MN50734: MBA multi-project suite
[Page last updated: 05 August 2021]
| Academic Year: | 2021/2 |
| Owning Department/School: | School of Management |
| Credits: | 36 [equivalent to 72 CATS credits] |
| Notional Study Hours: | 720 |
| Level: | Masters UG & PG (FHEQ level 7) |
| Period: |
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| Assessment Summary: | CW 100% |
 Assessment Detail: |
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| Supplementary Assessment: |
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| Requisites: | |
| Aims: | The purpose of the Multi-project suite is to provide multiple opportunities for MBA students to apply what they have learnt during the programme to real-life projects. By focusing on different areas (entrepreneurship, consulting, change...) this unit exposes students to the realities and challenges of applying academic theory to real-life situations in different sectors.
In particular, each element of the unit will do the following: Entrepreneurship in Action * To provide students with the opportunity to encounter the real-life process of launching an entrepreneurial enterprise with individuals who have launched or are in the process of launching a new venture; * To integrate the multi-disciplinary knowledge and insight gained from the taught programme and their personal experience; * To provide students with the opportunity and skills to develop, work within and manage international teams; * To embed enterprise skills along with an understanding of how high-performance and creative teams are developed and managed. Group Project The aims of this project are: * to provide students with the opportunity to work in teams with large corporate partners to carry out a significant piece of management research work; * to provide students with the opportunity to refine skills needed for working in diverse groups and with organisations; * to embed problem-solving and management research skills to enable student to link business issues to the available academic literature and content covered throughout the MBA programme Consulting Project * To provide students with the opportunity to encounter the real-life process of consulting with small organisations facing specific business challenges; * To integrate the multi-disciplinary knowledge and insight gained from the core taught programme and their personal experience; * To provide students with the opportunity and skills to develop, work within and manage international teams; * To embed consulting skills along with an understanding of how high-performance and creative teams are developed and managed. Individual Project The aims of this project are: * to develop self-awareness and the capacity for self-directed career development and reflection * to develop awareness of the needs of others and the ability to respond in an effective and professional manner * to identify and evaluate different leadership styles and the academic models that support them * to provide students with the opportunity to work independently on a leadershop problem of their choice; * to provide the student with the knowledge and ability to conduct research * to give the student the opportunity to apply and evaluate the knowledge gained Change in Action The aim of this project is to provide an appreciation of a number of concepts and models relating to the leadership and management of change in organizations in a live project context. Such an appreciation includes an understanding of the academic literature, but is ever mindful of the practical relevance of the subject. Therefore, this section is concerned with both thinking about and doing of organizational change. Key aims include: * Providing students with a strong link between the management of change in theory and the management of change in practice. * Giving students the opportunity to experience real-world change-in-action by working with organisations in the process of significant change projects * To embed change management skills whilst working in diverse teams over a period of time. |
| Learning Outcomes: | Entrepreneurship in Action
By the end of this project, students will: * be able to develop a professional, integrated and convincing new venture creation proposal; * have an understanding of how they can develop, work within and manage creative and effective teams; * have acquired and developed enterprise skills. Group Project By the end of this project, students will: * be able to integrate various components of the total degree programme and own experience to solve business problems * be able to identify literature relevant to a chosen business issue, thereby appreciating the relationship between business practice and theory. * be able to undertake a major project in a professional manner and be able to develop solutions to business problems; * have refined skills in organisation, negotiation, management research, analysis, and report writing. * Provide a new interpretation on existing information or provide an original view on an issue. Do all of the above in written form in a report that conforms to acceptable standards of presentation and expression. Consulting Project By the end of this project, students will: * be able to undertake consulting projects in a professional manner and be able to develop solutions to business problems that consider practical issues such as context, size, and budget * have an understanding of how they can develop, work within and manage effective and innovative consulting teams; * have acquired and developed consulting skills. Individual Project At the end of this project students will be able to: * carry out an assessment of their own strengths and weaknesses * identify and respond effectively to the needs/attitudes styles of others in the working environment * purposedly develop career competencies and strategies * incorporate ethics into their decision making * integrate components of the degree programme and their individual experience to explore leadership issues; * critically evaluate the theoretical and practical worth of management theories and apply them to business problems; * plan and execute an original investigation into a leadership problem; * demonstrate effective personal skills especially those of organisation, negotiation, research, analysis and synthesis Change in Action By the end of the Change in Action project, students should have: * An understanding of organisational change in practice, the context in which it operates and how change can be effectively led * The facility to apply subject-specific knowledge into a range of change situations in practice * An ability to work with clients on change management challenges over a period of time and in a professional manner * An ability to develop innovative solutions to change management problems. |
| Skills: | Entrepreneurship in Action
Group work; analytical problem-solving; presentational skills; lateral integration of management activities. Transferable/Key Skills * an ability to develop a holistic perspective on an organization and an understanding of how the different functions relate to one another; * an appreciation and in-depth understanding of the resources and competences required for successful cross-functional management in organisations including enterprise skills Professional Practical Skills * deal with complex issues and make sound judgements in the absence of complete information, and to communicate their conclusions clearly and competently to a range of audiences; * operate effectively both independently as well as within teams and assume leadership roles where appropriate. Personal/Interpersonal * the facility to communicate including presenting and marketing themselves and their ideas; preparation and production of effective business plans and reports; * he ability to recognise intra/entrepreneurial risks and opportunities and to use their enterprise skills to the advantage of start-ups and firms in general. Group Project Group work; critical-thinking, analytical problem-solving; lateral integration of management activities. Transferable/Key Skills * Ability to select, summarise