Write a 1500 word module report on your learning and participation in the Exploring Strategic Management module. The work should be divided into three sections, each of which must be approximately 500 words long. The sections ought to cover the following: Assessment Overview What is strategy? •
Exploring Strategic Management module
In the opening section the discussion should focus on a brief discussion of what strategy is, and how this links to your conceptualisation of strategic management. You should think in depth and from different perspectives and explain what you have learnt with reference to appropriate models and theories from the subject. Emphasis should be placed on demonstrating and evaluating your team’s core approach to strategic management in the simulation game, linking to the next section. Assessment Overview Strategy and the simulation game • In this section emphasis should be placed on discussing how the experience of participating in the simulation changed your thinking about strategy from a theoretical and practical perspective. Your discussion should evaluate the approach you chose as well as refer to alternate approaches, possibly discussing why you rejected them. This section may also provide the opportunity to discuss divergent viewpoints expressed by other members of your team, and how you came to an agreement. This element of the work can be used to link to the following section, reflecting on the experience of team work. Assessment Overview Reflection • This section should include an analysis of what you will take away from this module as a developing practitioner, from both an academic and professional viewpoint. The discussion should be based around your experience of the module, undertaking the simulation game, working with other team members, and your developing understanding of strategic management theory. You should also discuss what you would do differently in similar situations in the future, and how this experience links to future management studies and future work. Assessment Overview • You should make use of suitable academic material to support and critically reflect upon your use and understanding of strategic management theory and practice. A good essay will draw on material beyond the text book set for the module, and will provide a critical focus on one core approach to strategy as discussed in the taught sessions and applied to experiences from the simulation game. Sufficient analysis should also be incorporated, moving beyond a descriptive narrative of experiences from the module. Core Approaches – Pick One Core Approach To Strategic Management Big Ideas Planning School Strategic Plans, Ansoff Matrix, SWOT, Strategy and Structure Positioning School Porter’s 5 Forces, Generic Strategies, Value Chain, Diamond Cultural School (Resource Based View, Dynamic Capabilities) Internal Analysis, Resources, Grant’s Strategy Models, Barney’s VRIN framework, Teece et. al. Dynamic Capabilities Emergent School (Emergent Strategies, Strategy without Design) Mintzberg’s Emergent Strategies, Chia and Holt’s Strategy without Design Scenario Planning Environmental analysis, best and worst case scenarios Key Points • The other core ideas from the module can be used in other areas of the assessment, and to show your deeper understanding: – What strategy and strategic management are link to the first section of the assessment – The gaps in strategic management, realities and rhetoric can be used to enhance your learning from the module in the second and third sections Key Points • Focus the core of your work on one of these areas, using reference to others to help your justification of strategic approaches – Doing all of them shows a lack of focus • Youmustengagewiththebiggerideasrelatedto the models you want to use – E.g. doing SWOT or PESTLE is not enough • These are all tools for understanding, not the core of corporate strategies/strategic management Key Points • Theories are not the same as truths • Picking a theoretical model and using it in the game is NOT the same as a corporate strategy – It is a way of helping us to understand • Simply doing a PESTLE analysis is NOT the same as scenario planning • Filling out a PESTLE/VRIN/SWOT/5 Forces framework is just data sorting – Analysis is needed, not description and observation Key Points • What you did in the game and its outcome are irrelevant – What matters is how the game helped you to understand strategy and strategic management theory, and the links between theory and practice • Describing what you did in the game is not what the assessment asks for Sources and References • You have been guided through a lot of readings on this module and had suggestions for further readings made – Use them! – Once you have picked your core approach to Strategic Management, read around that topic using the VLE, suggested readings and reading lists as a guide – You MUST show some engagement with journal articles and books, and evidence your own learning beyond the recordings – Websites are a very last resort – Do not reference the lectures or recordings Individual Formative – Assessment Outline • 1 side of A4 maximum, use bulletpoints • You should outline what you plan to write about in each of the three sections, including: – The main theoretical approaches you are using for the assessment, including key authors you have/will read – Which elements of the module and simulation game you are using to explore and evaluate your understanding of strategy and strategic management Individual Formative – Assessment Outline • To get feedback you must print your outline and see your module tutor in person. – More details regarding when will be posted on the VLE – Use our office hours too – For equity purposes, you are only allowed to see one of the module tutors once • We WILL NOT read any outlines sent to us by email. Feedback • We appreciate your feedback on the module • You should have received an email with a link to provide electronic feedback at the start of this session Summary • Start by setting the scene, and include yourself as an actor! • Do not describe the whole course • Theoryandpractice—usereferences(correctly!) • End not with where you are but where you are going •
Exploring Strategic Management module
Youaredocumentingandreflectingonyour learning journey; the essay should be structured as a narrative of movement forward
