Overview
This unit offers a series of seminars and workshops that will provide foundation skills and knowledge in contemporary business issues, and organisational and business practices. You will have the opportunity to develop business skills, gain knowledge of various business contexts, and examine the functions of a diverse range of organisations. You will assess the impact of environmental forces on organisations, examine risks confronting the organisation and discuss the practices adopted to overcome these, including innovation, e-commerce, knowledge management, and globalisation. The unit will enable you to engage in discussions about the governance options for different types of organisations and discuss the contemporary processes of regionalisation, emerging new world markets, global governance and globalisation. This foundation unit will develop your business skills for potential future business consulting, and your management skills for organisational management roles.
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 2 - 2018
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 Postgraduate 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
Update the materials on Moodle as some of the material is quite old.
Review all lecture and tutorial material, journal articles, videos, podcasts, and topic content for currency and update where necessary.
Feedback from Have Your Say
There should be a textbook or more content material provided for students.
Explore the opportunity to have a textbook specially designed for this unit. With a large cohort of students publishers will often compile chapters from other texts into one book for a specific unit.
Feedback from Have Your Say
Conduct presentations during tutorial times only to leave lectures free for delivery of content by lecturers.
Consider condensing the content from 11 topics to 10 topics that are delivered in the first 10 weeks of the term. This will leave all of weeks 11 and 12 for student presentations.
- Analyse the range of environmental forces, organisational structures, functions, governance and legal requirements of firms and the impact on businesses
- Discuss the contemporary issues impacting organisations including risk, innovation, knowledge management, e-commerce and the impact on businesses
- Investigate the cross cultural and diversity issues affecting the management of people and organisations
- Examine the impact of regionalisation and globalisation on businesses
- Recommend solutions to contemporary challenges facing businesses.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Essay - 30% | |||||
| 2 - Group Work - 30% | |||||
| 3 - Examination - 40% | |||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | |||||
| 2 - Communication | |||||
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | |||||
| 4 - Research | |||||
| 5 - Self-management | |||||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | |||||
| 7 - Leadership | |||||
| 8 - 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 | |
| 1 - Essay - 30% | ||||||||
| 2 - Group Work - 30% | ||||||||
| 3 - Examination - 40% | ||||||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
Additional Textbook Information
There is no compulsory prescribed textbook for this unit; instead, prescribed weekly reading material will be available in Moodle. However, in order to expand your knowledge and improve your success chances in this unit, it is important you carry out independent study and additional reading. Please find below a selection of recommended books, some of which you should peruse:
• Burrow, J. L., Kleindl, B., & Becraft, M. B. (2016). Business Management. United States: Cengage.
• Hill, C. W., & Hutt, G. T. M. (2016). Global Business Today (9th ed.). New York, USA: McGraw-Hill.
• Hill, C. W. (2015). International Business: Competing in the Global Marketplace (10th ed.). New York, USA: McGraw-Hill.
• Palmer, A. & Hartley, B. (2011). The Business Environment (7th ed.). Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill.
• Solomon, M. R., Poatsy, M., & Martin, K. (2015). Better Business (4th ed.). USA: Pearson Higher Education.
• Worthington, I. (2014). The Business Environment (7th ed.). United Kingdom: Pearson.
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.
l.e.baker@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Topic 1: Organisational and governance structures
Details of Assessment Item 1
Expectations of student engagement with the unit
Details of Moodle site and resources available
Chapter
For recommended texts, journal readings and video information refer to the unit Moodle site.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Topic 2: The impact of environmental forces on organisations
Chapter
For recommended texts, journal readings and video information refer to the unit Moodle site.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Topic 3: Risks confronting the firm
Chapter
For recommended texts, journal readings and video information refer to the unit Moodle site.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Topic 4: Organisation and business practices
Chapter
For recommended texts, journal readings and video information refer to the unit Moodle site.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Topic 5: The functions of a diverse range of firms
Details of Assessment Item 2
Chapter
For recommended texts, journal readings and video information refer to the unit Moodle site.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Assessment Item 1
Annotated bibliography Due: Week 5 Friday (10 Aug 2018) 11:55 pm AEST
Module/Topic
No classes this week
Chapter
No classes this week
Events and Submissions/Topic
No classes this week
Module/Topic
Topic 6: Innovation and entrepreneurship
Chapter
For recommended texts, journal readings and video information refer to the unit Moodle site.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Topic 7: Knowledge management, technology and eCommerce
Chapter
For recommended texts, journal readings and video information refer to the unit Moodle site.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Topic 8: Regionalisation and globalisation
Chapter
For recommended texts, journal readings and video information refer to the unit Moodle site.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Topic 9: Cross cultural issues, diversity and international management
Chapter
For recommended texts, journal readings and video information refer to the unit Moodle site.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Topic 10: Contemporary management and business issues
Chapter
For recommended texts, journal readings and video information refer to the unit Moodle site.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
There is no topic covered in class this week. Group presentations will be done in class.
