This module starts from the premise that managers do not manage in a vacuum. A basic tenet is Richard Hyman’s 1987 article that confronted the paradox of strategic choice; how to reconcile management’s latitude in decision-making with apparently wider economic, social and political forces. He proposed that strategy was best conceptualized as ‘the programmatic choice among alternatives none of which can be satisfactory’. In a later period of economic and environmental crisis the demands placed upon those responsible for guiding organizations is greater than ever, making it imperative that such individuals have the necessary skills and attributes. Globalisation has led to wider inequality, the rejection of elites and the rise of nationalist and populist politics, but also social movements challenging environmental extinction and social injustice. As the late Stephen Hawking predicted, accelerating technology could accentuate inequality or it could promote a different way of living and working.

MCC seeks to develop a critical appreciation of the challenges faced by management professionals in a complex, dynamic and increasingly risky business environment. In doing so it exposes students to the controversies and dilemmas of contemporary management thinking and practice that are not easily resolvable (if at all). The course builds on learning undertaken in levels one and two and seeks to enable the learner to build towards the advanced level of critical awareness and reflectivity necessary for a successful career in the 21st century management domain. MCC synthesises cutting edge conceptual discussion with the honing of diagnostic, analytical and communication skills for effective human interaction and decision making.

This module does not claim to have all the answers to the problems facing the contemporary manager; no course possibly could. However, what it will do is expose students to the challenges faced by business leaders in the 21st century and lay the foundations of the means whereby they might prosper.

Learning and teaching

This module is based upon a one hour lecture and one hour seminar of ‘contact’. The lecture will generally involve a critical overview and explanation of the key issues. The seminar will typically involve an activity that stimulates more in-depth discussion. Several of the seminars are given over to assignment workshops to help develop your ideas (see assessment below).

However, as you will be well aware your learning does not stop there; it is imperative in this module that you undertake a broad and deep programme of reading. In addition to scholarly reading, you are expected to keep up to date with current affairs – as you will see, we aim to discuss issues that are happening in ‘real time’!

Assessment

This module has one piece of formal assessment; an essay. Details in the module guide (below).

Reading

The core text book is as follows and will be invaluable to you:

Dicken, P. (2015) Global Shift: Mapping the Changing Contours of the World Economy 7th edition, London: Sage

The module guide has a more extensive list that you will need to support your essay.

Contact

If you have any further questions, please contact the module leader, Professor Sian Moore

Best wishes for the term,

The Module Team

Prof Sian Moore

Module Leader

[email protected]

Dr Ruth Ballardie

Module Tutor

[email protected]

2. Introduction to the Module

Aims

• To attain a critical understanding of the challenges that face practicing managers in the complex contemporary operating environment.

• To contribute to the development of a set of analytical skills that equips the contemporary manager for the challenges presented in the contemporary organizational milieu.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this course a student will be able to:

1. Demonstrate critical knowledge and understanding of current debates about how, through effective management, organizations interact with and respond to their complex operating environments.

2. Demonstrate critical knowledge and understanding of key concepts relating to managing and working with people in the contemporary organizational context.

3. Display a critical awareness of a range of often apparently conflicting and contradictory schools of management and social science thought requiring the ability to make informed analytical judgements.

4. Debate ethical dilemmas and stakeholder conflict related to management practice and be able to debate and seek to resolve them.

5. Be intellectually curious, responsive to challenges, and demonstrate initiative and resilience.

6. Communicate clearly and effectively, in a range of forms, taking account of different audiences

2.3 Enquiry Based Learning and Research Led Teaching

Enquiry-Based Learning (EBL)

Defined as ‘an approach based on self-directed enquiry or investigation in which the student is actively engaged in the process of enquiry facilitated by a teacher. EBL uses real life scenarios (for example, from case studies, company visits, and project work) and students investigate topics of relevance that foster the skills of experimental design, data collection, critical analysis and problem-solving’.

Enquiry-based learning will be manifest in the principal assessment whereby students will draw on numerous sources such as news stories, personal experience and observation, as well as orthodox scholarly sources, to complete the essay.

