Postgraduate Qatar Business School 2019-2020

Business cannot be conducted without some form of communication between the participants involved. This course examines a wide variety of different types of interpersonal communication in different types of business contexts and, by so doing, provides students with a detailed and practical overview of this vitally important subject area.

The course will apply theoretical and practical content to explore the key concepts of marketing management to provide students with an understanding of planning, coordinating and controlling marketing activities. It aims to take students understanding beyond what has been labelled as a transaction-based approach to a relationship-based approach. As such the aim is to provide students with an understanding of the role of marketing in establishing, developing and maintaining relationships for mutual gain. This will be achieved through a combination of lectures, seminars, simulations and directed private study.

International Business is a wide-ranging subject that includes economic, political, cultural and technological facets. The aim of this course is to provide an introduction to the complexities of international business management by examining how the global environment and our understanding of these affect management within an international context.

The industry weeks provide a unique opportunity to experience what is like to be part of a 'startup' organisation. Working in a small team you will collaborate with your peers to develop and shape innovative solutions, products or services for 'real world' challenges. As part of the course you will gain new skills, insights and experiences that will enable you to tackle future professional challenges and strengthen your own entrepreneurial perspective.

Business Strategy covers a broad range of topics that come under the general heading of “Business Strategy” / “Strategic Management”. The course introduces participants to concepts, frameworks and models that are useful in providing explanations of how companies operate with respect to goal setting, understanding their competitive landscape, assessing opportunities,  managing own capabilities, coordinating their activities with other companies, and competing to create value for customers. The course is interactive in nature, applying a learning-by-doing method involving students taking on roles as part of a series of simulation exercises. 

The concepts of change and innovation have never been more topical, especially given the commercial context of fierce business competition, shorter product life cycles and more demanding customers.  Increasingly, long-term commercial success is based on an ability to manage change, to act creatively and to promote innovation.  These processes interconnect and overlap and often present major challenges to modern organizations.  We address these issues through providing detailed case illustrations ranging from the workplace to the wider business market.  Learning is encouraged through interaction, reading, investigation, video and case analysis, and critical discussion. 

This course focuses on the economics of business allowing students to understand the economics that underlie a whole host of business issues. The course will cover the functioning of markets, consumer behaviour, pricing, production and costing problems, monopoly and the business implications of inflation, economic growth and economic policy.

Managing human resources is important for survival and prosperity of organizations and economies, and has implications for individual attitudes and well-being.  Managers are expected to contribute to the delivery of the human resource strategy, supported by expert advice and guidance. This module explores the key concepts underpinning the management of human resources and their practical application in organisations today.  Focus on four important themes:

·        Recruitment and selection

·        Equality and diversity

·        Flexible employment and work-life balance

·        Talent management

You will be encouraged to share your views and experiences through class discussion and debate. 

The course aims to provide students with an understanding of Issues in International Management as viewed from a number of diverse perspectives eg Coaching; Oil & Gas; Entrepreneurship; Technology; Accountancy & Finance.

This course introduces students to what is involved in undertaking business research in practice. Within lectures, tutorials and workshops students will develop an understanding of: Information retrieval and critical analysis; Philosophical issues in the construction of knowledge; Accessing and gathering quantitative and qualitative data; Data analysis; Student/Supervisor expectations.

This course provides an opportunity to explore and develop an understanding of your own ladership behaviour. Through seminars, group activities and discussions we investigate how personality, past experience, current situations and culture shape the way each of us behave in a leadership role. Using this information as a starting point we then explore how different leadership theories and approaches can be used as a frameworks for developing a deeper understanding of leadership behaviour. You will also have an opportunity to assist you in the development of your own approach to leadership.

Whether you are intending to manage other people or be responsible for HR functions in a company, this course is intended for you.

You will learn the theories that are the basis for good practice, the skills that are required to put them across and the employment law which governs what we are expected to achieve with our people

This course is run by tutors who have been experienced managers themselves and it will prepare you to pursue a career in management confident and competent to carry out what is expected of you

The industry weeks provide a unique opportunity to experience what is like to be part of a 'startup' organisation. Working in a small team you will collaborate with your peers to develop and shape innovative solutions, products or services for 'real world' challenges. As part of the course you will gain new skills, insights and experiences that will enable you to tackle future professional challenges and strengthen your own entrepreneurial perspective.

The course aims to provide participants with a critical understanding of the nature and articulation of the marketing function within modern organisations, and an appreciation of the relative contribution of specific marketing tools to the development of a market orientation.

On completion of the course students will be able to:

1. Critique the key principles and concepts of marketing.

2. Evaluate the role of marketing to modern organisations in private and public sectors.

3. Understand the integration of the marketing function with other organisational functions.

4. Assess the role of identified marketing techniques

The fact that money (and understanding money) really matters in business and all managers need to understand issues like cashflow and profit might depress you, but it is true. Financial viability of customers? Deciding on the likely financial viability of a project? Reporting to shareholders about performance? Does the word “sustainable” appear in a finance dictionary? All questions we will try and address.

The focus of this course is not people but processes, not outside the organisation but within. Operations transform materials, information and customers to create goods and services using staff and facilities. We study process types and focus particularly on projects. We see how capacity and inventory reconcile demand and output and explore location, supply chains, quality, risk and resilience. About 40% of the course is on projects and project-management techniques. Prepare for both critical discussion of theory and application (operationalisation), including calculation.

The aim of this course is to equip students with an understanding of key aspects of new venture creation, including business planning, pitching new ideas to investors and managing growth. This is a capstone course, by bringing together a range of different concepts.

The course provides both a strategic orientation and tactical orientation:

Strategic:

§  How to align digital strategy with a wider business strategy

§  The value that (internal and external) research and analytics can bring to digital marketing decisions

Tactical:

§  Assess the quality of any website based on a range of important measures

§  Benchmark a website’s performance against online competitors

§  Investigate the potential of a business idea for a given market sector

§  Present digital marketing research and advice to a generalist audience

§  Understand the potential commercial value of social media

§  Interpret onsite analytics in support of business objectives

This course aims to allow students to bring together their knowledge, learning and understanding gathered from across the modules studied. Students are required to choose an appropriate topic, and place it in the context of an appropriate body of literature and identify key concepts, ideas and definitions pertaining to the topic and its development. Students will select appropriate methodology to support the paper and organize empirical and theoretical material observing relevant academic conventions. The work will present a logical and cogent argument in support of conclusions drawn from material consulted.

This guide is intended to set out the outline of this module as well as the logic and philosophy for delivery. The guide is designed to be used in conjunction with the module’s associated lectures and seminars, as well the online material published on Blackboard and should be used to ensure that you have a clear understanding of how the module will be delivered and administered. You should refer to this handbook for guidance on how to complete the module and for important information on lectures & tutorials, as well as for assessment guidelines and submission dates.