and synthesise written information from multiple sources; * an ability to develop a holistic perspective on an organization and an understanding of how the different functions relate to one another; * Ability to develop rigorous arguments through precise use of concepts and models (F; A). * Ability to select, analyse and present numerical or non-numerical data (F; A). Professional Practical Skills * deal with complex issues and make sound judgements in the absence of complete information, and to communicate their conclusions clearly and competently to a range of audiences; * operate effectively both independently as well as within teams and assume leadership roles where appropriate. Personal/Interpersonal * the facility to communicate including presenting and marketing themselves and their ideas; preparation and production of effective written report; * the ability to recognise risks and opportunities and to use their problem-solving and analytical skills to the advantage of organisations Consulting Project Group work; analytical problem-solving; presentational skills; lateral integration of management activities. Transferable/Key Skills * an ability to develop a holistic perspective on an organization and an understanding of how the different functions relate to one another; * an appreciation and in-depth understanding of the resources and competences required for successful cross-functional management in organisations including consulting skills. Professional Practical Skills * deal with complex issues and make sound judgements in the absence of complete information, and to communicate their conclusions clearly and competently to a range of audiences; * operate effectively both independently as well as within teams and assume leadership roles where appropriate. Personal/Interpersonal * The facility to communicate including presenting and marketing themselves and their ideas; preparation and production of effective business plans and reports; * the ability to recognise risks and opportunities and to use their consulting skills to the advantage of organisations Individual Project At the end of this project students will be able to demonstrate: * an understanding of their own individual context. That is, their current career strengths and areas for managerial skill development. (T, F & A); * the ability to integrate the knowledge of a variety of functional and theoretical areas through application to organisational problems (T, F, A), * the ability to analyse specific situations using appropriate theoretical models, allied to pragmatic, well-reasoned judgements (T,F,A), and * an understanding of appropriate research techniques that allow detailed investigation into topical issues (T,F,A). * operate effectively both independently as well as within teams and assume leadership roles where appropriate (T,F,A), * be self-directed and autonomous planning and implementation of projects at professional levels (T,F,A) * an ability to reflect on their earlier learning and practice with a view to integrate the new knowledge with past experience and effectively apply it to new situations (T,F,A). Change in Action Critical thinking - facilitated and assessed Research skills - facilitated and assessed |
| Content: | Combines five project elements
Entrepreneurship in Action - 25% of total unit Business Plan writing and presentation. Group project - 25% of total unit The project will start with a Final Group Project workshop with the aim of providing students with some the knowledge and ability to conduct group research and preparing them for the process of planning and undertaking their final group project. During the workshop the following will be covered: * Nature of suitable projects, working with the organisation(s), developing project ideas, the role of a group project supervisor, time management and project ethics. * The use of different methodological approaches; the concepts of validity, reliability and generalisability; locating and evaluating secondary data; the role of theory in project work; quantitative and qualitative data analysis; and the use of different software packages to capture and analyse qualitative and quantitative data. * Optional topics depending upon needs of the group may include inter alia the practicalities of undertaking specific research techniques, specific techniques under the broad headings of: qualitative interviewing; observation techniques; survey techniques; and experimental techniques. Groups will then be expected to work on their projects with the support of a supervisor and produce a shared written report. Based on the project selection for each group, the content may take different forms, however it is expected that the following steps would be common to all projects: 1. roup formation (self-selected); Identification of suitable project; project briefing (including academic expectations); 2. onduct of project - students will be provided with the necessary resources to manage the project well. Part of the requirement will be for students to have a record-keeping mechanism to keep track of progress and to ensure project learning for later reporting. 3. Presenting findings: - groups will be expected to present back to the cohort during informal peer-to-peer feedback session in order to gain advice on their projects. Groups will also receive advice on the assessed written report that they will be expected to produce. In addition, individuals will be expected to produce a short reflection piece on the challenges encountered during the group project work. Consulting project - 17% of total unit This project introduces students to the role of consulting in business improvement and revolves around teams undertaking live consulting projects in teams with organisations. The organisations will typically be small in nature and/or social enterprises. During the project, teams will work with their assigned organisation on a specific business problem drawing on the knowledge gained during the core taught part of the MBA programme. Groups will then be expected to present solutions back to their assigned organisation and to the rest of the MBA cohort. It is anticipated that this project will be delivered in a short, intense period of one to two weeks based on the availability of business partners. Individual project - 17% of total unit A series of master-classes throughout the MBA programme exploring different perspectives on leadership and using both academic faculty and external practitioners as well as workshops such as: Ethics and sustainability workshops,one-to-one career coaching, presentation skills, critical writing, self-awareness, negotiation, crisis management, managing upwards, media skills, using social media, business etiquette, dealing with conflict, mentoring and coaching others, working in diverse teams, time management, etc. Students are expected to independently develop and work on their assessment submissions with the support of a supervisor. Change in Action - 16% of total unit The project begins with an appreciation as to why organizational leadershiip & change is crucial to the design and performance of contemporary organizations in the private and public sector. It then covers a number of concepts, models and frameworks concerned with leading and managing change. The project then applies these theories and concepts with live change in action projects, working with one or more organisations in the process of significant change. Teams of students work with a client to examine their current approaches to managing change and provide recommendations for how this might be improved. Through both the taught content and the work with clients, students explore a number of important topics involved in the change process such as transformational leadership; organizational culture and the possibility of cultural change; the role of stories and storytelling in processes of change, resistance, and change as a political process mediated by power. |
| Programme availability: |
MN50734 is Compulsory on the following programmes:School of Management
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