Leading and Managing People

Module description

This module equips you with the knowledge and the skills to lead and manage change in your organisation by understanding what motivates individuals in an organisational setting, including the culture and values of both individuals and organisations. It will help you create an environment for innovation and creativity, acquire people management skills to lead and manage change and consider the ethics of change you will be promoting in the organisation. This module will take you through key aspects of leading and managing organisations so that you can promote and initiate change. It will also build on the Strategic Leadership module in year 1 to help you become more effective in your own leadership role, preparing you for strategic leadership roles in the future.

Full module specification

Module aims

Organisations have been described as socio-technical systems; that is, they have a technical side which for example takes the form of organisational structure, framework and reporting channel; and they have a social side, consisting of their culture, values and beliefs. Managing organisations, people and change requires strategic managers and leaders. This module will take you through the fundamentals of managing people and the change in organisations. Using critical reflection you will be considering the ethical aspects of change in your organisation and how to engage in a series of activities intended to build on motivating individuals and understanding group psychology.

Skill acquisition: You will develop several transferable skills at a strategic level, including: key leadership principles that support organisational change and values, managing and leading teams, implementing organisational strategies, reaching organisational goals, effective communication and networking.

Research in teaching: The module builds on recent research and scholarship in the fields of leadership principles, managing people and organisational change, in particular; managing culture and the influence that national culture has on organisational culture, the complexities of leading people in organisations, environmental and social sustainability.

Through experiential learning, you will embark on a journey of discovery using increased self-awareness and personal development. For inspiration, guidance and support a series of webinars, videos, group forums, learning logs, online reading material, and facilitated online group sessions will be offered in addition to a residential workshop (masterclass).

The aim of the module is to enable you to

• Acquire and practice people skills.
• Evaluate current and emerging social concerns and expectations impacting on strategic leadership in your organisation
• Analyse the impact of leadership styles on your organisation
• Develop the ability to critically reflect on your own ability to lead change in your organisation.
• Integrate organisational vision as a leadership tool and as an anchor point for organisational strategy to inspire, motivate and engage the whole team.
• Understand the relationship between personal and organisational effort, commitment and integrity needed to successfully integrate the change.
• Analyse a leadership strategy to support your organisational direction

ILO: Module-specific skills

• 1. initiates and leads change in the organisation, creates environment for innovation and creativity, establishing the value of ideas and change initiatives and drives continuous improvement;.
• 2. ethics and values based leadership; regulatory environments, legal, H&S and well-being and compliance requirements.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

• 3. organisational/team dynamics and how to build engagement and develop high performance, agile and collaborative cultures;.

ILO: Personal and key skills

• 4. creates an inclusive culture, encouraging diversity and difference;
• 5. able to manage conflict; manages partnerships, people and resources effectively, and measures outcomes;
• 6. enables an open and high performance working, and sets goals and accountabilities for teams and individuals;
• 7. use evidence based proposals to confidently drive continuous improvement creativity and innovation that support organisational values;
• 8. manage partnerships, people and resources effectively;
• 9. drives a culture of resilience and supports development of new enterprise and opportunities;
• 10. leads and influences people, building constructive working relationships across teams, using matrix management where required;
• 11. manages complex relationships across multiple and diverse stakeholders.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

All passed components of the module will be rolled forward and will not be reassessed in the event of module failure.

Defer – as first time

Refer – capped at 50%

Syllabus plan

The following theories and concepts will be taught throughout the module:

• Individual perspective: overview of essential theories of group dynamics, power and role; how to lead and motivate people at work; barriers to change and links between performance and strategic objectives
• Organisational perspective: organisational structure, techniques for cultural change, reasons for change; the role of leadership in shaping and enabling strategy to meet changing organisational objectives
• Societal perspective: organisation, its people and wider environment, perspectives on ethics including deontology, consequentialism, virtue ethics, environmental ethics and economics and ethics; the use of strategic leadership skills and the understanding of the ethical and cultural issues within the organisation and corporate social responsibility

The module includes a significant work-based learning component that feeds into the end of Year 1 situational analysis project and the proposal for an innovation project.

Work-based learning component: Implementing organisational change strategies 

• Apply a range of creative problem solving techniques to address change challenges
• Identify criteria to select implementation models for change management
• Analyse an organisational response to change by using analytical tools to monitor the progress and the effect of change
• Evaluate the impact of change strategies in your organisation
• Evaluate the role of leadership in making that change happen
• Assess your own leadership style and understand its strengths and weaknesses

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Beardwell, J. & Thompson, A (2017) Human Resource Management: A Contemporary Approach. 8^th Edition. Pearson

Cope, A., Martin, M. & Peach, J.  (2018) Leadership: The Multiplier Effect. John Murray Learning, London.

Module has an active ELE page?

Yes

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

CMI - Management Direct - an online management resource portal. Management Direct allows managers at any level to learn, research and think. It offers fast, 24-hour access to the latest digital content to help overcome hundreds of managerial challenges from absence to performance to change: 5 minute, 20 minute and extended briefings; Creative tools for problem solving; Hundreds of checklists and interactive scenarios to aid self-directed learning; Self-Assessments and automatic CPD recording/reporting; Document templates and best practice guides.

Origin date

04/04/2018

Last revision date

07/10/2020