BUSINESS MASTERY SERIES

 

Course Details:

Daily study - generally courses cover 2 - 3 days once a month for 13 months

 

Description of the course modules:

 

Module 1: Managerial Self-Awareness
Module 2: Organizational Behavior
Module 3: Modern Management and its Organization
Module 4: Marketing for Strategic Advantage
Module 5: Managing Organizational Change
Module 6: Human Resources Management
Module 7: Finance for Managers
Module 8: Economics for Managers and Management Accounting
Module 9: Strategic Management
Module 10: Resolution of Conflicts and Negotation
Module 11: Presentation Skills
Module 12: Time Management
Module 13: Project Management

 

 

 

Module 1: Managerial Self-Awareness

The opening segment of Business Mastery is designed as an interactive experiential workshop. It is based on the assumption that whoever has an ambition to manage others must first be able to manage him or herself. (Or as the old saying puts it, “He that would govern others must first master himself”). Indeed, knowledge of oneself – self-awareness, self-insight, and self-understanding – is essential to one’s productive personal and interpersonal functioning and in understanding and empathizing with other people. The purpose of this module is neither to summarize them, nor to espouse the “one and only one” procedure in particular. A learning community workshop the framework of this module the participants will have an opportunity to get to know themselves in a profound and scientifically proven way. This is accomplished by introducing several easy to use self-assessment instruments that research and years of experience have shown to relate to managerial success. One of them is Personality Type which refers to the manner in which individuals gather and process information, relate to others, motivate and lead others, manage their own time, reward or punish. The other is Locus of Control or the sense we have about being in charge of our lives and destinies.

 

Benefits:

• Improved awareness of the basic psychological personality dimensions and functions, of typological preferences, attitudes and orientations that are relevant in the workplace
• Better ability to manage direct reports, develop lateral working relationships and know them-selves and others in new ways
• Ability to practise authentic, persuasive communication that leads to desired outcomes – and also to detect attempts by others to manipulate you.

 

Content:

• The basic psychological functions – how we become aware of things and how we make decisions
• Sources of mental energy – internal vs. external
• Preferences for structure vs. spontaneity
• Ideal job and ideal workplace for various people
• Preferred ways of communication
• Rewards – ‘different strokes for different folks’
• How we prefer to lead and to be led

 

Lecturer:

PhDr. Michal Čakrt

 

 

Module 2: Organizational Behavior

The effectiveness of organizations depends heavily on how organization manages its people. The success of an individual manager similarly depends on how he or she manages, interacts with, and relates to people. This course provides in depth look at the people side of organizations. You will learn how organizations can improve their effectiveness through better management of people and how individual managers can be more effective and successful in their careers.

 

Benefits:

• Understanding of critical issues related to organizational behavior on individual, group and complex macroorganizational level
• Understanding of how employees impact the effectiveness of their organization
• Understanding of how managers impact the attitudes and behaviors of their employees
• Identifying how you yourself can be more effective in organizational settings

 

Content:

• Manager’s role in organizations as a self-aware leader
• Individuals in organizations and their motivation to perform
• Groups and teams in organization and group dynamics
• Leadership, leading groups and teams
• Organizational culture
• Organizational change

 

Lecturers:

Dana Mudd

 

Module 3: Modern Management and its Organization

This module provides participants with basic terminology and skills required for a contemporary manager. Further, they will become familiar with basic management theories, their assumptions and starting points, and learn about their impact on the performance of managers in a business organization.
Participants learn about all factors influencing the administration architecture and organization of different firm types. The module will provide them with knowledge of organizational structures and systems within today’s globalization and modern communication.

 

Benefits:

• Understanding of management as a synthesized composite of knowledge and skills
• Awareness of different managerial roles, their importance for today's professional manager
• Ways to assert yourself as a manager
• Decision making and problem solving – individual or group?
• Understanding organizational structures
• Understanding organizational cultures and their impact
• Understanding foundations of Process Management and Business Process Reengineering
• Understanding Group processes
  • group decision-making
  • groups versus teams
  • stages of group development
  • team roles
• Communication Patterns
• Conflict Prevention

 

Content:

• Management as a profession
• The "language" of management: fundamental concepts, their origin and significance
• Different approaches to organizing and leading
• Organizational structures and systems under the condition of globalizing and modern communication
• Examples of the world companies and their cultures in the European and national environment
• Group consensus and decision making
• Foundations of Process Management
• Business Processes and Business Process Reengineering
• Roles in teams
• Groupthink
• Group dynamics
• Transaction Analysis

 

Lecturers:

PhDr. Michal Čakrt, Mgr. Dana Mudd, Ph.D.