Chapter
For recommended texts, journal readings and video information refer to the unit Moodle site.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Presentations done during the lecture and tutorials for week 11.
Module/Topic
There is no topic covered in class this week. Group presentations will be done in class.
Details of Assessment Item 3
Chapter
There will be exam information available on the unit Moodle site.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Presentations done during the lecture and tutorials for week 12.
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Essay
Description
This is an annotated bibliography that will be 1600 words +/- 10%
Purpose
This individual written assessment is designed to assist you to develop your knowledge of management and business contexts. The secondary purpose of this assessment task is to give you the opportunity to enhance skills in research, professional responsibility, and written communication.
Task details
Your task is to compile an annotated bibliography of five recent (2014-2018) peer reviewed journal articles from the list of journals below. You cannot use articles from any other journals and you cannot use the journal articles that are on the unit Moodle site. You must include the doi for each journal article in the reference list.
Journals
- Academy of Management Journal
- Administrative Science Quarterly
- Asia Pacific Journal of Management
- Australian Journal of Management
- British Journal of Management
- California Management Review
- Harvard Business Review
- International Journal of Management Reviews
- International Small Business Journal
- Journal of International Management
- Journal of International Business Studies
- Journal of Management
- Journal of Management Studies
- Journal of Small Business Management
- Management and Organization Review
- Organization Studies
- Strategic Management Journal
You are required to:
- Identify five (5) journal articles that match the first five topics of this unit. That is, you must find one journal article per topic: a. Organisational structures or governance, b. Environmental forces, c. Risks confronting the firm, d. Organisation and business practices, and e. The functions of diverse firms. You should search the library databases via the online 'advanced search' function of the CQUniversity library. By choosing the 'advanced search' function you can select the actual journal you wish to search.
- Write a short 150 word introduction discussing why the contextual factors are important to organisational decision making. The introduction is 150 words in total not 150 words per article.
- Write approximately 250 words a. defining the main contextual factor being discussed in the journal article, b. the new findings in relation to the contextual factor, and c. what these findings mean for managers in organisations. You should write this 250 word summary for each of the five journal articles.
- Write a short 200 word conclusion recommending one specific contextual factor as most important to CQUniversity's organisational performance. Explain your reasoning.
- Write a reference list correctly formatted in the APA style. This reference list must contain all five articles as well as the doi for each article.
Week 5 Friday (10 Aug 2018) 11:55 pm AEST
All submissions must be uploaded through the Assessment Item 1 link on the unit Moodle page. The annotated bibliography can be uploaded as a pdf or word document. Penalties for late submission are applied according to the policy.
Week 7 Friday (31 Aug 2018)
Every effort will be made to return your assignment by the date indicated. You will find your mark and feedback through the Feedback Studio portal on Moodle.
Weighting - 30% or 30 marks
Marking criteria for Written Assessment - Annotated bibliography
- Explaining how major contextual factors affect business decision making (5 marks).
- Defining key terms, theories and concepts presented in Topics 1-5 (5 marks).
- Critical evaluation of managerial actions in relation to the contextual factors discussed in Topics 1-5 (10 marks).
- Demonstrating understanding of the impact of a contextual factor on organisational performance (5 marks).
- Correctly using the APA referencing system to cite academic sources in-text and in the reference list (3 marks).
-
Correctly using appropriate conventions of academic writing (2 marks).
