Assessment
is by one assignment, a critical essay of 6000 words (100%) which integrates
theory and practice. The assignment must include a clear structure with an
abstract, a list of references and, where appropriate, appendices and diagrams.
You must make appropriate use of journal articles and texts.
The assignment should address
four elements:
Part A – Literature Review
(70% of the available marks):
1.
A critical literature review of key theories of
how strategy is developed and implemented, and the relationship between
strategy, innovation and change
Part B –
Organization Analysis (30% of the available marks):
2.
A critical analysis of selected strategic
processes within your organisation, or an organisation of your choice, related
to relevant theories
3.
An assessment of the extent to which people
within the organisation are engaged with and contribute to a selected strategy
4.
Recommendations about how strategic processes
within the organisation could be improved.
Note
the mark allocations to each part of the assignment.
To
preserve confidentiality, please anonymise the organisation or organisations
you discuss in the assignment, eg by calling them Company X, or Governmental
Organisation Y, or International Organisation Z. Similarly, where you write
about private individuals, call them manager A, or leader B.
RESOURCES – KEY TEXTS
In support of this module, a pack of recommended reading will be made
available through the Online Campus system, which you can download as pdf files:
the source texts are listed below.
As you are studying at Master’s level, you are also expected to explore
and discover reading independently.
Typically it is a good idea to start with a broad text that summarises
key issues, then widen your research to include academic and practitioner sources.
A number of journals
contain useful material for this module, including: Harvard Business Review, Journal of Business Strategy, Management
Decision, Learning Organization, Strategy and Leadership, Public
Administration, Journal of Leadership and Organization Studies, and
the Journal of Strategy and Management. All of
these are available electronically through the University Library, and you can
find and download articles from them.
Core Reading
If you
were to buy one book to support your work on this module, we would recommend:
Richard Whittington, Patrick
Regnér, Duncan Angwin, Gerry Johnson, Gerry Johnson 2020 Exploring Strategy: Text and Cases, 12th edition, Pearson:
Harlow. Earlier editions are also acceptable.
It
is available as an e-book through the University library. Your ability to
access it will depend on your internet connection bandwidth and availability
(you must be connected while reading) – please check on this early in the
module.
You can buy the book on Kindle.
Recommended Reading
The following books are relevant
to the module. Books marked with a #hashtag can be purchased through Kindle
(publication dates of Kindle editions may differ from the dates below).
Where books are marked with an
*asterisk, a chapter can be downloaded as a pdf file – see the Online Campus
for details of how to do this.
Claire
Capon 2008 Understanding Strategic
Management Pearson Education: Harlow*
SR Clegg, J Schweitzer, A Whittle and C Pitelis 2020 Strategy:
Theory and Practice, 3rd. Sage: London#
Bob
de Wit and Ron Meyer 2005 Strategy
Synthesis Thomson*
Bob Garratt 2010 The Fish Rots from the Head Profile
Books: London#*
Robert M Grant 2016 Contemporary
Strategy Analysis, Blackwell: Malden, MA#*
J Lampel, H Mintzberg, JB
Quinn & S Ghoshal 2014 The Strategy
Process Prentice Hall*
Henry Mintzberg, Bruce
Ahlstrand and Joseph Lampel 2009 Strategy
Safari FT Prentice Hall*
John
A Pearce III and Richard B Robinson Jnr 2009 Strategic Management: Formulation, Implementation and Control, 11th
ed McGraw Hill; Boston*
E-books
Items
in the list below are available as e-books through the University library. Your
ability to access these will depend on your internet connection bandwidth and
availability (you must be connected while reading, or you may download the book
for a limited period of time) – please check on this early in the module.
SR Clegg, J Schweitzer, A Whittle and C Pitelis 2020 Strategy:
Theory and Practice, 3rd. Sage: London
Hwi-ch’ang
Mun 2018 The art of strategy: Sun Tzu, Michael Porter, and beyond. Cambridge
University Press: Cambridge
Joan
Magretta 2012 Understanding Michael Porter: the essential guide to
competition and strategy. Harvard Business Review Press: Boston
Michael
E. Porter 2019 Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance.
Free Press: London
Michael
Beer 2009 High commitment, high
performance: how to build a resilient organization for sustained advantage.
Jossey Bass: San Francisco
Robert
Hooijberg 2007 Being there even when you
are not: leading through strategy, structures and systems. Elsevier JAI:
London
Geoff
Mulgan 2009 The art of public strategy:
mobilizing power and knowledge for the common good. Oxford University
Press: Oxford
Last Completed Projects
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