MNB1601/101/3/2024

Tutorial Letter 101/3/2024

Business Management 1B
MNB1601

Semester 1 and 2

Department of Business Management

IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Please register on myUnisa, activate your myLife e-mail account and make
sure that you have regular access to the myUnisa module website,
MNB1601-2024-S1/S2.

Note: This is a fully online module. It is, therefore, only available on myUnisa.

BARCODE
 CONTENTS
Page

1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 4
2 MODULE OVERVIEW .................................................................................................................... 4
2.1 Purpose .......................................................................................................................................... 4
2.2 Outcomes ....................................................................................................................................... 5
3 CURRICULUM TRANSFORMATION ............................................................................................ 5
4 LECTURER(S) AND CONTACT DETAILS .................................................................................... 6
4.1 Lecturer(s) ...................................................................................................................................... 6
4.2 Department ..................................................................................................................................... 6
4.3 University ........................................................................................................................................ 7
5 RESOURCES ................................................................................................................................. 7
5.1 Prescribed book(s) .......................................................................................................................... 7
5.2 Recommended book(s) .................................................................................................................. 7
5.3 Electronic reserves (e-reserves) ..................................................................................................... 8
5.4 Library services and resources ....................................................................................................... 8
6 STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES ................................................................................................. 8
6.1 First-Year Experience Programme ................................................................................................. 9
7. STUDY PLAN ............................................................................................................................... 10
8 HOW TO STUDY ONLINE ........................................................................................................... 11
8.1 What does it mean to study fully online? ...................................................................................... 11
8.2 myUnisa tools ............................................................................................................................... 11
9. ASSESSMENT ............................................................................................................................. 12
9.1 Assessment criteria ...................................................................................................................... 12
9.2 Assessment plan .......................................................................................................................... 12
9.3 Assessment due dates ................................................................................................................. 13
9.4 Submission of assessments ......................................................................................................... 13
9.5 The assessments .......................................................................................................................... 14
9.5.1 Types of assignments and descriptions .......................................................................................... 15
9.7 Final mark .................................................................................................................................... 16
9.6 Other assessment methods ....................................................................................................... 16
9.7 The examination ......................................................................................................................... 17
10. ACADEMIC DISHONESTY .......................................................................................................... 17
10.1 Plagiarism ..................................................................................................................................... 17
10.2 Cheating ....................................................................................................................................... 17
10.3 More information about plagiarism................................................................................................ 17

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11. STUDENTS LIVING WITH DISABILITIES ................................................................................... 17

12. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS .......................................................................................... 18
13. IN CLOSING ................................................................................................................................. 18

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1 INTRODUCTION
Dear MNB1601 Student

We warmly welcome you at Unisa, specifically to the Business Management 1B module

(MNB1601). I am Dr Petri Bester, your lecturer, and Prof Sharon Rudansky-Kloppers is the
secondary lecturer for this module.

As this is a fully online module (all the module information and study material are available online),
you need to utilise myUnisa for studying and completing the learning activities associated with
this module. myUnisa an online system that is used to administer, document and deliver
educational material to you and support engagement with you. Look out for information from your
lecturer as well as other Unisa platforms to determine how to access the virtual myUnisa module
site. Information on the tools that will be available to engage with the lecturer and fellow students
to support your learning will also be communicated via various platforms.

Because this is a fully online module, you will need to use myUnisa to study and complete the
learning activities for this module. Visit the website for MNB1601 on myUnisa frequently. The
specific website for your module is MNB1601-2024-S1/S2.

Although you will receive extensive guidance from the assessments, tutorial letters and study
material, you are more than welcome to contact us if you have any other academic related
queries. We are fully aware that you sometimes study under very difficult circumstances and we
therefore invite you to contact us if you require information, encounter problems, or if you want to
discuss any aspect of the work. It is very important to us that you pass this module, and we will
do our best to assist you in this regard.

We are here to support you throughout your studies and wish you every success in your academic
journey!

