BA (Hons) International Hospitality Business Management (Top-Up degree)

Wherever there are people, systems and organisations, there will be leadership and management. Primarily this module will be studying the concepts of leadership and management within the modern organisation with the context of the current business environment, modern employment law and a more savvy employee base.

Newer leadership skills and techniques such as mentoring and coaching will be evaluated and developed, alongside more traditional skills such as communication, persuasion, negotiation and conflict resolution. How these are applied in specific situations, particularly periods of change, will be analysed.

The inter-relation between leadership and management will be explored alongside the place of both at differing levels within organisations. The occurrence and application of leadership by individuals without positional power will be evaluated and skills required for good leadership explored and developed.

The module will critically evaluate the key theories, research, practices and skills of leadership and management with emphasis given to supporting you to add your personal development portfolios in the area of leadership skills. There will be opportunities for you to discover and develop your leadership skills and reflect on means of development to support your future employability.

Module learning outcomes

On successful completion of the module, you will be able to:

1. Critically evaluate effective leadership in modern organisations
2. Reflect on and evaluate your own leadership skills
3. Build on, or commence, your own personal development plan for leadership skills to enhance your future employability

Module content

• Critical evaluation of leadership and management terminology and roles (distinctions and similarities)
• Analysis of the importance of leadership in modern organisations
• Leadership roles and responsibilities (appointed, emergent and shared leadership)
• Trait, behaviour and power based approaches to understanding effective leadership
• Leadership styles and the contingency approach to leadership
• Charismatic and transformational leadership
• Managing and leading through change
• A critical evaluation of new leadership techniques including coaching and mentoring
• Followership and the influence of followers
• Leadership within a team based environment
• Managing and leading in an international context
• Leading in a diverse organisation
• Practical leadership skills

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The international service economy relies on particular research methods and techniques in order to cope with the intangibility of the products and an inherent customer focus. Therefore, graduates with analytic skills and the ability to match the importance of consumer awareness to research skills are in demand within industry.

This module aims to provide an opportunity for you to engage in a small scale business research project. The content of your project will be determined by you in response to an issue in your current practice and the independent nature of this module offers you the opportunity to develop your analytical and critical skills in an analysis of a service sector topic, selected by you. You will be guided by your module tutor who will help you with the framing of the research question.

You will be assessed a piece of work that presents the process and outcome of your own research, which should produce the actionable results with practical impact within the hospitality businesses, for example: practical problem solutions, providing ‘how-to’ knowledge, or new product development. Through undertaking a series of activities and producing the outcome, you will develop a set of transferable skills that includes professional awareness, specific occupational skills, and certain technical skills. This is also a good PDP opportunity as you will develop your expertise.

Module learning outcomes

On successful completion of the module, you will be able to:

1. Identify the appropriate and feasible management research topic within the hospitality industry context
2. Design a research project that critically evaluates a problem or issue to a professional standard
3. Identify and employ appropriate research methods to collect data, analyse, and draw conclusions, providing recommendations where appropriate
4. Present the outcomes of the research project in the appropriate methods to the stakeholders

Module content

The nature of your learning in this module will vary depending on your chosen topic. The project could take a form of a critical case study, a dissertation or a work based management project and you may present your outcomes in any forms which can be submitted electronically. Due to this, the module contents will focus on guidance, design and implementation of research projects including:

• Researching and analysing academic work
• Specifying research questions and testing hypotheses
• Research styles and traditions: quantitative and qualitative and combining methods
• Building up a feasible research design, including ethical, sampling and reliability evaluation
• Primary research methods covering a range of qualitative and quantitative methods, such as interviewing, focus groups, observation and questionnaires
• Analysing and presenting data
• Ethical issues in research approach and design and recognition of University research ethics policy guidelines (University of Derby Code of Practice on Research Ethics)

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With the globalisation of service, the importance of managing a multicultural workforce to meet the expectations of an increasingly diverse market has become a major task for hospitality managers. This module examines how cultural differences impact on organisational performance within service sectors and seeks the ways to investigate ways of delivering quality service that meets expectations of international clientele.

