BUSI47Z15: International Study Tour

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• To provide an opportunity for students to visit leading international organisations and to understand and evaluate the complex nature of different dimensions of their organisational system.
• For students to analyse at least one major organisation on a significant dimension of its organisational system. (e.g. culture, strategy, finance, innovation, HRM).
• For students to research and produce either a single detailed case study or a comparative analysis of two organisations, based on desk research prior to the tour and primary research conducted during the tour.
• To enhance the employability of students, through exposure to leading international organisations.
• To give students an insight into different working environments when they are considering in which sector to start their careers.

• Pre-Tour preparation:
• In groups, students will thoroughly research a case organisation in general terms and, in terms of either a strategic analysis focused on a particular area (e.g. innovation, finance, HRM) or on a research topic to be confirmed prior to the tour.
• They will produce and present group presentations, based on their desk-research (e.g. published case studies, as well as articles in leading periodicals and newspapers, such as the FT).
• They will prepare a research plan on how they will tackle the topic relevant to each organisation's needs.
• The Tour:
• The tour will comprise of visits to each of the case organisations, with time set aside for group work.
• During each visit, students will present their analysis to the representatives of the case organisations.There will be time for feedback and questions.
• The Post-Tour debrief:
• After the Tour, the students will submit a summative assignment comprising their own final analysis, either of a single organisation or comparing and contrasting two organisations (2,500 words).
• They will also submit a second summative assignment (500 words) detailing their own reflections on the experience, what they personally during the Tour, and how they will make use of this experience and knowledge in their future career (i.e. a reflective practitioner essay).
• The presentation to the case organisation is also part of the summative assignment and will receive feedback during the post-trip debrief workshop.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• By the end of the module, students will be able to demonstrate a critical understanding of:
• Methods for identifying and presenting a case organisation's essential dimensions (scale, history, structure, operations and markets, current performance)
• Methods for identifying and analysing how the host organisations design and co-ordinate their operations or policies on a given management topic
• Critical analysis of how this approach originated, and its impact on operational performance and employee well-being in the host organisations
• Organisations as systems.
• Applied analysis of theory and frameworks at an advanced level inside a real organisation
• The benefits and limitations of primary research, especially the production of detailed case studies

Subject-specific Skills:

• Ability to identify evidence for the underlying assumptions and theoretical differences in different approaches to particular aspects of organisational systems.
• Effective group work, including collaborative effort in the research, drafting, and presentation of a report, as well as interpersonal sensitivity, perhaps across national cultural boundaries.
• Desk research and primary research associated with case studies
• Ability to appreciate the concept of a reflective practitioner and to reflect critically on their own mindsets and practices as a way of learning and developing.

Key Skills:

• Written communication; planning, organising and time management; problem solving and analysis; interpretation of data; computer literacy; interpersonal skills.

• The summative assessment is designed to test the students' theoretical understanding of their chosen topic, and their ability to apply this to contemporary settings. It also tests their capacity for reflective practitioner insights.
• Because the majority of the learning activity takes place on the tour itself, there will be no formal lectures. Instead, there will be four preparatory workshops during Term 2, which will prepare the students for the tour, get them to reflect on case study methodology in the preparation for their group presentations, and to agree upon a viable approach to the primary research to be undertaken on the tour itself.
• On the tour itself, the participating organisations, having been briefed and having agreed on the overall theme of their visit, will submit to questioning and other forms of primary research. The groups will prepare questions, and assess the evidence for the organisation's responses to those questions. Free time during the tour will be used to consolidate knowledge, and/or to prepare for visits to the case organisations.
• After the tour, the students will have the opportunity to receive feedback and reflect on their experience with the trip at a post-tour debrief workshop.

Feedback will be provided on group presentations during the preparatory seminars, as well as during the tour itself. Students will receive feedback in verbal format on a group basis.

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