SYLLABUS

A. Associate of Business Management (ABM)

1. Introduction to Business
A course designed to introduce the student to the composition and functioning of the
business world. The student is made aware of the actions and effects of elements
such as markets, labour, the legal environment, management and financial institutions
in the American economy.

COURSE GOALS: Participants in this course will be expected to:

1. Become familiar with the activities and effects of major elements of American
business.
2. Recognize and differentiate between major forms of business organizations.
3. Understand the goals and activities of labour.
4. Become aware of the presence and activities of government in the business world.
5. Distinguish between the different types of markets.
6. Appreciate the role of management.
7. Learn international aspects of business.
8. Gain an understanding of the activities of the Federal Reserve, commercial banks
and other financial institutions.

COURSE CONCEPTS:
1. Corporations, partnerships and proprietorships.
2. Labour unions, collective bargaining, shops, strikes, walkouts, compensation.
3. Taxation, borrowing, debt management, fiscal policy, money, credit, monetary
policy, banking.
4. Trade balances, tariffs, quotas, foreign exchange, agreements, embargoes,
reciprocity.
5. Oligopoly, monopoly, pure and perfect competition, mono-polistic competition.
6. Risk, decision-making, coordination, profit-seeking.

PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS:
1. Make a comparative analysis of corporations, partnerships and proprietorships.
2. Critique the role and economic effects of labour unions.
3. Compare and contrast monetary versus fiscal policy.
4. Analyse the major forms of market structures in respect to weak and strong

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 points.
5. Defend the favourable balance-of-trade concept.
6. Formulate a policy to promote business growth.
7. Illustrate and distinguish between risk and uncertainty.
8. Describe the effects of government actions on firms.
9. List the advantages and disadvantages of multilateral foreign trade.
10. Trace the growth of government participation in the economy since the Civil War.
11. Analyse and compare the activities of major financial institutions.
12. Discuss the role and activities of the Federal Reserve as a central bank of the
United States.

BASIC TEXT
Koontz, Harold & Fulmer, Robert M.; A Practical Introduction to Business,
Homewood, IL: R.D. Irwin

2. Computer Methods in Business and Economics

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Introduction to computer methods, their application to business

activities and use as a managerial tool. Instruction in BASIC programming as used for
business purposes such as flowcharting programmed testing and debugging.

COURSE GOALS: Participants in this course will be expected to:

1. become familiar with basic computer concepts, procedures and capabilities.
2. learn basic programming operations.
3. recognise the applicability and limitations of computers in business operations.
4. be able to analyse and utilize computer-generated reports as aids in decision-making.
5. acquire a vocabulary of basic computer terminology.
6. distinguish between business and scientific computer applications.
7. become aware of the universality of computer operations in current business,
government and societal sectors.

COURSE CONCEPTS:

1. Programming
2. Input/output statements
3. Inventory models
4. Conditional and unconditional branching

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5. Flow charting
6. Program evaluation and reporting technique
7. Simulation modeling
8. Remarks and headings
9. Iterative looping
10. Subroutes and functions
11. Planning programming-budgeting system

PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS:

1. Prepare a P.E.R.T. chart and identify the critical path.

2. Develop an inventory control mode.
3. Write a program for a specified business problem.
4. Develop a flow chart for a specified item and cost it out.
5. Discuss the relationship of systems analysis and computer applications.
6. Evaluate the potentials and limitations of computer techniques.
7. Identify output considerations in a transaction-oriented system.
8. Analyse major problems associated with data acquisition, classification, storage and
retrieval.
9. Determine cost savings resulting from specified computerization projects.
10. Conduct a cost/benefit analysis of a computer application.
11. Discuss the legal implications arising from unauthorized access to computer data banks.
12. Formulate a strategy to overcome employees’ fear of computerized obsolescence.

BASIC TEXT:

O’Brien, James A.; Computers in Business Management: An Introduction.

Homewood, IL: R.D. Irwin.

