YSS-22306 Introduction to Management and Life Sciences

Course

Credits 6.00

Language of instruction:

English

Continuation courses:

MST-21306 Advanced Management and Marketing; YSS-32306 Technology, Innovation and Strategy; MST-24806 Supply Chain Management; ORL-20306 Decision Science 1.

Contents:

Management Sciences provide the instruments that enable the design, implementation, and support of innovative organizational and business processes, which are required to successfully diffuse innovative products and processes into society.
Bèta-engineers are pressured by their working environment to develop their communicative skills. They have to work in multi-disciplinary teams, cooperate in innovative business processes and production processes, and manage different forms of knowledge in various networks. Béta-engineers may adopt a management role in academic environments, in production facilities or in supply chains. From this professional perspective, Bèta-engineers apply their knowledge within settings that include people with different backgrounds, different interests, and from different positions in the chain or from different knowledge institutions. It is the integration and effective use of these varying positions and perspectives that ensures the successful completion of complex processes, such as product innovation or management of a supply chain.
The integration and effective use of each contribution makes the successful completion of complex processes such as product innovation, market launches or managing a supply chain, possible. Bèta engineers with a Gamma specialisation can play an important, initiating and binding role in such processes. Bèta-Gamma engineers should not only be able to produce and/or understand technical designs but also take into account a wide range of contextual variables such as market variables and enterprise variables.
In addition, Bèta-engineers must also understand the ethical issues involved in innovation for life sciences (such as smart farming), and innovate responsibility. This involves considering the ethical acceptability of innovations, the known and unknown risks involved, and whether they innovation contributes towards societal needs and 'grand challenges'.

Learning outcomes:

After successful completion of this course students are expected to be able to:
- explain what interdisciplinary research and thinking is, what it means, the skills involved and how to distinguish between and manage interdisciplinary research steps;
- outline different management science perspectives and disciplines, including their relevant principles and methods. This will include:
- innovation and its management, including understanding and classifying how a business can maximize the value extracted from the innovation process;
- business economics, and how business decision making processes work given a firm's objectives and the constraints imposed by scarcity;
- process and systems engineering, how and why they are used, and the role of ICT in information management;
- marketing and consumer behavior, including different types of marketing and how these affect the innovation process;
- operations research and logistics, and their role in decision making and decision support approaches;
- explain the ethical issues involved in innovation in the context of life sciences, and describe how the application of responsible innovation principles impacts the innovation process;
- apply the knowledge obtained through the course to a 'real life' challenge, including integrating the different perspectives and disciplines, and evaluating a proposed solution.

Activities:

- lectures;
- study and cases/assignments.

Examination:

- written exam (50%);
- group assignment report (40%);
- group assignment presentation and defence (10%).
Each component needs a minimum mark of 5.0 to pass.

Literature:

Reader.