MSc Management with Project Management

The module aims to develop the student’s ability to critically analyse the financial statements for single and group companies, understanding how the financial statements are prepared, considering compliance with legal and regulatory requirements and the relevant International Accounting Standards. Students taking the module will examine both financial and non-financial matters that affect a business on a day-to-day basis and develop proactive ideas to solve these issues.

The module will equip the students with the knowledge and skills necessary to understand corporate financial performance and the relevance of accounting information, including the implications for the organisation, stakeholders and for effective corporate governance. The module recognises the different types of decisions that managers are required to make and considers how financial and management accounting information can be used in support of these decisions.

The module aims to develop the skills needed to understand, apply, and critically appraise the various tools and techniques that may be used to support managers in decision-making in order to determine their relevance in different organisational contexts. The module also evaluates the impact of financial and management decisions on different stakeholders and ensures that decisions are properly made and implemented to maximise value for key stakeholders of the organisation.

The practical side of the module extends to the role of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems in decision-making and explores the impact of cyber security on a company’s financial performance and financial reporting.

Outline Syllabus:

• Published financial statements: Income Statement, Statement of Equity, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow Statement, in the context of single and group accounts including multinational companies.
• The analysis and evaluation of complex financial and non-financial information including limitations of financial reporting.
• Appraisal of a company’s financial performance through analysing a set of company accounts and applying ratio and financial analysis.
• Capital investment decisions including the concepts of risk and uncertainty, relevant costing, and mergers and acquisitions.
• Working capital management and short-term financing decisions.
• Capital markets and long-term financing decisions.
• Cyber security in accounting and finance including the role of ERP systems in strategic decision-making.

The business world never stands still; technologies and the move towards a more global economy are creating opportunities that organisations must embrace to maintain their competitive edge. Never before has global events and innovations had greater impact on local markets. Business now competes on a global stage where marketers can do so much more with small budges ultimately shrinking the historic chasm between SME’s and large enterprise. Creative marketing that grabs the attention of the ever-demanding changing needs of the consumer takes careful planning. International Marketing Planning provides students with the fundamental building blocks to manage an organisation’s marketing function. By establishing an organisation’s current market position, unpacking their value offering to consumers and formulating a plan to meet strategic marketing objectives, the marketing planning process provides a creative framework to drive organisational success.

Outline Syllabus:

• Market analysis
  • International macro-environmental issues that impact on an organisation’s strategic direction
  • Micro-environmental issues including the capabilities of the organisation, their suppliers, marketing intermediaries, their existing customer profile, who their competitors are, and the public that may influence their strategic direction.
• Setting marketing objectives
• Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning
  • Segmentation tools to profile the desired audience.
  • Targeting strategies
  • Positioning strategies
• Implementation and control of the international marketing plan
  • Marketing mix
  • Implementation issues in effective planning
  • Contingency planning
  • Monitoring and controlling the plan
  • Module Learning Outcomes

This module is designed to provide students with a conceptual and theoretical background in leadership, and an opportunity to develop leadership competencies in themselves and others. It covers topics such as leadership style, followership, ethical and responsible leadership, gender and leadership, and cross-cultural leadership. Over the course of this module, students will gain an understanding and appreciation of the impact interpersonal skills have on leadership effectiveness. This module has an applied focus and requires students to reflect on and apply theories and techniques to their personal real-world context in order to enhance their leadership practice.

Outline Syllabus:

• Leadership style
• Situational leadership
• Leader-member exchange
• Followership
• Ethical and responsible leadership
• Cross-cultural leadership
• Gender and leadership
• Power and influence
• Communication and conflict resolution

With the rapidly changing context of modern business, the process of introducing novel technologies, products, infrastructures, or systems has become vital yet more challenging due to often conflicting stakeholder requirements, irreversible investments, operating constraints and associated risks. Therefore, any business change has to be project-managed as the current emphasis in business is on flexible, rapid response to customer demands. Managers increasingly require a project competence with a systems-oriented management style that cuts across traditional functional roles throughout the project life cycle. Project management is thus considered a crucial management philosophy of how organisations manage fluctuating business environments and bring to life something innovative or simply never accomplished before.

Through the Project Planning and Management module, students will get a solid foundation in the theory and best practice of project management and develop the practical skills of how to plan, implement and control projects. The module provides students with an understanding of the system perspective on management and a practically oriented overview of the nature and purpose of project management and its key functions (scope, time, cost, quality, etc). The role and qualities of the Project Manager and the composition of the team are also examined. Overall, the material and approach in the module incorporates world-wide best practices from major professional bodies: the PMI Body of Knowledge, APM Body of Knowledge and PRINCE2 – providing a common ground and concentrating on the underlying principles rather than specifics of any given framework.

