Understanding organisations in their context

Duration of Course - 2 Days

Unit Aims

To develop knowledge and understanding of organisations in context as required by a practising or potential manager.

Learning Outcomes

• Understand the context within which an organisation operates
• Understand the financial environment within which an organisation operates
• Understand the economic environment within which an organistion operates

Course Outline

• The nature and purpose of organisations
• An outline of basic business structures – sole trader, partnership, limited companies, public sector organisations, voluntary sector, etc
• Operational functions within the organisation, such as marketing, finance, production, etc
• Overview of the management task
• Formal and informal organisational relationships between departments and people
• Various types of organisation chart
• Management roles and responsibilities within the organisation
• The relevance of stakeholders, and how to identify them
• Value of financial information for management
• Key source documents used in accounting (invoices, etc.)
• Simple treatment of the balance sheet, profit and loss account, and cash flow forecast
• Simple treatment of income and expenditure accounts (for non-profit organisations)
• Financial measures of business performance – how to calculate and interpret simple accounting ratios
• An outline of sources of finance
• Simple outline of the impact of economics and politics on the organisation
• Brief outline of the key economic issues – inflation, unemployment, trade cycles, exchange rates, economic growth, price mechanism, competition, economic indicators, “factors of production” affecting business location as relevant to own organisation
• How government uses fiscal, monetary and legal measures to influence the economy, and the effects on organisational operations
• A brief treatment of key global issues and the challenges they present to organisations
• The UK’s (or your own country’s) key trading partners – international competition
• The European Union (or other appropriate trading bloc) – its purpose, scope, membership and key institutions
• Other international organisations which have an influence on business – as appropriate
• Currency exchange rates and their impact on business operations