Research-Led Teaching (RLT)

An element of EBL which involves faculty introducing students to their own research where it is relevant to the curriculum being taught as well as drawing on their own knowledge of research developments in the field, introducing them to the work of other researchers. RLT sees students as active participants in the research process, not just as an audience. This is achieved by discussing such developments in lectures and classes, and setting reading lists including recent research publications at the frontier of the field. The definition of a diverse assessment regime at the programme level (incorporating an expectation of familiarity with, and use of, such publications in assignments) and the inclusion of projects at every level of the programme is also fundamental to achieving these objectives.

All of the course team will contribute to the module with showcases of their own research on topics that are central to the learning outcomes. Examples are labour conflict, sustainability and temporality.

Embedding Employability in the Curriculum

In addition to promoting subject knowledge the programme equips postgraduate students with analytical skills, relevant in a wide range of careers and highly-valued in the labour market. The essay will be based upon an issue of current major concern to an organisation or organisations and thus promotes relevant skills and knowledge for future employment.

The module contributes to the following employability descriptors:

a) Cognitive skills: analysing, synthesising and evaluating information sources, critical thinking and problem solving;

b) Organisation: project planning and delivery;

c) Engagement, influence and impact: knowledge and skills to develop professional working relationships and to communicate ideas effectively and with confidence;

d) Personal effectiveness: the personal qualities to be an effective researcher including the ability and initiative to work independently and to prepare and prioritise and to self-manage time and workload.

2.6 Expected study time

Activity	Hours	Overall percentage of total
Scheduled teaching	24	16%
Guided Independent Study	126	84%
Placement / Year Abroad	0	%
Total	150	100%

2.7 Additional Requirements

3. Contact Details

	Room	Email address	Phone number
Head of Academic Mr. Adrian Yao	1^st Floor Main Building	[email protected]	03 – 2070 2078
Course Tutors:
Ms Noor Fadillah	1^st Floor Main Building	[email protected]	03 – 2070 2078
Programme Coordinator: Kenny Yeo Boon Guan	1^st Floor Main Building	[email protected]	03-20702078 ext 119

Please see your programme handbook for more detail

3.1 External Examining of Your Module and Programmes of Study

External examining at the University of Greenwich provides one of the principal means whereby the University verifies, maintains, and enhances the academic standards of the modules and the programme on which you are studying. They also help the University to ensure that your assessment processes are sound, fairly operated and in line with the policies and regulations of the University of Greenwich.

External examiners – academic staff from other Higher Education Institutions or from the professions – are appointed as reviewers of your modules and your programme of study for a period of 4 years. They provide the University with a number of important services. For example external examiners will

Review and comment on the standard of key elements of assessment that you have been set.
Review samples of student work and confirm whether the standard is at the level expected for the award you are studying and whether it is comparable with other Institutions that they know.
Provide the University with an independent view of how well we conduct our processes for marking and internal moderation of assessments.
Attend Progress and Awards Boards (PABs) and contribute to deliberations for conferring your degree classifications and awards, assisting the University in treating all students fairly and consistently with regard to our regulations. External examiners will endorse the outcomes of PABs based on their scrutiny of the assessments and the deliberations of the PAB. No degree award can be made without the assent of an external examiner.
Report formally their findings to the University at the end of each year and identify our good practice as well as making recommendations for improvements in the future.

External Examiner reports for your programme of study, or questions about the reports, can be retrieved by you contacting your local Academic Quality Unit Quality Manager, who is: Nikki Makinwa, [email protected]

Is there anything an external examiner won’t be asked to do?

External examiners will not mark your work personally and nor will they comment upon individual student performance or individual works in their reports or engage in correspondence with individuals in respect of grades, marking, feedback, degree class and other personal academic matters. For these you will need to speak to your tutors and programme leader.

