The Essential MBA

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

For help preparing for, and support during your MBA course, The Essential MBA brings together a comprehensive overview of the main subjects taught on MBA and business and management programmes in one book.

Each chapter is written by a specialized contributor and offers students a helpful introduction to each topic of study, including:

This text is an invaluable guide for MBA students, as well a useful introduction for undergraduate and postgraduate students of business and management.

Susan Miller is Professor of Organisational Behaviour at Hull University Business School

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Introduction and Overview
• Purpose of The Essential MBA
• How to use this book
• What is 'a critical approach'?
• Critical perspectives in management
• Power
• Gender and diversity
• The nature of managerial knowledge
• Management education
• Outline of the book
• Summary
• Further reading
• References
• Organizational Behaviour
• Introduction
• The domain of OB
• Work organizations and OB: a condensed history
• Critical approaches to OB
• Organizations and their environments: national culture and organizational structure
• National culture
• Organizational structure
• Critiquing work on organizational structure
• Organizational processes: managing and being managed
• Management and leadership
• Organizational culture and managing change
• Decision making and power
• Emotions and humour
• Groups and teams in organizations
• Group formation and group dynamics
• Work groups and organizational performance: Japanization, knowledge management and learning
• The individual in the organization
• Motivation at work
• Perception
• Personality
• Summary
• Questions for reflection
• Further reading
• References
• Human Resource Management
• The importance of human resource management
• What is HRM?
• The development of HRM in the UK
• Personnel management and HRM
• HRM and organizational performance
• The best-practice approach
• The best-fit approach
• The employment relationship
• Perspectives on the employment relationship
• Understanding the employment relationship
• Critical perspectives on HRM
• Summary
• Questions for reflection
• Further reading
• References
• Marketing
• Marketing concept
• Marketing philosophy
• Customer needs
• Marketing as exchange
• Exchange and the consumer
• Segmentation, targeting and positioning
• Positioning
• The marketing mix
• Product
• Price
• Promotion
• Place
• Relationship marketing
• Summary
• Questions for reflection
• Further reading
• References
• Accounting and Finance
• Financial accounting
• Measurement of wealth 109Evaluation of performance
• Management accounting
• Product costing
• Cost-volume-profit-analysis and break-even analysis
• Financial planning and control
• Financial management
• Time-based valuation - present value theory
• Gearing (or leverage) management
• Risk assessment
• Management of working capital
• Summary
• Questions for reflection
• Further reading
• Notes
• References
• Economics
• The scope and purpose of the chapter
• The individual
• Scarcity and choice
• Rationality
• Utility: the individual as consumer
• Utility: the individual as supplier
• Demand
• The organization
• Revenue
• The production function
• Costs
• Pareto efficiency
• Markets and strategies
• The profit-maximizing firm
• Perfect competition
• Monopoly
• Oligopoly
• Game theory
• Networks
• Missing markets
• The organization's external environment
• Economic growth
• Macroeconomic policies
• Summary
• Questions for reflection
• Further reading
• Notes
• References
• Operations Management
• The importance of managing operations
• What is operations management?
• a historical development of operations management
• Difference between products and services
• Intangibility of services
• Customer involvement
• Timing of production and consumption
• The development of operations strategy
• Operations strategy perspectives
• Performance objectives
• Quality
• Flexibility
• Speed
• Cost
• Product and service development
• Idea generation
• Initial screening
• Development
• Product testing and further development
• Ramp up to full production and product launch
• New product development process criticisms 200Process design 201Types of processes
• Process layout and flow
• Planning and control
• Capacity management
• Example of queuing models
• Inventory management
• Determination of order quantity
• Push systems
• Pull systems
• Choosing between the two systems
• Push and pull systems in services
• Quality management and improvement
• Quality as excellence
• Quality as fit for purpose
• Quality as an error free process
• Quality determined by perceptions and expectations
• Quality management systems
• Supply chain management
• The dynamics of a supply chain
• Sourcing
• Supply chain management criticisms
• a critical perspective on operations
• Summary
• Questions for reflection
• Further reading
• References
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Defining CS
• The history and development of CSR
• The state of CSR teaching and academic research
• The arguments for CSR
• The business case for CSR
• Moral and pragmatic arguments
• The arguments against CSR
• Business ethics
• Managing CSR
• Identifying and engaging with stakeholder groups
• Codes of ethical conduct
• Employee induction and training
• Social accounting
• Environmental issues
• The future of CSR
• Questions for reflection
• Further reading
• Notes
• References
• Strategy
• What is strategy?
• Traditional views
• Analyzing the competitive (external) environment
• Analyzing internal resources and capabilities
• Strategic choices
• Realizing strategic choices
• Managing strategic change
• Critiques of traditional approaches and some alternative perspectives
• Critiques
• Alternative perspectives
• Summary
• Questions for reflection
• Further reading
• References
• Research Approaches
• What is a dissertation?
• The purpose of a dissertation
• What it is not
• How is it likely to be assessed?
• How to fail
• Elements of a dissertation
• Choosing a topic
• Significance
• Is the research feasible?
• Is it manageable in the time available?
• Symmetry
• Research aims and objectives
• The literature chapter
• Literature search
• Keeping records
• Critical analysis and synthesis
• Conceptual frameworks, theory and constructs
• Designing and carrying out the research: methodologies and methods
• Methodological approaches
• Traditional and more critical research paradigms
• Methods
• Validity, reliability and generalization
• Ethical issues
• Findings, recommendations and conclusions
• Writing up
• Questions for reflection
• Further reading
• References
• Study Skills
• Learning independently: being reflective and reflexive
• Getting started
• Information searching
• Sources
• Searching
• Reading and taking notes
• Taking notes
• Referencing
• Writing skills
• The report
• The essay
• Tips to enhance your writing skills
• Getting and using feedback
• Taking examinations
• Preparation and revision
• During the examination
• After the examination
• Time management
• Making presentations
• What is the brief?
• Who is the audience?
• How long have you got?
• Planning the presentation
• Rehearsing
• Performing the presentation
• Working in groups
• Virtual learning environments (VLEs)
• Summary
• Questions for reflection
• Further reading