Course description
PGDip
The Diploma in Management and Leadership – DML (formerly Diploma in Management Studies - DMS) is a well-established and nationally recognised postgraduate/post-experience level qualification. The first year of the DML consists of the Certificate in Management (CM). The second year builds on the CM by expanding knowledge and skills in a range of areas. You will study modules in Managing People, Financial Management, Strategic Marketing Management, Managing Organisational Strategy, Leadership Innovation and Change and Undertaking Work-Based Research Projects.
On successful completion of the DML you will be eligible to continue your studies on a part-time MA programme: MA in Management, or MA in the Management of Innovation and Change.
The DML is run at Oxford Brookes’ Wheatley Campus.
Course content
Year 2 (the diploma year) comprises the following modules:
Managing People covers people management issues that are of relevance to line managers, such as employee resourcing, employee development, employee relations and reward management. The aim of the module is to both enhance the student’s understanding of relevant people management issues and to develop their ability to manage people within the organisational context.
Financial Management builds upon areas of study undertaken in the Certificate in Management and enables students to develop a more in-depth understanding of financial management in both the public and private sectors. The module aims to create more effective managers by providing a sound knowledge of financial reporting, financial analysis and financially based decision-making techniques.
Strategic Marketing has an important role in the strategic planning process of an organisation because the application of the principles of marketing gives an organisation its overall sense of purpose and direction. By building on the work undertaken on the Certificate in Management the module is able to provide students with a sound understanding of strategic marketing management principles and the confidence to apply these principles in the workplace.
Managing Organisational Strategies provides a framework for the analysis of the organisation with particular reference to the relationship between organisational design, communication and the transfer of knowledge and encompasses IS/IT strategies as well as those that relate to general management . The organisation will be viewed from a variety of perspectives that will shed light on varied aspects of organisational behaviour and the management process within the context of the need for managers to create value and achieve competitive advantage.
Leadership, Innovation and Change In the continuing quest of organisations to achieve sustainable competitive advantage and in the pursuit of excellence; Leadership Innovation & Change play a crucial role.
Whilst seeming at first glance to be disparate subject areas, they combine to produce a synergy that is disproportionate and their subject areas are amongst those currently at the forefront of modern management thinking.
The three subject areas will be studied, evaluated and considered strategically both individually and then collectively; this by taking a holistic view as to their ability to provide sustainable competitive advantage / excellence, due primarily to the qualitative nature of their content.
Undertaking Work-Based Projects provides a framework within which a range of management research skills can be exercised within the context of a practical work-based project. Through participation in this module students will be able to gain important management research skills which they will then apply to a work-based project agreed in advance with the module leader. The topic must be real, practical, complex, broadly based and allow students to apply knowledge and understanding from the course. The module is integrative and is intended to encourage students to draw together learning from appropriate modules. Students are expected to show managerial expertise in completing this part of the course and for this reason the investigation will be a self-managed activity. Support and guidance during the investigation will be provided by tutors, mentors and fellow students. The overall responsibility for completing the investigation lies with individual students.
Teaching, learning and assessment
Learning methods include lectures, seminars, workshops, directed reading, self-directed learning and project work. Each module is taught by tutors who specialise in the module topic. The modules are assessed individually with a range of assessment methods being used. An integrative Case Study approach is used throughout the core modules; this to ensure that students gain an insight into key management areas collectively as well as individually.
Quality
The reputation of the Business School is underpinned through membership of and programme accreditations received from the Association of MBAs, the Association of Business Schools, and professional associations such as the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, and the European Foundation for Management Development. The Business School is, therefore, widely regarded as one of the best within its peer group.
The Business School’s programmes benefit from rigorous quality assurance procedures and regularly receive excellent feedback from external examiners, employers, students and professional bodies. In 2005, Business and Management achieved ‘Broad Confidence’, the best possible result, in the discipline audit trail as part of the Quality Assurance Agency Institutional Audit.
Many students who graduate from Business School programmes go on to achieve high status in the industry of their choice.
The Business School has an active programme of research based around six key research areas:
* Accounting, Governance and Information Management
* Economics and Strategy
* Hospitality, Leisure and Tourism Management
* Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour
* Marketing and Operations Management
* Pedagogy
The School maintains a rigorous and dynamic doctoral programme leading to the higher degrees of MPhil and PhD. Postgraduate students join a supportive, friendly and multicultural research environment.
