Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration – awarded by London Examinations Board

This Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration (“PGDBA”) is Stage 1 and the entry requirement for the MBA/Masters programmes listed below.  Learners are only required to top-up the PGDBA to a Masters by completing a dissertation/work based project (for the EMLSI learners also need to undertake two additional modules with Murdoch) to achieve a Masters degree

• MBA – University of South Wales
• MBA – University of Gloucestershire
• EMLSI – Executive Masters in Leadership Strategy and Innovation – Murdoch University, Australia

This PGDBA programme is the advanced study of organisations, their management and the changing external context in which they operate. The eight modules of the programme will equip you for a career in business and management by developing your skills to a level that enables you to assume senior managerial and leadership positions

Overall Programme Outcomes

On completion of this programme, learners will be able to:

• Demonstrate critical understanding of management theories, current issues of management, the development of conceptual frameworks to guide their application within organisations
• Acquire a strong foundation in key functional areas of business management to enable them to succeed as effective managers/leaders in an increasingly complex and dynamic environment
• Acquire and use a range of concepts, tools and techniques for problem solving and decision-making for analyzing complex and inter-related business scenarios
• Demonstrate and apply independent research and critical skills enabling the investigation and evaluation of valid and relevant management issues and practices
• Demonstrate initiative, insight, attitudes of responsibility and ethical leadership in the development of the strategic management agenda in the organization the student works in or expected to work in the future

Assessments

Assessments are based wholly on course work and assignments submitted by learners

Entry Requirement

• A Bachelor’s degree; or
• Other qualifications, APL or APEL, or work experience recognised by LEB

Programme Structure

The Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration accrues 120 credits over 8 modules.  The 8 common core modules each carry 15 credits

Common Core Modules:

• Module 1 – Managerial Accounting
• Module 2 – Marketing Management
• Module 3 – Managing Operations
• Module 4 – Managing Business Strategy
• Module 5 – Managing Human Capital
• Module 6 – Financial Management
• Module 7 – Leading Organisation
• Module 8 – Project Management

Module 1: Managerial Accounting

Upon completion of this unit, learners will be able to:

• Critically evaluate the informational content of financial and accounting reports and their use as tools for appraising corporate performance
• Develop an understanding of financial planning tools and techniques and the contribution they make to the achievement of an organisation’s core objectives
• Explore the role of financial modelling in the context of developing an organisation’s corporate strategy
• Evaluate the results of financial models used for long term decision making

Module content includes:

• An Introduction to Accounting and Finance concepts
• Measuring and Reporting Financial Performance
• Cash Flow Statements and Performance Measurement
• Cost Volume Profit analysis and Costing
• Budgets and Capital Investment Decisions
• Working Capital and Financing

Module 2 – Marketing Management

Upon completion of this unit, learners will be able to:

• Undertake a situation analysis to develop a concise understanding of the marketing environment
• Use situation analysis findings to formulate a marketing strategy that will fit the company and its environment
• Formulate a marketing plan that provides for the implementation and control of chosen strategies

Module content includes:

• An Introduction to Marketing Management
• The Environment Influence and its Management
• Marketing Strategies
• Product Planning & Screening
• Promotion Strategy
• Advertising Strategies
• Global Marketing
• Pricing Policies & Strategies
• Marketing Analysis and Formulating a Marketing Plan
• Implementation , Evaluation & Control

Module 3 – Managing Operations

Upon completion of this unit, learners will be able to:

• Critically evaluate the established approaches to managing operations from both a strategic and tactical viewpoint
• Develop and justify a strategic operations management approach for an organisation
• Evaluate the transformations required to change the operations philosophy of an organisation

Module content includes:

• An Introduction to strategic operations management
• Operations strategies
• Operations management and product design
• Capacity planning
• Work Study, Diplomacy and Sensitivity
• The management of the inventory
• Facility layout and flow
• Business process re-engineering and quality management

Module 4 – Managing Business Strategy

Upon completion of this unit, learners will be able to:

• Apply the appropriate models, techniques and theories to produce an environmental audit of the external and internal environment for an organisation
• Critically analyse and evaluate the alternative strategic directions an organisation may consider to employ and propose the most appropriate strategic option for execution

Module content includes:

• The Concept of Strategy and how it benefits the organization vision, mission and objectives
• Transformation of the External Strategic Environment and the Consequences and the Influence of the Internal Environment on Current Practice
• Key Strategic Techniques for Analysis
• Strategic Development, namely Acquisitions and Mergers, Joint ventures and Alliances, and Divestment
• Strategy Implementation
• Strategic Performance Analysis

Module 5 – Managing Human Capital 

Upon completion of this unit, learners will be able to:

• Demonstrate a critical understanding that to engage successfully in processes of human capital management, their thinking needs to go beyond such dualisms as thinking and acting, structure and culture, strategy and implementation, and see each of these as different facets of unified processes in human and organisational life
• Analyse and evaluate the choices presented in approaches to human capital management practices and how these relate to the overall strategic way an organisation handles its changing environment and the range of stakeholders with which it deals
• Critically appraise current managerial practices to inform the way they can contribute to the strategic direction of human capital resourcing, and develop appropriate and relevant solutions to employment management issues in their organisations

Module content includes:

• Historical view of work, work today and workers’ psychological contract
• Essence of organisational strategy, human capital strategy
• Human Capital Management( HCM) roles in structures, culture and policy as well as strategic Human Capital( HC) partnership and alliance
• The Workplace Relations
• New Roles and Challenges for HCM
• Human Capital Trends and Organisation Culture

Module 6 – Financial Management

Upon completion of this unit, learners will be able to:

• Evaluate and consider the optimal mix of debt and equity financing.
• Develop the tools needed for valuing investment projects, including the determination of the relevant cash flows and the appropriate discount rate
• Formulate appropriate Risk management provision in financial decision making

Module content includes:

• Financing and Capital Structure
• Capital Structure: Informational and Dynamic Considerations
• Valuation of Free Cash Flows
• Valuation models: WACC and APV
• Valuing a company
• Risk Management

Module 7 – Leading Organisation

Upon completion of this unit, learners will be able to:

• Analyse a strategic context of an organisation and envision necessary directions and activities
• Evaluate and select appropriate processes or actions for developing the potential of managers and employees for engaging in critical and strategic thinking (e.g. involvement in decision making, empowerment, information, concern, etc)
• Evaluate opportunities and strategies for developing partnerships with other organisations to achieve strategic goals

Module content includes:

• Shaping an organisation for strategic change
• Leadership attributes and credibility
• Leadership of change at multiple levels of the organisation
• Empowerment of managers
• Developing receptiveness to reform and innovation
• Handling conflict during strategic changes
• Networking and partnerships
• Ethical leadership behaviour

Module 8 – Project Management

Upon completion of this unit, learners will be able to:

• Develop and define project scope
• Apply project management knowledge in a practical setting
• Use project planning and management techniques

Module content includes:

• The nature of projects
• Scoping and initiation
• Risk Management
• Time and activity planning
• Links to motivation, team management and other theories
• Project selection
• Managing the project lifecycle
• Project documentation