THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2024/2025

Timetable information in the Course Catalogue may be subject to change.

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : Business School : Business Studies

Undergraduate Course: Thinking about Business (BUST08045)

Course Outline
SchoolBusiness School CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 8 (Year 1 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThe course will address contemporary issues facing business, through the lenses of different disciplines that are viewed as ways of thinking. The menu of disciplines includes cultural studies, politics, literature, design, technology, sociology, history and data science. Students will leave the course with an understanding of how to think critically and creatively about business. The objectives of the course are achieved by active pedagogies, which means there is a strong component of independent learning and teamwork developed through different activities.
Course description This course brings different ways of thinking to bear on contemporary business questions. Success in the workplace will increasingly depend on the capacity to consider challenges from multiple perspectives by drawing on many lenses and ways of thinking. Each week, a discipline will explore business challenges from its particular ways of thinking, drawing on specific knowledge and tools to how business issues are identified and conceptualised. The tutorials are student-centred, and provide students with guidance and support to focus on contemporary business problems, and conduct research in real-time while they work with their peers.

Outline content:

The course will draw upon a range of disciplines (or lenses) and these may vary according to student demand and academic expert supply.

Typically, each discipline would be explored for two lectures, and the course would seek to understand how we can apply the discipline to different aspects of business using illustrative examples - either a work or a body of work, or a business case study viewed through the lens in question. Lenses are likely to include:

Cultural Studies - business as understood and represented in popular culture.
Politics - how political ideas shape business and the business environment.
Philosophy - how philosophical concepts help us understand business practices today.
Sociology - sociological interpretations and explanations of online and offline business practices.
Data Science - how new ways of thinking about data can be applied to business.

Student learning experience:

This course is designed to allow students to question and analyse business topics from many perspectives. A key requirement is to debate and interrogate the ideas, concepts and tools presented within the disciplines and evaluate their validity in contemporary business problem solving. Students will be encouraged to identify and use different sources of materials from within the disciplines and also working in groups on a weekly basis. They will be expected to undertake prescribed reading, attend live lectures and engage in weekly tutorials. Students will be assessed in 2 ways. They will be required to complete a short group video presentation on a business issue. They will also complete an individual essay which will adopt an interdisciplinary analysis of a current business challenge.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements THIS COURSE IS RESTRICTED TO YEAR 1 STUDENTS
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  270
Course Start Semester 2
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 20, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 16, Feedback/Feedforward Hours 2, Formative Assessment Hours 2, Revision Session Hours 2, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 154 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 70 %, Practical Exam 30 %
Additional Information (Assessment) 70% Essay (Individual) - 2,000 words - Assesses course Learning Outcomes 1,2,3
30% Vlog / Video Presentation (Group) 8 Minutes - Assesses course Learning outcome 4
Feedback Formative: Students will receive formative feedback at different stages of completing their assessments during the tutorials.

Summative: A summative assessment helps students and tutors assess the extent to which students recognise the relevance of interdisciplinary thinking and how it can enrich their understanding of business practices. Students will be provided with comprehensive feedback on their essay during the tutorials. After having worked in the process of engaging in teamwork, students¿ ability to achieve a coherent outcome will be assessed through an individual essay plan.
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Demonstrate an understanding that there are many ways to think about business behaviour through various alternative disciplines.
  2. Identify and compare different ways of thinking about business issues and analyse them by taking into account different stakeholders and contextual factors.
  3. Apply different constructs to business challenges and theorise about the potential contributions different disciplines can do to contemporary business practice.
  4. Reflect on how collaborative and interdisciplinary work can contribute to business.
Reading List
None
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Knowledge and Understanding

After completing this course, students should be able to:

Identify, define and analyse theoretical and applied business and management problems, and develop approaches, informed by an understanding of appropriate quantitative and/or qualitative techniques, to explore and solve them responsibly.

Practice: Applied Knowledge, Skills and Understanding

After completing this course, students should be able to:

Work with a variety of organisations, their stakeholders, and the communities they serve - learning from them, and aiding them to achieve responsible, sustainable and enterprising solutions to complex problems.

Communication, ICT, and Numeracy Skills

After completing this course, students should be able to:

Critically evaluate and present digital and other sources, research methods, data and information; discern their limitations, accuracy, validity, reliability and suitability; and apply responsibly in a wide variety of organisational contexts.

Convey meaning and message through a wide range of communication tools, including digital technology and social media; to understand how to use these tools to communicate in ways that sustain positive and responsible relationships.
Keywordsmultidisciplinarity,interdisciplinarity,teamwork,problem-solving,decision-making,business
Contacts
Course organiserDr Piera Morlacchi
Tel:
Email: piera.morlacchi@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Emma Allison
Tel:
Email: ealliso2@ed.ac.uk
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