Are you a natural-born leader, looking to direct organisations and manage the people in them?
People are at the heart of any functional business. Successful organisations understand the value in forward-thinking and innovative managers who know how people work and the role that they play in helping any business to thrive.
Our Management (People Management) course equips students with the skills to make them a confident business leader. You will develop skills in areas of core business functions – from hiring staff to managing inventories and everything in between. You will become an excellent communicator with the confidence to build relationships and initiate change in any organisation.
Your career is kick-started further by being eligible to gain the Chartered Management Institute’s (CMI) Level 5 Professional Certificate in Management and Leadership at the end of your course.
You’ll develop a deep understanding of management and related functions, such as ethics and sustainability, marketing, financial management, entrepreneurship, and project management alongside compulsory modules that will help you prepare to become a strong leader in your future career.
As you progress through the course, you’ll focus more on areas relevant to human resource management such as Diversity in Organisations and People Analytics, depending on which of the optional modules you choose.
I enjoy the interaction in the seminars with the group and the seminar leader.
Basra Khan - Management BSc
The University will consider applications from students offering a wide range of qualifications. All applications are assessed on an individual basis but some of our typical requirements are listed below. Students offering qualifications not listed are welcome to contact our Admissions Team for further advice. Please also see our general entry requirements.
BBB
Mathematics grade 4 / C and English grade 4 / C.
The University welcomes applications from Access to Higher Education Diploma candidates for consideration. A typical offer may require you to obtain a proportion of Level 3 credits in relevant subjects at merit grade or above.
DDM
30 points overall or 15 points at HL including Mathematics 4 at HL or SL
Pass all components of the University of Kent International Foundation Programme with a 60% overall average (plus 50% in LZ013 Maths and Statistics if you do not hold GCSE Maths at 4/C or equivalent).
The University will consider applicants holding T level qualifications in subjects closely aligned to the course.
If you are an international student, visit our International Student website for further information about entry requirements for your country, including details of the International Foundation Programmes. Please note that international fee-paying students who require a Student visa cannot undertake a part-time programme due to visa restrictions.
Please note that meeting the typical offer/minimum requirement does not guarantee that you will receive an offer.
Please see our English language entry requirements web page.
Please note that if you do not meet our English language requirements, we offer a number of 'pre-sessional' courses in English for Academic Purposes. You attend these courses before starting your degree programme.
Duration: 3 years full-time, 6 years part-time
Our programmes require you to study a combination of compulsory and optional modules, typically taking four modules per term over two terms in each of the three stages of study. The course structure provides a sample of the modules available for this programme. This listing is based on the current curriculum and may change year to year in response to new curriculum developments and innovation.
Your first year is a compulsory introductory year, designed to provide you with a solid foundation in the understanding of management and related functions, such as marketing, financial management and aspects of global management.
How are organizations managed today? What are the best ways to manage people in organizations? How are decisions made about the design of work, the structure of an organisation, and who is accountable or responsible for different activities? Introduction to Management aims to provide an understanding of the challenges of managing people within complex work organisations. On this module we'll learn about some of the fundamental theories of management and understand the key functions that managers serve in organizations. It will explore the languages and practices of contemporary organisations by looking at a wide range of different theories of management, starting with classical management perspectives like Scientific Management or Human Relations Theory, and then considering more contemporary issues like Culture Management and different styles and practices of Leadership.
By taking a case study focused approach, this module will support students to develop key employable skills like a critical thinking so that they can speak confidently about how businesses operate today. Students will also learn to reflect on the ethics and fairness of contemporary forms of work.
So much of the world of business is based on quantitative information—sales, stock control, investments, loans, production levels, staffing numbers, share prices, interest rates, quality control, etc. etc. In almost any organisation where you work you must expect to deal with numbers. This module introduces you to the way you can make use of quantitative information through statistical analysis.
