Managing performance and change
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| 6 Tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) | |
| Examination | Includes residential school |
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This course is available for study in the countries shown. Fees may vary by country.
Summary
Get the tools and techniques you need to improve performance in your team, department, organisation or project. This course uses cross-functional perspectives – from finance and accounting, markets, operations, and people – to analyse complex management problems. It will enable you to understand, measure and improve performance, and develop advanced skills in areas such as change management. By the end of the course, you’ll be better equipped to make appropriate management decisions and interventions. You will undertake project work throughout, culminating in a full project proposal and investigation. Completing this course, which includes a residential school (either face-to-face or online), will give you a Professional Diploma in Management (D64).
This course is offered with a combination of face-to-face and online tuition. If you would prefer entirely online tuition please use the course code BZX700.
Course content
The course’s first learning objective is to enable you to understand how different disciplines contribute to more generic management tasks and projects. The second learning objective is to enable you to understand how course frameworks apply to your own work and organisation. You will be asked to reflect on how ideas are applied in your own organisation, and from time to time you will carry out a more substantial task based on your own organisation. The third learning objective is to extend your understanding of management problems beyond your own organisation and sector. To make this learning possible there are structured activities throughout the course, using online discussion forums. Towards the end of the course you will submit a 6000 word project report.
There are three blocks of study, each organised round a theme. Structured work building towards a project is integrated throughout the three blocks. There is also an end-of-course examination.
Block 1 Understanding performance starts with the question ‘What do we mean by performance? This is approached from the perspectives of markets, finance, operations, information, and people. The block goes on to consider the value of performance measurement, how different kinds of performance might be measured and evaluated, and the problems associated with performance evaluation.
Block 2 Improving performance again considers different perspectives on performance, but this time the emphasis is on strategies for improvement.
Block 3 considers two related themes, Managing projects and change. It introduces frameworks for understanding and implementing change. The first part looks at the management of projects, taking the human and political aspects into account as well as the technical aspects. The second part of the block considers common drivers for change and approaches to implementing and managing it.
While many of the study sessions are specific to operations, information, finance, markets or people, the study guide provides material and activities designed to help you understand how these perspectives work together. By the time you have completed the course you should:
- understand how different disciplines contribute to more generic management tasks and projects.
- have extended your understanding of management problems beyond your own organisation.
- have developed your analytical, reflective and decision-making skills.
- be able to hold informed conversations with functional specialists and understand how to draw effectively on their expertise.
- be better able to make appropriate interventions and decisions in the management of teams, projects and departments.
- have an improved awareness of and ability to contribute to a strategic view of organisational objectives.
- understand how course frameworks apply to your own work and organisation.
- be better prepared for future study either with the OU Business School or elsewhere, and for lifelong learning more generally.
The project will enable you to:
- undertake and report on an in-depth investigation of an issue of performance management of your own choosing, resulting in recommendations for a programme of action.
- apply course concepts and theory in a practical context.
- integrate several of the disciplines you have studied.
- demonstrate empirical investigative skills.
Your project report will include sections designed to be useful to a ‘client’ (such as a senior manager in the organisation), and will also discuss the learning you have gained and relate it to the theoretical frameworks you have studied.
The course will enable you to practise:
- application and evaluation of course concepts from at least two of the perspectives
- selecting investigative methods
- collecting data, including primary data
- basic data analysis
- relating the findings of your analysis to course frameworks
- making feasible and appropriate recommendations
- reflecting on the finished project – an appreciation of its strengths and weaknesses
- producing a clear exposition of the wider learning you can transfer from the project process and findings to other management situations.
Residential school
Attendance at a residential school is compulsory for the award of the Professional Diploma in Management. You can choose to attend either a three day face-to-face residential school or an online version. The online activity runs over a period of three weeks. The cost of the school is included in the course fee. See our Residential Schools website for more information.
Entry
The Professional Diploma in Management will be of particular interest to middle-level managers in large organisations and those who have a leadership role in smaller organisations. It offers an opportunity to step back from your own situation and focuses on themes of understanding and improving performance and managing projects and change.