2 MODULE OVERVIEW

2.1 Purpose

The purpose of this module is to provide insight and an understanding of the individual functional
areas of business management which ultimately form a synergistic whole that directs the business
towards its goals. These functional areas are human resources, marketing, finance, operations
and purchasing and supply management. This module will provide the foundation for learner’s
further study in the aforementioned functional areas of a business.

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2.2 Outcomes

For this module, you will have to master several outcomes:

• Specific outcome 1: The learner will be able to explain the foundations of Human
Resource management.

• Specific outcome 2: The learner will be able to describe the foundations of marketing
management and will be able to identify and describe the elements of the marketing mix.

• Specific outcome 3: The learner will be able to apply the foundational financial
management concepts and principles required to achieve continued financial health in a
business.

• Specific outcome 4: The learner will be able to explain the foundations of operations
management.

• Specific outcome 5: The learner will be able to demonstrate an understanding of and

discuss the foundations of purchasing and supply management.

3 CURRICULUM TRANSFORMATION

Unisa has implemented a transformation charter, in terms of which the university has placed
curriculum transformation high on the teaching and learning agenda. Curriculum transformation
includes student-centred scholarship, the pedagogical renewal of teaching and assessment
practices, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and the infusion of African epistemologies
and philosophies. All of these will be phased in at both programme and module levels, and as a
result of this, you will notice a marked change in the teaching and learning strategy implemented
by Unisa, together with how the content is conceptualised in your modules. We encourage you to
embrace these changes during your studies at Unisa in a responsive way within the
transformation framework.

For MNB1601, translations of the welcome message, glossaries and FAQs in all 11 official
South African languages can now be found on the module page.

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4 LECTURER(S) AND CONTACT DETAILS

4.1 Lecturer(s)

You may contact your lecturers by email, telephone or on the myUnisa website. All enquiries
about the contents of the module should be directed to the lecturers for MNB1601:
NAME DEPARTMENT TELEPHONE E-MAIL ADDRESS

Dr Petri Bester Business 012 429 3103 [email protected]*

(Primary lecturer) Management
Prof Sharon Rudansky- Business 012 429 4689 [email protected]
Kloppers Management
(Secondary lecturer)
*Please ensure that you use the correct email address when contacting your lecturer. Please do NOT use the
email address [email protected] as you will not receive a response.

The lecturers for this module will be available to take phone calls and e-mails on academic
matters. However, the days and times of lecturer’s availability are subject to change from time to
time in order to accommodate the lecturer’s work schedule and other commitments. Students
are, therefore, advised to send the lecturer an e-mail with their academic related requests
as the preferred method of communication.

Please address all correspondence about academic matters, such as enquiries about the
contents of assessments, to the lecturers. Administrative enquiries should be directed to the
relevant department. Always write your student number and the module code at the top of any
correspondence to the University. If you contact us via e-mail, always include the module code
and your student number in the subject line.

Please note that in accordance with the POPI Act, only queries sent from a myLife email
address will be answered.
Please only contact your lecturer for academic assistance.
They cannot assist with administrative queries.

4.2 Department

You can contact the Department of Business Management as follows:

E-mail: [email protected]

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4.3 University

Should you have any administrative enquiries, please get in touch with the respective
department directly, as your lecturer will not be able to assist you.

Contact addresses of the various administrative departments appear on the Unisa website:
http://www.unisa.ac.za/sites/corporate/default/Contact-us/Student-enquiries.

Please include your student number in all correspondence.

5 RESOURCES

5.1 Prescribed book(s)

PRESCRIBED BOOK

The prescribed book, which you must purchase yourself, for MNB1601 is:

BJ Erasmus, JW Strydom, S Rudansky-Kloppers. 2023. Introduction to Business Management.

12th edition. Cape Town: Oxford University Press.

