Diploma in Business Practice
(Business Administration)

This subject will help students learn the written communication skills that are vital for their success at the work place. They will learn how to prepare, plan and write investigative reports and present information relevantly and succinctly using appropriate visuals. They will also be taught to write appropriate emails, memos and letters for inter-office and intra-office communication.

This subject will help students develop effective oral professional communication skills that are essential in their working lives. They will learn how to plan, prepare and deliver oral presentations that are professional and audience-centered. In addition, students will learn the skills of conducting themselves professionally in a meeting.

This subject intends to equip working adults to be competent in using office automating tools. Emphasis is placed on creating hands-on training environment which enables participants to embrace business information technologies to function and contribute effectively in an increasingly technologically driven workplace. Participants will learn how to integrate useful advanced features of spreadsheet and database tools to support business operations.

This is a subject to equip students with the fundamental principles of economics for understanding the business environment. Students will study the various aspects of the product market: demand and supply, consumer theory, production and cost, market competition, market power, product differentiation, firms’ strategic behaviour and the macroeconomic environment.

Business organisations operate in an environment that is becoming increasingly complex and competitive. Survival and prosperity of businesses go to those which are best able to adapt to the environment. This module aims to provide students with the knowledge and understanding of the political-legal, economic, social-cultural, technological environments of business. While the focus of the course is on the external environment, the module will also examine the company’s internal environment.

This subject provides an introduction to marketing concepts and practices. It covers the marketing process and tools including product, pricing, distribution, and promotion. An integrated approach will be employed to develop a range of skills such as strategic thinking, presentation, and personal selling which are needed to sense, serve and satisfy customer needs.

This subject provides an understanding of basic accounting concepts and processes, and their applications in businesses. It includes the double-entry system of bookkeeping, preparation of financial statements, accounting for assets such as cash and inventories and the importance of controls over these assets, as well as analysis of financial statements using ratios.

The subject provides students with an introductory survey of the applications of descriptive and inferential statistics in a business environment. It aims to equip students with the knowledge and skills to: organise, analyse, interpret and present data related to a business environment, and apply basic statistical concepts to solve simple business-related problems. Students will be taught the various numerical measures such as describing data, basic concepts of probability, probability distributions, estimation, hypothesis testing and linear regression and correlation analysis. Students will make use of scientific calculators and Microsoft Excel to solve statistical problems and the focus will be on interpretation of the statistical measures computed.

The subject equips participants with tools used in solving business problems and for decision making. Participants are taught how to identify the root causes of problems, select the problems to tackle, generate workable solutions and decide on the courses of action. Teaching contents include contemporary problem solving tools and critical/creative thinking skills that are fundamental to decision making. Participants walk away from this subject with a box of tools to solve problems and make decisions with confidence in a dynamic world of business.

This subject provides an understanding of the key functions of management and the practical issues confronting managers today. Topics include planning, organising, leading, controlling, international management and ethics and social responsibility.

This subject concerns the design and operations of systems to provide goods and services. The subject aims to equip students with the knowledge and skills to plan, schedule and control activities that transform inputs into outputs. A set of well-developed operations management concepts such as aggregate planning, production strategies, service delivery, operations scheduling, project management, facilities layout and quality improvement tools will be covered. The subject will focus on the application of operations management concepts used in service and manufacturing industries.

This subject covers the general framework of the financial and cost management processes. It focuses on the use of accounting information for management planning, control and decision making through the understanding of costing and budgeting concepts.

This subject provides participants with an understanding of the key determinants of human behaviour, at both the individual and group levels, in an organisation. It aims to develop the ability to use organisational behaviour concepts to improve personal, interpersonal and group interaction skills. Some of the topics are perception, motivation, reinforcement theory, group dynamics and conflict management.

This subject provides participants with an awareness of the importance of HRM in an organisation. They will get an understanding of the various human resource management functions, the impact of effective HRM practices on organisational and employee performance and the role of line managers in HRM. Some of the topics are recruitment and selection, performance appraisal, training and development, the People Developer System and compensation management.

This subject focuses on essential knowledge, skills and techniques required to provide service excellence and management of customer service. These will apply to frontline, internal support centre and contact centre environment. The module will also highlight the importance of ownership and empowerment in customer service. The module will study how organisational customer service philosophy impacts the entire customer service cycle.