The first half of the module examines the concepts of culture and its impact on communication and performance in the workplace, and the second half of the module focuses on the context in particular organisational diversity strategies in service sector organisations and HRM practice such as recruitment, promotion, training, and flexible working arrangements.

A series of discussions based on organisational scenarios will enable you to develop problem-solving skills relating to managing diversity at work. You will be assessed through group discussion boards and a collaborative piece of work. These methods of assessments will develop your transferable skills such as negotiation and persuasion and team work, and you will benefit from networking with your peers.

Module learning outcomes

On successful completion of the module, you will be able to:

1. effectively communicate personal values with awareness of and considerations on different cultural values
2. critically evaluate the theories and concepts associated with culture and cultural diversity
3. relate theoretical concepts to the current practices in the service sector workplace
4. formulate an organisational policy to manage cultural diversity in order to achieve business goals
5. effectively communicate organisational values, policies and procedures to internal and external audiences

Module content

Culture and cultural diversity: cultural dimensions, impacts of culture within workplace and upon consumer behaviour, diversity and equal opportunities.

Cross-cultural communication: personal presentation, cross-cultural business negotiation, ethics, impacts of culture on motivation and group effectiveness.

Managing multicultural workforces: role of managers, recruitment, cross-cultural training, performance management, employee welfare and benefit, international human resource development.

Managing the multicultural organisation: the organisational context, organisational cultures, strategies for changing organisational culture, host-guest relationships, policies, practices and procedures and their application in different organisational contexts, cross cultural business ethics and international sustainability.

Managing the diverse market: globalisation/glocalisation of markets, international competition, corporate social responsibilities, achieving customer satisfaction and loyalty in the international marketplace.

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This module examines the parameters of operations within a hospitality context which have to be managed in order to achieve the business goals of the hospitality organisation.

It also examines in depth some of the more challenging management issues, with a particular focus on the efficient and effective use of resources to provide a quality of customer service as the basis for creating stakeholder values.

You will be assessed through a production of guidance materials to a front-line manager within an hospitality organisation and by working on this assessment, you will also develop transferable skills such as professional awareness, professional development, specific occupational skills and certain technical skills.

Module learning outcomes

On successful completion of the module, you will be able to:

1. Discuss the interdependence of business strategies and operational functions within the hospitality organisations
2. Critically evaluate the theories, concepts and practice of operations management in the context of international hospitality management
3. Identify the appropriate methods of collection and analysis of operational information to monitor operational efficiency
4. Provide a diagnosis of the existing organisational issues within a parameter of operations management
5. Formulate and justify strategies to improve operational efficiency and effectiveness to achieve business goals, deploying the available resources

Module content

Hospitality operations: characteristics of hospitality services; food production and service; accommodation management; revenue management; departmental communication; integration of front-of-house and back-of-house functions

Resource planning and deployment: planning human, physical and financial resource requirements; managing processes; risk management; contingency planning; ensuring the effective control of human, physical and cash resources, evaluating actual operational performance against standards

Hospitality operations management: location and layout design; managing queue and customer traffic; stock control; supply chain and logistics; performance monitoring; Health and Safety; managing demand fluctuation; establishing and managing quality standards nationally and internationally

Customer experience: balanced scorecard; understanding needs and expectations of international clientele; managing the achievement of customer satisfaction; comparative service quality management systems

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This module will introduce you to key topics about psychology in the workplace such as leadership, corporate crime, and workplace motivation. There will be a focus on the application of psychology to real business problems.

This module will focus on fundamental applications of psychology, as a science, for understanding important business, work, and workforce problems. Throughout the module, you will be encouraged to apply contemporary psychological concepts and methods to understand the application of psychology to core work and organisational issues. The module will also cover people’s behaviour, thoughts and emotions related to their work. You will consider how ideas from psychology are used to increase people’s effectiveness at work and how these ideas can assist in the development of personal and organisational change needed by people and organisations.

