Seminar on Current Managerial Issues

Teacher(s)

de Wasseige Olivier; Semal Pierre; Vas Alain;

Language

English

Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	During their programme, students of the LSM Master¿s in management or Master¿s in Business engineering will have developed the following capabilities¿ CORPORATE CITIZENSHIP Demonstrate independent reasoning,look critically and consciously acquired knowledge (both academic and common sense) and managerial practices, in light of emerging circumstances and their outcomes. A SCIENTIFIC AND SYSTEMATIC APPROACH Collect, select and analyze relevant information using rigorous, advanced and appropriate methods WORK EFFECTIVELY IN AN INTERNATIONAL AND MULTICULTURAL ENVIRONMENT Understand the inner workings of an organization : develop a global approach and integrate the internal logic used within the organization. PROJECT MANAGEMENT Analyse a project within its environment and define the expected outcomes : identify what is at stake, the required outcomes and the environmental constraints; clearly define the project objectives and associate the performance indicators. PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Self-motivation : be capable of creating a project in line with their own values and aspirations, confident and motivated in managing the implementation of  the  project, and  persevere in  difficult situations.

The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.

Content

The course objectives are

• to get the students accustomed to current managerial issues with a special focus on Belgian cases, 
• to get the students accustomed to some major global economic or political issues (the society theme of the year),
• to get the students accustomed to the reading of some advanced press,
• to provide students some learning in terms of reviewing work of others and providing feedback.

The seminar is structured around:

• A set of business talks focused on a small set of companies and the related business cases;
• A set of general talks focused on a global society issue and its related research questions.

For the business cases, the goal is to get a clear view on how each of these businesses works. The students have to prepare, in groups, several analysis of business cases.
For the society issue, the goal is to get a solid understanding of one dimension of this issue. The students have to prepare, individually, one research question related to the issue and deliver an answer to that question.

Teaching methods

The seminar is based on the following elements.

• The students, in groups, prepare one business case per semester. They should also provide, in groups, some feedback on the business cases of their peers.
• The students prepare, individually, one research question realted to the society theme of the year and an answer tothat question. They should also provide feedback one some research questions of their peers.
• A set of guest speakers related to the busines cases that are dealt with and to the society theme of the year.

Evaluation methods

The students will be graded (all the evaluations below are subject to a confirmation by the professor)

• for their own works (by their peers),
• for their assessment of their peer works (by the distance between their assessment and the median of the assessment of others),
• for their participation.

The final grade is made as follows:

• 25% for each group work (17.5% for the work itself, 7.5% for the assessment work)
• 50% for their individual work (40.0% for the work itself, 20% for the assessment work)
• a bonus/malus for their presence in class (from -2 points to +2 points over 20)

There is no examination in this seminar.

Online resources

The platform for exchanging information and communicating with all stakeholders will be the Moodle sites of this course: LLSMS 2220 and LLSMS 2220 GW

Faculty or entity

CLSM