The module is specifically strong on transferable skills for boosting students’ professional development and employability: practical problem solving and decision making in conditions of uncertainty and ambiguity; planning capability; adaptability to work in different contexts – all highly valued by employers.

Outline Syllabus:

• Systems approach and project integration
• Traditional and alternative project life cycles
• Project requirements definition and scope management
• Sequencing and scheduling of project activities
• Resource allocation and levelling
• Cost estimation and project budgeting
• Quality management in the project environment
• Risk assessment and mitigation
• Stakeholder and communication management
• Project execution and control

In our current globalised world, individuals in leadership and management positions within organisations across sectors are often confronted with a myriad of ‘wicked’ problems which demand for a comprehensive and cohesive strategy. To succeed, individuals in position of responsibility must develop a range of capabilities needed to gain competitive advantage in markets and in the globe. This module seeks to equip students with crucial knowledge and strategy making skills to perform as a strategist and contribute to responsible business strategies to give their organisation a competitive advantage. Students who fully engage with the module will develop the knowledge and professional expertise needed for the formation, implementation, and analysis of responsible business strategies; to make appropriate choices between strategic options; and then to follow a strategic route that will deliver results that are robust, ethically sound and socially responsible.

Outline Syllabus:

• Introducing strategy
• Making sense of strategy making and execution process
• Understanding and Analysing the External Environment Using Analytical Tools
• Understanding and Analysing Industry/Sector Contexts Using Analytical Tools
• Understanding and Analysing the Internal Context of an organisation Using Analytical Tools
• The crafting of a strategy and the achievement of a competitive advantage
• Designing organisational control systems to sustain effective strategy and promote ethical business behaviour and environmental sustainability.

The purpose of this module is to develop students’ understanding and management of people at work. This will be achieved by introducing students to key concepts and theories in the field of organisational psychology and their application to different organisational settings. A wide range of topics relevant to effective people management are covered including personality, selection and assessment, training and development, team working, motivation, work design, stress and well-being, and organisational change and culture. The module will also provide the opportunity for students to reflect on their own experiences and competencies as managers.

Outline Syllabus:

• Individual differences
• Personnel selection and assessment methods
• The psychological contract
• Groups, teams and teamwork
• Motivation
• Work design
• Training and development
• Stress and well-being at work
• Organisational change and culture

In a continually evolving business environment, project management has proven its position as a key management paradigm, enabling organisations to create value for their customers and reach their strategic goals under the conditions of uncertainty and risks. Furthermore, projects should not be simply managed to completion within the allocated budget and timeframe, but also brought into harmony with the strategy, resources, and competences of the organisation, thus substantiating the need for programme and portfolio management. Ultimately, the ability of an organisation to effectively optimise its project portfolio, i.e., to select and implement the most relevant projects and programmes, determines its long-term success.

The present module deepens the understanding of traditional project management tools and techniques, whilst challenging their validity and proposing a number of alternative paradigms, methodologies and more sophisticated methods to better account for the apparent dynamics, complexity, uncertainty, and variability of the project environment. PM governance, portfolio and programme management within organisations are considered the core themes as well. The material in the module encompasses world-wide best practices from major professional bodies: the PMI Body of Knowledge, APM Body of Knowledge and PRINCE2 – concentrating on the underlying principles rather than specifics of any given framework. The designed syllabus will help students obtain all the necessary knowledge and skills required for a successful career in a Project Management Office.

Outline Syllabus

• Organisational project management maturity, governance and the PMO
• Investment appraisal, project selection and portfolio management
• Programme management and benefits realisation
• Creation of value, value management and Lean thinking
• Business process management and process-based PM
• Quality management and Six Sigma PM
• Sustainable and Green PM
• Critical Chain, Agile and other alternative approaches to project management

The implementation of any project is closely associated with risks, resulting from uncertainty within which it runs. Risks can arise during any project’s life-cycle phase, both from project executors (internal risks) and external actions (for instance, governmental activities or natural disasters). Risk cannot be eliminated, hence should be managed in the most time- and cost-effective way possible. To this end, a number of project risk management strategies are available, e.g., mitigation or contingency planning. However, the residual risk may still be present and can be dealt with using contracts, in order to transfer, pool or share the identified risks. Contract management is an extremely critical element of the procurement process as it enables a set of contract requirements to be controlled throughout the project as well as a clear allocation of risk to reduce the liability exposure and possibility of disputes, when employing contractors, subcontractors, and vendors.

