Module BUSI55930: The Enterprising Culture

Department: Economics, Finance and Business (Business)

BUSI55930: The Enterprising Culture

Prerequisites

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• People are the key to the successful implementation of strategy. Having established the level and skills of the management team and the staff in Enterprising People, this module seeks to ensure that the people are right for the future. In addition it will look at enhancing management skills to communicate more effectively with customers, stakeholders and staff during the implementation of the chosen strategy.
• This module is intended to provide students with the key skills for developing strategic policies relating to recruitment, selection and training and develop strategies based upon recruitment procedures, involvement techniques and national standards.
• This module also develops techniques to rectify and process weaknesses and to redesign processes in line with strategic needs. Performance within inefficient areas should be measured and evaluated and relevant data collated for analysis to facilitate decision-making regarding process improvement.
• The module also considers processes and people in terms of the implementation of strategy and the complex changes associated with this.

Content

• The content of this module is set with a Medium Enterprise perspective and covers the following areas:
• Strategic Human Resource Management and Development
• Organisational training and personal development plans
• Successful exit strategies
• Team performance management and measurement
• Conflict management
• Problem solving techniques
• Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures
• Employment contracts
• Negotiating techniques
• Why change fails
• Culture: concepts and models
• Cultural webs and cultural icebergs
• Unfreezing the existing culture
• Force field analysis
• The coping cycle
• Resistance to change
• Project management structures
• Project proposals and plans
• Project management and managers

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of the module, students should be able to:
• Critically review their own organisational culture and make it explicit through tools such as the cultural web.
• Formulate strategic Human Resources processes that accurately reflect the role, nature, scope, purpose, lines of accountability, career development opportunities and working environment.
• Critically evaluate the level of development of team culture in the organisation.
• Recognise how business culture impacts on change and critically review the strengths and weaknesses of people and supporting systems.
• Identify the complex internal and external forces that act for and against changes, thus arriving at planned strategies for managing changes.
• Develop a critical appreciation of the conflicting styles of project and departmental management.
• Critique project proposals and plans, accepting the complex and unpredictable nature of major projects and the management issues this can create.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• Lectures and seminars, supported by guided reading, will be used to introduce and explore the key concepts and theories.
• Role plays, case studies and groups exercises will help them develop their own synthesised models which the assignments and mentor support will then help them adapt and apply to the specific needs of their own organisation.
• Established questionnaires will be used to help people identify organisational culture.
• Case studies and groups exercises will help the them develop their own synthesised models which the assignments and mentor support will then help them adapt and apply to the specific needs of their own organisation.
• Specific exercises are used to allow the practice of application of appropriate performance measurement tools.
• Students would also be able to learn from the experiences of other course members concerning the management of change a broad business and focused team or departmental levels.
• The summative assignment will require the student to analyse the Human Resource practices of their organisation and to recommend improvement to their internal processes in relation to the modules discussed and their own organisational culture. This will be compared with best practice examples within the Medium Enterprise sector. They will also consider how change impacts on the performance of the people they work with. This assignment allows students to consider the practical application of the subject covered and allows students to reflect on the learning from the certificate stage of the programme.
• Progressive completion of the Learning Log allows progress towards achieving learning objectives to be monitored throughout. Together, the Personal Statement and Learning Log provide a framework for reflection the this then incorporated with the final Presentation.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

None

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University