MBA Leadership and Sustainability

Rationale and Philosophy

The MBA has been shaped to form what the programme team believes to be a unique curriculum. It allows students to:

• Gain a UK Higher Education Institution accredited MBA.
• Study in their own time (in whatever time-zone in which they live).
• Study at their own pace (within the current period of University of Cumbria regulations for part-time study).
• Attend a residential event in the heart of the English Lake District, with opportunities for further travel in the UK if desired.
• Continue to live in their own country/location without disrupting family life.
• Continue to pursue their existing career without a break.

The MBA in Leadership and Sustainability programme aims to develop an understanding and critical appreciation of the theories, tools and techniques of leadership and management that will enable graduates to more effectively participate in leading organisational change. In doing so, the programme seeks to improve the quality of management as a profession. In particular, the overarching purpose is, in the context of the specific award, to provide students with:

• An advanced understanding of the management of organisations and the changing external context in which they operate;
• Opportunities for the systematic development of the skills of objective analysis, evaluation, and presentation to enable students to develop confidence in effectively appraising and implementing management strategies;
• An ability to apply knowledge and understanding of business and management to complex issues, both systematically and creatively, and to have a critical understanding of how business and management practice may be improved;
• A stimulating academic environment which is based upon the values of academic openness and critical appraisal.

The programme consists of the standard 180 Level-7 credits that constitute an NQF (UK National Qualifications Framework) Masters award, the content being informed by QAA (UK Quality Assurance Agency) benchmark statements for Business and Management programmes. 60 credits of the programme are provided by a dissertation.

Programme Outline

The scheme has been designed to meet the aims of the online MBA in a flexible manner and can be tailored to the individual preferences of each student. The MBA requires you to complete six courses plus a final dissertation. The programme consists of the following modules:

Introductory

Not-for-credit

Induction

This is the first module of the programme which gives an orientation to the course and the online learning style. It does not carry credits and students are encouraged to go through the material in this module at their own pace and get accustomed to the online medium.

Stage 1

120 credits, Six taught modules

Core

• Organisational Behaviour
• Marketing Management
• Financial Management
• Leadership and Sustainability
• Enterprise Ethics and Sustainability

Elective

Choose one of the following modules:

• Information Management
• Money Management
• Corporate Strategy and Competitiveness (Based on material developed by the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard Business School, and includes a mandatory residency in Zürich, Switzerland. This second residency is only required for those students who choose this module as an elective.)

Stage 2

60 credits, Individual dissertation

Dissertation Work

As an exit qualification, the Post-Graduate Certificate in Management Studies is awarded to candidates who have completed 60 credits (three modules), while the Diploma in Management Studies is awarded to candidates who have completed 120 credits (all six modules, including the residency) but have been unable to complete the dissertation. Students who achieve the full 180 credits, and have successfully completed the dissertation, exit with the award of Master of Business Administration (MBA).

Module Descriptions

There are no average courses within our MBA programme. We are bound to provide an exceptional learning experience, and there is no better way to achieve this aim than with outstanding courses. They have been carefully crafted by experienced professors and are all meant to make you a more successful and efficient manager.

There are no old-fashioned exams. Instead you are given real-life case studies and essays, which allow you to think critically about your company and your own career. All this might seem too glossy but there is one catch: we do not accept average candidates. Only individuals as outstanding as our values can find their way toward admission at the Robert Kennedy College.

Induction

Not-for-credit module

A not-for-credit induction module will be the starting point of the programme. The induction process is designed to familiarise you with the programme design, requirements and resources, as well as with the way online interaction, learning and grading will take place. After the induction you should be familiar with academic life, including academic writing, library services and library access, OnlineCampus access, and academic support services.

Organisational Behaviour

The way people are managed within organisations plays a paramount role in corporate success. In a fast changing organisational landscape, we take into account impacting factors such as social, technological, economic, environmental, political and legal considerations. With a variety of real-life case studies, you will be asked to make decisions, which will inevitably influence the (work) life of your employees. These are of course, backed by the core taught concepts, which feature group dynamics, motivation and leadership, group behaviour, communication, power, conflict and prejudice in the workspace, organisational culture and how to manage and understand change within the organisation.

Marketing Management

You will reinvent the airline business, redefine the boundaries of retailing, manage the sales of an online computer mega store, and learn how to focus on your customer. Seems like a bold prediction but it is just the content of marketing management directed by a marketing specialist.

The teaching of market segmentation, environment, research, innovative sales system, international marketing and policy planning and implementation will make sure that your view of marketing will never be the same. A concrete marketing plan for your company or your own business will be your final assessment, providing you with flexibility and effective learning results, which you can assess and apply in no time.

Financial Management

Business is about profit, and there can only be sustainability with a proper knowledge of effective financial management. Oxford and Harvard Business School graduate Prof. David Duffill will expand and reinforce your knowledge of financial accounting, management accounts, budgeting and financing.

Once again, the course leader is not just crunching numbers. He will link each topic to real financial situations where you, as the manager in chief, have to assess the financial performance of successful corporations, and develop sharp analytical skills with tools like decision tree analysis.

Financial Management is about successful financial results. At the end of this course you will not only know the basics, but you will be in the position to master every component of superior financial management and analysis.

Leadership and Sustainability

The aim of this module is to examine the nature of leadership and in particular its role in the development of sustainable business and business practices. Among other activities you will analyse and evaluate the business case for sustainable practice in selected sectors and organisations, examine the potential for implementing sustainable business practices for selected sectors and organisations, analyse personal leadership practice and its development and evaluate the personal relevance of and implications for leading sustainable change in business.

