This is a foundation course within the MBA program. In this course you will be introduced to design thinking and you will be asked to apply design thinking as entry level managers to authentic business scenarios. We operationalise the concept of design thinking and examine how the tools of business design can be employed across the disciplines and functions covered in this program.

• Examine and discuss design thinking, exploring its manifestations and implications within organisational contexts.
• Differentiate between contemporary methods, emphasising their role in fostering teamwork to identify opportunities and solve problems collaboratively and creatively.
• Create and communicate end-user-driven solutions to business problems or opportunities, employing design thinking principles and encouraging diversity and team creativity throughout the process.
• Demonstrate creative, critical and ethical thinking by collaboratively developing and recommending solutions to business problems and opportunities that benefit relevant stakeholders.
• Evaluate potential outcomes of design thinking in view of better creative problem solving, decision making, implementation and sustainability of solutions.

This course aims to develop understandings and skills adequate to the complexities of being a managerial leader. The course covers leadership and management from early theories to contemporary perspectives. The course provides you with a conceptually rich framework for designing managerial leadership effectiveness within organisational contexts. The course aims to enable you to think creatively about the capabilities required of professional managerial leaders, with an emphasis on self-development related to becoming workplace ready.

• Recognise the appropriateness of different types of leadership styles in a range of organisational settings.
• Accurately assess your personal strengths and areas of challenge and effectively self-manage these towards improved practice.
• Explain how effective managerial leaders are able to diagnose and ethically improve the key areas of organisational functioning.
• Motivate and influence others in ways that contribute to sustainable organisational performance.

This course seeks to develop understanding of the marketing function, to observe current marketing practice and to examine key issues currently challenging the profession. The course stresses the relationship between the customer /client and the organisation as a producer or service provider. Ethical or responsible marketing as a strategy for building trust is also identified.

The primary course objective is to enable you to understand and utilise marketing tools, techniques and processes towards better organisational outcomes. This enables you to better manage the marketing issues. Theoretical concepts such as segmentation, targeting, positioning, among others are presented and applied in a series of cases and activities that reflect the use of these concepts in real practice. Marketing strategy is related to the environmental opportunities and constraints that must be addressed.

A feature of this course is to consider the relevance of marketing practices in different organisational contexts.

• Apply the key concepts and tools of marketing theory to enable the application of marketing functions in a professional context.
• Implement the strategic marketing planning process to develop and manage marketing plan.
• Utilise marketing research tools and methodologies to generate actionable insights and guide data-driven decision-making.
• Present marketing ideas and concepts to a variety of stakeholders using effective communication skills.
• Develop and evaluate your readiness and adaptability to engage effectively in global marketing contexts independently and in diverse team environments.

In today’s environment business, finance and accounting professionals need to analyse an increasing volume of data in a meaningful way in order to make sustainable strategic decisions. Good decisions depend on accurate and well-presented information drawn from both domestic and international sources and more importantly the ability to synthesise and draw conclusions from that data.

Financial Analytics for Managerial Decisions will develop your ability to interpret and analyse both internal and external financial information so that as a business leader you can make effective and sustainable decisions in a global context. To develop not only your technical expertise but also your interpersonal and problem solving skills, you will participate in teamwork and a business simulation.

• Analyse, interpret and critically evaluate global financial information from a variety of sources in order to develop sustainable business proposals.
• Create effective business reports, advice and tables tailored to specific business needs.
• Show effective, appropriate and persuasive collaboration and communication skills in a range of contexts.
• Select, communicate and advocate effective strategies using design thinking to address complex business problems and opportunities.
• Apply ethical standards to the role and conduct of financial reporting.

Strategy is a course designed to expose you to a strategic perspective on issues that concern an organization as a whole. The course draws on and integrates concepts from most of the other MBA courses which focus on specific areas of operating a business i.e. functional areas of marketing, finance, accounting, human resource management, operations management) and uses these insights to aid in the development of novel and competitive solutions to complex business problems and opportunities.

The course covers the evolution of the field of strategy and the need to balance strategy process, content and context.

