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ME50369: Engineering management practice track

[Page last updated: 04 August 2021]

Academic Year: 2021/2
Owning Department/School: Department of Mechanical Engineering
Credits: 30 [equivalent to 60 CATS credits]
Notional Study Hours: 600
Level: Masters UG & PG (FHEQ level 7)
Period:
Dissertation period
Assessment Summary: CW 100%
Assessment Detail:
  • Group project (CW 50%)
  • Individual report (CW 50%)
Supplementary Assessment:
Like-for-like reassessment (where allowed by programme regulations)
Requisites: In taking this module you cannot take MN50421
Description: Aims:
The unit is intended to allow students to conduct impactful projects applying the skills, concepts, and techniques acquired in the taught programme to practice based business scenarios.
The students will be presented with a current business problem for which they will conduct appropriate research, analyse data and present a viable solution. Students will be required to run a project with set targets of time and budget.
Assessing a 'live' business situation will require a multi-dimensional view of business, an appreciation of integrative firm activities and a cross-functional approach to the business problem. Presenting alternatives and a viable solution necessitates team dynamics and project management.
Students are also expected to relate business issues to the available academic literature, defining a research question using a real business problem as a base, and developing a structured commentary leading to well-supported opinions and prescriptions.

Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of the unit, students will be able to:
* Critically assess the particular challenges confronting actual businesses
* Plan and conduct a research project on practice based business issues
* Present effective proposals in both written and verbal form
* Reflect on the outcomes of an activity and the processes that led to those outcomes
* Develop an argument with references to appropriate theory and/or linking together arguments from disparate literatures or disciplinary perspectives.

Skills:

* Ability to select, analyse and present numerical or non-numerical data (F; A).
* Ability to synthesise multidisciplinary perspectives on the same problem (F; A).
* Reflective practice (T, F; A)
* Project Management (F)
* Management of teams/groups (F)
* Presentation skills (F; A)
* Writing skills (F; A)
* Ability to deliver an appropriately comprehensive and scholarly written communication (F; A)
* Ability to develop rigorous arguments through precise use of concepts and models (T, F; A)
* Ability to synthesise multidisciplinary perspectives on the same problem (T, F; A)
* Ability to work independently, without close supervision or guidance (F; A).

Content:
An organisation (usually a business but could be a startup, charity, NGO or other relevant entity) presents a business problem describing an actual management challenge.
* Academic expectations of students are outlined;
* Company expectations are outlined;
* Groups are formalized and conduct of the project is established.
* Students work on the problem and present their solutions/findings to the company.
Students also identify one current engineering management issue (usually but not necessarily relevant to the organisation they are working with), analysing the issue through relevant theoretical and empirical literature.

Programme availability:

ME50369 is Optional on the following programmes:

Department of Mechanical Engineering School of Management

Notes:

  • This unit catalogue is applicable for the 2021/22 academic year only. Students continuing their studies into 2022/23 and beyond should not assume that this unit will be available in future years in the format displayed here for 2021/22.
  • Programmes and units are subject to change in accordance with normal University procedures.
  • Availability of units will be subject to constraints such as staff availability, minimum and maximum group sizes, and timetabling factors as well as a student's ability to meet any pre-requisite rules.
  • Find out more about these and other important University terms and conditions here.