Enterprise Ethics and Sustainability

This module provides learners with the opportunity to conceptualize ethics, responsibility, and sustainability in diverse global and local settings. It allows students to develop an insight into the sustainable development from economic, social, and environmental dimensions of enterprise practices as outcomes of implementing United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Information Management

Elective module

Cloud Computing, Linux and Open Source Software, Social Media. These are only few of the new technological innovations and, at the same time, challenges presented to the managers of tomorrow.

This module aims to enable you to develop a conceptual and comprehensive understanding of the manager’s role in relation to the leading of the effective management and use of information, information technology, and information systems and to apply these within an organisational/strategic context.

Money Management

Elective module

The successful management of financial assets, be they of an individual, a small business, or a large corporation demands a knowledge of financial markets, how they operate, what instruments and investment vehicles are available, and what macro-economic forces are acting upon them. This module is designed to provide you with a broad understanding of financial markets (as distinct from a narrow specialist approach) but with sufficient details of their many components so that you may make your own investment decisions and interact with your specialist advisers.

Particular attention will be given to portfolio composition and management through ETF (Exchange Traded Funds), Mutual Funds and other innovative vehicles like structured products. Students attending this class will be able to access the Morningstar Investment Research Library and run a simulated portfolio through the OnlineCampus Trading platform.

Corporate Strategy and Competitiveness

Elective module including a one-week residency in Zürich, Switzerland

In cooperation with the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness of the Harvard Business School, Robert Kennedy College is offering this outstanding course designed by Professor Michael Porter, the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard Business School and the leading authority on corporate strategy and competitiveness. Taught by Robert Kennedy College Deputy Dean and Harvard Business School MBA graduate Professor David Duffill, this course explores the determinants of national and regional competitiveness building from the perspective of firms, clusters, sub-national units, nations, and groups of neighbouring countries.

The course is concerned not only with government policy, but with the roles that firms, industry associations, universities, and other institutions play in competitiveness. It takes examples from both advanced and developing economies, and addresses competitiveness at multiple levels. Students who take this elective have access to the exclusive video lectures of Professor Porter and are required to attend the residential session in Zürich, Switzerland.

Aims and Outcomes

Programme Aims

Through the study of management the overall aims of the programme are to provide a higher educational experience of intrinsic worth to individual participants and to achieve outcomes at a level appropriate for the award of a Post Graduate Qualification of the University. The detailed objectives envisioned by the programme are to enable students to:

• Develop relevant management and organisation knowledge, both academic and professional, in line with postgraduate standards/benchmarks.
• Develop critical reflection skills and engagement with organisation and professional theory to understand, and where appropriate, challenge existing individual and organisational perspectives and practices.
• Develop, and where appropriate, apply new knowledge to add value by enhancing organisational capability.
• Develop understanding of the organisation’s strategic focus and environment and the impact of the inter-relationship between resources, customers, clients in a changing context.
• Develop commitment to continuous personal and professional development, independence and reflective learning.
• Develop particular expertise and understanding in the fields of leadership and sustainability.
• Engage in individual research and demonstrate the ability to understand and apply management theory.
• Develop your independent research and time management skills by undertaking a substantial research project which is self managed, involves application of a variety of management and research practices, and demonstrates expertise and understanding of issues in leadership and/or sustainability.
• Enhance interpersonal and team working skills.
• Learn from the experience of other participants on the programme.
• Develop into modern, well-rounded and outward looking managers with a high concern for customers and colleagues, capable of taking responsibility for themselves, their people, their areas of responsibility and their organisation.

Learning Outcomes

This programme provides opportunities for students to develop and demonstrate:

Knowledge and Understanding

• The context and nature of management within various organisational contexts and at different organisational levels.
• The context and nature of leadership within various organisations and at different organisational levels.
• Various environmental influences which affect organisations and management in a range of complex situations, particularly those pertaining to sustainability, taking account of the inter-relationship and interaction with other areas of the business or organisation.
• Current issues in business, management and leadership, which is informed by leading edge research and practice in the field.
• Appropriate techniques sufficient to allow detailed investigation into relevant business and management issues.

Qualities, Skills and Other Attributes

• Ability to acquire and analyse data and information, to evaluate their relevance and validity, and to synthesise a range of information in the context of new situations.
• Creatively apply knowledge, together with a practical understanding of how established techniques of research and enquiry are used to develop and interpret knowledge in business and management.
• Evaluate the rigour and validity of published research and assess its relevance in new situations.
• Extrapolate from existing research and scholarship to identify new or revised approaches to practice.
• Conduct research into business leadership and management issues that requires familiarity with a range of business data, research sources and appropriate methodologies, and for such to inform the overall learning process.
• Communicate effectively both orally and in writing, using a range of media.
• Operate effectively in a variety of team roles and take leadership roles where appropriate.
• Consistently apply knowledge and subject-specific intellectual skills.
• Deal with complex issues both systematically and creatively.
• Be proactive in recognising the need for change and have the ability to manage change.
• Be adaptable and show originality, insight and critical and reflective leadership and management abilities which can be brought to bear upon problem situations.
• Evaluate and integrate theory and practice in a wide range of situations.
• Be self-directed and able to act autonomously in leading planning and implementing projects at professional levels.
• Take responsibility for continuing to develop knowledge and skills.

The Online MBA in Leadership and Sustainability programme fits within the overall mission of Robert Kennedy College: to provide academic excellence in online distance education for students worldwide, through appropriate application of leading edge technologies.