Overview
This course is primarily designed for SME employees, students and graduates who are interested in learning more about strategic decision-making within organisations. The course is also relevant for people who feel that they have strong knowledge of one business area but lack essential exposure to other business areas to become a strong general manager or a business owner.
You don't need to have a background in simulations or a strategy to succeed in this course. It will equip you with all the knowledge and skills required to plan all basic activities and allocate relevant resources within an organisation.
Course Overview
Participants of the module will experience the life of a general manager or business owner. They will work within the secure environment of online simulations to make tough decisions and learn from mistakes.
Through interactive discussions, individual tasks, group activities and simulated online work scenarios, we will take the participants through several aspects of business building and highlight the key statistics that managers need to monitor to make the business survive and grow.
This module is simulation-based, so you will be expected to apply the knowledge gained through this course to practical scenarios.
Participants will:
- Learn about the functions and interdependencies of different departments in an organisation, including Marketing, Sales, Operations, R&D, etc.
- Understand the various activities and resources that come together to create a successful department
- Experience the challenges of working for a business and the consequences of conflicting decisions
- Explore team-based decision-making scenarios through pre-designed online simulations
- Develop skills to identify the impact of strategic decisions on company finances and staffing
- Produce a group presentation demonstrating their understanding of business building
- Produce a written assessment based on their experiences of business simulations, reflecting on the influence of team dynamics.
Week 1-4:
Entrepreneurial organizations, sales & marketing, production, quality control, and individual strategic decision-making using online simulations.
Week 5-9:
HR, R&D, executive management, board of directors, finance/legal/accounting, and group strategic decision-making using online simulations.
Course Aims
This course will allow participants to:
- Demonstrate a critical understanding of the strategic choices available to start-ups and established organisations.
- Critically evaluate the impact of strategic choices on influencing the growth of an organisation.
- Evaluate how activities and resources within different departments are linked and how they lead to achieving the high-level goals of an organisation.
- Make informed business decisions based on business data generated from simulation games and communicate this information effectively.
- Reflect on how team dynamics influence business-building decisions.
Skills gained:
- Learn techniques to accelerate your entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship and/or general managerial efforts
- Understand each stage of business growth
- Understand how to manage an early-stage business and transition into a growth business
- Learn about team dynamics
Knowledge gained:
- Gain an understanding of several management theories relevant to different departments in an organisation
- Learn about startup, scaleup and established companies
- Learn about inter-departmental consequences due to decisions in one area of a business
- Differentiate between entrepreneurial and managerial mindset
- Understand links between simulations and mindset development
Benefits
- The learning can help to improve a company’s approach to leveraging the available resources and improve its focus on current challenges and future growth.
- This will eventually help to improve the company’s competitiveness, revenue, profits, operational efficiencies and general growth prospects in the market.
- The course will help the learner to get a job in the general management areas of a company.
- It will also help them progress in their current management-based career.
- Most of the skills learned through the sessions will be transferable across departments and across industries.
Audience
- Anyone who has an interest in business strategy, operations and general management and would like to learn about how various departments are linked in an organisation
- Technical experts who need to understand the management/commercial side a bit more
- Commercial experts who need to learn more about overall business to align their activities seamlessly
- New managers who want to fast-track their experience around general management techniques
- Experienced managers who want an up-to-date refresher on the latest around management realities across the world
Assessment
Group Presentation (50%) – This 20-minute group presentation will involve outlining an overview of the business building process, including strategic decision-making stages, and using examples from industry.
Individual Written Assignment (50%) – This 1500-word assignment will reflect on your experience of the business simulation process, including the influence of team dynamics on the strategic decision-making of your simulated organisation and the impact of the strategic choices on the outcome.
Award
After completing this course, learners will receive 20 credits which can then be used for future learning.
Funding
The Staffordshire E-Skills & Entrepreneurship Gateway (SEGway) is part funded by the European Social Fund.