Business and Management (Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship)

Managers are responsible for planning, organising, leading people and other resources. This module introduces and explains approaches to organisational management and the theories behind organisational cultures as they relate to management practice and considers leadership styles and motivational theories.

This module focuses on helping learners to identify and understand the development needs of themselves and others. Through developing awareness of themselves and their values and purpose, learners will be able to identify their personal development needs and the enablers and barriers to these. This greater self-awareness will also influence learners’ management and leadership potential, as they learn how to use social and emotional intelligence and active listening to develop interpersonal skills that enhance awareness of the development needs of others.

Good relationships with stakeholders are a key contributor to an organisation’s success. To build stakeholder relationships that are long lasting and sustainable, they need to be planned and developed. This module examines the types and purposes of stakeholder relationships and the skills required to overcome challenges and manage these effectively.

This module focuses on the importance of marketing in its role in driving success and delivering results. It provides an introduction to the functions of marketing within the organisation, examines key marketing concepts and explores their application in the context of organisations. Learners will also examine the theories, processes and practices of good business communications to facilitate an understanding of the importance of effective internal and external communications in a business context.

This module introduces learners to the basic principles and underlying concepts of accounting and the ways in which accounting statements and financial information can be used to improve the quality of strategic decision-making. The module is aimed at learners who are not accounting or finance specialists.

A project negotiated between the learner, employer and programme team, focusing on an aspect of management practice within the learner’s immediate work context. This module is work based and will enable learners to investigate and propose changes to an aspect of their own practice in relation to at least one of the following: leading and managing others, working in teams to address management challenges, management development.

Project management is an important and integral part of an organisation, whether this is product, service or knowledge-based. This module will help learners to develop knowledge and critical understanding of the principles of effective project management in an organisational context. Various aspects of Project Management and industry-recognised tools and techniques for planning and controlling projects will be examined.

This module will develop learners’ understanding of the processes that influence choice and behaviour, and how judgements and decisions may shape organisational life. Expert judgement, intuitive decision making and risk-taking will be considered. The characteristics of the decision-maker and the immediate environment and how these can help or hinder managerial judgements and decisions will also be examined.

Organisations achieve their objectives through people.  Based on the premise that people are the key and most important resource in an organisation and translate other resources into added value, this module will examine the importance of strategic management of the people resource in organisations and how this relates to the wider organisational context and business strategy. Aspects of successful and effective people management practice and how this can impact on business performance will be considered.

This module will build upon the knowledge, understanding and skills developed in Year One’s ‘Developing Self and Others’ module by focusing on managing personal development for to develop as a leader. In analysing the strategic direction of their organisation, learners will evaluate the strategic skills required of a leader and how these link to supporting the organisation’s strategic ambitions. Learners will create their own personal leadership development plan and an accompanying implementation process, the effectiveness of which will be evaluated against the achievement of their organisation’s strategic ambition objectives.

This module will develop learners’ awareness of how the resources of an organisation may be managed and operationalised in order to create value efficiently and effectively. Reflecting the contemporary shift to digital business, the wider global trend of digital transformation and the potential implications of this for organisations’ established operations management practices, processes, people and ultimate value creation will then be examined.

A second project negotiated between the learner, employer and programme team, this work-based module focuses on a reflective evaluation of the learner’s current leadership practice. This will provide a foundation for the development, implementation and appraisal of actions to enhance the learner’s performance and future manager/leader aspirations.

Practitioners from all types of organisation are constantly faced with ethical decisions which determine their organisations’ health. Ethical decision making also determines career success or failure. This module will develop learners’ appreciation of ethics in an organisational context and how ethical leaders instil ethical principles throughout organisations in ways which promote responsible behaviour to stakeholders while taking into account that stakeholders may hold different, culturally-informed sets of ethical values.

The complex role of data and analytics is becoming increasingly important in the management decision-making process, where the challenge is to find a balance between newly available data sources and trusted experience when making decisions. This module will provide an insightful look and practical approaches on managerial decision-making that considers various contextual factors - such as decision impact, data availability, organizational culture, diverse types of managers, analytics maturity and different roles of data and human judgement.

This module will consider the importance of innovation and entrepreneurship for organisational improvement and sustainability and will provide learners with an opportunity to develop a mindset to act entrepreneurially within existing organisational settings. Looking at entrepreneurial behaviours and processes, the module will encourage learners to Investigate opportunities for innovative or entrepreneurial improvements within existing organisational settings.

This module will provide learners with a critical understanding of key theories and concepts of the management and leadership of deliberate strategic change within organisations. The drivers of strategic change and the various types and directions of strategic change that may be available to organisations, as well as approaches to the design and implementation of change initiatives and interventions, will be examined. The leadership qualities and capabilities required to successfully drive through such strategic change, including in times of uncertainty, will also be explored.

A final project negotiated between the apprentice, employer and programme team, focusing on the learner’s own role as a manager and leader in the workplace.  A work-based opportunity to synthesise the knowledge, skills and behaviours developed during the programme, this module is designed to support professionals in investigating and making changes to an aspect of their own practice or for those who wish to explore a topic of their own interest and relevance as it relates to management and leadership.