You can not pass MNB1601 without the prescribed textbook! Please ensure that you use the
CORRECT edition of the prescribed book. Assessments are set using the prescribed edition
of the textbook and older editions are not considered. DO NOT contact your lecturer requesting
the use of an older edition of the textbook.

Please consult the list of official booksellers and their addresses online via this link
https://www.unisa.ac.za/sites/myunisa/default/Books/Official-Booksellers. The prescribed book
cannot be ordered from Unisa. It can be obtained from the University’s official booksellers.

5.2 Recommended book(s)

There is a wide range of books available on the topics discussed in the textbook, and we are
therefore not going to recommend a specific book. At the end of some textbook chapters, you will
find a list of references dealing with that particular topic.

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5.3 Electronic reserves (e-reserves)

Currently, there are no e-reserves for this module. However, e-reserves can be downloaded from
the Library catalogue. More information is available at: http://libguides.unisa.ac.za/request/
request.

5.4 Library services and resources

The Unisa library offers a range of information services and resources:

• For brief information, go to https://www.unisa.ac.za/library/libatglance

• For more detailed library information, go to http://www.unisa.ac.za/sites/corporate/default/
Library
• For library training for undergraduate students, go to
https://www.unisa.ac.za/sites/corporate/default/Library/Library-services/Training

The library has created numerous library guides, available at http://libguides.unisa.ac.za

Recommended guides:
• Request and find library material/download recommended material: http://libguides.unisa
.ac.za/request/request
• Finding and using library resources and tools: http://libguides.unisa.ac.za/Research_skills
• Frequently asked questions about the library: http://libguides.unisa.ac.za/ask
• Services to students living with disabilities: http://libguides.unisa.ac.za/disability
• A–Z of library databases: https://libguides.unisa.ac.za/az.php

Important contact information:

• Ask a librarian: https://libguides.unisa.ac.za/ask
• Technical problems encountered in accessing library online services: Lib-help@unisa.
ac.za
• General library-related queries: [email protected]
• Queries related to library fines and payments: [email protected]
• Social media channels: Facebook: UnisaLibrary and Twitter: @UnisaLibrary

6 STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES

If you need assistance with regard to the myModules system, you are welcome to use the
following contact details:

• Toll-free landline: 0800 00 1870 (Select option 07 for myModules)

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• E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]

IMPORTANT: Do not send any technical queries to your lecturers as they cannot assist!

You can access and view short videos on topics such as how to view your calendar, how to access
module content, how to view announcements for modules, how to submit assessments and how
to participate in forum activities via the following link: https://dtls-
qa.unisa.ac.za/course/view.php?id=32130

Registered Unisa students get a free myLife e-mail account. Important information, notices and
updates are sent exclusively to this account. Please note that it can take up to 24 hours for
your account to be activated after you have claimed it. Please do this immediately after
registering at Unisa, by following this link: [email protected]

Your myLife account is the only e-mail account recognised by Unisa for official correspondence
with the university, and will remain the official primary e-mail address on record at Unisa. You
remain responsible for the management of this e-mail account.

6.1 First-Year Experience Programme

Many students find the transition from school education to tertiary education stressful. This is also
true in the case of students enrolling at Unisa for the first time. Unisa is a dedicated open-distance
and e-learning institution, and it is very different from face-to-face/contact institutions. It is a mega
university, and all our programmes are offered through either blended learning or fully online
learning. For this reason, we thought it necessary to offer first-time students additional/extended
support to help them seamlessly navigate the Unisa teaching and learning journey with little
difficulty and few barriers. Therefore, we offer a specialised student support programme to
students enrolling at Unisa for the first time – this is Unisa’s First-Year Experience (FYE)
Programme, designed to provide prompt and helpful information about services the institution
offers and how you can access information. The following FYE services are currently offered:

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 FYE Website Email Support

www.unisa.ac.za/FYE [email protected]

FYE1500
Post
myUnisa; Study
Registration
Referrals to Skills; Academic &
Orientation Digital Literacies;
other support
services i.e. etc
Counselling;
Reading & Writing
workshops

To ensure that you do not miss out on important academic and support communication from
the SRU, please check your myLife inbox regularly.