Module learning outcomes

On successful completion of the module, you will be able to:

1. Critically evaluate key psychological concepts and theories on their role to solve workplace problems
2. Investigate contemporary developments in business psychology as a science, in understanding key organisational and business issues
3. Demonstrate a deep understanding of how human behaviour is influenced by organisations, their behaviour, their systems and their structure

Module content

The module will cover the following areas:

• Social scientific research methods to study people, workplaces and organisations
• Historical and current perspectives, practices and principles of business psychology
• Concepts of the person in psychology and the individual difference approach
• Personnel selection and assessment
• Work satisfaction, job satisfaction and organisational commitment
• Ergonomics and consumer psychology
• Organisational development
• Leadership development
• Talent management
• Culture
• Health and wellbeing at work
• Employee engagement

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Satisfying customers, consumers and clients is a priority for all organisations if they wish to survive and prosper.

This can only be achieved if organisations are able to see the world through their customers’ eyes, understand the often seemingly irrational nature of their purchasing behaviour and respond with appropriate products or services.

This module concerns itself with theories underlying customer behaviour and provides a foundation for analysing customer needs and wants. It also provides an opportunity for students to apply these concepts through self-analysis and/or through applications in case studies or real life situations.

Module learning outcomes

On completion of this module you will be able to:

1. Critically evaluate the theory and concepts of Customer Buying Behaviour
2. Evaluate the range of models and research methods used to explain consumer behaviour
3. Select, justify and apply relevant theory and models to successful decision making

Module content

This module aims to provide you with an understanding of a wide range of concepts and theoretical approaches and the opportunity to examine the role of customer behaviour from an experiential and organisational perspective. Including but not restricted to:

• Consumers and consumption in a changing world
• Consumer motives, goals and involvement
• Consumer responses 1: exposure, attention and perception
• Consumer responses 2: learning, attitudes and decisions
• The meaning and nature of culture
• Values and culture – Country-of-origin effect
• Self and consumption
• Life styles and loyalty
• Group influences
• Data-based consumer behaviour and digital marketing responses
• Convergence or divergence in consumer behaviour?

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The analysis of financial statements can tell us a great deal about the health of a company and its ability to deal with future challenges.

This module concentrates on using the financial information available to assess the relative strengths of companies and to assess the impact of outside forces on their viability. Analytical and forecasting skills will be used to aid decision making.

Module learning outcomes

On successful completion of the module, you will be able to:

1. Analyse financial statements to make decisions on the strength, sustainability and adaptability of a business
2. Evaluate the influence of internal and external factors on the company’s future prospects

Module content

• Interpretation and analysis of company financial reports
• Forecasting techniques
• Factors affecting share prices
• Evaluation of company’s place within the industry sector
• Vulnerability to external events
• Prediction of likely success or failure based upon extensive research

Module teaching and learning

The module will be taught through a series of online units supported by a mix of learning activities.

Activity typeHoursCategorySelf-paced study and activity301Facilitated learning activity301Guided independent study1002Peer-to-peer learning activity402

This module is based on the self-paced supported online learning delivery model. You are provided with a set number of units of learning content. Content can be in text form, can include video and audio material, screencasts or presentations with voiceovers. This content is supported by additional optional activities such as discussion forums to enable you to ask questions of your peers and your tutor to clarify their understanding and to engage in further development of the principles and ideas addressed.

Formative learning activities such as practice examples, worked examples and online quizzes are made available. Such activities enable you to interact and apply and exchange knowledge.

You will be provided with the opportunity to participate in a set number of live classroom sessions during the module. These provide you with ‘real time’ access to your tutor and an opportunity to collaborate with their peers. Recordings of these sessions are made available to all students for review by those unable to attend and for students to use as preparation for the module assessment strategy.

Module assessment methods

The module is assessed by 100% coursework, completed individually, split into two equally weighted tasks. Feedback from the first assessment will inform progress and act as feed forward to the second assessment.

Formative assessment

A range of formative assessment methods – providing feedback rather than grades – will be employed. This will include formative assessment during seminars and facilitated learning activities, allowing for peer and tutor feedback.

Seminars and personal tutorials will feature regular formative assessment throughout the semester, through exercises or class discussion.

Summative assessment

Coursework 1 – 50%: A numerical analysis of the performance of two companies from a specific industry sector. To include brief discussions of findings. This is to assess learning outcome 1.

Coursework 2 – 50%: A written report analysing the comparative performance of the two companies examined in coursework one. Word limit 2,500 words. This is to further develop learning outcome 1 and demonstrate learning outcome 2.

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