Quick links:

• Skip navigation
• Home
• Choose a country
• Contact us
• Help
• Sitemap
• Print friendly
• MY CIMA

Navigation:

• About us
• Getting started
• Studying
• Members
• Ethics
• Business partners
• News and events
• Resources
• Discussions

Section navigation:

• The qualification structure
• The full syllabus
  • Certificate in Business Accounting
  • Professional qualification
    • Managerial level
    • Strategic level
    • TOPCIMA
• Syllabus guidance
• The 2010 syllabus
• Practical experience
• Fees and payment
• Exam process
• How to study
• Study support
• Student benefits
• Velocity e-magazine

---

Integrated Management

Other pages in this section

| Management Accounting Performance Evaluation | Management Accounting Decision Management | Organisational Management and Information Systems | Integrated Management | Financial Accounting and Tax Principles | Financial Analysis | 

To be first examined in May 2005

Syllabus outline

The syllabus comprises:

Topic		Study weighting
A	The Basis of Strategic Management	30%
B	Project Management	40%
C	The Management of Relationships	30%

Learning aims

Students should be able to:

• identify and apply management techniques necessary for decision-making that cuts across functional areas;
• analyse data in support of strategic decision making;
• contribute to decision making in these areas by advising management.

Assessment strategy

There will be a written examination paper of three hours, with the following sections.

• Section A - 20 marks
  A variety of compulsory objective test questions, each worth between two and four marks. Mini-scenarios may be given, to which a group of questions relate.
• Section B – 30 marks
  Three compulsory medium answer questions, each worth 10 marks. Short scenarios may be given, to which some or all questions relate.
• Section C – 50 marks
  Two questions, from a choice of three, each worth 25 marks. Short scenarios may be given, to which questions relate.

Learning outcomes and syllabus content

A - The basis of strategic management - 30%

Learning outcomes

On completion of their studies students should be able to:

• explain the process of strategy formulation;
• evaluate different organisational structures;
• discuss concepts in contemporary thinking on strategic management;
• apply tools for strategic analysis appropriately;
• explain the purpose and principles of good corporate governance;
• evaluate competitive situations and apply this knowledge to the organisation.

Syllabus content

• The process of strategy formulation.
• The relationship between strategy and organisational structure.
• The reasons for conflict between the objectives of an organisation, or between the objectives of an organisation and its stakeholders, and the ways to manage this conflict.
• Strategic decision making processes.
• Approaches to strategy (e.g. rational, adaptive, emergent, evolutionary or system-based views based on Porter, Mintzberg, Bartlett and Ghoshal).
• Transaction cost view of the firm (e.g. Coase, Williamson) and its implications for organisational structure.
• Resource-based views of the firm and implications for strategy development.
• Ecological perspective on the firm.
• The determinants, importance and role of organisational cultures and ways to improve the effectiveness of an organisation.
• Introduction to corporate governance, including stakeholders and the role of government.
• Translating strategy into business (e.g. formation of strategic business units, encouragement of entrepreneurship inside organisations).
• Contemporary issues in business management (e.g. alliances, demergers, virtual organisations, corporate social responsibility and business ethics).

B - Project Management - 40%

Learning outcomes

On completion of their studies students should be able to:

• identify a project and its attributes;
• apply suitable structures and frameworks to projects to identify common management issues;
• produce a basic outline of the process of project management;
• identify the characteristics of each phase in the project process;
• demonstrate the role of key stakeholders in the project;
• distinguish the key tools and techniques that would need to be applied in the project process, including the evaluation of proposals;
• identify methodologies and systems used by professional project managers;
• Identify the strategy and scope for a project;
• identify stakeholder groups and recommend basic strategies for the management of their perceptions and expectations;
• Produce a basic project plan, recognising the effects of uncertainty and recommending strategies for dealing with this uncertainty, in the context of a simple project;
• identify structural and leadership issues that will be faced in managing a project team;
• recommend appropriate project control systems;
• evaluate through selected review and audit, the learning outcomes from a project;
• apply a process of continuous improvement to projects.

Syllabus content

• The definition of a project, project management, and the contrast with repetitive operations and line management;
• 4-D and 7-S models to provide an overview of the project process, and the nine key process areas (PMI) to show what happens during each part of the process;
• Stakeholders (both process and outcome) and their needs;
• Roles of project sponsors, boards, champions, managers and clients;
• Key tools for project managers (e.g. Work Breakdown Structure, network diagrams (Critical Path Analysis), Gantt charts, resource histograms, establishment of gates and milestones);
• Evaluation of plans for projects;
• The key processes of PRINCE2 and their implications for project staff;
• The role of determining trade-offs between key project objectives of time, cost and quality;
• Managing scope at the outset of a project and providing systems for configuration management/change control;
• The production of basic plans for time, cost and quality;
• Scenario planning and buffering to make provision for uncertainty in projects, and the interface with the risk management process;
• Organisational structures, including the role of the project and matrix organisations, and their impact on project achievement;
• Teamwork, including recognising the life-cycle of teams, team/group behaviour and selection;
• Control of time, cost and quality through performance and conformance management systems;
• Project completion, documentation, stakeholder marketing, completion reports and system close-down;
• The use of post-completion audit and review activities and the justification of their costs.

C - Management of Relationships - 30%

Learning outcomes

On completion of their studies students should be able to:

• explain the concepts of power, bureaucracy, authority, responsibility, leadership and delegation;
• analyse the relationship between managers and their subordinates;
• discuss the roles of negotiation and communication in the management process, both within an organisation and with external bodies;
• explain how groups form within organisations and how this affects performance;
• demonstrate personal time management skills;
• construct a set of tools for managing individuals, teams and networks, and for managing group conflict;
• recommend ways to deal effectively with discipline problems;
• explain the process of mentoring junior colleagues;
• discuss the importance of national cultures on management style;
• explain the importance of business ethics and corporate governance to the organisation and its stakeholders;
• identify methods of conducting research and gathering data as part of the managerial process;

Syllabus content

• The concepts of power, authority, bureaucracy, leadership, responsibility and delegation and their application to relationship within an organisation and outside it.
• The characteristics of leaders, managers and entrepreneurs.
• Management-style theories (e.g. Likert, Tannenbaum and Schmidt, Blake and Mouton).
• The use of systems of control within the organisation (e.g. employment contracts, performance appraisal, reporting structures).
• Theories of control within firms and types of organisational structure (e.g. matrix, divisional, network).
• The advantages and disadvantages of different styles of management.
• Managing in different countries and cultures.
• Contingency approaches to management style (e.g. Adair, Fiedler).
• Theories of group development, behaviour and roles (e.g. Tuckman, Belbin).
• Disciplinary procedures and their operation, including the form and process of formal disciplinary action and dismissal (e.g. industrial tribunals, arbitration and conciliation).
• Personal time management.
• The nature and effect of legal issues affecting work and employment, including the application of relevant employment law (i.e. relating to health, safety, discrimination, fair treatment, childcare, contracts of employment and working time).
• The sources of conflict in organisations and the ways in which conflict can be managed to ensure that working relationships are productive and effective.
• Communication skills (i.e. types of communication tools and their use, as well as the utility and conduct of meetings) and ways of managing communication problems.
• Negotiation skills.
• Creativity and idea generation.
• Information gathering techniques (e.g. interviews, questionnaires).
• Introduction to corporate governance, including business ethics and the role, obligations and expectations of a manager.

---