To enter the Professional Diploma you must hold our Professional Certificate in Management or an approved equivalent qualification. You also need to have personal knowledge and experience of managing in an organisation. The course lasts for twelve months. If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.
Qualifications
You will be awarded Professional Diploma in Management (D64) on successful completion.
B700 is an optional course in our
- Postgraduate Diploma in Computing for Commerce and Industry (C02)
- Professional Diploma in Management (D64)
- MSc in Software Development (F26)
- MBA (F02)
- Master of Public Administration (F44)
- MBA (Life Sciences) (F38)
- MBA (Technology Management) (F03)
- MSc in Computing for Commerce and Industry (F05)
- MSc in Human Resource Management (F40)
- MSc in International Finance and Management (F39)
- MSc in Strategic Management of Information Systems (F54)
Some postgraduate qualifications allow study to be chosen from other subject areas. We advise you to refer to the relevant qualification descriptions for information on the circumstances in which this course can count towards these qualifications because from time to time the structure and requirements may change.
Excluded combinations
Sometimes you will not be able to count a course towards a qualification if you have already taken another course with similar content. To check any excluded combinations relating to this course, visit our excluded combination finder or check with our Student Registration & Enquiry Service before registering.
If you have a disability or additional requirement
The course books are available on CD-ROM in ‘ReadOut’ format with navigational facilities. The text is provided and, where available, a real voice recording. You will need your usual interface to access the material, e.g. a screen reader with synthetic speech output, screen enlargement software or Braille facilities. Other alternative formats of the course materials may be available in the future. Our Services for disabled students website has the latest information about availability.
You will need to make considerable use of a personal computer and the internet. Some study sessions of the course are presented on CD-ROM/DVD. You may like to consider taking the version of the course that has online tutorials, BZX700. After you have registered you will receive detailed information about the residential school venues and the facilities available to help with the academic programme.
If you are a new student, or new to courses using a computer or the internet, you will need to inform us of your particular needs as soon as possible, as some of our support services may take several weeks to arrange. Details of how to do this and our range of support services are described in our booklets Meeting Your Needs and Meeting your residential school needs, which you can download or request from our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.
You can also find information about accessible course materials, financial support and the Disabled Students' Allowance, equipment and other services, on our Services for disabled students website. It also includes our contact details for advice and support both before you register and while you are studying.
Course materials
What's included
Study guides, course books, multimedia, website, online forums and residential school.
You will need
DVD player, internet access. You will use the internet to submit assignments and to work collaboratively with other students on tasks based on concepts and assignments presented in the course. You will have access to a course website that offers resources for and news about the Professional Diploma.
Computing requirements
This course has online computer activities – you can access these using a web browser that can play Flash and Shockwave. The course software is provided on CD-ROM or DVD.
You will need internet access and a computer. If you have purchased a new Windows computer since 2002 it should meet your course computing requirements. Check our Technical Requirements section if your computer is older than this or is otherwise unusual. Please note that you can use an Apple Mac or Linux computer if you can run Windows using Boot Camp or similar.
Teaching and assessment
Support from your tutor
You will be allocated a tutor who will help you with the course material, conduct tutorials and mark and comment on your written work, and whom you can ask for advice and guidance. Your tutor will offer tutorials that you are encouraged, but not obliged, to attend. Where tutorials are held depends on the distribution of students taking the course. Contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service if you want to know more about study with The Open University before you register.
Assessment
The assessment details for this course can be found in the facts box above.
You will be expected to submit your tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) online through the eTMA system unless there are some difficulties which prevent you from doing so. In these circumstances, you must negotiate with your tutor to get their agreement to submit your assignment on paper.
Students also studied
Students who studied this course also studied at some time:
Future availability
The details given here are for the course that starts in November 2009 and May 2010. We expect it to be available twice a year.
How to register
To register a place on this course return to the top of the page and use the Click to register button. For more information and advice about registration see OU Study Explained.
About this page
A postgraduate course in Business and Management.
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Student Reviews
This was a really enjoyable course and I learnt a lot of new things which were really interesting. There is ...
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B700 (or the online version BZX700 which I did) is a comprehensive management course. I'd studied for CIM qualifications in ...
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