The external examiner for your module of study is:

Name: Dr Katrina Pritchard

University/College University of Swansea

4. Module Content and Design

4.1 Planned Term Dates:

2019/20 Term Dates
Please note that dates may differ depending on when you start your programme of study, and where you are studying. Please refer to https://docs.gre.ac.uk/rep/sas/term-dates for full details, and details of University closure dates.
Welcome Week 2^nd September 2019 6^th September 2019 Term 1 9^th September 2019 13^th December 2019 Examination Period 06^th January 2020 10^th January 2020 Term 2 13^th January 2020 03^rd April 2020 Examination Period 27^th April 2020 15^th May 2020 Term 3 Postgraduate 27^th April 2020 24^th July 2020 Resit Examination Period 20^th July 2020 24^th July 2020

Please note these dates are correct at time of publication – please check for updates at: http://www2.gre.ac.uk/current-students/term_dates?result_899512_result_page=1

4.2 Session Plan

Term Two
Week		Session Title and Description	Reading to complete
18	Lecture	Introduction to the course	Course guide Hyman R. (1987)
Seminars	Introduction to assessment
Part 1: Globalisation
19	Lecture	The paradoxes of globalization: prosperity and inequality	Dicken (2015) Chapters. 1, 2. 10 Clegg et al. (2012) Chapter 15 Hardt & Negri (2004)
Seminars	Overview of key theories of globalisation and discussion of ‘snowbalisation’ and emergence of protectionism. Exercise on article on Guatemalan women using Essay Planning Guide
20	Lecture	Globalisation and responsibility	Donaghey and Juliane Reinecke (2018); Arendt (2006); Dicken (2015) Chapter. 10, 11
Seminars	Discussion of Rana Plaza article Exercise on article on Monsanto using Essay Planning Guide
21	Lecture	Globalisation and sustainability	Dicken (2015) Chapter 9, Clegg et al (2012) Chapter. 10 Linstead et al (2009) Chapter. 5 Blowfield (2013) Dresner (2008)
Seminars	Exercise: student marking of template essay using evaluation criteria (see essay on moodle)
Part 2: Technology and networks
22	Lecture	The ethics of new technology	Dicken (2015) Chapter 4 Upchurch & Grassman (2015) Clay (2009); Noor Al-Dean & Hendricks (2012)
Seminars	Uses and abuses of social media at work – discussion of Employment Tribunal cases (see moodle)
23	Lecture	New technology: the challenge of automation	Dicken (2015) Clegg Chapter s7, 8, 9 Mason (2015)
Seminars	Robots and AI: do humans have a future? Discussion.
24	Lecture	Sustainability and new technology: liberation?	Mason (2015) Blowfield (2013)
Seminars	Utopia or Distopia? Discussion of Stephen Hawking article
Part 3: Conflict and co-operation
25	Lecture	Organisational Conflict: Challenging Deregulation: The BA dispute	Taylor & Moore (2015)
Seminars	Discussion on Marikana massacre
26	Lecture	Flexibility, non-standard contracts and precarious work	Moore et al. (2018) Bailey et al. (2016) Clay (2009); Noor Al-Dean & Hendricks (2012) Dicken (2015) Chapter 4 Mason (2015)
Seminars	Working for Microsoft Game Studios – how far is flexibility a choice?
27	Lecture	Public Services, Globalisation and conflict	Hardt & Negri (2000, 2014) Blowfield (2013)
Seminars	Who should own water?
28	Lecture	Protectionism and Populism	Clegg (2014) Cunha et al. (2013)
	Seminars	What are the implications of protectionism?
29		No lecture – 1-2-1s with tutors

4.3 Session Required Reading

Core text (recommended purchases)

Dicken, P. (2015) Global Shift: Mapping the Changing Contours of the World Economy 7th edition, London: Sage

Supplementary reading

The following texts are original contributions to the field and others that may be useful for wider and alternative perspectives:

Alvesson, M. & Willmott, H. (eds.) (1992) Critical Management Studies, London: Sage

Arendt, H. (2006) Eichmann in Jerusalem: a Report on the Banality of Evil, Harmondsworth: Penguin

Bailey, C.and Madden, A.(2016) What makes work meaningful – or meaningless? MIT Sloan Management Review, 57 (4). 1532-9194

Blowfield, M. (2013) Business and Sustainability, Oxford: OUP

Clay, S. (2009) Here Comes Everybody: the Power of Organizing Without Organizations, Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Clegg, S. (2014) ‘Circuits of power/knowledge’, Journal of Political Power 7:3, 383-392.