Topics may include:
* The nature and use of numerical information
* Summarising data
* Graphical representation of data: histograms, pie charts, cumulative frequency curves
* Measures of location and dispersion
* Probability, distributions and expected values
* Sampling and its uses
* The ?2 distribution, questionnaire analysis and contingency tables
* Correlation
What are the challenges that businesses face when operating across international boundaries? This module will explore the different factors that affect business operations and strategy in the evolving global business landscape. The module will consider topics including the impacts of globalisation, the external environment in a cross-border context, introduction to international trade and investment, global finance, social responsibility and ecological environment, challenges, risks and change in the global political, legal, and digital environment, and theories of internationalization.
Students will develop an understanding of the challenges faced by businesses, the factors that influence decision-making, and the implications of these choices for the long-term success of the organisations.
Excel is the industry standard software for data processing and modelling. This module will develop students' understanding and skills of using Microsoft Excel. It covers the essential ways in which all types of organizations today utilize quantitative data to obtain insights for decision-making. Students will gain hands-on experience on the techniques of Excel and spreadsheet modelling - through a handful of comprehensive examples and realistic problems. The module will explore Excel functions and formulae, data visualisation, data analysis and statistical analysis, and Excel Macros.
The module is designed to teach students how to prepare, read and interpret financial information with a view to their being future business managers rather than accountants.
The module will begin with a brief demonstration of bookkeeping using an easy understandable approach. Students will be shown how to prepare financial statements from a trial balance and make adjustments to the figures given by acting on information given in a short scenario.
The regulatory framework of financial reporting will be considered with annual reports and accounts of a variety of organisations. The module will end with an analysis of financial statements with students shown how to interpret data and make sensible recommendations.
Marketing helps firms effectively reach and communicate with their target customers, creating the brand awareness, engagement, satisfaction, and loyalty that is vital for sales growth in competitive and dynamic markets. On this module, we'll explore the foundational concepts of marketing, looking at how firms develop and implement effective marketing plans and strategies as well as exploring how key elements of the marketing mix can be used to create and communicate a distinctive value proposition that helps a product or service stand out from the competition. By learning how to implement ethical and effective marketing strategies and programmes you’ll gain the skills needed to help businesses succeed in promoting their brand, interacting with customers and building the brand loyalty that is crucial for customer acquisition and retention.
This module provides fundamental knowledge of a range of business organisations, business purpose, ownership types and stakeholder influence. It further introduces organisational structures, functional areas and the impact of the external environment on business. Furthermore, this module introduces the many factors that shape the nature of organisations operating in an increasingly complex business environment such as innovation, internationalisation, entrepreneurship, and sustainability. Module participants explore this dynamic nature of business and consider successful existence within modern organisations through studying and applying employability skills such as leadership, teamwork, and resilience.
This module introduces students to economics in its two main components, microeconomics and macroeconomics. The module is designed to explain the main ways in which economists think about economic problems faced by individuals, firms, markets and governments. The module emphasises the use of basic economic concepts to business analysis.
The first part of the module focuses on explaining a selection of basic microeconomic topics including, the behaviour of individuals and firms; demand and supply of goods and services and determination of prices; costs in the short and long term and market structures. The second part aims to introduce the core of macroeconomic topics; for instance, macroeconomic objectives and trade-offs; unemployment; inflation; international trade; balance of payments and exchange rates; and the main types of economic policies that are implemented by governments. The attention is to understand the relevance of macroeconomics topics (e.g. interest rates, exchange rates, etc.) to business.
The module is self-contained to provide a basic understanding of simple economic concepts and debates. It is a suitable module for students interested in taking economics further, either as part of another degree programme or as part of a future professional qualification.
Your final year offers you capstone modules that will help to prepare you for taking up leading roles in the innovative world of organisations. It also offers you the opportunity to stand out to employers by specialising in either the People Management pathway or Business Analytics pathway depending on which of the optional modules you choose. You can also opt for No Pathway and choose whatever optional modules suit your interests and employability needs.
This module will introduce students to the key concepts of managing people involving and examination of organisational, management and human resource management theory and practice. This will be achieved through relating relevant theory to practical people and organisational management issues.
