Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) in the workplace is not only a strategic priority in terms of moral or social responsibility, it is also an obligation regulated and governed by law. A well-designed manufacturing process (the operations system) must be both productive and safe, without potential physical, emotional and mental health risks. OSH management has become a very complex multi-functional science within operations management and total quality management (TQM). It focuses on a non-legalistic approach whereby the organisational culture fosters spontaneous OSH and a high quality of work life. This is done by using a TQM approach, based on a functional TQM model.

The textbook thoroughly covers the first-year business management syllabus. It provides a general introduction to the business environment in South Africa, then moves on to discuss general management principles such as leadership, motivation and control before focusing on management functions such as marketing, finance, operations management and purchasing and supply chain management. The book gives students a solid theoretical grounding using an accessible, practical approach. The book also makes use of features such as information boxes, case studies, critical thinking boxes and glossaries to engage students and facilitate application of learning. Less dense than the bestselling title Introduction to Business Management, Principles of Business Management is aimed specifically at first-year students at universities of technology. It is divided into four parts: Introduction to business management, management tasks, The functional areas of management, and entrepreneurship and the business plan. Features: critical thinking boxes prompt the student to think about issues or problems in the South African business world and offer solutions; information boxes including articles, examples and documents which create interest and relevance for the student; key terminology is highlighted in the text and explained in an end-of-chapter glossary and this provides the students with a useful checklist of terms learnt; case studies to aid understanding and also motivate students to learn; the case study concludes the chapter and allows practical application of the concepts therein.