• Apply business concepts and the tools of strategic analysis to develop a strategy plan for a business.
• Understand how to create a sustainable competitive strategy for an organisation.
• Develop strategy alternatives helped by design thinking, to facilitate creativity, problem solving, change and innovation.
• Demonstrate an understanding of legal, ethical social, economic and environmental implications of strategy process and practice.

In this course you will learn how to effectively design, research, and manage a business-consulting project that meets a client’s needs. Through a series of seminars you will engage with key literature relating to consulting. You will apply integrated business concepts to applied industry-based research.

This course also emphasises the contribution of sound business ethics to promote and sustain the achievement of organisational business goals. In the course you will also consider and research career goals as entry level managers and reflect on contemporary international trends of employment. You will critically reflect about your learning skills and lifelong learning options.

This course includes a Work Integrated Learning experience. You will undertake and be assessed on structured activities that allow you to learn, apply and demonstrate your professional or vocational practice; and be involved in authentic engagement with partner organisations that include industry feedback.

This course also provides you with a capstone experience, which will provide you with the opportunity to integrate, critically reflect on and consolidate what you have learnt in your program.

• Apply design thinking to national and international business problems and opportunities, so as to develop solutions for defined end-users.
• Apply interpersonal skills to work in teams and to communicate effectively with clients.
• Create solutions and recommendations that add value to the client’s organisation through responding to a client project brief in an ethical sustainable manner.
• Research and reflect on career opportunities for entry level managers.

This course aims to critically examine and evaluate both current and emerging digital technologies, with a focus on enhancing existing systems and generating new business value. Students are encouraged to undertake comprehensive investigations into the digital disruptions that are reshaping multiple industries.

The course is designed to equip students with the skills to critically assess and articulate digital trends in today's business landscape. Course participants will analyze the effects of these trends on organizational strategies and will learn how to leverage digital technologies as solutions. The ultimate goal is to deepen students' understanding of the transformative role that digital innovations can serve in shaping a more inventive and competitive business landscape for the future.

• Critically appraise and evaluate various emerging technologies that support digital innovation.
• Design and construct technology solutions to support digital innovation in a business context.
• Evaluate emerging technologies to determine their potential to deliver business value and achieve strategic alignment.
• Explain how digital technologies can transform business processes and operations.
• Examine the critical role of management in fostering and directing digital innovation.

This course develops your skills in evaluating current and emerging technology trends and evaluates its impact and opportunities on business.

You will explore developments in technologies including the evolution of a technology, the characteristics of a technology and its implications on managerial functions.

You will also evaluate how technological changes affect stakeholder management and their ethical implications, and how to respond to business challenges by developing solutions to meet business objectives arising from emerging technologies.

• Critically evaluate current and emerging developments in technologies and related opportunities and challenges.
• Appraise the implications of technological changes on managerial functions including planning, decision making, control, and coordination and the relationships with stakeholders.
• Develop business solutions in response to technological changes.
• Analyse business and ethical implications of emerging technology in organisational settings.

This course examines the role of entry level managers in the management of technology and innovation in national and international business.

The course includes an examination of the literature concerning managing business innovation and discusses technology management, including the management and commercialisation of incremental, emerging and disruptive technologies in ethical and sustainable ways.

The course shows the need for the integration of business innovation and technology management. In this course, you are asked to reflect on the knowledge and skill required of managers to apply innovation and technology management strategies and techniques to enhance ethical decision making and sustainable business performance.

• Manage business innovation and technology challenges in business both nationally and internationally.
• Research and evaluate data to inform and support decision making that contributes to the effective management of technology, change and innovation.
• Reflect on the knowledge and skill required of managers to make ethical and sustainable business decisions in relation to technology and innovation.
• Construct and present effective oral and written forms of professional communication.

The course presents you with a management overview of the field of Information Security and Assurance. You will be exposed to the spectrum of security and risk management activities, methods, methodologies, and procedures. Coverage will include inspection and protection of information assets, detection of and reaction to threats to information assets, and examination of pre and post-incident procedures, technical and managerial responses and an overview of the Information Security Planning and staffing functions.