The key topics of the module are:
• The nature of human resource management
• Motivation in the workplace
• Work organisation, job design and flexible working
• Groups and team working
• Diversity in the workplace
• Recruitment & selection
• Learning and development
• Employee Involvement and participation
• Employee performance and reward
• Ethical HRM
This module is designed to provide students across the university with access to knowledge, skill development and training in the field of entrepreneurship with a special emphasis on developing a business plan in order to exploit identified opportunities. Hence, the module will be of value for students who aspire to establishing their own business and/or introducing innovation through new product, service, process, project or business development in an established organisation. The module complements students' final year projects in Computing, Law, Biosciences, Electronics, Multimedia, and Drama etc.
The module provides a broad, basic understanding of strategy and strategic management, on which further strategic analysis and exploration of strategic issues can be built. It introduces students to the key vocabulary, concepts and frameworks of strategic management and establishes criteria for assessing whether or not a strategy can be successful. It introduces students to frameworks for analysing the external and internal environments and to different theories of how these relate and of their impact on strategy formulation and implementation.
Students will learn how to identify strategic issues, develop strategic options to address them and decide which option(s) to recommend. Through theoretical readings and case studies, students will develop an appreciation of strategy in different contexts and from different perspectives and of the complexity of strategic decision-making. Students will enhance their ability to read business articles from a strategic perspective and to present strategic arguments in a structured manner
The aim of this module is to provide students with in-depth knowledge about the accounting and control systems businesses use for making managerial decisions. In particular, the module focuses on profit planning decisions and it gives students a thoughtful understanding of the functioning and range of financial controls managers use for making profit planning decisions, related to both the business as a whole and its segments. Students are expected to conduct a management project: they will prepare a business plan that takes into account strategic, marketing and financial aspects. The module also enables students to know how to use accounting and control tools to assess business performance, provide feedback and give recommendations for improvements aimed to create more socially responsible and sustainable businesses. As such, this module is core to the degree program, because it gives an introduction to three key areas: managerial decision making, performance management and organisational financial management.
Business ethics and sustainability are central to contemporary management and thus this module will explore the following topics:
• History, definitions and timeline of society's view on business ethics and sustainability
• Cross-disciplinary approaches to ethics and sustainability
• Role of globalisation, policy and culture
• Ethics and ethical dilemmas
• Change Management, Values, Governance and Leadership
• Sustainable Business Models
• Social Innovation
• Partnerships and collaboration
• Responsible Supply Chain Management
• Environmental Assessment Frameworks and Sustainable Management in practice
• Sustainable Supply Chain Management
• Innovation and creativity
• The role and responses of Corporations, SMEs, Public and not-for-profit organisations
Project Management aims to provide an understanding of the key concepts and practices within the context of the organisational setting and the wider business and technological environment.
This module aims to develop a critical understanding of project management to enable students to recognise the importance of the discipline in a variety of organisational and functional contexts. Students should develop a critical understanding of the concepts employed in project management at strategic, systems and operational levels, and an appreciation of the knowledge and skills required for successful project management in organisations.
Included topics of the module are:
• Project life cycles and alternative development paths;
• Feasibility studies;
• Time management;
• Project planning and control techniques, including Gantt charts, CPM;
• Resource planning;
• Quality Control;
• Project communication;
Students will be expected to develop the ability to use appropriate techniques of analysis and enquiry within Operations Management and to learn how to evaluate alternatives and make recommendations. Topics are likely to include:
• Strategic role of operations and operations strategy
• Design of processes and the implications for layout and flow
• Design and management of supply networks in national and international contexts
• Resource planning and management
• Lean systems
• Quality planning and managing improvement
The module helps prepare students to acquire and develop the employability and transferable skills necessary to search and successfully apply for work experience and graduate opportunities in the commercial and public sector and postgraduate study.
The curriculum builds on employability support offered at Stage 1 providing intermediate level knowledge and exercises in application writing, CVs, careers advice, interview and assessment centre techniques, numeracy and competency tests, and psychometric evaluation.
