Aims:

To equip students with a basic understanding of:

the functions of the organization - namely marketing, operations management, human resource management and international management;
	the relationships among these functions, and;
	how these functions operate in general, and in project-based organizations and the construction industry in particular.
The module is part of a three-year management course developed for you in ‘construction and project management’. It draws on material introduced during the first-year course ‘Management – Introduction’, and builds then further onto the third year module ‘Management – Advanced’.

 

Objectives: 

The objectives of this module are to:

Introduce basic concepts and recent developments on the management of organizational functions;
	Explore the applicability of these concepts to project-based organizations and the construction industry in particular;
	Explore the relationships among these functions and how, together, they help create sustained competitive advantage for firms;
	Understand the meaning and application of ‘corporate social responsibility’ in the management of these functions.
Learning Outcomes: 

On completion of this module students will be able to:

Understand how the management of organizations is shaped by the prevailing societal trends;
	Explain, critically evaluate, and apply basic concepts and recent developments on the management of different functions;
	Understand the relationship between the functions and how, together, they enable the development of a firm’s sustained competitive advantage;
	Understand how project-based organizations and the construction industry differ from other types of organizations and industries;
	Understand the significance of ethics and social responsibility to the conduct of the firm.
Syllabus:

Industry context: how construction and project-based organizations differ from organizations in other sectors;
	Marketing: overview, basic concepts, ethics, transactional marketing, relationship marketing, corporate communication, market research;
	Corporate social responsibility (this theme will run across all the previous themes).
	Trends affecting the management of today’s and tomorrow’s organizations;
	Operations management: history of development, different schools, practices, service operations;
	Human resource management (HRM): basic concepts, development of thinking in HRM, practices and tools;
	International management: globalization, internationalization of the firm, global organizations;
Essential readings

The project context

Books

Maylor, H. (2010). Project Management. Prentice Hall. Selected chapters.
Articles

Brady, T. and Davies, A. (2004) "Building project capabilities: from exploratory to exploitative learning", Organization Studies 25:1601-1621
	Davies, A. and Brady, T. (2000) "Organisational capabilities and learning in complex project systems", Research Policy 29: 931-953
Marketing

Books

Pryke, S. D. & Smyth, H. J. (2006) Management of Complex Projects: A Relationship Approach. Blackwell, Oxford. Selected chapters.
Articles

AMA (2008) The American Marketing Association Releases New Definition for Marketing.
	Christensen, C. M., Cook, S. & Hall, T. (2005) Marketing malpractice: The cause and the cure. Harvard Business Review, 83(12), pp. 74-83
	Skitmore, M., and Smyth, H.J. (2007) Pricing construction work: a marketing viewpoint, Construction Management and Economics, 25 (6), 619–630.
Global trends

Articles

Beinhocker, E., Davis, I., & Mendonca, L. (2009). The ten trends you have to watch. Harvard Business Review, November, pp. 127-130.
	Bell, K. (2010). Will the internet destroys us? Harvard Business Review, December, pp. 138-139.
Corporate social responsibility

Books

Daft, R., Kendrick, M. and Vershinina, N. (2010) Managing Ethics and Social Responsibility. In Daft, Kendrick and Vershinina (2010), Management, Chapter 5: 161-197. Andover, Hants: Cengage.
Articles and reports

Devinney, T. M. (2009). Is the socially responsible corporation a myth? The good, the bad, and the ugly of corporate social responsibility. The Academy of Management Perspectives, 23(2), 44-56.
	Dunn, D. & Yamashita, K. (2003). Microcapitalism and the Megacorporation. Harvard Business Review, August, pp. 46-54.
	Porter, M. E. & Kramer, M. R. (2011). Creating shared value. Harvard Business Review, 2011(1), pp. 62-77.
Human resource management

Boddy (2014), Management: An Introduction (6th Ed): Chapter 11 (Human Resource Management)
Operations management

Books

Slack, N., Chambers, S. & Johnston, R. (2010) Operations Management (6th edn). Financial Times-Prentice Hall, Harlow. Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 16.
Articles

Chase, R. B., & Apte, U. M. (2007). A history of research in service operations: What's the big idea? Journal of Operations Management, 25(2), pp. 375-386.
	Davies, A., Gann, D., Douglas, T (2009), “Innovation in Megaprojects: Systems Integration at London Heathrow Terminal 5”, California Management Review, 51(2): pp.101-125
International management

Readings on culture 

Lane, H. W., Maznevski, M. L., Mendenhall, M. E. and McNett, J. (2004). Handbook of global management, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, Chapter 2: People in global organizations: Culture, personality and social dynamics, (pp. 26-54).
Readings on globalization

Stearns, P. N. (2011) World History, the basics, New York: Routledge, Chapter 2: A World history skeleton, (pp. 17-45).
	Hill, Charles W. L. (2009) Global business today, Boston: McGrawHill (6th edition), Chapter 1: Globalization, (pp. 2-39)