CMT - 1st year courses

Course Outlines 1st Year MBA Courses

Management Communication

The course aims to provide managers with the tools and strategies that will enable them to perform effectively in face-to-face communication in the workplace. Upon completion of the course students will be able to:

Communicate effectively with interested parties such as employees, the media, shareholders and potential investors;
Prepare and deliver successful business presentations;
Write a logically structured business report;
Use the correct register for both written and spoken management communication;
Use specialist business lexis.

The course includes the following topics:
Advanced business presentation skills
Communicating with employees
Interviewing skills Performance appraisal
Conflict management
Breaking bad news
Communicating with shareholders and investors
Capita-raising presentation
Presenting the annual report
Dealing with the media
Crisis management
Press releases
Principles of report writing
The language of meetings and negotiations
Business lexis

Course material: Phillips D., Clifton J., Hughes S., Management Communication, Universitas, Antwerpen, 2010.
Course duration: 40 hours

Organization and Management

The course examines the tasks and functions of management, the role of managers within the organization and their authority, responsibility and accountability to employees, shareholders and other stakeholders. It also examines the role of the manager as a leader and decision-maker and the different types of organization structures within which a manager must operate.
The evolution of management thinking will be explored and the influence of internationalization, globalization and the impact of new technology on management practice will also be examined.
The course acts as an introduction to and foundation for the practical application of management theory. As such, it familiarizes participants with the concepts that will be further developed in the other courses of the MBA Programme.

Course content:
An overview of management; the evolution of management in the 19th and 20th centuries; An exploration of the changing nature of authority, responsibility and accountability; Entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial environmental forces including politics, social, economic, cultural and technological factors and tasks and functions of a manager including planning, organizing, control, coordination and motivation;
The role of the manager as leader, decisionmaker and controller of resources; Organizations, organizational culture, types of structures and changing organizational trends;
Globalization, down-sizing, privatization and the influence of new technologies; The manager as an innovator and initiator of change.

Course material: Don Hellriegel, John W. Slocum, Jr., Management, 8th edition, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 2010, South-Western Cengage Learning
Course duration: 40 hrs.

Quantitative Methods of Decision Making

The objective of the course is to provide participants with knowledge of quantitative tools, covering descriptive, inference, correlation, regression and time-series analysis. Students will be shown how these statistical tools can be applied in the process of decision-making in management, marketing, production and finance.

Students who successfully complete the course will be able to:

identify the role of statistics in management decision-making,
compute basic statistical indicators,
interpret findings and draw conclusions,
comprehend and effectively communicate statistical information.

The course focuses on the following topics:
Types of data and methods of describing the data sources;
Descriptive analysis I: Graphs and tables for describing the data, Measures of Central Tendency;
Descriptive analysis II: Variability and Skewness;
Random variable and basic distributions;
Introduction to inference analysis (sampling distributions);
Inference analysis I: Estimation (for population mean, population proportion and population variance) based on single sample and two samples, sampling error;
Inference analysis II: Tests of hypotheses parametric tests (about population mean, population proposition, population variance based on single samples and two samples) and non-parametric tests (for normality of distribution).
Applications of descriptive and inference analysis in management (case studies)
Introduction to correlation analysis;
Categorical data analysis (contingency tables and Chi-square test for independence);
Continuous data analysis (Pearson correlation);
Simple linear regression model;
Multiple linear regression model;
Time series analysis;
Application of correlation, regression and time series analysis in management

Course material: Mc Clare J.T, Benson P.G. Sincich T., Statistics for Business and Economics 9th edition, 2005; Waters D. Quantitative Methods for Business, Pearson Education 3rd edition, 2001 ; Wayane W. Daniel, Essentials of Business Statistics, Houghton Miffl in Company, 1988.
Course duration: 40 hrs

Managerial Economics

Course objectives
The main objectives of the course are (a) to introduce the ‘way of economic thinking’ to future managers (b) to introduce key economic concepts that are used in managerial decision-making and (c) to show existing links between the functional areas of business administration studies (accounting, finance, marketing, human resource management and production, etc.).
Starting from simple economic models of reality, the course introduces step by step extensions of the model that allow for a more realistic view of economic reality. The emphasis is on demonstrating the economic way of thinking and basic concepts using real-world cases. Students contribute by introducing and discussing management cases from their own experience.
The integrative approach of the course allows students to see the relations between the functional areas studied in other courses.