Students will be expected to develop the ability to use appropriate techniques of analysis and enquiry within Operations and Service Management and to learn how to evaluate the alternatives and make recommendations. Topics include:
• The nature of services and service strategy
• Service development and technology
• Service quality and the service encounter
• Project/Event management and control
• Managing capacity and demand in services
• Managing inventories
This module aims to provide students with understanding and experience of the theory and practice of marketing research. During the module students design and implement a marketing research plan, design a questionnaire, collect and analyse data, prepare an oral presentation and write a marketing research report.
The main topics of study are as follows:
• Introduction to marketing research: Defining and designing marketing research projects
• Understanding data: Secondary data and databases
• Primary data collection techniques.
• Questionnaire design
• Measurement and measurement scales and error.
• Sampling and sample design and error
• Entering and coding data with SPSS
• Data analysis techniques
• Communicating the results of marketing research.
This module presents an overview of what workforce diversity is and its relevance and usefulness in improving our understanding and management of people (including ourselves) at work. The demographics of the population and the workplace are changing drastically because of a number of factors, such as an increasing number of ethnic minorities and women in the workforce and in management. Accordingly, there is a need to effectively understand and manage workforce diversity not only to increase organisational business outcomes but also to create an inclusive workplace in a socially responsible manner.
The module will examine issues confronting managers of a diverse workforce. In particular issues such as ethnicity, race, language, ageing, disability, gender, and intersectional identities will be discussed. Two key approaches towards managing diversity will be explained, i.e. the social equity case of managing diversity, and the business benefits case of managing diversity. The module will explore a range of diversity related concepts and topics, such as social identity, stereotyping, discrimination, intergroup conflict, structural integration, and organisational change.
Indicative topics are:
• Origins of diversity and equal opportunity in the workplace context;
• Social and psychological perspectives on workplace diversity;
• The UK and European diversity contexts;
• Business benefits case and social equity case of managing diversity;
• The legal framework for diversity;
• Organisational approaches to diversity;
• Contemporary issues central to the experiences of diverse individuals in the UK and in organisations across a range of diversity dimensions;
• Diversity management in an international context
Making decisions is one of the most important things any manager or business must do. Making smart decisions, however, can be extremely difficult due the complexity and uncertainty involved. Decision Analysis (DA) provides a structured and coherent approach to decision making. It involves a wide range of quantitative and graphical methods for identifying, representing, and assessing alternatives in order to determine a best course of action. DA is regularly employed by many leading companies in the pharmaceutical, oil and gas, utilities, automotive, and financial services sectors. In this module, you learn about the basic concepts of DA and how to apply it in a variety of practical business planning situations.
This module introduces students to core concepts and theories about consumer behaviour, including individual and organisational perspectives. It is based around understanding the critical application of sociological, economic, socio-psychological and psychological concepts to and theories to consumption.
Indicative topics are:
• Consumer Research Philosophies: What is a consumer?
• Culture: Components of Culture, myths and rituals
• Marketplace cultures
• Dark Consumption and Ethical Consumption
• Personality, Identity and the Self
• Motivational Theories
• Learning Theories
• Organisational Buying Behaviour
This module introduces students to the nature of research and the business consultancy processes involved in carrying out research and consultancy in an area of management, technology and enterprise. The module prepares students for their respective independent research work in an organisational or industry context; and for undertaking management interventions in the workplace.
Indicative topics may include:
• Research approaches, Philosophy of thinking and claims; and key methodologies of research.
• Research and consultancy project designs and methodologies (case study, survey, etc):
• Formulating research & consultancy aim(s) and objectives;
• Nature of consultancy and consultancy approaches/interventions;
• Data collection and analysis
• Role of management consultancy;
• Research reports and proposal writing, research ethics and project planning.
• The management consulting process;
• Control and communication in management consultancy
• Strategy problem solving skills;
• Ethical management consultancy
Your final year offers you flexibility around your interests and prepares you to take up leading roles in the innovative world of organisation. You take 60 credits of compulsory modules, 45 credits of optional modules relating to People Management and a 15-credit module from a wider list of optional modules from the Management course structure. You can also decide to change course pathways before you start stage 3 if your passion has changed along the way.
