Overview
This unit offers a series of lectures and tutorials 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 cross-cultural management. 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 - 2021
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
The unit material provided helped me with my learning. At the end of an assignment, the teacher gives assignment feedback on every mistake, which is a great help to our learning. Also, the schedule for assignments is aligned correctly.
Strongly recommend using the up-to-date unit material specifically focusing on contemporary case studies.
Feedback from Have your say
The feedback given on my assessment work helped me to learn.
Keep providing the students with detailed feedback on each and every aspect of their assessment.
Feedback from SUTE
More discussion require for assignment in tutorial.
The development of critical thinking skills facilitates a deeper discussion of the topics as they apply to the assignments. It is recommended that this approach be developed along the lines of Socratic questioning, that is both engaging and interesting. It also empowers and motivates.
- Critically analyse the impact of a range of internal and external contextual factors on the performance and decision making of organisations
- Synthesise and utilise key theories, concepts and terms relevant to internal and external contextual factors to examine organisational environments
- Communicate an understanding of contemporary internal and external contextual factors affecting organisations
- Evaluate complex problems relevant to internal and external contextual factors in organisational environments
- Recommend creative solutions to contemporary challenges facing businesses to a variety of audiences and stakeholders.
This is not applicable.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 30% | |||||
| 2 - Group Work - 30% | |||||
| 3 - Online Quiz(zes) - 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 - Written Assessment - 30% | ||||||||
| 2 - Group Work - 30% | ||||||||
| 3 - Online Quiz(zes) - 40% | ||||||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: American Psychological Association 7th Edition (APA 7th edition)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
v.yadav@cqu.edu.au
shahid.khan@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Topic 1: Business and Governance Structures
Chapter
Chapple, E., Copp, R., Baumfield, R., Cunningham, R., Harpur, P., Baumfield, Richard, & Cunningham, Rosemary. (2016). Company Law (1st ed.). Melbourne: Wiley. Module 1: Business Organisations
For additional recommended texts, journal readings, podcasts, current events, and video information refer to the unit Moodle site.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Details of Moodle site and resources available.
Expectations of student engagement with the unit.
Overview of the Assessment Items.
Module/Topic
Topic 2: Impact of Environmental Forces on Organisations
Chapter
Hitt, M. A., Ireland, R. D., & Hoskisson, R. E. (2012). Strategic management cases: competitiveness and globalization. Cengage Learning. Chapter 2.
For additional recommended texts, journal readings, podcasts, current events, and video information refer to the unit Moodle site.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Details of Assessment Item 1
Module/Topic
Topic 3: Risks Confronting the Firm
Chapter
Henderson, D. (2017). The Manager's Guide to Risk Assessment. Brooksfield: Rothstein Associates, Incorporated. Chapter 1.
For additional recommended texts, journal readings, podcasts, current events, and video information refer to the unit Moodle site.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Topic 4: Organisation and Business Practices
Chapter
Boxall, P., & Purcell, J. (2016). Strategy and human resource management (4th ed., Management, work, and organisations). Chapter 3.
For additional recommended texts, journal readings, podcasts, current events, and video information refer to the unit Moodle site.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Census date:
Tuesday, 3 August 2021
Module/Topic
Topic 5: Business Functions of a Diverse Range of Firms
Chapter
Preston, D., Watson, G., & Fryer, M. (2013). An Introduction to Business Studies. The Open University. Chapter 6- Introduction to Business Functions.
For additional recommended texts, journal readings, podcasts, current events, and video information refer to the unit Moodle site.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
No classes will be held during this week.
Chapter
No classes will be held during this week.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Topic 6: Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Chapter
Frederick, H. H., Kuratko, D. F., & O'Connor, A. (2015). Entrepreneurship: Theory/Process/Practice with Student Resource Access for 12 Months. Cengage AU. Chapter 1.
Tidd, J., & Bessant, J. (2014). Strategic innovation management. John Wiley & Sons. Chapter 1.
For additional resources refer to the unit Moodle site.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Details of Assessment Item 2
Module/Topic
Topic 7: Knowledge Management, Technology and eCommerce
Chapter
Laudon, K., & Traver, Carol Guercio. (2017). E-commerce 2017 (13th edition, Global ed.). Essex: Pearson Education Ltd. Chapter 1: Introduction to Ecommerce.
For additional recommended texts, journal readings, podcasts, current events, and video information refer to the unit Moodle site.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Topic 8: Regionalisation and Globalisation
Chapter
Robbins, S., Bergman, R., Stagg, I., & Coulter, M. (2018). Management (8th Ed), Pearson Australia. Chapter 4: Global Management.
For additional recommended texts, journal readings, podcasts, current events, 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
Livermore, D. (2015). Leading with Cultural Intelligence: The Real Secret to Success. Chapter 1: Culture matters: Why you need Cultural Intelligence.