3. Macroeconomics
The study of theory of national income determination and business fluctuation;
inflation, unemployment, national income and business cycles; consumption
investment and growth; money and interest rate; interaction among various
macroeconomics; critical evaluation of different approach to macroeconomics
analysis

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COURSE GOALS:
1 To understand three key markets: resources, goods and services and loanable fund
2 To understand the economic role of government
3 To know the different between gross domestic product and gross national product
4 To acquaint with a measure of economic activities: unemployment, inflation and
interest rate
5 To learn the function of money and money supply
6 To explain the different forms of unemployment
7 To interpret the relationship among budget deficit, inflation and interest rate
8 To familiar with fiscal policy and monetary policy
9 To explain the countries gain from international trade

COURSE CONCEPTS:
1 The determinants of aggregate demand and supply
2 The different between comparative advantage and absolute advantage
3 How to measure gross domestic product and alternative measures
4 Different forms of unemployment and Philip Curve
5 Inflation and interest rate
6 Fiscal policy and monetary policy
7 The effect of expansionary and restrictive monetary policy
8 The different between comparative advantage and absolute advantage
9 Classical theory and Keynesian Theory
10 The pros and cons of free trade

LEARNING ACTIVITIES:
1 Reading assignments
2 Attending electronic classroom
3 Joining online workshops
4 Discussions through electronic action learning groups
5 Reports and projects

PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS: Students are required to write the following

units of competence, together with a portfolio of evidence.

Unit 1: Explain the measure of nation's output and income (GDP) by using
expenditure approach and the income approach.

Unit 2: "Full employment and price stability are the desirable outcome. Whether the
economy can achieve these goals by pure market mechanism depends on classical
theory or Keynesian theory". Please interpret the statement

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Unit 3: "What the macro economy requires is an expansionary fiscal policy and a
contractionary monetary policy." Under what set of circumstances might such a
recommendation be desirable? What external factors can assist governments in
achieving stated macro economy goals?

ASSESSMENT PLAN:
1 Assessment is based on reports and projects for meeting the performance standards
in real work environment.
2 To be competent, students must be able to apply what they learn in the practical
world of work.
3 A portfolio of evidence, such as memos, letters, reports, records or testimony,
relating to carrying out a work activity must be demonstrated.

BASIC TEXT: Macroeconomic, Abel & Bernanke, 2nd edition 1995, Addison -
Wesley Publishing Company

RECOMMENDED REFERENCES:
" Macroeconomic, Robert J. Barro, 4th edition 1993, Wiley

" Essentials of Economic, Bradley R Schiller, 3rd Edition, McGraw Hill 1999

“Economic Private and Public Choice, Gwartney, Stroup, Eight Edition, Dryden Press
1997

4. Behavioral Science for Business

COURSE DESCRIPTION: The study of human behavior in business organizations.

An introduction to the basic concepts of psychology and their effects on motivation
and performance of employees. Application of research findings for solving
employees’ psychological problems and improving their performance.

COURSE GOALS: Participants in this course will be expected to:

1. become familiar with major theories of behavior and their effects on worker
productivity.
2. learn how the manager works with and through people the achieve goals of the
firm.
3. recognize bow behavioral science has evolved as a separate field of study.

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4. understand the major theories and types of motivation.
5. recognize the use of behavioral science concepts in areas such as advertising,
employee testing and new product development.

COURSE CONCEPTS:

1. Participatory management
2. Organizational stress
3. Individual vs. group goals
4. Managing conflict and change
5. Management-by-objectives
6. Hierarchies of needs
7. Theory X and Theory Y philosophies
8. Behavior modification
9. Formal and informal organization
10. Effective communication
11. Psychic income
12. Creative destruction
13 Job security

PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS:

1. Discuss the concept of social institutions and their effects on business activities.
2. Compare and contrast monetary and non-monetary compensation systems as
motivators.
3. Analyse the concept of psychic income in job satisfaction.
4. Critique the Theory x – Theory Y philosophy.
5. Evaluate the importance of informal organizations in the firm.
6. Analyse the problems of reconciling conflict between goals of the firm and the
individual.
7. Evaluate the effectiveness of employee testing in placing employees in proper
jobs.
8. Identify major sources of conflict in business organizations.
9. Discuss the problems faced by American workers employed in foreign cultures.
10. Compare and contrast learned vs. unlearned behavior and their effects on
performance.
11. Discuss the role of the firm as a molder and determinant of individual attitudes.
12. Evaluate the effects of the working environment on employee attitudes and

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 productivity.
BASIC TEXT:

Dubrin, Andrew J.; Effective Business Psychology. Englewood Cliff, NJ:

Prentice-Hall

5. Principles of Accounting
An introduction to basic accounting concepts and practices. Explores the basic
processes of financial record-keeping leading to the preparation of basic financial
documents and their use as tools of managerial control and analysis.

