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The course prepares students to undertake strategy activity as reflective practitioners and provides the conceptual background needed for research in the strategy field.
The course involves students in debating multiple perspectives on each of the major strategy issues faced by managers. The debate draws on papers by leading strategic thinkers, and applies their ideas to contemporary business cases. The cases are international in scope, reflecting contemporary global business connectedness. The course covers strategy process, content, context and purpose.This is one of the courses for the M.Com in Management. It can also be taken as an elective in other programmes such as Marketing. Undergraduate study of strategic management (e.g. MGMT320) is helpful but not essential for this course.
The course has the dual objectives of preparing students to undertake strategy activity as reflective practitioners and providing the conceptual background needed for research in the strategy field.M.Com Learning GoalsGoal 1: Graduates can demonstrate in-depth knowledge and understanding of current theoretical concepts and frameworks within their major discipline.The course develops theoretical and applied understanding of key concepts and frameworks in strategic management.Goal 2: Graduates are able to think logically, analytically and critically with respect to the academic literature in their major discipline.The course develops these skills through dialectical debate of paradoxes in respect of each topic within the discipline.Goal 3: Graduates can plan and carry out a supervised programme of academic research that shows a sound understanding of ethical practice.The course does not specifically address this goal, but it can be pursued through thesis projects in the discipline area.Goal 4: Graduates are able to synthesise academic or professional literature and effectively communicate research orally and in written form.The course develops these skills through the dialectic and case presentations in each class, and further through the research assignment.
Subject to approval of the Head of Department
MGMT443
Paul Knott
David Stiles
Office hours: Please refer to Learn site for details.
PresentationsEach student is to make two presentations during the course: a ‘case presentation’ and a ‘dialectic presentation’ as detailed below. Guidance on these presentations will be given when required.Each presentation (case or dialectic) should last around 20 minutes. Additional time will be spent on questions and discussion. Presenters are to post a brief but well-structured report via the link on Learn by the morning after the presentation. The report must be in MS Word format (or pdf equivalent) and provide a written version of the presentation that includes illustrations where appropriate. The submissions will go through Turnitin: please be careful that your report follows in full UC policies on source attribution and referencing.Assessment criteria:o Credibility of contento Clarity and deliveryo Timingo Handling of questionso Quality of Learn submissionDialectic presentationRefer to the notes on the dialectical approach in DW&M p.18-19. The objective is to present what you believe are the salient features of the thesis and antithesis of the specified dialectic, drawing on the relevant chapter and readings, leading to your suggestions to achieve synthesis. Presentations should assume audience familiarity with the basic topic introduction in the chapter. It will help to use illustrative cases so that the presentation does not become too dry.Case presentationRefer to the notes on using the cases in DW&M p.19. The objective is to analyse the case from the opposing viewpoints in the chapter, then to present an innovative solution that moves ‘beyond the trade-off line’ as shown in Figure 1.8. The text presents cases at a point in time and with a view to illustrating the dialectic themes. The presentations should extend the analysis of the dialectic themes to cover additional, updated material. They should avoid descriptive reporting of results and strategies.Research assignmentFind and synthesise literature representing contemporary advances and debate in your chosen topic, using a dialectic form and illustrating your arguments with specific, contemporary organisational examples. Choose one topic from list A and one from list B: List A:1. Should future strategy-making move towards big-data analytics, or better big-picture judgement?2. In contemporary intranet-enabled firms, is strategic planning becoming more “off to plan” or more “out to lunch”?3. To what extent has contemporary understanding of dynamic capabilities rendered moot the inside-outside dichotomy? List B:1. Do leaders need to be ‘in charge’ to manage their organisations strategically or should they ‘let go’ and let their people think for themselves? 2. Critically evaluate using evidence the idea that businesses are becoming more uniform and standardised in their approaches to international strategy.3. Does developing an organisational mission really help an organisation become more strategic, or is it just a waste of time?Regardless of the topic, you must carry out your own original review of academic literature on the topic and move towards your own synthesis of this literature that addresses the question posed. Although the topics relate broadly to subject areas covered in the textbook and classes, you must address them more specifically and not refer extensively to dialectic discussions from class.Maximum length: 7000 words for the whole submission including appendices (reference list can be extra). Please state the word count at the beginning of the report. You should aim to submit at least 3000 words for each of your two topics.Please submit both printed copy, and electronic copy via the link on Learn, by the due date.Each report will be submitted automatically through Turnitin. All sources used must be properly referenced (including in-text attribution) as specified in UC policies. When you take an idea from another source, cite the source in the text. If you choose to use the exact words of another source, put them in quotation marks and cite the source next to the quotation.
Wit, Bob de. , Meyer, Ron; Strategy synthesis : resolving strategy paradoxes to create competitive advantage ; 3rd ed; Cengage Learning, 2010.
There is also a Learn page for the course.
MGMT643S1 Course Outline LEARN
Departmental Academic Policies The Department assumes that you have read this document.You should also read the General Course and Examination Regulations Dishonest PracticeThe University of Canterbury considers cheating and plagiarism to be serious acts of dishonesty. All assessed work must be your own individual work unless specifically stated otherwise in the assessment guidelines. Material quoted from any other source must be clearly acknowledged. You must not copy the work of another person (student or published work) in any assessment including examinations, tests and assignments. Any person, who is found to have copied someone else's work, or to have allowed their work to be copied, will receive a fail grade for that piece of assessment and may face disciplinary action which may lead to a fine, community service or exclusion from the university.IMPORTANT: Where there are concerns regarding the authorship of written course work, a student can be required to provide a formal, oral explanation of the content of their work.
Domestic fee $847.00
International Postgraduate fees
* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.
For further information see Management, Marketing and Tourism .