7. STUDY PLAN

The following is a recommended schedule which can be used as a guideline for studying this
module:
ACTIVITY HOURS

Reading relevant chapters in the prescribed book 25

Reading the online lessons 25

Doing self-assessment activities in the lessons 10

Participating in the discussion form activities 5

Studying the prescribed book and lessons as well as making summaries 35

Attempting and submitting assessments 20

TOTAL 120

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8 HOW TO STUDY ONLINE

8.1 What does it mean to study fully online?

Studying fully online modules differs completely from studying some of your other modules at
Unisa.

• All your study material and learning activities for online modules are designed to
be delivered online on myUnisa.
• All your assessments must be submitted online. This means that you will do all your
activities and submit all your assessments on myUnisa. In other words, you may NOT post
your assessments to Unisa using the South African Post Office.
• All communication between you and the university happens online. Lecturers will
communicate with you via the Announcements tab. In addition, you may use the
Discussion Forums to connect with your fellow students. Please note that your lecturer
does not monitor the discussion forums; for any assistance please contact your lecturer
directly.

8.2 myUnisa tools

The main tool we use is the Lessons tool, which provides the module content (all the learning
units) and self-assessments per learning unit. The lesson tool replaces the traditional printed
Study Guide. You will therefore not receive any printed study material.

At times you will be directed to join discussions with fellow students and complete activities and
assessments before you can continue with the module. These discussions will be facilitated on
the dedicated discussion forum for that lesson.

It is very important that you log in to myUnisa regularly. We recommend that you log in at least
once a week to do the following:

• Check for new announcements. You can also set up your myLife e-mail account so that
you receive the announcement e-mails on your cell phone.
• Do the Discussion Forum activities. When you do the activities for each lesson, please
share your answers with the other students. You can read the instructions and prepare
your answers offline, but you must go online to post your messages.
• Do other online activities. You will find a variety of self-assessment activities in your
online lessons. Do not skip these activities because they will help you complete the
compulsory assessments for the module. We hope that giving you extra ways to study the
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 material and practise all the activities will help you succeed in the online module. To get
the most out of the online module, you MUST go online regularly to complete the activities
and assessments on time.

9. ASSESSMENT

9.1 Assessment criteria

MNB1601 is a “continuous assessment module” and therefore does not have a final summative
examination. Instead, for this module, all your assessments will contribute to your final result.
Each of the assessments contributes a certain percentage towards the final result, so you are
able to manage your own learning throughout the semester. The weighting of each assessment
can be found online on the myModules page for MNB1601, be sure to familiarise yourself with
the assessment rules and weights at the start of the semester!

The benefits of continuous assessment include:

• You will not have to complete a final exam for this module.
• During the semester, you will have a good idea of what your final result will be.
• Each of the assessments during the semester will ensure that you work through all of the
study material.

This module will have six assessments, all contributing towards your final mark. All six
assessments are online, which you will complete on myUnisa. Pay attention to the assessment
criteria for each assessment, as these criteria will help you to understand what is required of you.

9.2 Assessment plan

• To complete this module, you will be required to submit six (6) assessments.
• All information about when and where to submit your assessments will be made available
to you via the myModules site for your module.
• Due dates for assessments as well as the actual assessments are available on the
myModules site for this module.
• To pass this module, you need to obtain a year mark average of 50% for the assessment.
• To pass this module, you MUST submit Assessment 6. Failure to do so will result in
automatically failing this module, irrespective of your mark.
• The assessment weighting for the module is 100%. There is no summative examination.

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• Please familiarise yourself with the weight each assessment will carry towards your final
mark for this module. The weights and assessment plan will be available on the myModules
page for MNB1601 at the start of the semester.

9.3 Assessment due dates

• No assignment due dates are included in this tutorial letter.

