Strategy as Practice & Leadership

(ST4S19)

Module Workbook

Tutor: Dr. Leonidas Efthymiou

Email l.efthymiou@unic-online.com

Welcome
Welcome to the workbook for Strategy as Practice & Leadership. This paper contains all
the background information you need for the module, including the topic list and
assessment details.
Please note this workbook does not contain the module readings. All required readings
and case study material are uploaded on the VLE. At the same time, you are expected to
engage in your own searches for reading material both in terms of contemporary business
issues and academic literature.
This module is designed to be an informative and interesting introduction to the crucial
issues facing strategic managers today. It is about acknowledging and raising awareness
of the complexity and unpredictability facing practicing strategic managers.
Perhaps we should begin with an explanation, and remind ourselves of what 'strategic'
means. When we call something strategic there is no mystery to what we mean. Quite
simply to look at something from a strategic perspective means we are considering a
problem or issue from the perspective of the whole organisation or business unit rather
than taking the view from a particular functional area such as marketing, human
resources, or finance. It also means taking a fundamental long-term view, although what
exactly long-term means varies from one organizational context to another.
Aims of the Module:
This module encourages participants to go beyond the study of theory and become active
participants in the debate that is at the leading edge of managerial thinking and practice.
The practice perspective in strategic management is drawn from a critique of the
traditional rational economic approach to the subject and incorporates behavioural and
sociological aspects of organisational decision-making. The change in perspective raises
implications for the way that leadership is understood and performed.
Students who complete this module are expected to be able to take action to lead and
develop the organisations in which they are, or intend to be, senior managers.
Consequently, this module aims to develop and enhance the skills and knowledge
explored to enable participants actively consider how they may personally make a
difference in different strategic contexts which may confront them.
Learning Outcomes:
On completion of this module students will:
1. Be able to undertake a critical appraisal of strategic theory within their
organisational context or the context of an organisation with which they are
familiar. (LO1)
2. Be capable of critically appraising latest research and practice in
strategic management thinking. (LO2)

Synopsis of Module Content:

This module engages students with the latest research in management theory, practise and
science using a very practical and scenario-driven approach. While it does this in the
wider context of debate within the subject areas, it focuses especially on the latest
research being undertaken within the Business School of the University of South Wales,
integrating this research into the practice of managers as strategists within their own
organisations.
This module will develop throughout its period of delivery, but currently those areas
which will be the focus of this module include:
Managing Knowledge The focus of this aspect of the module is on the ways
organisations develop and enhance their key strategic resource, knowledge, to achieve
competitive advantage. This will move from the soft end of Knowledge
Management outlining the role of people and organisational structure in the
development of management knowledge to the hard edge where the use of IT and
IS are seen as a crucial aspect of the knowledge creation process.

Managing Complexity Environmental and organisational complexity is a key

strategic challenge for organisations in the 21st Century. Our understanding of
complex adaptive systems that emerge as a result of unexpected and
discontinuous change will be explored
Managing Innovative Systems Thinking Moving from the creativity needed to
manage people and organisations the module will move to look at the underlying
understanding of the way that knowledge can be more innovatively shaped and
created. This will be driven from the paradigm that innovation in product and
process should be endemic to successful management in the 21st Century and it
is essential to have systems in place to generate and manage these ideas
Managing Strategic Discourse - Frameworks and tools are used in organisations to
help managers understand and communicate complex strategic situations.
Reductionist frameworks remain important apparatus in the armoury of strategists.