Clegg, S., Kornberger, M. & Pitses, T. (2012) Managing & Organizations: An Introduction to Theory and Practice, Third Edition, London: Sage.

Corby, S. & Symon, G. (eds.) (2012) Working for the State, Basingstoke: Palgrave.

Cunha. M., Clegg, S. and Rego, A. (2013) ‘Lessons for leaders: Positive organization studies meets Niccolò Machiavelli’, Leadership 9(4):450-465.

Jimmy Donaghey and Juliane Reinecke (2018) ‘When Industrial Democracy Meets Corporate Social Responsibility—A Comparison of the Bangladesh Accord and Alliance as Responses to the Rana Plaza Disaster’, British Journal of Industrial Relations 56:1: 14–42.

Dresner, S. (2008) The Principles of Sustainability, London: Earthscan.

Dumenil, G. & Levy, D. (2011) The Crisis of Neoliberalism, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.

Ford, M. (2016) The Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of Mass Unemployment, OneWorld publications.

Giddens, A. (1990) The Consequences of Modernity, Cambridge: Polity.

Giddens, A. (2002) The Runaway World: How Globalisation is Reshaping Our Lives, London: Profile.

Gladwell, M. (2001) The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, London: Abacus.

Gouvea, R., Kapelianis, D. and Kassicieh, S. (2018) ‘Assessing the nexus of sustainability and information & communications

Technology’, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 39-44.

Hardt, M. & Negri, A. (2000) Empire, London: Harvard.

Hardt, M. & Negri, A. (2004) Multitude, Cambridge, MA: Harvard.

Harvey, D. (2011) The Enigma of Capital and the Crises of Capitalism, London: Profile.

Hatch, M. J. (2006) Organization Theory: Modern, Symbolic and Postmodern Perspectives, Oxford: Oxford University Press

Hirst, P. & Thompson, G. (1999) Globalisation in Question, Cambridge: Polity

Hyman, R. (1987) ‘Strategy or Structure: Capital, Labour and Control’ Work, Employment and Society 1(1): 25-55

Jackson, N. & Carter, P. (2007) Rethinking Organisational Behaviour: A Poststructuralist Framework, Harlow: FT Prentice Hall

Klein, N. (2000) No Logo, London: Fourth Estate

Linstead, S., Fulop, L. and Lilley, S. (2008) Management and Organization, Basingstoke: Palgrave

Martinez-Lucio, M. (2013) International human resource management: an employment relations perspective, Sage.

Mason, P. (2015) Post-Capitalism, London: Penguin

Moore, S., Tailby, S., Antunes, B. and Newsome, K. (2018) ‘Fits and fancies: the Taylor Review, the construction of preference and labour market segmentation,’ Industrial Relations Journal, 49 (5-6): 403-419.

Moore, S. and Hayes, LJB (2017) ‘Taking worker productivity to a new level? Electronic Monitoring in homecare – the (re)production of unpaid labour’. New Technology, Work and Employment 32(2): 101–114.

Mullins, L. (2007) Management and Organisational Behaviour, Harlow: FT Prentice Hall

Noon, M. and Morell, K. (2013) The realities of work: Experiencing work and employment in contemporary society, McMillan Education.