This course includes a work integrated learning experience in which your knowledge and skills will be applied and assessed in a simulated workplace context and where feedback from industry and/or community is integral to your experience.

• Critically assess the information security state of an organisation from a holistic perspective to evaluate current practices, standards, and policies.
• Evaluate potential security risks to an organisation to prioritise appropriate short and long-term countermeasures.
• Critically appraise the balance between business information needs and security concerns to strengthen their alignment.
• Produce professional communication to justify the general nature and range of security technologies available and required in a business organisation.
• Develop information security policies and programs to address relevant issues and security concerns.
• Communicate individual and/or team research findings on information security problems in complex business contexts.

Digital transformations are changing the world and the workplace as we know it, offering increased interconnectedness of people, organisations and machines, greater speed and agility, but also an important leadership challenge. Leaders in this fast-moving digital era are charged with navigating dynamic complexities of blurred boundaries, fluid collaborations and agility pressures, and must consider new skills and associated mindset shifts. This course is designed to equip students to understand key leadership issues in the digital age, and develop the skills required to lead in a world where digital disruption is the norm.

• Critique the literature discussing key leadership issues in the digital age.
• Critically evaluate the processes and skills best suited to effective leadership in the age of digital disruption.
• Critically analyse and reflect upon leadership strengths and weaknesses, practicality and personal utility.

The importance of a leader’s personal, social, and organisational identity is directly relevant to how that leader is perceived by followers and has strong implications for levels of employee organisational commitment and loyalty. Issues of authenticity and personal branding relate not only to identity but also to wellbeing for both leaders and followers.

This course is designed to equip students with an understanding of key issues and skills required to express who they are as a 'personal brand' and to authentically lead organisations and employees. You will identify your own strengths and discover your own style, with the objective of developing an honest and consistent ‘brand’ of leadership. The exploration of personal branding will also focus on how to increase digital presence and influence and how to boost digital networking opportunities.

The course will examine contemporary key literature relevant to personal brands and authenticity. In this course you will be connected with new conversations exploring contemporary leadership issues such as: what it means to be authentic; personal, social, and organisational identities and their alignment; the importance of a disentangled self-narrative; recognition of personal values and personal purpose; becoming an entrepreneur of identity for oneself and for others; formulating and articulating a personal brand; authentic communication; and leading when you are not prototypical.

• Assess the importance of authentic and personal branding to leadership.
• Critically evaluate the characteristics of authentic leadership.
• Reflect on the anchors of your personal narrative and use these to formulate and articulate your personal brand.

In this course you will explore human behaviour in the work context by considering the interaction between individuals and teams, within and toward organisations. You will develop your abilities to evaluate individuals' diversity, attitudes, emotions, motivations and stress; and issues of communication, power, conflict management and negotiation within teams.

The study of individuals and teams provide insights into the complex issues of organisational structure, culture and change. This multi-level exploration will develop your ability to apply evidence-based research and theory to contemporary issues of behaviour within organisations to inform human resource management and organisational performance.

• Analyse the literature on organisational behaviour.
• Demonstrate interpersonal skills and persuasive communication.
• Critically evaluate organisational behaviour problems drawing on theory and research.
• Design evidence-based solutions to organisational behaviour problems with consideration of ethical ramification of action.

This course is intended to encourage you to reflect and apply the managerial capabilities required in the face of the digital revolution. The course focuses on digital innovation and transformation, adoption of an entrepreneurial mindset to understand and apply digital entrepreneurship management within existing organisations, and the start-up of new digital ventures.

The course examines the business application of concepts drawn from the key literature on digital innovation. You will develop your understanding of how digital entrepreneurship contributes to the digital economy, the trends and issues affecting digital entrepreneurship including digital technologies and digital innovation, facilitators and barriers to digital entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship and the differing requirements for success in various countries and regions. 

You will develop your understanding of what is required to succeed as a digital entrepreneur in both existing businesses and innovative new start-ups, and how to manage and lead these organisations in an ethical and sustainable manner.

