School of Management, Unit Catalogue 2007/08 |
MN50347 Leading & managing change |
| Credits: 6 |
| Level: Masters |
| Modular: no specific semester |
| Semester: 2 |
| Assessment: CW 100% |
| Requisites: |
| In taking this unit you cannot take MN50129 or take MN50149 or take MN50230 or take MN50255 |
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Aims: The aim of this course is to provide an appreciation of a number of concepts and models relating to the leadership and management of change in organizations. Such an appreciation includes an understanding of the academic literature, as befits an MBA degree, but ever mindful of the practical relevance of the subject it also focuses on the knowledge and skills required to bring about organizational change. Thus we will be concerned with both the thinking and doing of organizational change. In order to achieve this course objective, which is essentially linking theory to practice, a number of different learning vehicles and styles will be used including: cases, video, exercises, and lecturing.
Learning Outcomes: By the end of this unit, the student should have/be able to: * an understanding of organisational change, the context in which it operates and how change can be effectively lead * the facility to apply subject-specific knowledge into a range of change situations * a conceptual understanding of theoretical concepts and frameworks that enables the student to meaningfully link the theory with the practice of organisational change. Skills: Critical thinking - facilitated and assessed Research skills - facilitated and assessed. Content: The course begins with an appreciation as to why organizational leadership & change is crucial to the design and performance of contemporary organizations in the private and public sector. It then links theory to practice by considering a number of concepts, models and frameworks linked to leading and managing change. Some of the issues covered are: Lewin's theory of change together with Forcefield analysis; contemporary versions of Lewin including 7S analysis; first and second order concepts of change, and its relationship to emergent and radical change; organizing and sensemaking as means of re-conceptualising change. Furthermore, the unit addresses a number of topics involved in the change process such as: leaders and transformational leadership; organizational culture and the possibility of cultural change; and change as a political process mediated by power. |