Noor Al-Deen, H. & Hendricks, J.A. (eds.) (2012) Social Media: Usage And Impact, Lanham: Lexington Books

Page, B. & Potter, E. (2011) The Murdoch Archipelago, London: Simon & Schuster

Peters, T. (1992) Liberation Management: Necessary Disorganization for the Nanosecond Nineties, London: Macmillan

Peters, T. (2006) Re-Imagine!, London: DK

Redman, T. & Wilkinson, A. (eds.) (2006) Contemporary Human Resource Management: Text and Cases, Harlow: FT Prentice Hall

Taylor, P. and Moore, S. (2015) ‘Cabin Crew Collectivism: Labour Process and the Roots of Mobilisation in the British Airways Dispute 2009-11’, Work, Employment and Society, 29 (1): 79-98

Thompson, G. (2003) Between Hierarchies and Networks, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Thompson, P. & McHugh, D. (2002) Work Organizations: A Critical Introduction, Basingstoke: Palgrave.

Thompson, P. & Warhurst, C. (1998) Workplaces of the Future, Basingstoke: Macmillan.

Upchurch, M. and Grassman, R (2015) ‘Striking with social media: The contested (online) terrain of workplace conflict’, Organisation 1–18.

Williams S. (2017) Contemporary employment relations: a critical introduction Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Warhurst, C., Grugulis, I., & Keep, E. (eds.) (2004) The Skills That Matter, Basingstoke: Palgrave.

Journals

Textbooks can be very useful for reference and explanatory purposes. However, for the more ‘cutting edge’ knowledge that is necessary for a higher level of learning, you should consult academic journals. These journals contain articles by leading scholars which use up-to-date research to make a contribution to what we know about people, organization and management. These articles have often been assessed by other leading scholars through a process of peer review. Most of the journals that you will find useful are available in electronic format and are therefore searchable using the appropriate databases (see Learning Resources Staff for details). The journals cover a range of specialisms that constitute the discipline of organizational and management studies.

British Journal of Management

Economist

Economy and Society

Gender, Work and Organization

Human Resource Management Journal

Journal of Management Studies

Organization

Organizational Studies

Management Today

New Left Review

New Technology, Work and Employment

Organization

Organization Studies

People Management

Personnel Review

Technovation

Work, Employment and Society

For hundreds of other sources of information, you are advised to consult the Library & Information Services (ICT) WebPages:

http://www.gre.ac.uk/offices/ils/ls

5. Assessment Details

5.1 Summary of assessment

Assessment Title	Weight towards final grade	Length	Due Date	Anonymous Submission Required?	Anticipated Return Date	Header Sheet number
Essay pro forma	0% (but compulsory)	NA	Week 5	No	1 week	NA
Draft Essay	0% but compulsory	Up to 3000 words	Week 10	No
Essay	100%	3000 words	21-11-2019	Yes	TBA	TBA

5.2 Rules for anonymous submission and marking:

The University has adopted anonymous marking on most courses, as research shows that this is the fairest and most equitable approach for all students.

Therefore, unless instructed by the course leader to use a non-anonymous approach for a particular reason, you are required to ensure you do not include your name anywhere on your work, i.e. it must not appear on the front of the document, in the text, in headers and footers etc. In addition, you must ensure that the file that you upload is only identified by ID number and does not have a name that can identify you.

When you upload in TurnItIn you will be asked to give your submission a title – again DO NOT use your own name in this title.

The Business Faculty has made allowances that some assignment topics will not be submitted anonymously; this includes some portfolios and all final year dissertations/projects. If you are in doubt, please talk to your course leader.

There is more guidance in your Programme Handbook

5.3 Detailed description of assessment

Your task is to identify and select an article from the BBC News website (news.bbc.co.uk) that has a significant impact on the way in which organisations are managed from the last six months. Examples could be business ethics, globalisation, social or industrial conflict, outsourcing, regulation and/or deregulation of business or indeed any substantive issue that impacts on managerial decision making. With this as your starting point, you should then develop and write an essay on your chosen issue using all three broad themes explored in the course:

Globalisation
Technology and networks
Conflict and co-operation

You need to identify and use the key ideas and concepts concerning these themes in this module that are most relevant to the core issue that your essay question addresses. You will use these to develop a comprehensive understanding of your essay topic.