On the VLE, the material is presented in the following sequence:

Part A
1. Strategy as Practice Perspective
2. Complexity Thinking & Adaptive Systems
3. Strategic Leadership
Part B
4. Knowledge Management and the Environment
5. Intellectual Capital and Social Networks
6. Communities of Practice
7. Systems Thinking

Teaching Methods:
The teaching will consist of guided reading sessions and peer tasks (group of two).
Teamwork, student participation and contribution in peer reviews are absolutely crucial.
It is utterly crucial that students participate as fully as possible in tasks set. This is where
a great deal of the learning takes place. Failure to participate will almost inevitably lead
to a shallow approach to assessment that is then reflected in the marks awarded. The
ability to engage in critical appraisal is a necessary element in Masters level study.
If your brain is not engaged with the material covered then the thinking cannot take place,
and the learning will not happenn
Please bear in mind that you are studying a live subject. Strategic management is among
the few subjects to appear in some form on the television and in the newspapers every
day. It is a living, constantly developing discipline and this can only be captured fully by
VLE discussions, reviews and peer tasks.

Assessment Structure and Deadlines

Individual Assessments: the dates for the two pieces of coursework that make up the
assessment for the module are:
Essay 1 End of Week 4
(weight 50% towards the final grade)
Essay 2 Halfway Week 8 (weight 50% towards the final grade)
Combined: 50% towards the final grade
Briefs and Rubrics appear on the VLE

Formative VLE Tasks

Peer (Group of two) Assessments:
Week 1:
1. Peer Formations and Peer Introductory Forum
2. Individual Written Task

Week 2:
1. Peer Task on Complexity
2. Individual Written Task
Week 3:
1. Individual Work and Peer Feedback Forum on Strategic Leadership
2. Individual Written Task

Week 4:
Submission of Summative Essay 1

Week 5:
1. Peer Task Forum on Complexity Skandia Case Study
2. 2. Individual Written Task

Week 6:
1. Individual Written Task
2. Peer Task Forum on CoP ChevronTexaco Case Study

Week 7:
1. Individual Task Forum Soft Systems Thinking
2. Peer Task Forum

Week 8
Submission of Summative Essay 1

Briefs and Rubrics appear on the VLE

4

Reading
All required readings appear on the VLE.
The academic themes covered in the module are supported by a range of journal readings
appearing on the VLE.
Students should also access their own material. Some useful journals include the
following. Most of these should be available electronically through the learning resource
centre although students should not necessarily restrict themselves to these.
Academy of Management Review
Business and Society Review
Business Process Management Journal
California Management Review
Harvard Business Review
International Journal of Management Decision Making
Journal of Information Systems
Journal of Intellectual Capital
Journal of Management
Journal of Management Studies
Knowledge and Process Management
Long Range Planning
McKinsey Quarterly
Sloan Management Review
Strategic Change
Strategic Management Journal
World Wide Web sites
http://www.sap-in.org/home

A forum for ideas around the Strategy as Practice

perspective

www.ap-institute

An excellent resource on Intellectual Capital

developed by some of the leading practitioners in the
field

http://mpfollett.ning.com

A site based on the works of an important thinker

on organisations and the impact on leadership

Course assignments and due dates

Week

Assignment/ Reading

Week 1

Week 1 Readings

Due Date

Value

Forum: Peer Formations

and Peer Introductory
Forum

Individual Written Task

Week 2

End of week 1

Week 2 readings
Peer Task on Complexity

Individual Written Task

End of Week 2
Week 3

Week 3 readings
Individual Work and
Peer Feedback Forum
on Strategic Leadership

End of Week 3

Individual Written
Task
Week 4
Summative
Assessment
Week 5

End of Week 4
Essay 1
Week 5 readings
Peer Task Forum on
Complexity Skandia Case
Study
End of Week 5

50% Towards the

Final Grade

Individual Written Task

Week 6 readings
Week 6

Individual Written Task

Peer Task Forum on
Communities of Practice
End of Week 6
ChevronTexaco
Week 7 readings
Individual Task Forum
Soft Systems Thinking

Peer Task Forum

Week 7
Week 8
Summative
Assessment

End of Week 7
Essay 2

End of Week 8
TOTAL
6

50% towards
Final
Grade
100%

Please find essays briefs 1 & 2

in VLEs weeks 4 and 8