• Evaluate the economic and technological factors that are at the heart of the digital revolution occurring in the global economy.
•  Apply contemporary business knowledge to manage the implementation of digital entrepreneurship in existing and start-up organisations.
• Research and critique digital entrepreneurship and digital technology management strategies and practices.
• Critically reflect on and apply best practice and learning from examples and case studies to assess and evaluate digital entrepreneurship practices.
• Justify business decisions regarding new digital business ventures which are ethical and sustainable.

Human-centred design places the focus on audiences, end-users and consumers. It requires insightful understanding of both the functional and higher-order motives and values of key stakeholders. A focus on innovation and collaboration allows diverse and shared stakeholder input, enabling co-creation from within and outside organisations.

In this course you will engage in a project for a real-world organisation. You will act as a consultant applying Design Thinking based on the 'Double Diamond' methodology, to a problem or opportunity. Your focus will be on the Discover and Design stages and on re-framing the posed challenge. 

• Apply innovative and ethical thinking through reframing organisational problems to redefine them as opportunities.
• Demonstrate discovery practices through application of contemporary methods to uncover user insights.
• Communicate insights effectively to stakeholders.
• Demonstrate creative, critical and ethical thinking through developing clearly framed design challenges that inform solution development.

This course will equip you with an understanding of the mindset, key capabilities and collaboration tools required to engage in iterative processes of ideation, prototyping and testing, and refinement of product and service design solutions.

In this course you will engage in a project for a real-world organisation. You will act as a consultant applying Design Thinking based on the 'Double Diamond' methodology, with a focus on the Develop and Deliver stages. Your focus will be on finding desirable, feasible and viable solutions. 

• Research, synthesise and critique design thinking resources.
• Apply design thinking principles to develop opportunities and deliver desirable, feasible and viable user outcomes.
• Prototype and test solutions to address user needs.
• Communicate design solutions professionally and effectively to users.

In this course you will be introduced to futures thinking in a business context. You will learn how design thinking, creativity and alternative models can be applied to address organisational challenges presented by emerging business issues. You will connect these to long term systemic issues in the bigger picture of social and policy design. You will examine ways that futures thinking is being applied across a range of business disciplines.

• Critique the key literature regarding futures thinking and emerging methods of design thinking.
• Analyse and discuss futures thinking in a business context.
• Evaluate key principles of futures thinking and apply them to long term systemic issues, taking account of the bigger picture of social and policy design.

This course examines the role the project manager plays in managing their team and will develop your knowledge of how to manage individual differences and how to foster team cohesion. You will also explore how different managerial styles determine team structure, and develop your knowledge of how current theoretical frameworks inform team function.

This course will develop your critical understandings of the relation between team management and organisational strategic objectives and vision, and will build your understanding of project team strategies to support positive work life interaction.

• Analyse effective project team management in relation to both your own professional practice or related experience, industry feedback and theoretical academic knowledge
• Conduct a literature review of relevant material to support your conception of effective project team management
• Undertake a case study analysis of an industry based project team
• Formulate and justify a series of recommendations to improve project team function and performance
• Analyse the relationship between project team management and organisational objectives and success.

This course introduces the concept of sustainable business models (SBM) and emphasises changes to business models as a key approach for creating innovations that promote social and environmental sustainability while creating economic value for organisations.

You will enhance your skills and knowledge in sustainability, business strategy, and innovation. You will develop critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills, enabling you to tackle sustainability challenges in organisational contexts. This course will prepare you for success in a business environment increasingly focused on social, environmental, and economic sustainability and ethical governance.

• Evaluate contemporary theory and practices of sustainability and sustainable business models, and their implications for the local and global environment, society and the economy.
• Assess the challenges and opportunities facing businesses when adopting sustainable business models, and critically analyse potential strategies and practices.
• Apply relevant tools and frameworks to design a sustainable business model that integrates advanced sustainable practices.
• Demonstrate effective communication skills to engage stakeholders, while seeking support for sustainable business models and strategies.
• Critically evaluate the role of innovation on advancing sustainable business practices, and identify potential enablers and barriers in their adoption, considering relevant legal, compliance and ethical considerations.