This is an archived handbook for a previous year. The current undergraduate and postgraduate handbooks can be viewed using the links above.
Postgraduate Handbook 2011-2012 (archived)
Module BUSI45J15: Consulting
Department: Business School (Business)
BUSI45J15: Consulting
| Type | Level | Credits | Availability | Module Cap | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open | 4 | 15 | Available in 2011/2012 | None. | Durham |
Pre-requisites
- None.
Corequisites
- None.
Excluded Combinations
- None.
Aims
- To develop students’ abilities to apply their knowledge and skills to explore problematic situations, and identify and gain agreement to actions to enable improvement.
Content
- The role of the consultant;
- The client relationship;
- The engagement as a project;
- Exploring the problematic situation;
- Influencing change;
- Evaluating an assignment and the team.
Learning Outcomes
Subject-specific Knowledge
- By the end of the module students should:
- Have a critical understanding of the different roles of the consultant;
- Have a critical understanding of a project framework as a way to structure a consulting engagement.
Subject-specific Skills
- By the end of the module students should:
- Have the ability to apply a project framework to scope, plan and manage a consulting engagement working as part of a team;
- Have the ability to apply knowledge to explore a problematic situation and identify opportunities for improvements.
Key Skills
Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module
- Lectures introduce key concepts and the consulting process. Seminars provide opportunities to develop skills by working on a number of aspects of the consulting process. Students will draw on their learning from other modules to enable them to tackle problematic issues brought forward by client organisations in the form of consulting projects. Tutorials will allow staff to work with students engaged in the projects and also allow students to support each other in an action learning approach. A final workshop provides the opportunity for students to present their work to staff and clients and obtain feedback. There is also an individual summative assignment in which students reflect critically on the group project and its implementation.
Teaching Methods and Learning Hours
| Activity | Number | Frequency | Duration | Total Hours | Attendance Monitored |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lectures | 3 | Weekly | 2 hours | 6 | |
| Seminars | 3 | Weekly | 1 hour | 3 | Yes |
| Tutorials | 4 | Fortnightly | 2 hours | 8 | Yes |
| Workshop presentation and debrief | 1 | N/A | 6 hours | 6 | Yes |
| Preparation, project work & reading | 127 | ||||
| Total | 150 |
Summative Assessment
| Component | Component Weighting | Element | Length/Duration | Element Weighting | Resit Opportunity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group presentation and report on a consulting project (resit: individual assignment of 2000 words) | 80% | Group presentation | 15 minutes | 45% | |
| Group written report | 2000 words (maximum) | 40% | |||
| Individual contribution to group activities | N/A | 15% | |||
| Individual written assignment based on consulting project | 20% | Individual written assignment based on consulting project | 1500 words (maximum) | 100% |
Formative Assessment
Group presentation of project proposal and project plan.
Students who do not attend monitored activities shown under Teaching Methods
and Learning Hours, or who fail to complete the summative or formative
assessment(s) specified above, may be subject to the Academic Progress
procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be
required to leave the University.