Course content
The course is organised as follows:

Introduction: managerial economics & economics
The students learn the basic building blocks of managerial economics and how these relate to other fi elds and subjects in their programme. Managerial Economics is defined as the application of economic theory and the tools of analysis of decision science to examine how an organization can achieve its aims or objectives most efficiently. The role of modelling in economic analysis, its strengths and limitations are discussed.

Demand analysis: elasticities
Students learn how market demand results from the aggregation of individual demand. The respective determinants of demand (notably price and income) are identified. To be able to use demand analysis in a managerial context, the meaning – both in theoretical and practical terms – of the elasticity concept is analysed and applied to real-world problems.

Cognitive limitations and consumer behaviour
Whereas in the first two chapters, students learn the basics of (micro-)economic thinking in traditional neo-classical economics, this chapter recognizes the limitations of this standard model. It is important to learn that the model of rational man has its strengths and limitations. Building on findings from psychology and behavioural economics, students discover a model of human behaviour that is based on empirical evidence. This allows for a more realistic analysis of ‘actual’ human behaviour as the starting point of managerial decision-making. Many examples, notably from marketing, are introduced.

Monopoly behaviour (price discrimination)
Students learn – by discussing real-world examples – that price discrimination is current practice in market economies. The issue is analysed from the perspective of monopolistic markets. At the same time it is explicitly documented that in most market forms firms tend to have at least some degree of monopoly power which they (can) exploit by applying price discrimination. The conditions for price discrimination to be applied and its potential to increase sales and profit are discussed.

Oligopolistic markets – Game theory & applications
It is shown that in actual market economies ‘true monopolies’ as well as firms in ‘true perfect competition’ are the exceptions rather than the rule. Actual markets tend to have some degree of both. To understand behaviour in oligopolistic markets students learn how managerial decision-making is interdependent. They learn how decisions (e.g. on pricing strategies, marketing), by one firm depend on the response (and expected response) of competitors.

Risk analysis
Students learn how uncertainty and risk affects managerial decision-making. The main focus is on investment decisions, how they account for risk, how they are affected by, for example, the macro-economy and how they fit into a more general business approach. Risk-adjusted discount rates, certainty equivalent approach, decision trees and simulation are discussed.

Asymmetric information
Students learn – through real-world examples – that information asymmetries take a prominent place in many economic decisions. They learn how firms can respond to these by taking appropriate action. Specific topics include the analysis of asymmetric information in insurance, adverse selection, moral hazard, as well as the role of signalling (for example, by offering warranties, etc.).

Course material: Dominick Salvatore, Managerial Economics in a Global Economy: Study Guide, Harcourt College, 2003 Paul Krugman, Robin Wells, Kathryn Graddy, Economics. European Edition, Worth Publisher, 2008
Course duration: 40 hrs.

Corporate Finance

The primary goal of the course is to provide an integrated overview of the principles and instruments of corporate finance and the financial operations of business. It focuses on understanding core finance theories and their empirical applications.

The course deals with the following topics:

Finance and Financial Management,
Present Values, the Objectives of the Firm and Corporate Governance,
Time Value of Money,
The Concept of Compounding,
Net Present Value Used in Investment Decisions,
Capital Budgeting,
Capital Budgeting Criteria: Modifi ed Internal Rate of Return,
Cash Flow Valuation and Taxes,
The Capital Investment Process,
Financing Decisions and Market Effi ciency,
Working Capital Management,
Sources of Short-term Funds,
Capital Structure Decisions,
Patterns of Corporate Finance,
Financial Markets and Institutions,
Venture Capital,
Options,
Mergers and Acquisitions,
Risk Financing
Financial Planning and Management of Working Capital.

Course material: Richard A. Brealey, Steward C. Myres, Franklin Alley, Principles of Corporate Finance, McGraw Hill, 9th edition, 2008.
Course duration: 40 hrs.

Financial Accounting

The main objective of the course is to present the basic concepts and functions of accounting, especially of financial accounting. Their understanding enables managers to communicate with accountants and finance people as well as more effectively manage a company.

Course content:

The nature of accounting (definition, financial and managerial accounting, subject and object of accounting, basic concepts and rules, accounting standardization (IAS, US GAAP, EU Directives),
Financial statements: basic users and their needs, reports, balance sheet, profit and loss account, cash-flow statement,
Balance sheet: balance concept and balance equation, assets: basic categories (fixed, current), equities and liabilities, net assets, net current assets,
Profit and loss account (P&LA): revenues and costs relationship, P&LA and balance sheet, kinds of revenues and cost in profit and loss account,
Accounting (book) record and T-account, basic categories connected with T-account,
Cash flow statement: concept, basic segments by IAS (operation, investment and financial), main types of inflows and outflows according to segments, direct and indirect methods of statement preparation.