You are required to have developed your idea by week 22 (term week 5) and submit the pro forma to your tutor for approval (see the pro forma in the appendix of this document and on Moodle). Please note also that there is a space on the pro forma for the full web URL of the story you have chosen which you must also supply. Please make sure that your news article addresses business management, work and employment.

Your essay should be structured into sections as follows:

Introduction
Globalisation
Technology and networks
Conflict and co-operation
Synthesis / discussion
Conclusion
References

A successfully completed assignment will be consistent with the following guidelines:

· Be appropriately structured, written, presented and referenced (using the Harvard style)

· Feature an appropriate critical issue with sufficient currency, substance and relevance to this course and its learning outcomes (properly justified) to merit analysis and debate

· Feature and make substantial reference to a range of theories and concepts considered in this module. A simple summary of the newspaper article is not acceptable.

· Engage in a critical debate which evinces insight into a contextual awareness of the topic and consider the implications or application of the issues the essay raises for management, businesses, government and / or workers. This needs to be backed by evidence and argument and not be simply prescriptive.

All ideas and material drawn from the work of others must be properly referenced.
This is an academic essay not an opinion piece, hence you are required use course materials, peer-reviewed academic literature and appropriate and relevant secondary sources. Web blogs and websites, opinion pieces and grey literature are not acceptable sources.

· Word limit: 3000 +/- 10%

You are required to submit a draft of your essay to your tutor for comment by week 10.

Please be aware that the University of Greenwich operates a very strict policy on plagiarism and any student who breaches academic regulations will be subject to the strongest disciplinary sanction. Regulations relating to plagiarism can be found at the following link:

http://www.gre.ac.uk/students/regs/plagiarism

Harvard referencing guidelines can be found at the following link:

http://www.gre.ac.uk/studyskills/referencing

Marking Criteria

Ideas and Information 30 Does the essay set up a clear and relevant essay question to address? Does the essay bring together and synthesis relevant course materials, peer-reviewed literature and secondary sources related to the three themes (globalization, technology/networking and conflict/co-operation) to address the essay question

Connections and Critique 30 Does the essay develop relevant connections with the three themes in a coherent way? Are arguments logically developed? Are ideas, and evidence critically analysed and evaluated; are alternative interpretations consider? Does the essay indicate a comprehensive analysis and understanding of the topic area and literature discussed with consideration of contextual awareness?

Application 20 Does the essay consider the implications and/or applications of the ideas and arguments for management, business, governments and/or workers?

Structure, presentation 10 Is the essay well organized, logically constructed and clearly presented?

Mechanical Soundness 10 Is the essay clearly written, spell checked and grammatically sound and referenced appropriately?

6. Other Details

The majority of information relevant to you while you study at the University has been brought together into your programme handbook. Please refer to your programme handbook for any further information you might require including:

How to submit assignments,
Deadlines and extenuating circumstances,
Plagiarism and referencing,
Who to go to for advice or if you are concerned,
How to provide us with feedback,
Key administrative procedures.

Appendix 1 – Pro-Forma

BUSI 1475 Management in a Critical Context

Assignment proposal pro forma

For completion by Week 5
Must be signed-off by seminar tutor and appended to your essay with signature.
Must be completed electronically as a word .doc (NOT a pdf or image file) so that your tutor can give feedback.

Proposed title of your ESSAY (NOT the online article)	(Hint: Title should reflect the overall focus of the essay, which will be broader than the newspaper article because you are drawing on the ideas on the three themes below).
URL from BBC News Website
Summary of online article 200 words max.
Relationship to course content 150 words stating how the article relates to each theme, in relation to the key ideas considered within this module.	Globalisation (i.e. what key ideas about globalisation from this module can you link to the newspaper article and how are they connected?) Technology (i.e. what key ideas about technology from this module can you link to the newspaper article and how are they connected?) Conflict and Collaboration (i.e. what key ideas about conflict and co-operation from this module can you link to the newspaper article and how are they connected?)
Student Name
Signature of student
Tutor Name
Signature of tutor
Date