Duration
30h Th
Number of credits
| Master in management (120 ECTS) | 5 crédits | |||
| Master in business engineering (120 ECTS) | 5 crédits |
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
English language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
There is a strong interrelation between the economic performance of an organization and its value to the society at large, including its immediate stakeholders (customers, employees, shareholders, suppliers, etc.), but also its physical and human environment.
This course examines ways in which an organization can manage its supply chain processes so as to simultaneously take these different dimensions into account. This involves, in particular,
- putting in place specific quality management systems which ensure that all processes deliver results in line with the objectives of the organization and with the requirements or expectations of the customers and other interested parties;
- understanding and evaluating the ethical and environmental implications of the decisions made by the organization in terms of product design, production process, transportation, facility design and location, recycling and reprocessing, etc.
- identifying organizational and managerial tools which allow organizations to set up a virtuous circle where quality, ethics and sustainability reinforce each other.
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
Upon completion of this course, the students will understand and will be able to formulate critical opinions about quality, ethics and sustainability issues in the management of organizations.
They will be familiarized with fundamental concepts like
- total quality management, quality assurance, certification, statistical process control, lean management;
- business ethics and corporate social responsibility issues in supply chain management, conflicts of interest;
- life cycle of a product, environmental footprint of products and processes, energy and resource scarcity, closed-loop supply chain and sustainability reporting.
Key Learning Outcomes addressed by the course:
1. Establish a strategy in order to optimize the value chain of a company, an organization or a project:
- taking into account its scientific and technological context;
- demonstrating a critical mind and scientific precision.
2. Take charge of the everyday management of a company, an organization or a project
- analyzing his/her managerial practice with a critical and ethical mind.
3. Plan and implement the performance and quality control in a company, an organization or a project
- using the appropriate analytical tools;
- in order to propose realistic and coherent ways of improvement;
- in a perspective of a continuous process.
4. Communicate efficiently, internally and externally, about a company, organization or project.
5. Adapt his/her managerial practice to the needs of a fast-evolving world
- being conscious of its societal, economic, political and environmental issues;
- developing his / her expertise in a lifelong learning perspective.
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
Fundamentals of supply chain management: production systems, logistics, inventories, and their relation with the strategic objectives of the firm.
Inferential statistics: confidence intervals.
Fundamentals of business ethics
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
Presentations by the lecturers and (possibly) by guest speakers.
Readings (professional and academic literature).
Group and individual projects.
Presentations by the students.
Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)
Face-to-face
Recommended or required readings
Recommended references:
A. Crane and D. Matten, Business Ethics (3rd edition), 2010, Oxford University Press.
W. McDonough and M. Braungart, Cradle to Cradle, 2002, North Point Press. ISBN: 0865475873
J.S. Oakland, Oakland on Quality Management (3rd edition), 2004, Elsevier Ltd. ISBN: 978-0-7506-5741-9
J. Sarkis, Greening the Supply Chain (1st edition), 2006, Springer. ISBN: 1846282985
Assessment methods and criteria
Final grade based on projects (written reports and oral presentations), presentations by the students, homework and participation.
Group work 75%, individual work 25%
Work placement(s)
Organizational remarks
Contacts
Instructors: Maud Bay Maud.Bay@uliege.be , Yves Crama Yves.Crama@uliege.be, Virginie Xhauflair V.Xhauflair@uliege.be