• Assignment due dates will be made available to you on the myUnisa landing page for this
module. We envisage that the due dates will be available to you upon registration.
• Please start working on your assessments as soon as you register for the module.
There are no extensions for this module!
• Log on to the myUnisa site for this module to obtain more information on the due dates for
submitting the assessments.

9.4 Submission of assessments

• Unisa, as a comprehensive open distance e-learning institution (CODeL), is moving

towards becoming an online institution. You will therefore see that all your study material,
assessments and engagements with your lecturer and fellow students will take place
online. We use myUnisa as our virtual campus.

• The myUnisa virtual campus will offer students access to the myModules site, where
learning material will be available online, and where assessments should be completed.
This online system is used to administer, document, and deliver educational material to
students and support engagement between academics and students.

• The myUnisa platform can be accessed via https://my.unisa.ac.za. Click on the myModules
2024 button to access the online sites for the modules that you are registered for.

• The university undertakes to communicate clearly and as frequently as is necessary to

ensure that you obtain the greatest benefit from using the myModules learning
management system. Therefore, please access the announcements on your myModules
site regularly, as this is where your lecturer will post important information to be shared
with you.

• When you access your myModules site for MNB1601, you will see a welcome message
posted by your lecturer. The lessons, discussion forums and assessments can be found

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 on the left-hand tab. All assessments must be completed on the assessment shells
available on the respective module platforms.

• To complete assessments, please log on to the module site where you need to complete
the assessment. Click on the relevant assessment shell (Assessment 1, Assessment 2,
etc.). All assessments will be open at the start of the semester. You are strongly
encouraged to submit your assessments as soon as possible as no extensions will be
given; irrespective of the reason. This unfortunately includes sickness, bereavement, or
theft. Access your assessments online and complete it within the available time. The
assessment questions are not included in this tutorial letter (Tutorial Letter 101) and are
only made available online. You must therefore access the assessment online and
complete it online where the assessment has been created.

• It is not advisable to use a cell phone to complete the assessment. Please use a desktop
computer, tablet or laptop when completing assessments. Students who use a cell phone
find it challenging to navigate the Online Assessment tool on the small screen and often
struggle to navigate between questions and successfully complete the assessments. In
addition, cell phones are more vulnerable to dropped internet connections than other
devices. Therefore, if at all possible, please do not use a cell phone for this
assessment type.

9.5 The assessments

As indicated in section 9.2, you need to complete six assessments for this module. The online
assessments (Assessments 1 to 6) for MNB1601 consist of multiple-choice questions.

You are required to select the most appropriate option from options 1 to 4. Choose the option you
think is the correct (most appropriate) one. In other words, if you think that option 4 in question 1
is correct, then select option 4 next to the appropriate question number (in this case, it is question
1). If you need assistance answering multiple-choice questions, refer to Learning Unit 0 in the
online study guide on the module site.

As indicated, there are no assessments included in this tutorial letter. The assessment plan
(assessment weightings), assessment questions and due dates will be made available to you on
myModules for this module. We envisage that the due dates will be available to you upon
registration. You must therefore log-into myUnisa on a regular basis to verify the due date
dates.

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VERY IMPORTANT: Although you should submit all the assessments as they all contribute
to your final mark for MNB1601, failure to submit Assessment 6 will result in automatically
failing this module, irrespective of the marks you obtained in the other assessments.

9.5.1 Types of assignments and descriptions

All assignments are defined as either optional, mandatory, compulsory, or elective.
• Elective assignments
- If not submitted, the student gets no mark for this item.
- The best of the required submissions will count.
• Mandatory assignments
- If not submitted, the student gets no mark for this item.
• Compulsory assignments
- If not submitted, the result on the student’s academic record will be absent.
• Optional assignments
– You are encouraged as a student to do optional assignment so that it may benefit your
learning.