For additional recommended texts, journal readings, podcasts, current events, and video information refer to the unit Moodle site.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Topic 10: Contemporary issues: Change, Resilience, and Sustainability
Chapter
Reuvid, J. (2014). Managing business risk a practical guide to protecting your business (10th ed.). London ; Philadelphia, PA: Kogan Page. Section 1.1: Beyond resilience.
Whitfield, R. (2013). A Primer on Sustainability: In the Business Environment. Chapter 3
For additional recommended texts, journal readings, podcasts, current events, and video information refer to the unit Moodle site.
Events and Submissions/Topic
Details of Assessment item 3 (online quiz/exam)
Module/Topic
There is no topic covered in class this week. Group led presentations and discussions will be completed in class.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
The group led presentations and discussions undertaken during the lecture and/or workshops.
The due date for Assessment item 2 (presentation and essay) upload on Moodle: 9:00 AM AEST Monday, 27 Sept 2021.
GROUP-LED PRESENTATION AND ESSAY Due: Week 11 Monday (27 Sept 2021) 9:00 am AEST
Module/Topic
There is no topic covered in class this week. Group led presentations and discussions will be completed in class.
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
The group led presentations and discussions undertaken during the lecture and/or workshops
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
The link for the online exam for Assessment 3 will be available on Moodle during the review/exam week as per the examination office schedule (Date and time to be confirmed).
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
The link for the online exam for Assessment 3 will be available on Moodle during the exam/review week as per the examination office schedule (Date and time to be confirmed).
1 Written Assessment
This assessment item is a business case analysis of 1600 words (+/- 10%)
- What is the governance structure of your chosen organisation and how does it ensure the effectiveness of the organisation's corporate governance?
- Which external environmental factors are influencing your chosen organisation’s performance and/or decision-making?
- What are the major risks your chosen organisation faces and how are they influencing its performance and/or decision making?
- What business practices does your chosen organisation adopt and how are they influencing its performance and/or decision making?
- What functional departments does your chosen organisation have and how are they supporting its business activities?
Note: further support on writing, referencing, recommended journals, etc. is given on the Moodle site for this assignment.
Vacation Week Monday (16 Aug 2021) 9:00 am AEST
A late penalty @ 5% per day will be applied
Week 7 Friday (3 Sept 2021)
Grades will be released online on Moodle.
Criteria 1. Introduction * 3 marks
Clearly outlines the purpose, scope, structure of the essay.
Criteria 2. Body—Theoretical knowledge * 8 marks
Demonstrated ability to define key terms and apply ONE of the theories and concepts presented in the weekly topics 1-5.
Criteria 3. Body—Research efforts and analysis * 12 marks
Level of research efforts demonstrated on the chosen company and ability to critically analyse the impact of a range of internal and external factors on the performance and decision making of the chosen company through addressing ONE of the five proposed topics.
Criteria 4. Conclusion *3 marks
All aspects are drawn together in a brief and concise summary. Consistent with findings, no new material introduced however highlights implications or comments on the future of the company.
Criteria 5. Presentation *2 marks
High quality of expression, grammar, spelling, punctuation, and proofreading.
Criteria 6. Referencing * 2 marks
Inclusion of an accurate reference list on a separate page listing only the sources that actually have been used. The reference list is arranged in alphabetical order according to the authors’ last names. At least 8 relevant peer-reviewed academic references post-2010 have been used, together with numerous non-academic references (industry/news/media/websites/databases) used to research and gather information on the company.
Please read the detailed assessment guideline and marking rubric available on the Unit's Moodle page before commencing work on the assessment.
- Critically analyse the impact of a range of internal and external contextual factors on the performance and decision making of organisations
- Synthesise and utilise key theories, concepts and terms relevant to internal and external contextual factors to examine organisational environments
- Communicate an understanding of contemporary internal and external contextual factors affecting organisations
- Knowledge
- Cognitive, technical and creative skills
- Research
- Ethical and Professional Responsibility
2 Group Work
This is a group assignment that involves a 15-minute student-led live presentation and a 1200 word (+/-10%) essay on the same topic. This assessment item accounts for 30% of your final grade for this unit and must be completed by students as a group. This assessment consists of two parts:
1) An essay addressing your chosen topic (15%)
2) An in-class live group presentation on the essay (15%)- over zoom for distance/offshore students and in-person for on-campus students
- You must be enrolled in a lecture class and a workshop/tutorial class by the census date. You will be able to enrol in Assessment Item 2 groups yourself on the unit's Moodle site. The members of your group must all be within your workshop/tutorial group. Groups cannot be formed with students who are NOT in your workshop/tutorial group.
- There will be a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 5 group members in each group. There will be no changes to these Assessment Item 2 groups after the Census date (3 August 2021), so please make sure that you have sorted out which lecture and tutorial class you want to attend by the Census Date.
- Once the groups are finalised, your group is required to choose ONE of the following four topics from weeks 6-9 (in consultation with your lecturer/tutor) as the focus of your group-led presentation and essay. You must include at least ONE real-life corporate example in your research efforts:
Note: further support on forming groups, presentation, writing, referencing, etc. is given on the Unit Moodle site for this assignment.
