Understanding Modern Business and Organisations

Most FutureLearn courses run multiple times. Every run of a course has a set start date but you can join it and work through it after it starts. Find out more 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.

• An initial understanding of modern business and organisations.
• Up-to-date concepts to shape understanding of the four major forces that shape the world of modern business and organisations: knowledge, technology, ethics and globalisation.
• Trigger concepts to prompt changing mind about what accepted (up-to-date) knowledge is regarding the four major sources.
• Upcoming concepts, developed in collaboration with the participants, to facilitate an open minded exploration of knowledge that is still being developed.
• Part of the content is developed based on the interest of the participants using the ‘Ask Viktor’ feature.
• Based on Henry Mintzberg, the phenomenon of the financial crisis is described as the crisis of management rather than the crisis of economics.
• Knowledge acquired in the first five weeks is applied to make sense of the financial crisis, arguing for or against Mintzberg’s position through a chosen concept from each of the four major forces that shape the world of modern business and organisations.