 

Module 4: Marketing for Strategic Advantage

No business can succeed unless it meets a need, and meets it in a way that customers want. For this reason, marketing is the key to developing a successful long-term strategy for an enterprise, and defining its larger purpose for existing. While essential, all the other operational factors that a business must master if it is to survive and thrive are of subordinate importance to the marketing function, and understanding the fundamentals of creative and intelligent marketing (and how they impact big-picture strategy) are critical skills for managers, both upper-level and mid-level.

 

Benefits:

• Understanding how industries and products can be segmented and compared for market analyses
• Understanding what information needs to be gathered for designing a marketing plan that furthers a firm’s strategy
• Understanding consumer behavior from a psychological and micro-economic perspective
• Knowledge of the way marketing drives the strategic possibilities of a firm, and how trade-offs are always necessary for sustaining competitive advantage
• Developing a marketing plan to capitalize on a business opportunity and apply a marketing audit

 

Content:

• Marketing Environment. Strategy and Planning. Ethics and Social Responsibility. Marketing Research. Consumer Behavior. B2B. Targeting.
• Developing and Managing the Product, Branding and Packaging, Servicing. Marketing Channels, Wholesaling, Retailing, Physical Distribution.
• Pricing Concepts, Setting Prices, International Influences in Pricing. Advertising and Public Relations, Personal Selling and Sales Promotion.
• International Business Trends. Global Manufacturing and Supply Chains. Modes of Entry to Foreign Markets. New Marketing.
• Audit of the Environment, Strategy, Organization, Systems, Productivity, and Functions.
• Practice: a marketing plan simulation.

 

Lecturer:

Ing. Jaroslav Halík, MBA, PhD.

 

Module 5: Managing Organizational Change

This module provides participants with in-depth view of change management interventions in contemporary organizations. The module is designed for managers to get a set of practical tools and techniques, which they should apply when managing or implementing any organizational change. Participants will become familiar with basic conceptions of organizational change; will learn about emotional part of organizational change and key success strategies for change implementation.
Key change management interventions discussed in the class will be targeted into the following key areas: Change Process Facilitation, Change Communication, Individual and Team capacity development with relation to organizational change, Leadership capacity enhancement, Performance Management, Organization Culture.
The module will provide participants with complex understanding of Organizational Change and world Best Practices for managing and enabling of Organizational Changes.

 

Benefits:

• Understanding of complexity of Organizational Change (change vs. transition)
• Understanding of Key Success Factors and Strategies for achieving Sustainable Change
• Ability to develop a detailed Change Action Plan
• Awareness of power structures and politics in organization with relation to org. change
• Ability to Mobilize Commitment of key Stakeholders and deal with potential resistance
• Ability to develop a Change Communication Plan
• Understanding and development of systems for leading and monitoring change in organizations

 

Content:

• Key Components of Organizational Change
• Planning and Executing Organizational Change
• Creating the Shared Need and Vision for Change - Useful tools and techniques
• Enablers and Barriers of Organizational Change - Change Readiness Assessment
• Mobilizing Commitment and Dealing with Resistance - Stakeholder Analysis, Impact Analysis
• Communication During Times of Change – Development of Communication Strategy and Plan
• Leading Change in Organizations
• Aligning the Organizational Infrastructure to achieve Sustainable Change

 

Lecturers:

Dana Mudd

 

Module 6: Human Resources Management

Today there is a widespread recognition of the value of human resources to any organisation. The effective management of these resources, so that individuals can be enabled to fulfil their potential at work, is a key factor for reaching organisational strategic objectives.

This module has been designed primarily for non-HR managers. Participants will learn about the factors affecting individual and team motivation and they will become familiar with core human resources processes and tools in main HR disciplines (recruitment and selection, training and development, performance management, reward, outplacement).

 

Benefits:

• Understanding the role human resources management in an organisation
• Awareness that there is a close correlation between the organisational strategy and human resources management
• Understanding the need for the line and general managers to get involved in human resources management
• Knowledge of how an organization can use human resources more effectively
• Ability to collaborate better with the human resources function

 

Content:

• Role of human resources within an organization: internal and external factors
• Role of line managers in implementation of human resources strategy
• Human resource planning (job analysis, recruitment, selection, orientation and placing, reducing staff numbers)
• Developing human performance (training and development, career management, appraisal, discipline)
• Rewarding employees (reward system, salary planning, bonus schemes, benefit schemes)
• Leading people (key principles of leadership and people motivation, coaching)

 

Lecturer:

Ing. Monika Bartoníčková, MBA, PCC

 

Module 7: Finance for Managers

The main objective of this module is to introduce non-financial managers to the principles of financial accounting and financial management. They will learn how to analyze financial statements and use this information for their work. By doing so, managers will comprehend better the impact their decisions have on the financial situation of their firm. At the same time, it will enhance their communication with the firm’s financial managers.

