Key Skills for Business

Learning Outcomes

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• reflect on ideas deeply and richly in a way that opens up the space for the exploration of meaning in business contexts.
• appreciate ideas from different perspectives and use multiple framing to deepen your understanding of complex phenomena;
• use a wide range of intellectual ideas and analytical thinking to enrich your arguments;

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

• how to develop thinking tools and strategies to cope with ambiguous working environments.
• the practical challenges of the workplace in relation to information and decision-making;

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

• appreciate the sensitivities, privacy and IP questions relating to business information, including digital information;
• develop confidence and skill in oral presentation and group discussions;
• develop techniques for prioritising, managing workload and meeting deadlines under time and resource pressure.
• develop and improve skills in report writing, memo writing, email communications;

The topics covered in this module will include:

• Rhetoric and public speaking, presentation and design skills;
• Time management, prioritising, meeting deadlines;
• Meetings and negotiation skills, sales and selling;
• PR and external communication;
• Digital literacy and data privacy;
• Report writing, emailing, memos;
• Ethics at work;
• Understanding bureaucracy and rules;
• Coaching and mentoring.

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching methods include:

• Lectures will be designed to introduce general topics and provide case study examples. A rich range of video material, case studies and reports will be used to illustrate the main ideas.
• Seminars will be used to discuss and practise the skills and activities introduced in the lectures.
• Students will work in small groups to coach each other in the practical competences of organisational reality.

Example case studies:

• Yes Minister TV series
• Great orators.
• Coping in extreme conditions.

Learning activities include:

• Individual/group assignments.
• In class debate and discussion.
• Private study.
• Use of online material.

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Van Emden, I., Becker, L. (2010). Presentation Skills for Students. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Leith, S (2010). You Talkin' to Me? Rhetoric from Aristotle to Obama. London: Profile books.

Allen, D (2002). Getting Things Done: How to Achieve Stress-Free Productivity. New York: Penguin.

Formative

This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External