Undergraduate

Business functions in context

On this page

• What you will study
• Entry
• If you have a disability or additional requirement
• Study materials
• Teaching and assessment
• Students also studied
• Future availability

This course focuses on the essential organisational functions of human resources; marketing; operations management; information management; and accounting and finance. You will examine their key practices, processes and thinking, and their contributions to organisations and their operations – with a strong emphasis on practice-based learning. You will also explore activities undertaken by functional specialists, and develop skills in critical thinking, problem solving, numeracy, and written and oral communication. By the end of the course, you’ll understand how and why distinct business functions have developed and how they are integrated; their structure and operations in different contexts; and their role in organisations’ interactions with their environments.

Course facts

Register for the course

This course is available for study in the countries shown. Fees and financial support may vary by country.

What you will study

The course is structured into seven blocks. The first block is a general introduction, and the last provides integration and consolidation. The remaining five blocks cover the five functional areas.

Block 1 Introduction - familiarises you with the approach of the course, its values and assumptions. It includes a brief outline of each function and an explanation of how its contribution will be developed in later blocks.

Block 2 Operations Management - focuses on the role and purpose of the operations function and the impact this function can have on organisational strategy. It explores the most important design decisions within operations management and explains the challenges inherent in planning and controlling operations. The importance of taking a supply chain perspective within operations management is also emphasised, as well as the role of performance measures and quality management.

Block 3 Marketing - explores the nature of marketing and the importance of understanding the complexities of the marketplace. It looks at the marketing environment and its impact on marketers; addresses how marketers can formulate their marketing strategy to ensure their products and services satisfy customers’ needs; and examines how marketers can compete effectively.

Block 4 Accounting and Finance – is concerned with how accounting information is provided to and used by managers to make informed business decisions. It covers financial accounting, cost and management accounting, and financial management.

Block 5 Human Resource Management (HRM) – explores how the term HRM has developed and the type of activities and issues that the HRM function is concerned with. HRM has become a key feature of any manager’s job as the responsibility for team and individual performance has been pushed down the organisation. Accordingly, this block explores the link between HRM and business strategy. It also identifies the main aspects of the employee relationship and the key activities involved in ensuring that an organisation is adequately resourced with people who can perform the tasks required of them.

Block 6 Information Management – covers all aspects of managing information within organisations. It introduces information as a key resource and explores the purpose of the information management function. The role of information in various forms of decision making is examined along with the ramifications this can have for organisational sense making and organisational power. It explores how information management systems reshape business processes and fuel organisational change.

Block 7 Conclusion - draws conclusions about the roles of functions within organisations, and the importance of their interactions. It will also assist you to complete your assessed work.

Vocational relevance

The course will prepare you with practical skills that are in line with the Quality Assurance Agency’s benchmark statement expectations for business studies. It also aims to enhance employability as the curriculum is of benefit to students in the employment market and also relevant to many studying for their own personal development.

A feature of this course is that it makes use of an integrative approach in bringing out the inter-connectedness of the five business functions being examined. This will be done by an examination of Practice-based Learning, which seeks to examine, reflect and contextualise the functions that may be undertaken in a whole range of places, including the premises of a business organisation with whom you may be in paid employment, your own office, at the home of a client, the organisation that you volunteer for, or even in your own home.

If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.

Entry

This course is for those who want a general overview of business studies – to learn more about the world of business and how it operates. It makes as few assumptions as possible about what you already know about business or about your experience of formal academic study. However, this is a Level 2 course and if you have no previous experience of studying business studies, it is strongly recommended that you first study An introduction to business studies (B120) (or its equivalent). 

If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.

Outside the UK

This course is relevant to business students in both a UK and non-UK context.

If you have a disability or additional requirement

Written transcripts of any audio components and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) versions of printed material are available. Some Adobe PDF components may not be available or fully accessible using a screen reader. Musical notation and mathematical, scientific, and foreign language materials may be particularly difficult to read in this way. Other alternative formats of the study materials may be available in the future. Our Services for disabled students website has the latest information about availability.

If you are a new student, or new to courses using a computer or the internet, you will need to inform us of your particular needs as soon as possible, as some of our support services may take several weeks to arrange. Details of how to do this and our range of support services are described in our publication Meeting Your Needs.

You can also find information about accessible study materials, financial support and the Disabled Students' Allowance, equipment and other services, on our Services for disabled students website. It also includes our contact details for advice and support both before you register and while you are studying.

Study materials

What's included

The seven blocks are delivered on the course website and include links to various resources including outside websites. These blocks are also provided as printed books together with  readers and textbooks, other printed materials, and two DVDs.

You will need

The ability to play CDs and DVDs.

Computing requirements

This course includes online computer activities – you can access these using a web browser that can play Flash and Shockwave.

You will need internet access and a computer. If you have purchased a new computer since 2005 it should meet your course computing requirements. Check our Technical Requirements section if your computer is older than this or is otherwise unusual.

Teaching and assessment

Support from your tutor

You will have a tutor who will help you with the study material. They will mark and comment on your written work, and you can ask them for advice and guidance. We may also be able to offer group tutorials or day schools that you are encouraged, but not obliged, to attend. Where your tutorials are held will depend on the distribution of students taking the course.

Contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service if you want to know more about study with The Open University before you register.

Assessment

The assessment details for this course can be found in the facts box above.

You will be expected to submit your tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) online through the eTMA system unless there are some difficulties which prevent you from doing so. In these circumstances, you must negotiate with your tutor to get their agreement to submit your assignment on paper.

Students also studied

Students who studied this course also studied at some time:

• An introduction to business studies (B120)
• Business organisations and their environments (B201)
• Making sense of strategy (B301)
• You and your money: personal finance in context (DB123)
• Working and learning: developing effective performance at work (BU130)

Future availability

The details given here are for the course that starts in October 2012. We expect it to be available once a year.

Fees 2012

See fees and funding options for study from September 2012.

Study explained

Financial support

- find out if you qualify for support with your fees with our eligibility checker.

Study explained

- all you need to know about distance learning with the OU.

A taste of OU study

Student Reviews

This is not a course to be taken lightly. Although rewarding in terms of the knowledge you gain it's very ...
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This course has an extremely heavy workload so it's not a course to do alongside any other course. It has ...
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Your questions

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Or contact an adviser in our Student Registration & Enquiry Service Email or call +44(0) 845 300 60 90+44(0) 845 366 60 35

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