Management and Managing: an introduction

RATIONALE 

This is one of the first management modules that students will study. It has been designed to allow students to develop an understanding of the nature, processes and origins of ‘management,’ engaging both traditional approaches to the organization of work and more contemporary challenges.  

In addition, the module has been designed to allow students to develop the skill-set necessary for successful study at undergraduate level and within the graduate employment market. Thus, the module underpins much of the Suffolk Business School undergraduate curriculum. Students will be encouraged to develop a core set of cognitive skills; a broader range of transferable skills and a collection of behavioural attributes which invite students to take increasing responsibility for their learning and encourage participants to consider the challenges associated with acting managerially.  

AIMS 

Through the completion of this module students will: 

• Explore the nature, origins and processes of managerial work. 
• Consider the different ways in which ‘management’ and ‘managing’ have been represented in academic and more ‘popular’ texts. 
• Explore a variety of organizational structures and systems that have been developed to support and advance managerial work. 
• Consider the nature of managerial control and the inherent limitations of managerial control strategies. 

LEARNING OUTCOMES 

On successful completion of this module, a student will be able to: 

1. Produce a reasoned, comparative and usefully contextualised account of a number of core management theories. 
2. Offer a reflective analysis on the relative merits of a number of organizational formations. 
3. Probe the nature and limitations of managerial control.
4. Review and account for different representations of ‘management’ and ‘managing.’ 
5. Demonstrate an awareness of a range of cognitive and behavioural skills necessary to the work of managing.