Overview
Businesses need effective managers now more than ever in a post Covid-19 world. But what makes an effective manager? And how can studying management theory create better managers for people and the planet?
On this course, you learn what’s involved in managing organisations in an increasingly complex world. We look at the enduring patterns in how people, groups, organisations, economies and societies function and interact. By understanding these behaviours, you can manage them effectively in times of significant change.
With BSc Business Management, you gain a rich understanding of how organisations operate – what they do, how they develop strategies and why.
Study areas include:
- management, innovation and new technologies
- the international business environment
- organisational behaviour
- operations and supply chain management
- leadership
- human resource management
- ethical business management
The first year of your business management degree also introduces you to the core principles of accounting, finance, marketing and economics to provide you with the essential business knowledge needed for a successful career.
In your final year, you have the opportunity to put your knowledge into practice by completing an in-depth, independent research project or dissertation. This will give you the chance to further develop vital employability skills in areas of research, time management and critical thinking.
This course is taught at Essex Business School. We champion responsible management and ethical business practices; you join a school not just committed to excellence in business education and social science research, but an intellectual community working to make business better. We don’t just prepare you for a successful career; we’ll help you shape the kind of world you want to live in.
Study abroad
The four-year version of this course enables you to study abroad during your third year. In all other areas, this version of the course remains identical to the standard three-year variant.
You can study abroad with one of our exchange partners in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, the Middle East, Hong Kong and Japan. In doing so, you experience other cultures and languages, meet new people, and gain intercultural skills that are sought-after by employers.
Placement year
Alternatively, you may prefer to take on a placement during your third year to gain relevant work experience within an external organisation. A placement can provide you with valuable experience to add to your CV.
The Student Development Team can offer bespoke support throughout the process of researching, applying and interviewing for placements. However, it is your responsibility to apply, prepare for and secure your own role. In recent years, our students have gained placements with organisations such as BMW, Samsung and Cummins.
Our expert staff
You are taught by a highly qualified, enthusiastic team of academics and experienced business practitioners with wide-ranging research interests. Their research is used in your lectures and seminars so you learn about the latest issues impacting business today.
Our staff specialise in areas including:
- Organisational behaviour
- Business ethics
- Corporate governance
- Historical aspects of management
- Gender and LGBT inequality in the workplace
- Cultural production
- Corporate marketing and corporate communication
- The role of bodies, knowledge and skills in consumption
- Business model innovation
- Intersectionality
We are home to practising academics who are active and influential in their fields, such as Lecturer in Management and Marketing and social media influencer researcher Dr Erik Jacobi. Erik’s research looks specifically at the politicisation of brands and the impact of social media influencers. This highly contemporary field of research makes Erik one of the most interesting and popular lecturers teaching on our undergraduate courses at Essex Business School.
Specialist facilities
Our BSc Business Management is based at our Colchester Campus.
In our landmark Essex Business School building – the first zero carbon business school in the UK – you’ll see our sustainable approach to business first-hand. Set around a lush winter garden, are a wealth of inspiring teaching and study zones.
Our custom designed building provides you with superb facilities:
- a state-of-the-art trading floor with Bloomberg Financial Market Labs, where you’ll gain hands-on experience and learn how to utilise live business data
- modern lecture theatres with ‘listen again’ recording to aid your study
- study pods and innovation booths for group working
- networking opportunities with visiting businesses
- a café and adjacent foyer to enjoy on-site fresh food and drink
- study skills workshops and advice
Our business school is located on the University’s Knowledge Gateway, where you may be able to take advantage of networking and work experience opportunities with businesses located on site.
Your future
Business management skills are as highly valued as your degree by graduate employers. Your future starts at Essex Business School where we prepare you to become the kind of manager who gets things done through the BSc Business Management curriculum and through the skills development services offered by the school.
Many of our graduates go on to graduate management training schemes or management roles straight after graduation.
The BSc Business Management curriculum taught here embeds transferable employability skills in analysis, critical thinking, presentation and communication across all modules.
The study skills module in year one will develop your academic skills, while the student success module in year two will build on what you learned in year one so that you can easily step up to meet the growing academic demands of your second and final years. The Successful Futures module in year two will foster your professionalism and introduce you to the graduate recruitment process, including practical advice to excel at interviews and assessment centres.
Recent graduate destinations include:
- Relationship Manager at Footprint Digital – a fast-growing digital marketing agency
- Digital Marketing Executive at Premier Labellers – a machinery manufacturer based in Essex
- Delivery Consultant at RED – The Global SAP Solutions Provider – a specialist recruitment firm
- iX Business Consultant at IBM – the multifunctional information technology conglomerate
The School will support you with a range of skills and careers opportunities, including: skills development workshops; employer talks; skills events and careers conferences.
BSc Business Management students can also take advantage of the services offered by the Student Development Team, including: careers advice; work experience; internships; placements; and voluntary opportunities.
Why we’re great
- Take advantage of Essex Startups, the support scheme for entrepreneurial students.
- We’re world renowned for our research on workplace behaviour and management.
- We focus on ethical management and sustainable business practice.
Structure
Course structure
This course is designed to provide you with a broad overview of all the main areas of business management, whilst also allowing you to be flexible to study your own areas of interest.
In the first year our current students cover the fundamentals that every business manager needs to know. However, we are planning some changes to our first year and we’ll be tailoring it more closely to your chosen course. Then in second and final year you will have a mixture of compulsory and optional modules.
We offer a flexible course structure with a mixture of core/compulsory modules, and optional modules chosen from lists. ?Please be aware that we are planning changes to our first year to make it more relevant to your chosen course.
Our research-led teaching is continually evolving to address the latest challenges and breakthroughs in the field. The course content is therefore reviewed on an annual basis to ensure our courses remain up-to-date so modules listed are subject to change.
Teaching and learning disclaimer
Following the impact of the pandemic, we made changes to our teaching and assessment to ensure our current students could continue with their studies uninterrupted and safely. These changes included courses being taught through blended delivery, normally including some face-to-face teaching, online provision, or a combination of both across the year.
The teaching and assessment methods listed show what is currently approved for 2022 entry; changes may be necessary if, by the beginning of this course, we need to adapt the way we’re delivering them due to the external environment, and to allow you to continue to receive the best education possible safely and seamlessly.
Placement
On a placement year you gain relevant work experience within an external business or organisation, giving you a competitive edge in the graduate job market and providing you with key contacts within the industry. The rest of your course remains identical to the three-year degree.
Year abroad
On your year abroad, you have the opportunity to experience other cultures and languages, to broaden your degree socially and academically, and to demonstrate to employers that you are mature, adaptable, and organised. The rest of your course remains identical to the three-year degree.
Teaching
- Teaching includes a combination of lectures, seminars and computer-based lab sessions
- Modules delivered by experts in the field as well as guest speakers
- Contribute and interact in lectures through the use of smart technology
- Lecture presentations and notes are uploaded online beforehand to help you prepare in advance
- Complete your final-year project in consultation with a personal supervisor
Assessment
- Assessed through traditional methods of end-of-year exams and multiple-choice questions, in-class tests and essays
- Plus more innovative and creative assessments include poster presentations, real-business case problems and group presentations
- Your first-year marks do not count towards your final degree