Accounting for basic balance sheet categories: methods of valuation, documentation, basic recording, “Liquid” assets (cash turnover, cheques, bills, shares, bonds, etc), Accounts receivable and accounts payable: basic categories, eg. Trade, public, employees, for financial instruments, credits and loans, Stocks (inventories): raw materials, goods, final products and semi-products, LIFO, FIFO, AVCO methods of valuation, Fixed tangible assets and fixed assets in construction Intangible assets: categories and methods of amortization, Long-term investments (financial assets): capital and debts securities, holdings and consolidated financial statements, Other: equities, provisions, deferred expenses, deferred revenues.

Course material: W.T. Harrison Jr, Ch. T. Horngren, Financial Accounting, Prentice Hall, 5th ed. 2004 C.P. Stickney, R.L. Weil and others, Financial Accounting, South- Western, 2010.
Course duration: 40 hrs.

Marketing Management

The main objective of this course is to examine the marketing management process within a company, its stages and components, taking into consideration the theoretical and practical background, the value of the marketing concept and its relations with other company functions.

The course deals with the following topics:

Understanding Marketing Management (marketing concept, marketing management process, components of the marketing management process),
Analysing Market Opportunities – Customer Analysis (types of customers, business market versus the consumer market, types of buying behaviour, stages of the buying decision process),
Measuring and Forecasting Market Demand – Estimating market size, (potential market, available market, industry sales, company market share),
Analysis of Competitive Environment – SWOT (identification of the company’s competition, the product market “battlefield”, assessing the company’s strengths and weaknesses),
The company’s strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats,
Designing Marketing Strategies (types of marketing strategies, selecting marketing objectives, STP, marketing mix, budgeting),
Product and Distribution Strategies – Product decisions (product mix decisions, individual product decisions, new product development process, managing products through their product lifecycle). Selecting marketing channels (decision process, managing marketing channels),
Price and Promotion Strategies – Price decisions (setting prices: calculation of price range, selecting the final price, promotion tools, promotion mix decisions, advertising, sales promotion, public relations, personal selling, direct marketing),
Implementing and Organizing Marketing Programs (principles of implementation, preparing the plan, supporting the plan, adapting the plan, ways of organizing the marketing department, organizing corporate marketing and marketing relations with other departments),
Controlling Marketing Performance (procedure of controlling, sales metrics, distribution metrics, market share control, marketing expense metrics profit, customer metric).

Course material: Philip Kotler, Kevin Lane Keller, Marketing Management, 12th edition, Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006; W.M. Pride, O.C. Ferrell, Marketing, South- Western, 15th ed. 2010.
Course duration: 40 hrs

Human Resource Management

The purpose of this course is to help students understand human resource management functions in organizations and how HRM functions can contribute to the business strategy.

The course addresses the following topics:

Human Resource Management Functions
How is the role of HRM Changing?
Competitive Challenges Influencing Human Resource Management
- sustainability challenge
- global challenge
- technology challenge
Work Design, Human Resource Planning and Recruitment
- work flow analysis
- job analysis
- job design
Learning (Training & Development) and Performance Management
- designing effective training activities
- specialization
- performance management
Compensation Human Resources
Strategic HRM issues
- employee separation and retention
- managing human resources globally
- strategically managing the role of HRM.

Course material: Raymond A. Noe, John R. Hollenbeck, Barry Gerhart, Patrick M. Wright, Human Resource Management, Gaining a Competitive Advantage, McGraw Hill, 6th edition, 2008
Course duration: 20 hrs

Management Information Systems

Course objectives:
- identification of the main management information systems, their components and features;
- introduction of the directions of systems development, new trends and new architectures of the systems;
- analysis of e-commerce as one of the innovative ideas of management information systems;
- presentation of current-day MIS applications in specific areas in Poland.

The course deals with the following topics:

Introduction to Management Information System (definitions, decision support systems, expert systems, artificial intelligence systems),
The role of integration in management information systems development (benefits resulting from linking systems of different structures, changes in MIS typology, telecommunication (Internet systems)),
Problems with implementation and changes in the management information system of MRP II/ERP,
E-Commerce and E-Banking.