 

Benefits:

• Understanding of basic financial accounting and financial management
• Ability to analyze data in financial statements, and suggest possible decisions based on such analyses
• Identifying the potential strengths and weaknesses of the firm
• Ability to obtain information about experiences of other companies, which could be used in financial management of Czech companies

 

Content:

• The accounting information system from transactions to financial statements
• Analyzing the firm’s performance through its financial statements
• Cashflow and liquidity
• Aims of the firm and basic financial standards and concepts
• The importance of cash
• Project valuation and the time value of money
• Budgets and variances

 

 

 

Module 8: Economics for Managers and Management Accounting

Management in a market economy demands that decision-making be carried out according to rational economic criteria. Given today's increasing competition, managers and businessmen must possess knowledge of basic economic relationships in order to make effective decisions. This module is designed to develop the participants' way of thinking based on economics and management accounting, and to provide them with tools that will help them make the right decisions. In this module, participants will become familiar with accounting systems used in a firm, and learn how to use information provided by such systems for effective decision-making.

 

Benefits:

• Knowledge of basic economic concepts and understanding of the relationships among them
• Knowledge of basic tools and skills necessary for economic evaluation
• Ability to apply the above in specific decision-making situations
• Differentiation between financial and management accounting
• Comprehension of methods used to depict the economic reality of a firm as well as its individual sections

 

Content:

• Marginal analysis, opportunity cost, "second best", decision-making given limited (scarce) resources
• Market, demand, supply, determinants of demand and supply
• Elasticity - calculation and application to production
• Decisions made by consumers according to economic analysis
• Decisions made by companies - entry, exit, technology, cost analysis
• Decision-making by management in competitive environment, monopoly and oligopoly
• Basic macroeconomic indicators and their importance and impact on management's decision-making
• Differential analysis (outsourcing, accepting short-term orders)

 

Lecturer:

Jana Marková

 

 

Module 9: Strategic Management

The future competitiveness of any company depends on the quality of its managers’ strategic thinking, which needs to be global, flexible and creative. This module is designed for those who are involved in the preparation and implementation of strategic decisions in business organizations and various institutions, and for anyone desiring to improve their strategic leadership skills at any level of management.

 

Benefits:

• Understanding of the latest approaches to strategic management decision making and implementation under pressure of hyper-competition
• Improved strategic thinking in assessing the international and national environment and increased ability to analyze and predict important changes for doing business
• Improved skills in managing and participating in teams designing and presenting strategic plans
• Increased knowledge of the human elements of effective strategic leadership and implementing new strategic concepts and changes
• Better understanding to different practices of advanced international and national companies

 

Content:

• Basic Concepts of Strategic Management
• Corporate Governance and Social Responsibility
• Environmental Scanning and Industry Analysis
• Internal Scanning: Organizational Analysis
• Situation Analysis and Business Strategy
• Corporate Strategy
• Functional Strategy and Strategic Choice
• Strategy Implementation: Organizing, Staffing, Directing
• Evaluation and Control
• Strategic Audit of a Corporation

 

Lecturers:

Ing. Jaroslav Halík, MBA, PhD.

 

Module 10: Resolution of Conflicts and Negotation

Successful managers know how to collaborate with other people effectively, and to resolve conflicts constructively. The goal of this course is to teach course participants the fundamentals of managing collaboration and conflict in one-on-one and small group settings. Our objective is to enhance participants’ interpersonal skills at their jobs. Drawing from the latest findings in managerial psychology, we cover the fundamentals of effective negotiation, communication and persuasion. Participants learn how to effectively negotiate through the use of exercises, cases and readings.

 

Benefits:

• Understanding of conflict cycle, conflict types and causes
• Understanding different attitudes towards conflicts
• Learning techniques effectively preventing and resolving conflicts
• Learning effective negotiations techniques
• Increasing ability to use the most appropriate negotiation technique
• Learning how to prepare and lead negotiations

 

Content:

• Understanding conflict existence, its usefulness and benefits
• Peoples' attitude in conflict situations
• Effective communication, application of appropriate communication styles
• Principles of conflict resolutions in and out of the firm
• Tactics and rules used in negotiations

 

Lecturer:

Dana Mudd

 

Module 11: Presentation Skills

In managerial work it is necessary to be able to present a specialized topic, a new project or a product, or business results, to an audience of one’s colleagues or clients in a clear, persuasive and engaging way. This seminar will help participants increase the quality of their presentations in all aspects.

