Name: Understanding Modern Business and Organisations
Rating: 4.9 (10 reviews)

Are you a graduate who’s new to the world of work? Would you like to understand some of the key trends affecting organisations today? Are you keen to think about how the workplace is likely to change in future?

This free online course will give you these insights, looking at four themes over six weeks:

Knowledge: what does our shift towards a knowledge economy, away from manual labour, mean for both business and society?
Technology: how do organisations develop and/or use technology, and protect their intellectual property? How are the concepts of copyright, reliability and intellectual property changing today?
Ethics: does the rise of corporate social responsibility and environmental issues mean that businesses are more morally and socially responsible today?
Globalisation: how do organisations perform on the world stage and balance the global with the local? What does living in a global village mean for organisations, as well as individuals, today and tomorrow?

The course will culminate with an exploration of the complex phenomenon of the global financial crisis, which we’ll examine in the context of the four themes.

Whatever field you’d like to work in - be it for-profit, non-profit or third sector - this course will help you explore the world of business, in which all organisations are embedded.

You’ll understand the trends that are particularly forceful today and which together, determine the playing field for any organisation today and will shape the world of modern business and organisations tomorrow.

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When would you like to start?

Start straight away and join a global classroom of learners. If the course hasn’t started yet you’ll see the future date listed below.

Available now

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

Who is the course for?

The course is aimed at anyone interested in understanding the world of modern business and organisations, and will be of particular interest to those who have graduated from fields other than business.

It is delivered at graduate level - this means that it is thinking-intensive and relatively complex. However, it doesn’t require specific knowledge of any particular topic, as all concepts are built up from scratch.

Some work experience in a business environment, not necessarily in a business organisation, however limited, would be beneficial.

Who will you learn with?

Viktor Dörfler

Senior Lecturer in Information & Knowledge Management. My interest is comprised of areas of personal and organisational knowledge and learning as well as supporting these with artificial intelligence.

Who developed the course?

University of Strathclyde

The University of Strathclyde is a leading international technological university located in Glasgow, Scotland’s biggest city, committed to useful learning.

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