module specification

This module is designed to enable postgraduate students the opportunity to gain a minimum of 30 days work experience relevant to their course, to evaluate the activities of the host organisation, to carry a work-based project or piece of research, to identify and articulate skills and knowledge developed during the placement and to obtain employer feedback.

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The aim of the module is to enable postgraduate students to gain work experience with an organisation relevant to their course of study. Through a sustained period of work-based experiential learning and through exposure to and engagement with professional practice in business or service sector management students will have the opportunity to:
1. become familiar with current practices and recent developments in business/service sector management within a specific organisational context
2. develop and strengthen their practical knowledge and theoretical understanding of business or service sector management
3. acquire a range of appropriate professional competencies and more general transferable skills in business and service sector management which can support them in future practitioner roles
4. develop a reflexive understanding of what constitutes effectiveness in business and service sector management and how to evaluate this
5. increase their comparative awareness of business culture and practice
6. demonstrate research and analytical skills through undertaking a business project or piece of research relevant to that organisation's work.

Students will spend a minimum of 30 days attached to an appropriate private sector business, public or not-for-profit organisation. This could be a 6-week block (for example, over the summer period for students starting their course in February), spread over a longer period such as 2 days a week over a 15-week semester (which may be appropriate for the spring semester for students starting their course in October) or a combination of the two. The placement will enable the development of an agreed range of relevant professional skills and competencies identified through personal profiling. During the placement, students will be required to maintain a continuous and reflective record of their work and the experiences gained. This will enable them to consider the ways in which business activities are organised and evaluated, and to monitor and reflect upon their placement experience and its implications for professional practice. Students will also be required to carry out research into a business problem or issue and make recommendations to improve the efficiency or effectivess of the organisation. Students will need to have access to the facilities and staff of the organisation in order to understand its goals and activities and be able to carry out this research. While the research does not have to be commissioned by the organisation, approval will need to be obtained from the organisation and from the module convenor to the research topic chosen. During the placement, students will have tutorials with the module convenor to help them carry out the project effectively.

Students will have contact with the module leader who will provide them with detailed information on the requirements of the report and opportunities to seek guidance via the submission of drafts.

By the end of the placement students should be able to:
1. demonstrate depth of knowledge and understanding of current practices and recent developments in a specific area of business/service sector management
2. demonstrate a range of appropriate professional competencies and more general transferable skills in business and service sector management
3. evaluate a business problem and recommend action to increase the efficiency or effectiveness of the organisation
4. demonstrate a reflexive capacity to appreciate how current knowledge and models of practice in business can inform their own practice and that in other organisational and cultural contexts

Students will produce a single report of 5000 words (weighted at 80% overall). This will consist of an explanation and critical review of the activities of the organisation ), an evaluative reflection of their work experience, skills gained and implications for professional practice and a report of the project/research undertaken and its implications for the host organisation
The host employer will also be required to complete an assessment form rating the student's performance in a number of areas including personal characteristics (eg motivation), quality of work, interpersonal skills and intellectual skills (weighted at 20% overall). The assessment criteria will be clearly explained to employers in an accompanying employer pack to ensure fairness and consistency.

The submission date for the report will be week 12 .

Bolman,L.G.& Deal,T.E.( 1997) Reframing Organisations, Jossey-Bass
Grey, C. (2005) A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book about Studying Organizations, Sage, London
Moon (1999) Reflection in Learning & Professional Development, Kogan Page
Schon (1987) Educating the Reflective Practitioner, San Franciso, Jossey Bass