Course material: Turban E. et al., Information Technology for Management: Transforming Organizations in the Digital Economy, 6th edition, Wiley & Sons, 2008.
Course duration: 20 hrs

Management Accounting

The course aims to present and explain the most common techniques of management accounting, taking into consideration their theoretical background but with emphasis on practical applications.

The course addresses the following topics:

Introduction to cost concept, terms and objectives,
Job-costing systems,
Process-costing systems,
Cost allocation,
Activity-based costing,
Joint cost situations,
Cost-volume-profit relationships,
Direct costs: measuring, yield, mix and quantity effects,
Indirect costs: flexible budgets, variances and management control,
Strategic management accounting.
The dominant stereotype: business is unethical in itself;
Responsible business: a myriad of terms and concepts;
How does CSR fi t into the overall corporate strategy and why has CSR become so important;
Drivers and constraints of corporate 14 responsibility. The emerging sustainable value creation concept;
The stakeholder corporation vs the shareholder corporation
The natural environment of the business: employees. customers, investors, communities, business partners, governments, etc.;
Ethical programmes as instruments to gain a competitive advantage as well as make a positive contribution to the well-being of society;
Corporate Responsibility indicators, standards and reporting (SA 8000, AA 1000, GRI, Global Compact, ISO 26000 etc);
How to draw up your CSR report: case study;
Critical issues in corporate responsibility in Poland;
Public Policy on CSR at EU level.
to present an approach to managerial social skills;
to encourage participants to develop their own, personal patterns of competencies;
to create a learning environment which helps students to increase their potential.
Managerial social skills in turbulent times
Contemporary workplace challenges
The practical contribution of positive psychology to managerial skills training
From perception to professional contact
Effective verbal communication
Non-verbal communication: myths and facts
Relational consciousness
Work groups and organizational context
Leading the group
Intercultural context of managerial social skills
Coping with stress, conflict and change.

Course material: Horngren C.T., Phimani A., Dater S.M., Foster G., Management and Cost Accounting, Harlow, Financial Times/ Prentice Hall, 2002, 2nd edition.
Course duration: 20 hrs

Corporate Social Responsibility

The course will cover the key characteristics of business ethics and corporate responsibility in the context of present-day management. The leading companies of the future will be those that do business in ways that address, openly and transparently, the world’s major challenges. The terms Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility refer to business decision-making which is informed by ethical values and respect for people communities and the environment. The course takes students through the various steps of creating a strategic plan regarding CSR that will enable an organization to reach out to its internal and external stakeholders with consistent messages.

The course deals with the following topics:

The dominant stereotype: business is unethical in itself;
Responsible business: a myriad of terms and concepts;
How does CSR fi t into the overall corporate strategy and why has CSR become so important;
Drivers and constraints of corporate responsibility. The emerging sustainable value creation concept;
The stakeholder corporation vs the shareholder corporation
The natural environment of the business: employees. customers, investors, communities, business partners, governments, etc.;
Ethical programmes as instruments to gain a competitive advantage as well as make a positive contribution to the well-being of society;
Corporate Responsibility indicators, standards and reporting (SA 8000, AA 1000, GRI, Global Compact, ISO 26000 etc);
How to draw up your CSR report: case study;
Critical issues in corporate responsibility in Poland;
Public Policy on CSR at EU level.

Course material: Paul Hohnen, Corporate Social Responsibility. An Implementation Guide for Business, International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2007. George Pohle, Jeff Hittner, Attaining Sustainable Growth through Corporate Social Responsibility, IBA Global Business Services, 2008.
Course duration: 20 hrs

Social and Negotiations Skills

The main objectives of the course are:

to present an approach to managerial social skills;
to encourage participants to develop their own, personal patterns of competencies;
to create a learning environment which helps students to increase their potential.

In order to attain these objectives several active learning methods are applied, such as individual and group exercises, quasi-tests, discussions and case studies.

The course focuses on the following topics:

Contemporary workplace challenges
The practical contribution of positive psychology to managerial skills training
From perception to professional contact
Effective verbal communication
Non-verbal communication: myths and facts
Relational consciousness
Work groups and organizational context
Leading the group
Intercultural context of managerial social skills
Coping with stress, conflict and change.

Course material: De Janasz, S., Dowd, K. O. and Schneider, B. Interpersonal Skills in Organizations, McGraw Hill, 3rd edition, 2009. Baldoni, J. Great Communication Secrets of Great Leaders, McGraw Hill, 2003.
Course duration: 20 hrs.

The group of the students with the professors:

R. Glowacki and K. Roberts