University of Leicester - School of Management - Distance Learning

MSc in Management

Course Structure

Stage 1

• Foundations of Professional Knowledge and Skills: requisite quantitative awareness, analysis of the production of “knowledge” within management, encourages students to begin developing personal skills necessary for academic and business environments.
• Organisational Analysis: Structure and work organization; the impact of technology; organizational culture; managers and decision; power and organizational control: human resource management and the future of work.
• The Business Environment: The roles of effective managers; strategy and organisations’ search for added value; managing the value chain; operations and quality; vision; mission; PEST; SWOT; stakeholder analysis.
• Principles & Practices of Marketing: Presents the concepts of marketing in all types of organizations; promotes understanding of inter-relationships between the marketing mix elements and an appreciation of marketing in a strategic sense.
• Accountability, Representation and Control: Conceptual frameworks for financial analysis; the role and nature of financial institutions; the determination of interest rates; investment and saving decisions and capital budgeting.

Stage 2

• Critical Perspectives on Management: Impact of globalization; the consumer society; the risk society; business ethics and corporate responsibility; biotechnology; the social effects of the internet.
• Management in a Global Context: Cultural and contextual diversity in organisations; impact on management and organization behaviour; managing in less developed countries and emerging economics; problems associated with contextual or cultural stereotyping.

Stage 3

Two electives will normally be undertaken. The following list provides examples of Electives currently offered to candidates:

• Project Management for IT
• Managing Information: Technology and Systems
• International Organisational Behaviour
• Public Finance
• International Finance and Globalisation
• Fixing Futures: Trading and Other Narratives
• Accounting representations: Public and Private Sector
• Branding and Communication
• Business-to-Business Marketing and Supply Chain Management
• Knowledge Management
• Managing Diversity
• A Critical Inquiry into Consultancy
• Critical Perspectives on Corporations and Consumers
• Critical Approaches to HRM
• Alternative Economies
• The Future of Work
• Marketing of Services
• Consumption, Society and Culture
• Total Quality Management
• Information Technology in Marketing
• International Marketing
• Retail Marketing
• Employee Relations
• Strategic Human Resource Management
• Benchmarking
• Shakespeare and Management
• Developments in Business Finance
• Performance Measurement: Quantitative Approaches
• Investment and Portfolio Analysis

Note: the availability of Electives may change from year to year.

Stage 4

After reviewing a range of alternative research methods candidates will undertake a research project which will provide them with an opportunity to examine, in depth, a topic of particular relevance to their own interests.

During the course of the dissertation process you will independently identify an appropriate management issue and apply theoretical knowledge to this area in order to produce realistic, critically informed analysis. This stage of the MSc in Management provides an opportunity for you to integrate and inter-relate concepts, techniques and competencies acquired in the course of the programme.

The dissertation will be of 15,000 words in length. Students completing dissertations will be expected to demonstrate:

• Initiative and capacity for setting up the problem in a tractable form;
• An understanding of research methods;
• Application of relevant analytical and problem solving skills;
• Logical argument and clear written communication skills.