The module aims to develop critical appreciation of the management activities and leadership skills required in dynamic organisations operating in both national and international contexts. Current theory and research on the role which appropriate leadership behaviours can play in improving managerial and organisational effectiveness is explored. In addition a core feature of the module is student engagement in a range of individual and group development activities and their subsequent self-reflection on their progress and ongoing development needs. In doing so the module aims to develop self-awareness and emotional intelligence in the practice of management, as well as promoting the importance of personal strategies relating to career management, and individual leadership behaviour.
Areas to be covered will include:
This module facilitates the development of an entrepreneurial mind-set, and equips students with necessary cutting-edge knowledge and skills vital for generating value in a knowledge based economy. The curriculum will include the following areas of study:
This module will extend students' knowledge and understanding of strategic management and strategic issues. It will introduce a range of contemporary issues associated with the formulation and implementation of corporate and business strategies with an emphasis on identifying and implementing strategic change within the organisation, building dynamic capabilities and developing coherent strategies. Issues might include strategies for a recession, global strategies, knowledge-based strategies, firms and industries, strategies where profit is of secondary (or no) importance. The module will also extend students' theoretical knowledge by presenting contemporary debates and issues in strategic thinking. The module will use a project in which students identify and suggest possible strategic solutions to a strategic issue in a real organisation to develop students' ability to link theory and practice in real-life situations.
The aim of this module is to provide students with (1) a systematic understanding of how information technology is driving business innovation, (2) the methods and approaches used by managers to exploit new digital opportunities, and (3) an appreciation of the knowledge and skills needed to manage the business innovation. By the end of this module, students will be equipped with the necessary knowledge and tools to deal with current business issues including digital transformation and emerging business models via technological innovations.
The module helps prepare students to acquire and develop the employability and transferable skills necessary to search and successfully apply for work experience and graduate opportunities in the commercial and public sector and postgraduate study.
The curriculum builds on knowledge and experience gained in related employability modules delivered at Stages 1 and 2, providing further guidance and more advanced practical exercises in application writing, CVs, careers advice, interview and assessment centre techniques, numeracy and competency tests, and psychometric evaluation. The aims here are to support students during their final year in applying for good graduate jobs and MSc degree programmes.
This module focusses on performance management activities undertaken by both line managers and functional HR managers in organisations in a variety of contexts (such as private, public and voluntary sector) and geographical settings (domestic and international). The aim of the module is to analyse organisational processes and practices pertaining to the optimisation of employee performance and managing related aspects of the employment relationship. Underpinning theories/principles related to this module arise mainly from psychology and organisational behaviour origins, and will include critiques from a variety of appropriate perspectives such as ethical, unitarist, pluralist, and labour process perspectives. A key aspect of the module is to develop students' conceptual and practical skills in managing employee performance.
Employee performance, retention, recruitment/selection, development, engagement
This module will explore more advanced management and organisational theory to facilitate students' examination of the challenges that face managers in contemporary organisations. As well as considering these challenges from a mainstream managerial perspective, the module will also draw on the perspective of critical management studies as a means of providing an alternative viewpoint on contemporary management issues. Indicative areas to be covered may include:
This module will introduce students to the key concepts of managing people, involving an examination of organisational, human resource management and industrial relations theory. This will be achieved through relating relevant theory to practical people and organisational management issues.
Topics of study are:
The module aims to provide a critical understanding of the challenges of managing creativity and innovation within contemporary organisations. The experience of work and employment, management practices are affected by rapid technological change, intensifying global competition and changing demographic profiles and values of the work force. Contemporary organisations are pressurised to tackle these developments through creativity, innovation and new organisational forms.
This module examines the nature, antecedents, processes and consequences of creativity and innovation and their complex links with organisation, while also exploring major social and technological changes relating these to organisational creativity and innovation. Students will be introduced to the main concepts and theories on creativity, innovation and organisation through readings and discussions of the main themes and debates in the field. Case studies will be used to illustrate how these concepts are connected together and how they could impact upon management decision making within contemporary organisations. Students will be encouraged to explore some of the most notable historical and contemporary shifts in media and technology and discover how new organisational forms and methods have been devised to exploit them. They will develop awareness for the cross-fertilisation between disciplines in analyzing the dynamics of creativity, innovation and organisation and their complex relationships.
