The Capstone Project for this Specialisation requires you to demonstrate your understanding of the courses and integrate the knowledge and skills learned in real workplace scenarios. In particular, you will be given a choice of a few projects based on scenarios and case studies drawn from different workplaces. The project outcome is a handbook or a practical guide, which could be a blend of text and multi-media. In completing the project, you will be required to use and/or collect relevant primary data from people in the workplace through emails, face-to-face chats, Skype discussions and incorporate the data into the handbook/guide as support. In addition, there will be a component on critical reflection on your learning journey. The Capstone Project is to be completed within six weeks. Evaluation will be done via a combination of peer and tutor assessment.

This course is for you if you are looking to learn more about Six Sigma or refresh your knowledge of the basic components of Six Sigma and Lean. Six Sigma skills are widely sought by employers both nationally and internationally. These skills have been proven to help improve business processes and performance. This course will introduce you to the purpose of Six Sigma and its value to an organization. You will learn about the basic principles of Six Sigma and Lean. Your instructors will introduce you to, and have you apply, some of the tools and metrics that are critical components of Six Sigma. This course will provide you with the basic knowledge of the principles, roles, and responsibilities of Six Sigma and Lean. Every module will include readings, videos, and a quiz to help make sure you understand the material and concepts that are studied. You will also have the opportunity to participate in discussions and peer review exercises to give you the opportunity to apply the material to your daily life. Our applied curriculum is built around the latest handbook The Certified Six Sigma Handbook (2nd edition) and students will develop /learn the fundamentals of Six Sigma. Registration includes online access to course content, projects, and resources but does not include the companion text The Certified Six Sigma Handbook (2nd edition). The companion text is not required to complete the assignments. However, the text is a recognized handbook used by professionals in the field. Also, it is a highly recommended text for those wishing to move forward in Six Sigma and eventually gain certification from professional agencies such as American Society for Quality (ASQ).

Whether you're thinking about a career in sales, just getting started at your new sales job, or managing entry level sales people, this course will provide you a valuable perspective on your sales career. You'll start out the course with an overview of what it takes to be successful in sales. It might surprise you. You'll learn why most people have it all wrong about sales! The following five lessons will cover the inbound sales methodology, a framework used by thousands of sales professionals to get started in sales. You'll learn the difference between active and passive buyers, and how to build relationships and earn their attention. You'll learn why understanding the buyer's context is imperative providing them solutions. In this course, you'll gain the fundamental knowledge required to be successful in sales. By investing your time in sales training, you're already ahead of the curve.

This course is part of a Specialization titled “Strategy and Finance for a Lifecycle of a Social Business”. It is an introduction to time value of money and will help the learner understand the basics of finance with the ultimate goal of valuing a company from a societal lens. The beauty of the modern decision-making framework is that it can be used to understand value creation at any level – the individual, the corporate or nonprofit entity level and from the point of view of society. The applications however become increasingly complex as your lens expands from the individual to the corporate/nonprofit to the global society. In this Specialization we will therefore focus on understanding the frameworks and tools that an individual and an entity (a startup or an established corporation, private or public) can use to understand value enhancing decision-making. There are two building blocks of decision making – time value of money and risk. In this first course, we will therefore start with an introduction to time value of money geared toward individual decision-making to both explore and measure the value of our decisions. In the second course, we will use the same framework to evaluate decision-making by entities – businesses – to create value. We will realize how the evaluating value from the lens of multiple stakeholders is inherently more complex. You are also encouraged to think from a societal standpoint because that, ultimately, is the difference between a social and a private business. The societal perspective is the most complex and market prices are typically not available for both the benefits and costs. Although introductory, this course will enable any learner to understand and analyze many decisions they regularly confront. It will also serve very useful if you are keen to hone your finance skills to make good personal decisions. The beauty of modern frameworks and tools of analysis is that they are logical and do not change depending on the purpose of business. However, to demonstrate social impact is very complex because prices for both the public good, and any harm created by our actions, are not available. It is also challenging to determine the incremental effect of a business on society at large. The combination of these issues makes all social impact and value specific to a business, making it even more important to use the same frameworks and tools developed in this Specialization while evaluating any/all impacts of a business.

This course introduces you to the concept of conflict transformation and how it differs from conflict resolution, management, and prevention. We’ll see how conflict offers opportunities for constructive change, and we'll explore different tools and methods for engaging conflict constructively. Regardless of your familiarity with the topic, you'll get insightful tips, portable handouts, lively demonstrations, and personalized assignments to bridge and enhance your own knowledge and history within the conflict narrative. In any area of your life, you'll benefit from the practical techniques and transferable information offered throughout this five-week journey.

The final course aims to build learners’ confidence and adaptability when communicating in cross-cultural environments as they assume leadership responsibility to communicate influence in persuasive workplace contexts. The course focuses on enhancing learners’ professional persona for skilful engagement and intercultural communication with stakeholders within and beyond the organization, including cross-departmental work teams, clients and external partners. Learners will also discover and apply good practices in organising information, using visual aids and body language for presentations while demonstrating a heightened sense of cultural sensitivity in a given context. In all, learners will acquire skills to demonstrate persuasive verbal and intercultural communication in workplace contexts which may include dialogues and presentations to critical stakeholders and effective task delegation to team members. At the end of this course, learners will be able to: - Analyse factors of motivation among workplace counterparts. - Recognise the impact of culture on factors of motivation. - Critique and craft persuasive verbal communication products (i.e. script of dialogue) for exchanges with work teams and critical stakeholders. - Apply principles of effective PowerPoint slide design with consideration for cultural sensitivity. - Identify and adopt strategies on the use of voice and body language for engaging presentations.

In the world of business, everything must be justified. Sometimes action is justified by safety, other times it’s a process improvement. Yet, in almost all cases, those who allocate funds are interested in the finances of a project: both the cost and the return on investment. This project will help you create a template for conveying all of the necessary basic information for your project.

Businesses cannot function without communication. Communication is required to connect with people within an organisation or unit and with the outside world. Communication is a two-way process. This lesson provides a complete structure and process of communication with special reference to communication in organisations. It discusses various factors in Business Communication and explains the communication process including different communication networks with their utilities. It also provides valuable inputs to overcome the barriers to communication to make it more effective.

Interview Preparation for Job Interviews. In this guided project, I’ll teach you how to prepare for different types of job interviews, and how to answer some of the most common interview questions recruiters and hiring managers will most likely ask. I’ll also teach you best practices to follow before and after the job interview, as well as to prepare strategic interview questions to ask the hiring manager after the end of the interview. Asking the hiring manager good strategic questions will help you decide if the position you’re applying for is a good fit for you and for the hiring manager. Learning Objective: Prepare for 5 Different Types of Job Interviews Learning Objective: Prepare for the Most Common Interview Questions Learning Objective: Prepare for Best Practices BEFORE the Job Interview Note: This course works best for learners who are based in the North America region. We’re currently working on providing the same experience in other regions.

This course explores Excel as a tool for solving business problems. In this course you will learn the basic functions of excel through guided demonstration. Each week you will build on your excel skills and be provided an opportunity to practice what you’ve learned. Finally, you will have a chance to put your knowledge to work in a final project. Please note, the content in this course was developed using a Windows version of Excel 2013. This course was created by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP with an address at 300 Madison Avenue, New York, New York, 10017.