ENGGEN 403 - Managing a Business

(15 Points, SC 2014)

Systems Thinking Applied to Managing a Business
STAFF
Course Coordinator
Dr Keith Adams room: 3.610 email: [email protected]

Systems Week Development

Prof Keith Robinson room: 1.1008 email: [email protected]
Dr Rob Kirkpatrick room: 1.814 email: [email protected]

Curriculum Development
Mr Colin Nicholas room: 1.1112 email: [email protected]

Lecturers
From Faculty of Engineering: Prof Keith Robinson, Dr Rob Kirkpatrick, Garry Miller
From Outside Faculty: Distinguished invited speakers - lecturers from other faculties in
the University, and guest lecturers from business and
professional organisations.

COURSE DELIVERY
Semester Weeks 1 to 8
Lectures: Monday 1-2 pm
Wednesday 2-3 pm
Assignment or Project Briefings, Assignment Help Desk,
or Assignment Feedback: Friday 2-3 pm

Semester Week 9
Systems Thinking Project Week - Monday 29 September to Friday 4 Oct
No lectures, tutorials, labs, etc. in other Engineering Part IV courses.

Semester Weeks 10 to 11
Catch‐up weeks for other Engineering Part IV courses:
Assignment 2 Feedback (Week 11 - to be confirmed) Friday 2-3 pm
No other lectures, briefings, or help desks in ENGGEN 403.

Semester Week 12
Lectures (project and assignment feedback, exam briefing, etc.): Monday 1-2 pm
Wednesday 2-3 pm
No lecture, briefing, or feedback on Friday.

All lectures, assignment briefings, assignment help desks, and project briefings are in room
260-098 (Owen G Glen building).
[Course Delivery continued on next page]

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ENGGEN 403

There are no tutorials in ENGGEN 403. Instead, there are help desks or briefing sessions on
Friday afternoons for the whole class. These sessions are an opportunity for answering
students' queries about assignments and for providing additional guidance on assignments.
There will also be an online question and answer facility.
A draft lecture schedule will be included in the course handbook, which will be available before
the course starts.
Because revision of the lecture schedule will be required to accommodate availability of guest
lecturers, students should take notice of announcements about lecture schedule changes, and
should check CECIL often for the current version of the lecture schedule.

COURSE DESCRIPTION
Aim
To present a systems thinking approach to management and governance roles in commercial,
government, and non-profit sectors.

General Philosophy
The course builds on the capabilities developed in ENGGEN 115, ENGGEN 204, and ENGGEN
303. Carrying forward innovation, entrepreneurialism and project management from ENGGEN
303 into ENGGEN 403 is particularly important. The course presents a systems thinking
approach to managing large, complex challenges. It introduces commercial drivers and
business practices which will assist students to move into management and governance roles in
the commercial, government, and non-profit sectors after graduation.
Professional issues (such as health and safety, sustainability, ethics, and cultural diversity) from
previous courses are expanded on by explaining their effect on governance and management
policy.
The main course topics are enhanced by presentations, by distinguished guest lecturers, of
material informed by practical experience.

Systems Thinking Project:

The highlight of the course is a week-long, full-time Systems Thinking Project. All other
scheduled Engineering Part IV learning activities (lectures, tutorials and laboratory sessions) will
be cancelled for that week.
The aim of the Systems Thinking Project is to provide an opportunity for students to experience
the management issues involved in finding an acceptable solution to a complex problem
presented by a real world scenario. During the project, students will work in large multi-
disciplinary teams, and apply the theory, tools and techniques of the systems thinking approach
to management. The project can be regarded as professional engineering practice at "fast
forward" - what might take months or years in the real world is condensed into just a week.
The complexity of the scenario and the multidisciplinary approach required in finding and
reporting on a solution are challenging, but the “hands on” experience it provides is hugely
rewarding and provides a career enhancing springboard into the professional engineering
world.
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 COURSE OUTLINE

Business Planning
For the first of the two assignments in the course, students are required to prepare a business
plan for a new project, product, or service coming to market. The scope of the business plan
includes a brief, inspiring summary; market and competition analyses; a description of the
proposed product, process, or service; the proposed business model; an assessment of all
resources and activities required to bring the venture to market; financial analyses; and risk and
opportunity analyses.

Peer Review of a Business Plan

For the second assignment, students are required to produce an anonymous peer review of one
of the business plans from the first assignment and provide constructive criticism to the
student who prepared the business plan. Students are also required to assess the business plan
from an investor's point of view. This arrangement of complementary assignments has the
advantage that students see business planning from the investor’s point of view as well as the
entrepreneur’s.

LEARNING OUTCOMES
On completion of the course, students are expected to be able to do the following:
 Presented with a real-world business problem, develop and present a best-fit solution that
applies the principles of systems thinking to business management.
 As a member of a large team, contribute to the preparation of a report and a multimedia
presentation suitable for presentation to a board of directors.
 Demonstrate an understanding of, and an ability to apply, the concepts of leadership and
teamwork in managing a large, complex challenge.
 Prepare and present a start-up business plan which includes the following: market and
competition analyses, a description of the venture, a business model, financial analyses, and
risk and opportunity analyses.
 Provide a peer review of a business plan, or a similar business-management document,
prepared by others.

LECTURE TOPICS
Lecture topics will depend to some extent on the scenario on which the Systems Thinking
Project is based. Details will be in the course handbook.
Lecture topics include:
Business plans
Business lifecycle and principles of business
Business models
Managing finance for a business
Commercial, contract, and legal matters
Managing enterprise change
[Lecture Topics continued on next page]

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ENGGEN 403

Managing communications
Systems thinking and project management (revision of topics from ENGGEN 303)
Managing people - leadership & teamwork
Management and governance policies relating to health and safety, ethics, cultural diversity,
and sustainability.

ASSESSMENT
Course Work:
Assignment 1 Prepare a Business Plan 14%

Assignment 2 Peer Review of a Business Plan 6%

Both assignments are individual assessments.

Assignment due dates will be in the Course Handbook.
Both assignments must be submitted in both electronic form and in paper
form; both forms must be submitted by the due date to avoid late-
submission penalties.
Further details will be in the Course Handbook and full details will be in the
assignment briefs.

Systems Thinking Project 40%

This is a week-long group project.
The mark that each student receives has a group mark component and an individual
mark component. Details of how project marks are derived will be in the course
handbook.
Note that a student's overall project mark may be reduced if there is evidence of
less than full participation by that student in the week-long group project and in
preliminary meetings.
Zero participation will result in a mark of zero for the project.
Total for coursework 60%

Exam
2 hours 40%
Students must achieve a minimum of 40% of the exam mark in order to pass the
course.
All lecture material is examinable.

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