The mie programme: Course Content

The programme will be provided as a credit system to be taken by candidates over a period of two or more years. In order to obtain the Degree, candidates must attend an approved set of courses and pass the relevant University Examinations. The courses and credits are shown below and the Degree will be awarded when the candidate has successfully attained a total of 90 credits.

Optional Subjects

Students will complete four (4) optional subjects or two (2) optional subjects plus the Project over the two years of the programme. The timing and availability of specific options will be at the discretion of the Course Director.

PRODUCTION SYSTEMS DESIGN

Quality Management philosophy and methodology, the ISO9000 Quality Assurance Standards series. Total Quality Management. Quality Costs, quality auditing. Benchmarking. Continuous Improvement Value Analysis. Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA). Business excellence models. Application of statistical methods to process and quality control. Six Sigma.

Introduction to probability and statistics. Binomial, Poisson,  normal and other probability distributions. Decision theory. Significance tests. Estimation, regression and correlation. Time series. Queueing Theory. Time series forecasting models.

The management of employee relations in Ireland. Human Resource policy and practice, recruitment and selection, performance management, reward systems, employee voice systems, work systems. Models of HRM. Links between HR strategy and business strategy.

Systems theory approach to the human side of enterprise, with a focus on the individual, the group and the overall organisation. Developments in social and organisational psychology. Group dynamics, leadership, team development and performance. Transformational leadership. Stress in the workplace. A  behavioural model of organisational change.

Fundamentals of cost accounting, purpose of management accounting, cost terms and purposes. Cost-volume-profit relationships, product costing, job costing and process costing. Management control systems, budgeting and standard costing techniques, system design. Responsibility accounting and motivation, decision making. Relevant costs and the contribute approach to decisions, cost allocation and absorption. Decentralisation, performance evaluation and transfer pricing.

 

OPERATIONS STRATEGY

Management principles and practice. Competitive manufacturing strategies. The management of service operations. Focussed manufacturing. Managing change in manufacturing. Managing the supply chain, make or buy.  Global operations. World Class Manufacturing.

 

TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION AND DESIGN

Product design and development - factors for success. The role of creativity in product success. Stimulating personal and organisational creativity. The formulation of development strategy and the selection and implementation of product development Life Cycle models.  The influence of organisational structure and communication on design and development success. National and corporate application of Technology Foresight tools and techniques and the formulation of technology strategy. Intellectual property capture and management.

 

BUSINESS SYSTEM DESIGN

Organisation – internal and external functions, operations and management, decision making, optimising use of resources. Methodology – how to capture resources, reference modelling. Technology – using ICT to develop models, how models are used to design systems.
MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Information resource management. Management and decision making. Information systems and the value chain. Information systems and organisational models. Information systems in functional business areas. Information management.Transaction processing systems, management reporting systems, decision support systems, knowledge based systems, office information systems, e – commerce, electronic markets, inter organisational systems, enterprise resource management, business process reengineering,. Building management information systems. System development life cycle.

 

FINANCE

Financial Institutions: forecasting financial requirements, sources of finance, capital structure. Financial Analysis and planning. Investment appraisal: measurements of return and risk. Cost of Capital. Management and sources of working capital. Long term capital: shares, fixed return and other sources. Mergers and acquisitions. Corporate failure and rehabilitation.

 

MARKETING AND INNOVATION

The Marketing Process, Core concepts in strategic marketing, managing the marketing process. Market information systems, market surveys. Buyer behaviour. Market segmentation, targeting and positioning. New product development, product policy. Marketing services and quality. Pricing strategies. Advertising and promotion. Channel management and distribution.

Commercialisation of innovation. Evaluation and management methodologies for emerging technologies. Decision parameters, uncertainty, risk, time, subjectivity, utility. Funding innovation, valuation, venture capital market, stock market.
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

This course examines how the organisation finds and enacts its strategic intentions. The aim is to optimise the positioning and performance of the firm within its business environment through an appreciation of the way organisations work in terms of their structures and management processes. Contemporary paradigms and emerging trends in strategic management will be discussed. Among topics covered are: models of strategic management, strategic control, leadership, organisational politics, corporate culture, business ethics, quality management, organisational change and renewal, organisational learning, and the management of multi-business companies.

 


OPTIONAL SUBJECTS - Years 1 and 2
Students will either take four optional subjects from the following list, or two subjects and the project. The availability and timing of optional subjects will be at the discretion of the course director.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Project definition, project selection, economic analysis, the role of the project manager, project organisation, planning, budgeting and estimation, scheduling, resource allocation, control, project termination.

Topics in the area of environmental engineering may include the legal framework, sustainability and environmental policy, environmental impact assessments, emissions controls and trading, waste disposal, environmental economics.

The impact of technology developments on  industrial and commercial activity. Technology areas to be covered will include some of the following –telecommunications, energy, materials, biotechnology, transport.

Asset Management, maintenance principles, reliability theory, equipment failure, reliability and risk, preventative and predictive maintenance, process equipment maintenance, recovery, business continuity, health and safety.

Computer Integrated Manufacturing, manufacturing information systems, concurrent engineering, computer aided design and manufacture, product data management, database management, factory communication, supervisory control and data acquisition, flexible manufacturing, automation, programmable control.

Introduction to simulation. Discrete event simulation. Verification and validation of models, Analysis and interpretation of results. Analysis of variance and covariance. Multiple regression. Design of experiments. Evolutionary operation.

Introduction to simulation and modelling, underlying theory and concepts. Problem formulation, verification and validation, analysis of model outcomes. Discrete event simulation, continuous simulation. Computational tools for simulation and modelling. Applications from sectors including: Service, Industrial, Manufacturing and Financial. 

The course covers topics in micro and macro economics including; economics of the firm – transaction cost and agency theory, application of economic theory on demand, production, cost, pricing, risk and uncertainty  to business decisions. National accounts and their compilation. Theory of income determination. The role of money in the economic system.

Functions of the local authority, regulatory powers and duties, policy aspects and issues. Corporate governance, local government finance, capital and current expenditure, estimating process, control functions of central government.

The course covers topics in micro and macro economics including; economics of the firm – transaction cost and agency theory, application of economic theory on demand, production, cost, pricing, risk and uncertainty  to business decisions. National accounts and their compilation. Theory of income determination. The role of money in the economic system.