LD7121 - Leading Organisational Strategy and Change

You will learn through a model that combines an academic knowledge base, online support and engagement with your module tutors. This unique learning model is designed to enable you to rapidly develop new skills and knowledge and apply them to challenging leadership contexts.

As such a mixture of lecture, seminar and workshop sessions will be delivered supported by on-line learning materials and activities. Lectures will be used to introduce the key topics using a research led approach. These lectures will be followed by seminar activities in which you will apply the theories, models and frameworks through a range of activities. This will include reflecting on your own experience of thinking strategically for the organisation and the process of change implementation.

In order to develop your capacity and confidence as an effective learner, you will also engage in a substantial amount of independent learning. This will be supported by tutor-guided activities reflected in a learning plan, including prompted reading, activities to undertake and questions to address. Independent study requirements also entail reading beyond the learning materials/reading list provided, reflecting on its potential relevance for your own development.

An initial workshop will introduce you to the module, assessment and core topics. Subsequent to this you will be guided through a range of subject specific topics delivered over the period of the module. Key messages from these sessions will be available by video/podcast to support your learning outside of the classroom.

The virtual learning environment will be used to encourage individual and group contributions to critical debate on key topics and issues. Materials and discussion group work will be available on the e-learning portal to support and engage you. To support and embed the learning, provide the opportunity for reflection and encourage effective communication, you will engage in discussion forums via the University’s e-Learning platform.

This will include posing and answering topic specific questions posed by the tutor and peer group and providing peer group formative feedback. You will also be encouraged to use email and discussion board tool to clarify issues.

You will participate in a learning set with your peers to facilitate a deeper discussion of the personal impact of the module contents on your individual professional practice and the application of learning into your own work organisation.

For those of you studying as a Degree Apprenticeship student the workplace will form a significant element of your learning. This will include weekly directed activities outlined in the module learning plan. These activities will enable reflection on learning from taught sessions and subsequent application through research into practice. Engagement with your learning coach and workplace manager/mentor will use these activities as a key element of discussion during coaching and review meetings.

A range of approaches are adopted to accelerate your learning in this module.

During the first week of this module, you will receive information about the module and Teaching & Learning Plan. The teaching and learning plan (TLP) sets out
• Learning outcomes and overall module and programme aims
• Teaching, learning and assessment strategy
• Teaching schedule
• Directed reading references (text and journals) and core texts for the module

Further supporting this learner journey, the first taught of this module will discuss the rational and learning objectives of this module and how it contributes to your overall programme goals. The formative and summative assessment strategy will be outlined as will a refresher on key academic skills and resources critical to your success as a learner on this module. This session will also be available as a video/podcast for further reinforcement.

During this module your module tutor, a subject specialist, will provide academic support including:
• Delivering workshops
• Providing guidance in relation to assignments
• Development of key resources, made available through the VLE
• Specialist subject advice, particularly in linking your work to academic research, concepts and emerging knowledge in the field
• Assessing assignments and assess or review any other agreed summative or formative outputs as appropriate

For those of you studying on a Degree Apprenticeship you will also be supported by an Executive Coach who provides your consistent support throughout your Degree Apprenticeship. This Executive Coach will support with:
• Helping you to understand the requirements of this module and how it relates to your workplace context
• Helping you to understand how you can apply and evidence the knowledge, skills and behaviours covered in the module to your own practice in the workplace
• Visiting you at work and engaging with your manager and/or mentor to ensure alignment between your learning and opportunities for applying and demonstrating a positive impact in your work organisation.

E-Reading Lists
The module will also have an e-reading list which directs learners to specific reading for each session. This includes direct access to repositories, journal articles and other academic sources. You will also be provided with access to a significant set academic research sources via the Northumbria University library portal.
You will also have opportunities to receive formative feedback from your tutor in response to opinions you express and issues you raise during workshop sessions and face-to-face or online tutorials. These formative feedback sessions are formally scheduled at key points throughout the module.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk
(Reading List service online guide for academic staff this containing contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)

Knowledge & Understanding:
ML01: Identify and understand the nature of strategic challenges facing organisations in the 21st century operating in a highly dynamic environment.


Intellectual / Professional Skills & Abilities:
MLO2: Develop research skills of identifying and evaluating industry and organisational data suitable for strategic analysis.
MLO3:
Develop the skills to critically evaluate and implement appropriate strategic frameworks in an organisational context operating within a domestic or international environment to support change processes.
ML04: Critically reflect on the value and application of leadership, business management and strategy execution models and frameworks to enhance your personal impact on individual, group and organisational effectiveness

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):
MLO5: Critically evaluate how your own cultural and ethical values and associated behaviours may impact on your ability to think and work strategically and ethically in a global environment.

This module uses a subject-based assessment approach, encouraging or directly enabling you to bring your career context into the module.

Formative Assessment

Formative assessment of your skills, knowledge and understanding, as demonstrated in your submitted assignments, is a key component of the assessment strategy. It forms an integral part of the formal scheduled teaching programme and will be an integral part of the asynchronous discussion board forums on the VLE. Formative assessment feedback will additionally enable you to undertake self-reflection and to include newly-acquired knowledge and understanding in order to refine your tutor-guided and self-directed independent learning and enhance your performance during final summative assessment.

Summative Assessment
You will be summatively assessed by a 5000 word work related assessment which addresses all module learning outcomes. This assessment will also require you to consider the subsequent implications on your professional practice.

N/A

N/A

In this module, you will develop new knowledge and skills in strategic thinking, apply them in your own context, critically analyse opportunities for implantation and recommend potential future improvements to your practice. The module is designed to develop the participants as ‘reflective-practitioners’ and independent learners. The module therefore encourages work/life experience as a vehicle for understanding the theories, frameworks, and concepts to which the participant will be introduced.

This learning will take place through a combination of face-to-face workshops, access to a vast array of academic research via our on-line learning resources, VLE-enhanced online support, and engagement and liaison with module tutors. This learning model is designed to enable you to rapidly develop new knowledge and skills and apply them to your organisational context.

Such knowledge and skills are particularly beneficial for a career in senior management which demands an awareness of the organisation’s strategic position and capabilities and an ability to develop levers of change required to support innovation and continuous improvement.