COURSE GOALS: Participants in this course will be expected to:

1. Acquire an understanding of basic accounting concepts and practices.
2. Learn the basic processes of financial record-keeping.
3. Be able to prepare basic financial documents.
4. Understand the use of accounting data as the basis for control, analysis, and
decision-making.
5. Recognize the importance of accounting data as a form of communication.

COURSE CONCEPTS:
1. Assets
2. Liabilities
3. Net worth
4. Balance sheet
5. Income statement
6. Profit-and-loss statement
7. Journals
8. Return on investment
9. Trend analysis
10. Equity-to-debt ratios
11. Accounting cycles
12. Auditing
13. First-in-first-out vs. last-in-first-out
14. Budgeting
15. Original cost vs. reproduction-cost

PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS:

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1. Describe basic accounting procedures.
2. Explain the rationale for separating current assets from non-current assets.
3. Trace the financial history of a firm by balance sheet analysis.
4. Compare and contrast the contents of a balance sheet, and income statement, and
a profit-and-loss statement.
5. List the limitations of financial statements.
6. Illustrate the validity of the accounting equation.
7. Analyze a set of financial statements and indicate the firm’s economic vitality.
8. Explain why accounting records and procedures vary between different forms of
business organization.
9. Outline the characteristics of journals as books of original entry.
10. Demonstrate an ability to assemble and classify data for accounting purposes.
11. Demonstrate an understanding of the principle of double-entry ac counting.
12. Describe standard auditing and data verification procedures.
13. Prepare standard accounting statements for a specified firm.’

BASIC TEXT:
Pyle, William W. & Larson, Kermit D.; Fundamental Accounting Principles,
Homewood, IL: R.D. Irwin.

6. Personnel Management

COURSE DESCRIPTION: An introduction to principles and techniques of personnel

management. Covers the recruitment, training, promotion, and compensation with laws,
union contracts, and economic structures. Emphasis on the effective use of personnel to
achieve goals of the firm.

COURSE GOALS: Participants in this course will be expected to:

1. recognise the role of employees as human resources.

2. learn major goals and activities of the personnel manager.
3. acquire an understanding of problems and solutions in personnel management.
4. gain an appreciation of various motivators influencing employee performance.
5. know major figures in the development of personnel management theories.

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6. recognise and comprehend theories of performance motivation.
7. gain an understanding of psychological principles used in personnel administration.
8. become aware of major legal, social, and political forces affecting personnel.

COURSE CONCEPTS:
1. Recruitment
2. Selection
3. Training and development
4. Compensation philosophies
5. Employee review and evaluation
6. Industrial relations
7. Career development
8. Job definitions and descriptions
9. Motivation
10. Leadership styles
11. Employee benefits
12. Work environments
13. Personnel planning and forecasting
14. Work force composition and quality
15. Frustration and conflict
16. Collective bargaining
17. Grievance procedures

PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS:
1. Compare and contrast the major methods of employee compensation.
2. Prepare a manpower forecast for a given firm.
3. Analyse an employee turnover pattern and make recommendations for improvement.
4. Develop an employee recruitment program.
5. Analyse the impact of court decisions on activities of the firm and employees.
6. Trace the development of personnel management as a distinct functional area.
7. Critique the organization and operations of a specified personnel department.
8. Compare the administration of personnel in a product firm vs. a service firm.

BASIC TEXT:
Flippo, Edwin B., _t. NY: McGraw-Hill

7. Organization & Management Theory

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COURSE DESCRIPTION: The application of organization theory and principles to
business. Analysis or relationships between functional areas of the firm and control by
top management to achieve goals of the enterprise.

COURSE GOALS: Participants in this course will be expected to:

1. become familiar with organization theory and principles as applied to business.

