Title: Week 1
Course: Principles of Management

Introduction to fundamentals of management

Aim of the topic: To introduce you to the fundamentals of management.

Intended learning outcomes:  At the end of the topic, you will be able to;

1. Explain the various concepts and meaning of the term management.
2. Describe characteristics of management.
3. Discuss the roles, functions and skills of managers.

Over to you: Before you come to class this week there are some fundamental concepts that you will explore in the pre-topic activity.  In class, we are going to ensure that you have a clear grasp of the concepts before you start to derive your own definitions of these ideas.  There will also be some reading for you to do. You will read chapter 1 of the book “Management Principles’ by (Mason, Talya, & Berrin, 2012). You will watch video clips that will help to consolidate your understanding of some key aspects of management and be able to complete e-tivities 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3.

Pre-topic activity: Read the attached Resource 1 on Introduction to management

E-tivities: The purpose of the activities is to help you achieve the intended learning outcomes for this particular topic.

E-tivity 1.1: The purpose of this e-tivity is to help you explain the various concepts and meaning of the term management.

Tasks:

- Read chapter 1 of the book “Management Principles by (Mason, Talya, & Berrin, 2012) and extract the various definitions of management.
- Develop one definition that captures all the key components of management.
- Post your definition in the Discussion Forum 1 week 1.

E-tivity 1.2:  The purpose of this e-tivity is to help you describe the characteristics of management.

Tasks:

- Read ‘Major characteristics of the Management’ available at; https://businessjargons.com/management.html
- List and briefly define five characteristics of a good manager and post in the discussion forum 2 week 1.
- Read two other posts and rewrite your five characteristics to include two aspects of a good manager that your classmates outlined.

E-tivity 1.3: The aim of this e-tivity is to enable you understand the roles, functions, and skills of managers at different levels of management.

Tasks:
- Read "Management levels and types' available at: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-management/chapter/management-levels-and-types/
- Note down the different levels of management and their responsibilities.
- Read the article: An analytical study on Mintzberg's framework: Managerial roles by Dr. Pardeep Kumar at http://ijrmbs.com/vol2issue3/drpradeep.pdf
- In particular, note Mintzberg's interpretation of managerial roles in this article.
- After doing the above activities in your groups, discuss the roles, functions, and skills of a manager using between 400 - 500 words.
- Submit the Group assignment in the next class or under Group Assignment 1 week 1.

Anticipated time requirement: 5 hrs