Week 11 Monday (27 Sept 2021) 9:00 am AEST
Upload the group presentation slides (PPT) and the group Essay (word document) on Moodle before 9 AM AEST (QLD time)
Review/Exam Week Friday (15 Oct 2021)
Grades will be released online on Moodle.
Criteria 1 - Theoretical knowledge * 6 marks
Demonstrated ability to define key terms and utilise the theories and concepts relevant to their topic.
Criteria 2 - Complex problem evaluation * 6 marks
Demonstrated critical understanding of the problems associated with the relevant contextual factor (one topic selected from Weeks 6-9) throughout the presentation and essay.
Criteria 3 - Creative solution * 6 marks
Recommendation of solutions regarding how organisations can deal with contemporary challenges posed by the relevant contextual factor (Every group member is expected to demonstrate contributions towards the assessment task and proposed creative solution).
Criteria 4 - Research efforts * 5 marks
Demonstrated strong key points in response to the chosen topic grounded in a wide breadth and quality of research by using a minimum of 8 relevant academic sources (post-2010 articles), together with numerous non-academic references (industry/news/media/websites/databases) used to research and gather information for the essay.
Criteria 5 - Corporate examples * 3 marks
Demonstrated the strength and relevance of the argument by incorporating at least ONE real-life organisation example.
Criteria 6 - Presentation * 2 marks
Develop a concise and structured presentation to the required professional standard. Q&A session well handled.
Criteria 7 - Referencing * 2 marks
Correctly using the APA referencing system to cite academic sources both in-text and in the final reference list.
- Communicate an understanding of contemporary internal and external contextual factors affecting organisations
- Evaluate complex problems relevant to internal and external contextual factors in organisational environments
- Recommend creative solutions to contemporary challenges facing businesses to a variety of audiences and stakeholders.
- Knowledge
- Communication
- Cognitive, technical and creative skills
- Research
- Self-management
- Ethical and Professional Responsibility
- Leadership
3 Online Quiz(zes)
Assessment Item 3 is an individual online exam/quiz worth 40% of the total marks for the unit.
- It will be held during the end of the Term exam period based on the Examination Office’s timetable for virtual exams (date/time to be confirmed later).
- Only one (1) attempt at the quiz will be made. You must attempt the exam in the time window of 4 hours once the exam link goes live on Moodle. There will be no opportunity to save your answers and return to the quiz at a later time.
- A submission link named “Assessment 3-Online Quiz” will appear under the Assessment block on the unit Moodle during exam week (time and date to be confirmed by Exam Office).
- Failure to achieve a pass mark (50%) on your attempt and/or non-submission will result in a fail for this assessment.
- In the absence of an approved extension based on valid grounds with proof, there will be no opportunity to complete this assessment after the due date.
- The quiz is an individual assessment task.
- You are NOT permitted to collaborate with other students whilst undertaking this assessment. Any attempt or evidence of collaboration will result in an Academic Misconduct investigation. You could look up course materials if you wish, but please be aware that most questions are analytical in nature and ask for the application of theories and/or incorporation of real-life corporate examples, hence, a text-dumping approach will result in loss of marks.
- Further, you are NOT allowed to use Search Engines (e.g., Google) for the development of your answers. [Reasons being: It is cheating; Further, Google has answers for everything, but they will not be the answers we look for. In other words, you will be misguided if you turn to Google. How do we know? We have reviewed the web and are aware of what could be used to contribute to answers] Your submission will be put through Turn-it-in, and high similarity will result in an investigation of possible academic misconduct.
- Relevance and appropriateness of answers to questions are more important than the “length” of answers- Quality over quantity!
- Practice questions will be made available on Moodle, the format of which replicates that of the final quiz. The purpose is to give you an idea of what the final online quiz is like and a chance for you to test your knowledge of this unit.
The online quiz has two parts: Part A and Part B. You must complete both parts.
Part A = 25 marks:
– Part A, will include short-answer questions (1-2 sentence responses) or multiple-choice questions.
Part B = 15 Marks:
– In Part B, a short reading (case study or article) will be given on Moodle. You will be required to read the case/article and answer the questions given at the end of the reading within the exam time. You need to write your response to Part B in an essay format (having sections like introduction, the body of the essay, and conclusion).
References are not required in the exam.
2
Other
The exam is to be sat during the Review/Exam week at a date and time released by examination office.
The marks for the online quiz will be released after the certification of grades.
Questions will be a combination of factual recall and original examples. Separate marks will be given for each of these.
Separate information is expected across all the answers, not repeated information.
A marking guide will be provided to each marker by the unit coordinator that clearly indicates the expected answer and how many marks to award for each part of the answer.
- Synthesise and utilise key theories, concepts and terms relevant to internal and external contextual factors to examine organisational environments
- Communicate an understanding of contemporary internal and external contextual factors affecting organisations
- Knowledge
- Communication
- Cognitive, technical and creative skills
- Research
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?
