MBA

The module explores strategy as a disputed field and emphasises the need to understand cultural, social and ethical issues as well as economic factors that underpin the development of strategy in organisations. It trains students to develop the ability to engage more fully with the strategic discourse of their own and other organisations. The module will provide critical examination of tools, models and concepts for implementing sustainability strategies and policies in businesses and organisations. It will review current and evolving ideas and concepts in the context of drivers for business change required in order to respond to pressing sustainability and responsibility challenges. The module will investigate practices, innovations and evolving ideas for embedding sustainability and will emphasize in developing sore competencies through Knowledge Management and Learning Organisation theories.

This module focuses on developing individual leadership skills with a particular emphasis on maximizing creativity at the individual, team, and organizational levels. Sessions will examine a range of current leadership theories, including transformational leadership, illustrated with examples and integrated with practical exercises. In addition to the theoretical foundations, there is a strong emphasis on personal development. Students will assess their own leadership style using established measures and use relevant theory to write an action plan to guide their own professional development. The assignment will require application of theory and critical analysis to aid development of leadership skills and style.

Change is a defining feature in organisations and poses key challenges and questions for their members. To learn more about how organisations change, whether change is manageable at all, what people understand by change, and the complexities involved becomes an essential component in the study of organisation and the improvement of organisational activities and relationships among it’s members. All of these issues are explored in this module focusing on the epistemological and ontological aspect of change. The underlying principle is that change is “context-specific”, so there is no off-the-shelf package that can be applied successfully to all change situations. While the most important tools and techniques available to change agents are those that enable them to analyse and interpret the particular context within which they wish to implement change, they will also need to assess the appropriateness of different approaches to change and identify and manage potential barriers to effective implementation in specific change contexts.

This module would enable the students to appreciate that for many established organisations, the only significant growth opportunity is through international trade but that success in a domestic market does not guarantee success abroad. The module would also help them understand the breadth and depth of international marketing issues at both a strategic and operational levels and the full range of interdependent issues which have to be managed simultaneously. They would learn to apply appropriate international marketing approaches to a range of business issues/situations.

The module introduces students to the concepts and function of both entrepreneurship and innovation within organisations and nations today. Entrepreneurship is defined using the management approach as a characteristic pattern of management behaviour which has innovation outcomes. Entrepreneurship is a pattern of behaviour capable of application to all types of organisation – public sector, not-for-profit and commercial organisations. Every organisation requires innovation expressed as a need to introduce and “make new things happen” for one reason or another. It might be to create profit and wealth; alternatively it might involve social innovation of benefit to a particular community. Both are required by an economy to ensure the prosperity and well-being of its citizens. The module particularly addresses entrepreneurial capability and the development of enterprising skills and knowledge in the areas of creativity, information seeking and analysis, planning, and networking within the entrepreneurship arena or community.

The module provides a critical review of the concepts of business ethics, corporate social responsibility, and stakeholder management and enables students to analyse, evaluate, and formulate business decisions in the light of ethical and societal considerations. Particular emphasis is put on current corporate practice and recent regulatory developments in order to provide the students with an up – to- date understanding of the fast –moving field. The module draws on and engages with the ongoing debate concerning the role of business organisations as future generators of ‘sustainable value’ for business and society at large. This is then placed in the context of functional discipline areas through topics such as accounting standards, corporate governance, green marketing, social entrepreneurship, employee wellbeing, sustainable innovation and global supply-chain management. The implications of these principles for student’s own leadership practices are considered, introducing the concept of ‘responsible leadership’ from different organisational, national, cultural and ethical perspectives.

The modules aim is to introduce students to issues of securing knowledge about the human behaviours in work places through the design of research projects, collection and analysis of data, and presentation of results. The module focuses on skills and knowledge necessary for the successful completion of a research project.

The dissertation enables students to specialise in an area of interest by conducting an independent, in-depth research project, guided by research-active tutors. Students will evaluate and synthesise research philosophies, develop research strategies, conduct research using secondary and/or primary sources and analyse their findings in relation to existing theories. The dissertation is of interest to potential future employers, demonstrating critical abilities, research expertise and business knowledge. It can also prompt student interest in conducting further research, whether in a consultancy role or in continued academic research at PhD level.