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Business module, compulsory for students on MSc of Telecommunications with Business.

Overview:

This five-day course/module will address the principles of organisational design and the management of people as a resource within a set of effective processes. Its context is the modern global telecomms industry.

These principles will then be developed to consider the way that a company exploits its R&D activity and, in particular, the management of innovation from concept to product.

• human resource management
• organisational design
• organisation and process transformation
• self and team management
• culture and leadership
• innovation management
• entrepreneurship

Course content:

1) Self management

The course begins by introducing the principles of managing one’s self, with the appropriate learning styles and presentational skills. A number of techniques and models are introduced, including the Johari Window, the Belbin model of people types and the Kolb model of learning styles. You'll do a number of classroom exercises to explore the way the techniques are applied. This set of lectures conclude that various types of individuals contribute to team working and how this variety should be managed and exploited.

2) Human resources management

These lectures cover the principles of HR management (HRM) and its application to industry today. Specific attention is given to defining an organisation’s culture and leadership and their effect on business performance. You'll study the range of techniques and factors involved in successful operational and managerial HRM. Finally, the value of organisational, collective and individual development will be addressed. You'll consider a number of case studies and undertake group exercises to develop better understanding of the various facets of HRM presented.

3) Innovation management

The subject is addressed in a systematic academic way based on the wealth of case study and analytical body of work now available. The principles of innovation management will be presented using many of the latest examples from the ICT industry. Specific areas studied include how innovation can improve business performance, how to identify potential sources of innovation and the processes involved in exploiting these. You'll explore the application of innovation to the development of new product and service design and implementation in the ICT market. Finally, ways of successfully exploiting technology development through intellectual property management and company alliances will be examined.

4) Entrepreneurship

The importance of entrepreneurship in today’s ICT market will be explored and the principles of successful identification and exploitation of opportunities presented. The lectures will include case studies of recent examples of good practice and you'll be given the chance to examine the factors contributing to the business success of these ventures.

Learning outcomes:

At the end of the course, students should be able to:

• Understand the way that their personal behaviour can be analysed and categorised so that the management of their contribution to an organisation as an individual or team member can be maximised. Students will learn how to apply the Johari Window and the Belbin models to themselves and how to interpret the results.
• Understand the principles of human resource management as it is applied to today’s business environment. Students will be able to identify how determine how organisational cultures will affect the HR situation and how the HR management should accommodate this. They will also be able to apply their understanding of operational and managerial HR to various case studies and indentify the appropriate strategy for exploiting individual, collective and organisational developments.
• Understand the key elements in managing innovation in an ICT company in today’s business environment. Students will be able to identify likely sources of innovation and the necessary ways that a company can exploit this in new product and service development. Students will also learn how to analyse the opportunities for innovation and how intellectual property management and company alliances can contribute.