MN50734: MBA multi-project suite
[Page last updated: 23 August 2022]
| Academic Year: | 2022/23 |
| 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: |
|
| Assessment Summary: | CW 100% |
| Assessment Detail: |
|
 Assessment Detail: |
|
| Supplementary Assessment: |
|
| Requisites: | |
| 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. Integrated Project By the end of this project, students will have demonstrated the ability to: * Operational context: Operate in abstract and unpredictably complex learning, work or practice contexts, requiring selection and application of advanced and specialist techniques and information sources * Autonomy and responsibility for actions: Act autonomously to make strategic decisions and develops appropriate practice guidelines, taking responsibility for outcomes in abstract and unpredictably complex contexts 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. 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. |
| 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. Integrated Project * To provide students with the opportunity to carry out a significant piece of management research work * 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 * To enable the students to either work with a large corporation as a part of a group or to work as an individual on a significant management or business issue. Consulting Proejct * 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. Change Project 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. |
| 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; * the ability to recognise intra/entrepreneurial risks and opportunities and to use their enterprise skills to the advantage of start-ups and firms in general. Integrated Project Problem solving and enquiry: Select and adapt appropriate advanced problem-solving strategies, methods and techniques to design systematic investigations that define and critically evaluate problems, using specialist information and data in unpredictable and complex contexts * Understand appropriate research techniques that allow detailed investigation into relevant topical issues. * Ability to integrate the knowledge of a variety of functional and theoretical areas through application to organisational problems. Analysis and evaluation: Systematically and critically analyze and evaluate, incomplete and/or contradictory data and evidence, developing effective and advanced methodologies to explain and support conclusions and recommendations in unpredictably complex contexts. * Ability to analyze specific situations using appropriate theoretical models, allied to pragmatic, well-reasoned judgements. * Critical-thinking, analytical problem-solving; lateral integration of management activities. Organisation and communication of information: Systematically organise and communicate advanced information, using criteria developed for specialist audiences in unpredictably complex contexts. * 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. * Ability to communicate including presenting and marketing themselves and their ideas, preparation and production of effective written report Interpersonal, team and networking skills: Apply and develop advanced interpersonal, team and networking skills to strategically enhance team performance in unpredictably complex contexts and contributes to specialist professional communities. Project and activity design and development skills: Design and develop advanced specialist projects and/or activities to strategically enhance own and/or others learning, work or practice within unpredictably complex contexts. Personal responsibility and leadership: Take responsibility for leading the systematic and critical evaluation of own and others' capabilities, performance and development, applying strategic management approaches in unpredictably complex contexts. * Ability to recognize risks and opportunities and to use their problem-solving and analytical skills to the advantage of organizations * 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. Group Project: * Operate effectively both independently as well as within teams and assume leadership roles where appropriate. Or Individual Project: * Demonstrate a deep understanding of their own individual conttext. That is, their current career strengths and areas for managerial skill development. * Be self-directed and autonomous planning and implementation of projects at professional levels. 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 Change in Action Critical thinking - facilitated and assessed Research skills - facilitated and assessed. |
| Content: | Combines five project elements
Entrepreneurship in Action - 33% of total unit Business Plan writing and presentation. Integrated Project - 33% of total unit During this project the students can draw on content from any and all of the preceding units of the MBA programme. 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. Change in Action - 17% of total unit The project 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 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
|
Notes:
|