Topics include:
This module presents an overview of what work psychology is and its relevance and usefulness in improving our understanding and management of people (including ourselves) at work. Many work places operate sophisticated and expensive systems for assessing the costs and benefits of various workplace elements but often do not extend this to the management of employees. This module aims to demonstrate the benefits of having a comprehensive understanding of the role psychology can play in the management of people in contemporary organizations. Indicative content includes:
International and Comparative Human Resource Management aims to provide an analysis of the HRM systems in seven countries: USA, Germany, Sweden, France, Italy, China and India. Students will be introduced to the main concepts and theories through readings and discussions of the main authors in the field.
Within a broad historical context, an international comparative approach will be adopted to consider the development of the relationship between national governments, employers and trade unions. This will include an investigation of the development and decline of employment relations systems and the emergence of human resource management.
This module will allow students to work on a substantive piece of research which will allow them to frame and prioritise real business problems using well known fields and frameworks within academic business and management disciplines.
The 2022/23 annual tuition fees for this course are:
For details of when and how to pay fees and charges, please see our Student Finance Guide.
For students continuing on this programme, fees will increase year on year by no more than RPI + 3% in each academic year of study except where regulated.*
The University will assess your fee status as part of the application process. If you are uncertain about your fee status you may wish to seek advice from UKCISA before applying.
Find out more about accommodation and living costs, plus general additional costs that you may pay when studying at Kent.
We have a range of subject-specific awards and scholarships for academic, sporting and musical achievement.
Search scholarshipsKent offers generous financial support schemes to assist eligible undergraduate students during their studies. See our funding page for more details.
You may be eligible for government finance to help pay for the costs of studying. See the Government's student finance website.
Scholarships are available for excellence in academic performance, sport and music and are awarded on merit. For further information on the range of awards available and to make an application see our scholarships website.
At Kent we recognise, encourage and reward excellence. We have created the Kent Scholarship for Academic Excellence.
The scholarship will be awarded to any applicant who achieves a minimum of A*AA over three A levels, or the equivalent qualifications (including BTEC and IB) as specified on our scholarships pages.
Our enthusiastic team of international teaching staff are all experts in their field of study and are regularly published in leading journals worldwide. They guide and support your learning, bringing their subject to life and drawing you into the conversation through lectures, seminars, presentations and computer-based simulations.
Your progress is assessed through a mix of coursework – including reports, essays and presentations - and exams. Undergraduate students can expect around 8 contact hours per week, depending on year of study and optional module choices made. The remainder of the working week consists of self-guided study
For a student studying full time, each academic year of the programme will comprise 1200 learning hours which include both direct contact hours and private study hours. The precise breakdown of hours will be subject dependent and will vary according to modules. Please refer to the individual module details under Course Structure.
Methods of assessment will vary according to subject specialism and individual modules. Please refer to the individual module details under Course Structure.
In the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021, 80% of Kent Business School research was deemed ‘world leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’. The school’s environment was judged to be conducive to supporting the development of high calibre research.
Our Management graduates find work in public and private sector management and consultancy both overseas and in the UK in a wide range of companies and organisations, including:
Kent Business School has an excellent international reputation and good links with businesses locally and globally. Our qualified careers practitioners provide support to all business undergraduate students for up to three years after graduation. In addition, Careers and Employability Service at the University, can also provide advice on how to apply for jobs, write a good CV or perform well in interviews.
This programme is accredited by both the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and the Institute of Exports and International Trade (IOE&IT).
As a student at Kent Business School, you have the opportunity to gain the Chartered Management Institute’s (CMI) Level 5 Professional Qualification in Management and Leadership alongside your degree.
This course page is for the 2022/23 academic year. Please visit the current online prospectus for a list of undergraduate courses we offer.
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