 

Benefits:

• Knowledge of basic rules when presenting your self, a firm (product) or own opinion
• Knowledge of how to plan and prepare a presentation
• Ability to present in front of a group, ability to use presentation and audiovisual equipment
• Knowledge of how to support own arguments by using visual equipment and electronic presentations
• Ability to discover the strong and weak points of your presentation style
• Ability to create a plan of your presentation skills development

 

Content:

• Analysis of knowledge and requirements, actual education needs and specific clients´ requirements
• Presentation planning, rules, preparation, audience, equipment etc.
• Presentation development, overcoming fright and nerves, nonverbal communication
• Video training, short model situations, recording, analysis
• Work with presentation equipment
• Questions regarding presentations, reaction techniques

 

Lecturer:

Claire Dickson

 

Module 12: Time Management

Time management has become an issue of great importance. Many managers try to achieve and maintain high levels of professional performance, but often the rest of their lives is out of balance. Also, most of us make unnecessary mistakes in our daily planning, priority settings and communication with our colleagues. The course points out the main issues blocking our productivity and helps us deal with them in a rational, practical, yet playful way. Many practical tips are offered for maximizing productivity and personal satisfaction.

 

Benefits:

• Defining personal strengths and barriers of time management of participants, and selecting the items that you as managers can and want to influence
• Learning and trying different techniques that can help managers to improve and maintain high personal performance at work
• Clear understanding of the goals of effective time management and personal prosperity
• Understanding the principals of stress and learning the main techniques how to deal with it
• Sharing the best practise and experience with colleagues, receiving the feedback from the lecturer, having fun
• Learning how to design and implement action plans

 

Content:

• Effective time management – the most important ingredients and goals of good time management at work and in personal life
• Barriers to high performance: Why and where we waste time, disruptions and their danger. Self-assessment
• Where we can gain time based on research about the human mind and body. Practical applications including mind maps, and effective work with information
• How to plan effectively, including setting priorities for a day and a week
• Tips how to plan better and the available planning tools
• Handling long-term plans and big scale projects
• Communication with different people, handling e-mails and telephones, effective meetings, the art of saying NO
• Stress – different phases, characteristics and how to handle it and enhance work – life balance

 

Lecturer:

Ing. Halka Baláčková

 

Module 13: Project Management

Companies in their “daily lives” need to decide how to spend their money and set priorities. If the business buys a machine which is the most efficient on the market and will give it a competitive advantage, this will add to profit, which will benefit owners and shareholders. But perhaps the purchase means deferring a pay rise for employees and will lead to unrest…

Every organization wants to get ahead the other competitors, or at least to maintain its position on the market. This means to manage its productive, renewable as well as non-renewable resources as effectively as is only possible. As a main goal it has to satisfy their customer needs.

 

To achieve these companies’ goals it has to be concerned with:

• market development analysis as well as the trends in customers requirements and expectations analysis
• proposals of changes in the business and marketing strategy of the company
• elaboration of specific tasks guaranteeing prerequisities needed for the achievement of defined strategic goals: design and development of new products and services, development and implementation of new technologies, new processes design and redesign of the curent ones, employee development...

Described types of the goals usually demand financial investments and months or years of synchronized effort of major part of employees. To manage mentioned changes efficiently, companies use in many cases the methods of project management – management method providing tools how to plan and manage the projects. This methodology includes:

• Strategic Framework – project integration into company (organization, rules and relations of project management), levels of project management, role of the steering committee, reporting, escalation and decision-making process
• Project Life Cycle – project phases and their description
• Project Scope – objective, purpose, activities, resources and outputs proposal (project definition)
• Project Planning – work breakdown structure and task decomposition, time estimations and schedules, activities sequencing and parallel fulfillment, milestones and schedules monitoring
• Cost and Resources Management – estimation, planning and monitoring
• Quality Management – assurance and monitoring, acceptance tests planning and management, documentation scope management
• Human Resources Management – roles and professional profiles identification, project teams responsibilities and authorities, productivity monitoring and facilitation, motivation and team building, (capacity sharing in a multiproject environment)
• Communication Tools – prerequsites and rules for efficient communication, organizing of the meetings, workshops and appointments, decision-making rules...
• Risk Management – identification, estimation of consequences and potential losses, monitoring and reduction/compensation, crisis management
• Procurement of Subcontracts and Subcontractors

 

After completing this module you will be better able to:

• understand the ways in which ideas develop into projects
• use techniques to appraise resources effectively
• manage projects successfully

 

Lecturer:

PhDr. Petr Šulc