5 per cent. The maximum result for completing all four quizzes is 20 per cent.
Please do not take the quiz until you have read, watched, and undertaken all materials specified for the week being assessed. This includes workshop activities.
Please allow 20 minutes to attempt each quiz. Be sure to access the quiz in Moodle at least 20 minutes before the quiz closes at 5:00 pm on the nominated date.
No submission method provided.
- Describe the fundamental roles of each functional area of business within an organisation
- Examine the different forms of business ownership
- Critically assess the factors that influence business environment
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
2 Written Assessment
In a 1500-word academic essay, you are required to critically analyse the following statement:
"Established businesses must adopt entrepreneurial practices if they are to successfully pursue innovation opportunities in a global market."
Your critical analysis should consider the entrepreneurial practices that can be embraced by established businesses, and how innovation opportunities in the global market might require changes in their existing business model.
To support your argument, your critical analysis should use research from peer-reviewed academic journals, incorporating different perspectives on the statement, and identifying both positive and limiting factors. Your analysis must express an informed argument and draw compelling conclusions.
Before you start writing, it is recommended that you review material in Moodle on how to write an academic essay, what critical thinking is, and the marking rubric for this assessment.
Week 8 Thursday (7 May 2020) 5:00 pm AEST
Please submit through Turnitin in Moodle.
Week 10 Thursday (21 May 2020)
Feedback and result will be available in Moodle by clicking on the 'blue pencil'.
CONTENT: Does your submission demonstrate:
- Evidence of your critical analysis of entrepreneurial practices that can be embraced by established businesses (15 marks)
- Identification and discussion of how innovation opportunities in a global market might require an organisation to change its existing business model (15 marks)
DOCUMENT QUALITIES:
- Adherence to essay structure (Introduction, Body, Conclusions) and use of formal tone, length 1500-words, quality of written expression, grammar, punctuation, and correct spelling using Australian English (5 marks)
- Use of at least six (6) peer-reviewed papers from academic journals. Adherence to CQU APA Referencing format (in-text references are to be used in support of your argument and a reference list must be provided at the end of the document). (5 marks).
No submission method provided.
- Critically assess the factors that influence business environment
- Evaluate the complex role of globalisation
- Analyse the roles of ethics and social responsibility in the business environment.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
3 Reflective Practice Assignment
The purpose of this task is to assess your ability to:
A: Prepare and present a PowerPoint presentation of your critical analysis of a mini-case (provided in the eReading list in Moodle); and
B: Write a reflective essay on how your initial assumptions about managing global business operations changed as you critically analysed the issues of ethics, corporate social responsibility and sustainability.
Week 12 Thursday (4 June 2020) 5:00 pm AEST
Please submit your PowerPoint presentation and Reflective Essay through Moodle's Turnitin gateway.
Assessments feedback and results will be released after grade certification,
A: POWERPOINT PRESENTATION (Total 25 marks)
Your presentation and submission must not exceed 10 slides (including cover page) and must demonstrate evidence of your critical thinking regarding:
- The core product/experience that customers are buying (2 marks)
- The salient global challenges facing the company's Directors (5 marks)
- Identification of any ethical, social responsibility, or sustainability concerns that these challenges pose for the company (5 marks)
- Potential impact on the company's business operations (5 marks)
- Leadership initiatives that company management might consider in motivating their staff to innovatively solve the challenges (5 marks)
- Your PowerPoint slides must contain elaborated discussion in the Notes Section (on each slide), and use Australian English. Your presentation skills must consider appropriateness of speaking style to suit an audience of senior managers: clarity of vocal expression and projection, emphasis of key aspects, and compelling engagement with the audience. (3 marks)
B: REFLECTIVE ESSAY (Total 15 marks)
Your reflective essay must not exceed 500-words and should demonstrate:
- Your personal reflections on how your initial assumptions about managing global business operations changed as you critically analysed the issues of ethics, social responsibility and sustainability that needed to be considered by the Directors of the company in the mini-case. (4 marks)
- What aspects of the unit were most salient in shaping your final perspective (4 marks)
- How critical thinking shaped your recommendations to the company Directors (4 marks)
- Adherence to word length, relevant use of at least 8 peer-reviewed academic papers, and referenced using the current CQU APA Referencing Style Guide (3 marks)
No submission method provided.
- Evaluate the complex role of globalisation
- Analyse the roles of ethics and social responsibility in the business environment.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
