Module Content

The following is indicative of the material which may be covered in this module in order to achieve the module aims and learning outcomes:

1. Introduction to The Business Environment
   What is business? (Organizations, systems and communities), The activities of production, Business as a system of transformation, I-P-O Models. Environmental Scanning, The contingency perspective, The purpose of environmental scanning, PEST, Interpreting the outcomes, Respond, choose and influence, interconnectedness
2. Globalisation
   History and definitions, International trade and the global marketplace (production and demand), neoclassical vs Marxist perspectives, structuralist perspectives, global ethics
3. The Economic and Political Environment
   Economic Systems, Government Objectives, Government influence on the economy and its interaction with business
4. The Financial Environment
   Financial reporting for business and financial control, published accounts and ratio analysis
5. The Socio-Cultural Environment
   Understanding demographic and psychographic data and how it can influence decision making.
6. The Future of Work
   Forecasting how organisations and humans must respond to changing environmental factors in order to prosper.

Teaching Methods

In order to stimulate learning and support understanding, the module is structured to provide opportunities for discussion and debate. Lectures will be used to introduce concepts and principles. Typically topics introduced in lectures will then be discussed in more detail in the seminars. The seminars will utilise a range of learning materials including case studies, film and discussion questions. The seminars will also be
designed to ensure students are required to draw on their own experiences to make sense of their own understandings of the principles of work and organisations.
The topics for the portfolio will be introduced within the lecture and students will be guided to further reading, however they will need to engage in personal research in order to address the assessment requirements.
A number of seminars within the year will be dedicated to ongoing feedback on the portfolio that students will incrementally develop throughout the year. This will give students’ opportunities to continuously improve the quality of their work.
Students will draw on and enhance graduate attributes of planning, communication, literacy and analysis and develop confidence and expand their intellectual ability through constructing argument and exploring perspectives.

Assessment Methods

This module is assessed through an essay and an examination.