Postgraduate Course: Leading Strategic Change (EMBA) (CMSE11229)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | The purpose of this course is to develop students' understanding of strategic organizational change processes. The course will seek to fully expose the messy, non-linear ways in which change usually takes place, and the importance of change leaders understanding the contextual imperatives that will play a defining role in the contouring of the change process. |
| Course description |
As organizational environments become increasingly dynamic, with technological, economic, political and social, changes occurring at ever faster rates, so the transformation of organizational structures and practices has become arguably the most pervasive issue with which organizational leaders have to contend. Whether it be adopting a new technology, restructuring to improve efficiency, or expanding an operation to a new geographical locale, so being able to cope with, and lead, change efforts has become an ever more important part of the senior managerial role. Consequently, this course will develop your understanding of strategic organizational change processes. While scholars and practicing managers have spent a great deal of time discussing how change takes place, this has frequently been overlaid with implicit, and often explicit, accounts of organizational transformations taking place in an orderly, linear fashion. These accounts are usually presented as being heavily top-down oriented with the individuals who must enact change, and are most affected by it, being largely omitted. By contrast, this course will seek to fully expose the messy, non-linear ways in which change usually takes place, and the importance of change leaders understanding the contextual imperatives that will play a defining role in the contouring of the change process. These include internal issues of power, culture, interests and communication, and external imperatives including political, economic, and social dimensions. With these points in mind, the intent is to cover a broad gamut of issues that are associated with change in order to provide participants with a comprehensive appreciation of what to expect when encountering, or leading, organizational transformation.
Syllabus
Approaches to change management
Understanding why organizations change
Types of change - from incremental to radical transformation
Diagnosing change
Resistance to change
Change implementation
The visioning process
Communicating change
Sustaining change.
Student Experience
The intent of this course is to blend cutting-edge strategic change theories with practical examples, drawn from selected cases, guest speakers and participants own personal experiences. The approach is highly interactive ¿ one of the most important, and compelling, aspects of EMBA classes is the communal development and application of understanding benefiting from the varied experiences of class members. Given that everybody in the class will have experienced, or will be currently contending with, major strategic change initiatives, the course has been structured to allow class members to apply the principles that they learn to their own change cases. If appropriate, proposed courses of action can be developed and shared within the group.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2015/16, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Lecture Hours 25,
Other Study Hours 73,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
0 )
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| Additional Information (Learning and Teaching) |
TBC
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Individual Assignment - 100% |
| Feedback |
All students will be given at least one formative feedback or feed-forward event for every course they undertake, provided during the semester in which the course is taken and in time to be useful in the completion of summative work on the course.
Feedback on formative assessed work will be provided within 15 working days of submission, or in time to be of use in subsequent assessments within the course, whichever is sooner. Summative marks will be returned on a published timetable, which has been made clear to students at the start of the academic year.
Students will be provided with electronic written feedback for all coursework. Coursework cannot be taken away by students. Students who wish to view a marked piece of coursework should contact the programme support team to arrange a time.
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| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Critically evaluate the major theories and concepts underpinning strategic change.
- Understand and critically examine the internal and external contextual imperatives that help determine change outcomes.
- Understand and critically examine the ways in which change tends to develop over time.
- Assess critically the different ways to initiate, implement and sustain large-scale organisational change.
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Reading List
| Palmer, I., Dunford, R. & Akin, G (2009) Managing Organizational Change (2nd Ed). McGraw- Hill, NY. Course Case Book. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Cognitive and Subject-Specific Skills:
Skills associated with creating a context in which change is more likely to be successful.
A practical understanding of how to initiate, implement, and sustain large-scale organizational change.
The ability to devise and implement appropriate change processes.
Transferable Skills:
The tools required to explore, analyze, and critique different approaches to change.
The opportunity to further develop analytical, problem-solving, and presentation skills.
Scholarship and desk research skills, and the ability to assimilate, communicate and present critical evaluations. |
| Keywords | Change Strategy Organisation Leadership |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof John Amis
Tel: (0131 6)51 5545
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Tammy French
Tel: (0131 6)50 3475
Email: |
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