- Analyse the range of environmental forces, organisational structures, functions, governance and legal requirements of firms and the impact on businesses
- Discuss the contemporary issues impacting organisations including risk, innovation, knowledge management, e-commerce and the impact on businesses
- Recommend solutions to contemporary challenges facing businesses.
- Knowledge
- Communication
- Research
- Ethical and Professional Responsibility
2 Group Work
Description
This is a group assignment that involves a 25 minute student-lead presentation, discussion and associated materials.
Purpose
This assignment aims to develop your knowledge of contextual factors and ability to develop this knowledge in others. The objective is to develop your research, cognitive, creative, communication, professional responsibility and self management skills within the context of a group assignment. It provides you the opportunity to develop your leadership skills as a member of a group.
Task details
You must be enrolled in a lecture class and a tutorial class by census date, Tuesday 31 July. The unit coordinator will form Assessment Item 2 groups randomly within these larger classes and communicate your group membership via the unit Moodle site; you will not have the opportunity to choose your Assessment Item 2 group yourself. There will be a maximum of 5 group members in each group. There will be no changes to these Assessment Item 2 groups after 31 July so please make sure that you have sorted out which lecture and tutorial class you want to attend by 31 July. Lecture and tutorial classes can only be changed with the permission of the Unit Coordinator after 31 July and no adjustments to presentation and discussion groups will be made after 31 July.
The group lead presentation and discussion will relate to one of the Topics 6-9: a. Innovation and entrepreneurship, b. Knowledge management, technology and eCommerce, c. Regionalisation and globalisation, OR d. Cross cultural issues, diversity and international management. These topics are quite large so you can choose to concentrate on only one part of the topic e.g., only innovation. Your group lead presentation and discussion will take place in either the lecture or tutorial class in week 11 or week 12. However, all materials related to the assignment must be uploaded to Moodle by the Friday of week 10 regardless of which week your group lead presentation and discussion takes place. Your group is required to:
- Conduct a 10 minute PowerPoint presentation in class, every member of the group must speak during the presentation, the presentation must include information from at least 6-8 academic journal articles. A copy of this PowerPoint presentation should be supplied in your submission uploaded to Moodle.
- Discuss one current event (something that has occurred within the past year) that you have found in relation to the contextual factor. This discussion should summarise the content of the current event and show the critical link between the external and internal environments of organisations. This current event can take the form of a newspaper or magazine article, a TED talk, a radio or TV interview and so on. A summary of this current event and a link to its source should be supplied in your submission uploaded to Moodle. This discussion should take no more than 5 minutes.
-
Develop two questions: one question in relation to the content of the PowerPoint and one question in relation to the current event. You will be required to lead a discussion of these two questions by posing the question to your audience and responding to their answers. You should provide a copy of the two questions and the expected answers in your submission uploaded to Moodle. This discussion aims to show your critical thinking and understanding of the contextual factor. All group members should take part in this discussion. The discussion should take no more than 10 minutes.
Week 10 Friday (21 Sept 2018) 11:55 pm AEST
All submissions are to be uploaded through the Assessment Item 2 link on the unit Moodle page. The submission can be uploaded as pdf or word documents. Penalties for late submissions are applied according to the policy.
Review/Exam Week Wednesday (10 Oct 2018)
Every effort will be made to return your assignment by the date indicated. You will find your mark and feedback through the Feedback Studio portal on Moodle.
Weighting - 30% or 30 marks
Marking criteria for Group work - Group lead presentation and discussion
- Defining relevant terms, theories and concepts presented in Topics 6-9 (8 marks)
- Application of current events to demonstrate understanding of the relationship between the external and internal environments of organisations (8 marks)
- Critical understanding of relevant contextual factor shown throughout the presentation and discussion (8 marks)
- Demonstrated breadth and quality of research by using a minimum of 6-8 academic sources (2 marks)
- Developing a concise and structured presentation to the required professional standard (2 marks)
- Correct use of the APA referencing format in the materials submitted on Moodle (2 marks)
- Investigate the cross cultural and diversity issues affecting the management of people and organisations
- Examine the impact of regionalisation and globalisation on businesses
- Recommend solutions to contemporary challenges facing businesses.
- Knowledge
- Communication
- Cognitive, technical and creative skills
- Research
- Self-management
- Ethical and Professional Responsibility
- Leadership
Examination
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?