The module provides students with the opportunity to explore relevant theory and practice in the areas of project risk, procurement, and contract management. The impact of risk on projects and the ways of how that risk might be managed will be examined. Methods of assessment, mitigation and monitoring to manage the project to a successful completion will be proposed and examined. An assumed multi-disciplinary approach, covering risk and legal perspectives, will enable students to construct a framework for improving management action and professional practice in any project environment. In terms of contract law, the module programme aims to introduce the legal issues and risks involved in the negotiation, formation, and management of procurement contracts, and elaborates on the available techniques to ensure effective contract risk allocation and protect a project delivery team from unexpected liability claims.

Outline Syllabus

• Uncertainty, probability, and risk
• Complexity, unknown unknowns, and black swans
• Risk management process: identification, assessment, response, and control
• Risk perception, attitude, and cognitive biases
• Risk culture, resilience, and Enterprise Risk Management
• Procurement strategy and supplier/contractor selection
• Due diligence, contractual protection, and dispute resolution
• Contract risk allocation, mitigation, and transfer

Global projects present more problems and carry much greater risk than domestic, one-country projects. Various challenges usually include interpersonal relations in a dispersed team and with stakeholders, language barriers, work tracking and control, different time zones, local regulations, politics and so forth. Given the ever-growing ubiquity of such undertakings, there is a drastic need for project managers who are able to appreciate and overcome the above practical challenges in order to deliver their projects on time, within budget and with all the benefits initially planned.

This module aims to provide students with the skills to be effective when working as part of a global project team. The module is specifically designed to provide an awareness of how technology affects communication and collaboration in organisations. Students will be given the opportunity to work as part of a small virtual team on a group project, allowing them to experience first-hand the challenges related to dispersed working and technology-mediated communication and to develop practical strategies for effective dispersed collaboration. Students will be required to evaluate their individual and team performance on the project and to reflect on their own leadership, teamwork, and project management skills.

Outline Syllabus

• Transnational and global project management
• Virtual teams
• The psychology of dispersed work
• Shared and team leadership.
• Motivation and goal setting
• Team formation and development
• Self-organising and agile teams
• Cultural diversity in project teams
• Electronic communication technology

The professional Inquiry Project allows students to demonstrate their mastery of management within the field of their degree. It is an individual and independent project in which students can bring together and apply their learning from the programme to help to solve a chosen business problem or challenge, a real-world issue, or a research topic. Through bringing together learning from across their degree programme, students will demonstrate their accumulated knowledge and understanding of management within their field and its application to organisations, through synoptic assessment.

This module seeks to enable and facilitate innovation and creativity in terms of project foci, form and output. Rather than being prescriptive, students are required to not only undertake an in-depth study of a topic related to the title of the degree but also to take responsibility for their own learning and negotiate the form and output of the final project. The choice of topic and format of the final assessment will be negotiated with the tutor, which will ensure mutuality of intent, process, practice and format of assessment. Although the foci and form of the final project are to be negotiated, the following are indicative of the potential formats students may choose: work based project, client based project; or other negotiated project.

The module requires students to draw upon the framework for research methods and requires the in-depth development of a proposal for the Business Project. Students will be responsible for finding an organisation and negotiating access where necessary with regard to client-based projects. Students who are employed will normally undertake a project based on an agreed business problem that forms part of their role and agree the project title and support arrangements with their employer and tutor.

Completing the Professional Inquiry Project gives you a unique opportunity to undertake an extended piece of personal research on a topic of your own choosing. By undertaking the project students will be demonstrating their ability to research and critically analyse and integrate complex information necessary in the world of contemporary management.

Outline Syllabus

Whilst the specific content of each project will vary, in general it will be underpinned by a process of research; interpreted in an applied, rather than a pure academic, sense.

Projects will typically include a number of activities:

• Mapping ideas for research/project topics
• Identification of the stages of a project which is appropriate for the professional context
• Project planning focusing on aims and objectives, methodology, resources and criteria for evaluation.
• Critically surveying current knowledge
• Arguing and advocating
• Considering ethics and principles of responsible management
• Undertaking research, data analysis and interpretation, problem solving and / or decision-making techniques
• Use of evidence-based tools and ethical approaches to undertake problem solving and support decision making.
• Discussing findings, making conclusions, and constructing recommendations
• Reflecting and identifying future directions
• Presenting project process and outcomes in appropriate manner and format