2. be cognizant of strengths and weaknesses of different management principles.
3. recognise how principles can serve as guidelines in managerial actions.
4. be able to develop policy statements to guide and direct activities of the firm.
5. recognise similarities and differences of major management theories.
6. learn various techniques available to establish management policies.
7. understand the relationship of the individual to various organizational
components.
8. identify major alternatives in leadership styles.
9. gain an increased awareness of the relationship of organizational structure to
effective goal attainment.
10. appreciate the need for organizational flexibility as the firm expands and changes.

COURSE CONCEPTS:

1. Management function
2. Decision-making
3. Planning and coordination
4. Environmental factors.
5. Objectives
6. Strategies and tactics
7. Policies
8. Organizational friction
9. Line-and-staff organization
10. Matrix management
11. Management by objectives
12. Centralization
13. Staffing
14. Motivational techniques
15. Hands-off direction
16. Efficiency

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PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS:

1. Critique the organization of a specified firm.

2. Defend your opinion that management is, or is not, a science.
3. Develop the organizational structure for a newly formed business.
4. Compare and contrast management practices in public sector vs. private sector
organizations.
5. Trace the evolution of management theory since 1900.
6. Analyse the theory of management-by-objectives.
7. Discuss the contributions to management theory by Taylor, McGregor and Likert.
8. Identify significant managerial problems faced by the firm operation in world
markets.
9. Assess the effects on management resulting from major legislative and judicial
actions.
10. Illustrate and distinguish between autocratic and participatory management styles.
11. Analyse and evaluate the managerial philosophy of firms which are leaders in
their industries.

BASIC TEXT:
Reitz, H.J. & Jewell, Linda N.; Managing. Glenview, Il: Scott, Foresman.

8. Introduction to Total Quality Management

The study of quality as a philosophy of management, and a way of gaining
competitive advantage. Application of principles of quality management to renew
organizational performance.

COURSE GOALS:
1. Acquire knowledge of the development of quality management and how it affects
the managers and organizations today.
2 Recognize the relationship among quality, productivity and competitiveness.
3 Understand the principles of quality management and their applications for solving
organizational problems.
4 Discover the shortcomings of traditional management theories and the forces
associated with the emergence of Total Quality Management.
5 Learn how to use the themes of Total Quality Management for organization design.

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6 Gain understanding of the value of the Malcolm Baldrige award criteria for
implementing Total Quality Management.
7 Become familiar with the major quality strategies in business activities.

COURSE CONCEPTS:
1 The concept of quality, including traditional, design engineering, customer service
and manufacturing definitions of quality.
2 The evaluation of quality approaches in management thought and practice, leading
quality theorists, including Deming, Juran, Crosby, Ishikawa, Taguchi and
Feigenbaum, etc.
3 The role of quality in productivity, profitability, economic growth, quality of life,
and global competition.
4 The principles of Total Quality Management, contrasting with the classical schools
of management.
5 Techniques to improve and measure quality, customer satisfaction and value.
6 The significance of Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Criteria.
7 Total Quality Management and organization design, including Business Process
Reengineering and cultural change.
8 Total Quality as a business strategy, including customer value strategy, and cost
reduction strategy.

LEARNING ACTIVITIES:
1 Reading assignments
2 Attending electronic classroom
3 Joining online workshops
4 Discussions through electronic action learning groups
5 Reports and projects

PERFORMANCE REQUIREMENTS:

1: Identify some of the costs arising from a defective product or service after
delivering to a customer of your company.

2: Use the principles of Total Quality Management to assess the management

practices of your company; and write a report on the results.

3: Choose a product or service and list four or five characteristics that you as a
customer would want and expect. Based on your experience, do you think that the
company will deliver?

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4: Select a function or activity (e.g. order processing, accounting, or delivery) and
identify a measure of quality that you would expect if you were an "internal
customer" of that function or activity.

ASSESSMENT PLAN:
1 Assessment is based on reports and projects for meeting the performance standards
in real work environment.
2 To be competent, students must be able to apply what they learn in the practical
world of work.
3 A portfolio of evidence, such as memos, letters, reports, records or testimony,
relating to carrying out a work activity must be demonstrated.

BASIC TEXT: Dr Peter Liao, "The Theory and Practice of Total Quality
Management", Newport University Press, 1996

RECOMMENDED REFERENCE:

“Wclton, Mary, Deming Management at work, New York: Putnam, 1990

“J. Bowles and J. Hammond, "Beyond Quality," New York: Putnam Sons, 1990

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