I. Elective assignments
a. the student is given a choice of which assignments within an identified group to submit,
only the best result(-s), the number of which is specified in advance, will contribute
towards the year mark.
b. elective assignments must also be grouped into an elective group.
c. for the student to select which assignment to submit, the elective assignments must
be grouped together. For such an elective group, relevant information must be provided
to the student, such as how many of the assignments must be submitted and how many
of the assignment marks should be combined into the year mark.
d. The selection criteria define how marks received for assignments in an elective group
are to be combined into the year mark. Three different criteria may be used for
calculating the year mark:
· The best mark should be used, or
· If the student submits fewer than the required number of assignments per group
or no assignment in a group, a mark of 0% will be used.
· 0% is awarded to all non-submitted or unmarked assessments. A best mark is
then calculated from all items.
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 II. Mandatory assignments
a. contribute to the year mark.
b. If a student fails to submit a mandatory assignment, no mark is awarded and the year
mark is calculated accordingly. The student will therefore forfeit the marks attached to
this assignment when the final mark for the module is calculated.

III. Compulsory Assessment

a. when not submitted, the student will fail a Continuous Assessment module but will be
shown as absent from the examination in the case of other modules.

IV. Optional assignments – You are encouraged as a student to do optional assignment so

that it may benefit your learning.

MNB1601 will make use of a mix of mandatory and compulsory assessments. Ensure that you
complete all the assessments before their due dates!! Please check your myModules page for
the required due dates.

There will be no elective or optional assessments for this module. You MUST complete all SIX
(6) assessments if you want to pass this module.

9.7 Final mark

The marks obtained for all six compulsory assessments contribute 100% towards your final mark
for MNB1601. Please note, there is no formal examination for MNB1601. The combined
weighted averages of your assessment marks must be 50% or higher for you to pass the module.

Please also note that there are no supplementary or aegrotat opportunities. Failure to
submit assessments before the published due dates, irrespective of the reason, will result
in failing the module.

9.6 Other assessment methods

MNB1601 does not make use of other assessment methods. To enhance your learning, additional
activities and self-assessment questions are provided within the lessons on the myUnisa module
page.

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9.7 The examination

There is no examination for this module. You must complete all six compulsory online
assessments. Please note that there will be no supplementary or aegrotat opportunity for
this module. If you fail an assessment or if you fail to submit an assessment, you will need
to reregister for the module.

10. ACADEMIC DISHONESTY

10.1 Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the act of taking the words, ideas and thoughts of others and presenting them as
your own. It is a form of theft. Plagiarism includes the following forms of academic dishonesty:

• Copying and pasting from any source without acknowledging the source.
• Not including references or deliberately inserting incorrect bibliographic information.
• Paraphrasing without acknowledging the original source of the information.

10.2 Cheating

Cheating includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Completing assessments on behalf of another student, copying the work of another student
during an assessment, or allowing another student to copy your work.
• Using social media (e.g. WhatsApp, Telegram) or other platforms to disseminate
assessment information.
• Buying completed answers from so-called “tutors” or internet sites (contract cheating).

10.3 More information about plagiarism

For more information about plagiarism, follow the link below:

https://www.unisa.ac.za/sites/myunisa/default/Study-@-Unisa/Student-values-and-rules

11. STUDENTS LIVING WITH DISABILITIES

The Advocacy and Resource Centre for Students with Disabilities (ARCSWiD) provides an
opportunity for staff to interact with new and returning students with disabilities.

E-mail: [email protected]

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 If you are a student with a disability and would like additional support or need additional time for
assessments, you are invited to contact (Nadia van Huyssteen, e-mail address:
[email protected]) so that you can be assisted.

12. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) function on your module site for answers
to commonly asked questions.

13. IN CLOSING

Do not hesitate to contact us by e-mail if you are experiencing problems with the content of this
tutorial letter or with any academic aspect of the module.

We wish you a fascinating and satisfying journey through the learning material and trust you will
complete the module successfully.

Happy studies!
Dr P Bester and Prof S Rudansky-Kloppers
The lecturers for MNB1601
DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

©
Unisa 2024

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