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MN50774: Defining your career goals

[Page last updated: 05 August 2021]

Academic Year: 2021/2
Owning Department/School: School of Management
Credits: 6 [equivalent to 12 CATS credits]
Notional Study Hours: 120
Level: Masters UG & PG (FHEQ level 7)
Period:
Semester 2
Assessment Summary: CW 100%
Further information on unit assessment Assessment Detail:
  • Assessment detail for this unit will be available shortly. (CW 100%)
Supplementary Assessment:
Like-for-like reassessment (where allowed by programme regulations)
Requisites: In taking this module you cannot take MN50732
Aims: This unit aims to help students articulate their career goals in a clear and nuanced way, that integrates relevant research in management and psychology.

Learning Outcomes: Successful completion of this unit will allow students to:
* Gain knowledge of current research on the key psychological forces underlying contemporary working lives
* Use this knowledge to deepen their understanding of who they are and who they want to become
* Increase their ability to reflect upon and learn from their experiences.

Skills: This unit will improve students self-reflection skills, as well as their ability to articulate a clear, complex, and compelling narrative about their career goals.

Content: The unit includes lectures, class discussions, and dedicated time for personal reflection. The lectures are based on psychology and management research relevant to the topics discussed.
The main purpose of this unit is to help students develop a clear and nuanced answer to the following question: "What do you most want in life, and how will your career goals fit into that?"
The topics covered in the unit break this question into sub-questions such as:
* What are the domains of life that matter to you (e.g., career, family, friends,hobbies, spirituality). How do you define success in each of thesedomains?
* Where do these definitions of success come from? Are they authentically yours?What can research teach us about authenticity?
* How do these domains of your life interact? Are there ways in which pursuingyour goals in one domain might hinder or bolster the achievement of goalsin another domain? What insights are offered by research on work-lifebalance (in general, but also on specific issues such as dual-careercouples or parenting)
* How does your career goal map onto the things that you are passionate about,and onto the things that you are good at? What does research have to sayabout how you get good at something?
* How do you feel about your financial prospects - how much money is enough andwhy? What does the research say about the relation between money andwell-being?
* What are you willing to sacrifice to achieve your career goals, and,conversely, what are the boundaries that you would never cross? Successalways comes with a price; what can research tell us about how to dealwith the inevitable trade-offs and compromises?

Programme availability:

MN50774 is Optional on the following programmes:

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.