Leadership
MA

This module develops your awareness and understanding of the factors that impact research design for business and management students. You explore the ethical principles underpinning business research, research methodologies, data type, collection and analysis, research methods and how to present a research proposal and dissertation.

Using a range of self-diagnostic tools to evaluate your personal strengths and areas for development, you develop a strong sense of awareness of your own skills and values and are introduced to a range of alternative debates on individual, group, leader and organisational behaviour. The skills developed will help your ability to perform effectively over time, with an awareness of differing cultural contexts and operating environments.

You will integrate your learning and development and synthesise knowledge and understanding of theory and practice through its application to organisational issues, which are demonstrably concerned with development within the organisation. You are supported throughout the process by a supervising tutor who will monitor progress and ensure that you are appraised of your on-going performance. Usually the dissertation should be completed within one year.

To be effective, organisations need to develop continuously their strategic capabilities by implementing effective performance management systems to drive individual, team and manager performance. HR professionals have a central role to play in this process, supporting both individual managers and the wider organisation in the achievement of the organisational mission and objectives.

You critically evaluate organisational design, change and development, and develop an understanding of organisational change through the theories and conceptual frameworks of organisation design and the principles and practices of organisational development.

Both are critical to our understanding of organisations and how they function and both reside within a framework of organisation theory.

You develop a systematic understanding of the nature of organisations and how they function and a critical awareness of the current challenges facing contemporary organisations. You are encouraged to critically reflect on the leadership skills and values required to better support organisations through the difficult challenges they may encounter.

You critically analyse behavioural and organisational concepts which underpin the analysis of how people, their behaviour and organisational characteristics affect organisational performance and effectiveness.

You evaluate organisations, looking at factors which make them work effectively and why some organisations fail.

The module starts from the position that organisations are focused upon harnessing human effort and ingenuity to produce particular outcomes, and that under certain conditions, this can be a formidable challenge.

You cover topics relevant to effective organisation: perceiving and making sense of reality, making effective decisions, building and operating high performance teams, coping with pressure, guiding and directing others and understanding their behaviour, energising and mobilising people, setting the tone of the organisation (culture) and managing organisational politics and conflicts.