Module BUSS4001: REFLECTIONS ON MANAGEMENT PRACTICE

Department: Business School (Business) [Queen's Campus, Stockton]

BUSS4001: REFLECTIONS ON MANAGEMENT PRACTICE

Prerequisites

• None.

Corequisites

• None.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• The module encourages students to reflect on their learning and consider one or more major issues related to management and organizations. Students are challenged to link their learning with both their direct and vicarious experience of the workplace gained through the course, internships or part time work.
• Students will have opportunities to develop skills by working as project managers / facilitators with students in year 1 / 2.
• Through working with their tutor and with other students in action learning groups students will also develop critical skills of mentoring, coaching and supporting others.
• The module specifically aims to:
• Further develop a deeper understanding of management and the role of the manager and how individuals add value in the workplace
• Reflect on the relationship between theory and practice and how new ideas and practices are introduced into an organization to improve performance
• Challenge students to develop their self-awareness, criticality and self-reflection
• Develop sound foundations for lifelong learning
• Address the reflective, collaborative and action mindsets at a high level.

Content

• The role of the manager
• Leadership & leadership styles
• The knowledge based organization & performance
• Knowledge management and the adoption of new ideas / practices
• Barriers to development (e.g. type 1 & 2 learning, knowing-doing gap)
• The reflective practitioner
• Approaches to management & leadership development
• Action learning
• Mentoring
• The manager / leader as an entrepreneur

Learning Outcomes

• Be able to critically assess the role and competences of a manager in the workplace
• Be able to understand and apply different perspectives on leadership and ways of adapting leadership styles and practices in different situations
• Be able to understand issues affecting the gap between theory and practice and which may act as barriers to performance improvement in an organization
• Be able to understand the concept of the reflective practitioner and to reflect critically on their own practice as a way of learning and improving

• Become reflective practitioners in the management of their own work

• Have the ability to communicate effectively: listening; communicating complex ideas; using a range of media which are widely used in business such as the preparation and presentation of business reports.
• Have developed skills of effective self-management in terms of time, planning and behaviour, motivation, self-starting, individual initiative and enterprise.
• Have developed interpersonal skills of effective listening, negotiating, persuasion and presentation.
• Have the ability to think critically and creatively and to argue coherently.
• Have developed skills of self-reflection and criticality including self-awareness, openness and sensitivity to diversity in terms of people, cultures, business and management issues.
• Have the skills of learning to learn and developing a continuing appetite for learning; reflective, adaptive and collaborative learning

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

• Students will bring to the module a variety of in-depth knowledge from the specialist topics they have studied in the third year. Teaching on the module will aim to create an environment where students with different specialisms can work together effectively and learn from each other. Their different perspectives will be valuable in tackling the shared issues of reflection, learning and putting knowledge into practice.
• Teaching will involve a number of extended seminars providing students the opportunity to work together and test out a number of ideas covered in the module.
• Students will engage in the ‘high impact’ activities of years 1 and 2 of the programme in a leadership role and will be assessed on their performance both summatively and formatively
• Students will have opportunities to draw on any work experience (internships, part time work) and also the activities within the module to help them reflect on their own practice and also to explore the relationship between theory and practice.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Feedback on seminar / workshop activities including peer assessment

■ 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