SFS40416 Organisation and leadership 3 (Autumn 2018–Spring 2019)

The course is connected to the following study programs

Mandatory course in the Master's Programme in Organization and Leadership.

Absolute requirements

The course Organization and Leadership 2 (30 ECTS credits) or equivalent must be passed.

Lecture Semester

Fifth and sixth semester (autumn and spring). Part-time with eight three-day sessions in total during the autumn and spring semesters.

The student's learning outcomes after completing the course

After completing the course, the student is capable of:

• understanding the background for and content of relevant changes in working life and what consequences these have for the roles of leader and employee

• understanding the leader's role in development work

• understanding development and change processes in a learning perspective

• understanding how learning takes place in working life

• understanding how leadership is learnt and how leadership can be developed in a more systematic manner

• understanding appointment processes and how new employees are integrated in their new place of work

• planning and carrying out an independent, limited research or development project (master's thesis) under supervision and in accordance with applicable research ethical standards

• using qualitative and quantitative research methods

Content

Modern organisational forms impose strict requirements on the leader's competence, and the need to develop such competence has therefore become an important focus for development in many organisations. The aim of the course is to enable the students to conduct development work in their own organisation, within the framework of their own leadership position or as part of staff functions. The basis for conducting such development work is a critical analysis of the organisation's functioning, a good understanding of the special conditions that apply to change processes and the expedient choice of instruments.

Leaders require mental tools to interpret trends in working life and social life in a critical and constructive manner, but also specific action-oriented tools to bring about desired changes. The goal of being both critical and constructive is a fundamental element of the course.

Through the course, the students will work towards developing a project outline for their thesis. This work will be carried out in groups, individually, at seminars and with their supervisor. Through teaching in philosophy of science, research design and quantitative and qualitative methodology, the students will develop the necessary knowledge and skills for work on the thesis. Work on philosophy of science, research design and methodology will be directly linked to the students' thesis work so that on completion of the course, the students will have a more reflective basis for starting to write their thesis.

Forms of teaching and learning

The course builds on the students' own experience and requires a great deal of activity and engagement on the part of the students, both at and between sessions. The sessions will be similar to workshops, with a great deal of group work on developing methods and tools for organisational and leadership development. Lectures and literature review will make up a small part of the sessions. This places great responsibility on the students in relation to working independently on the syllabus and raising difficult topics at the sessions in the form of questions.

Supervision
Each student will be appointed a supervisor and a contract between HiØ and the individual student will be signed that sets out the supervision and its scope.

Workload

The expected number of working hours for the whole course is 840 hours, of which teaching sessions comprise 168 hours.

Coursework requirements - conditions for taking the exam

Attendance requirement of 75 % of teaching days
Thesis seminar:

• Submit a thesis outline and present it orally

• Act as an opponent for the outlines of fellow students

Required coursework must be approved before the student can take the exam.

Examination

Assignment
The student(s) must draw up a project outline for the thesis work of 15-25 pages, individually or in pairs. The project outline must cover the research question, theory and research design for the planned master's thesis. The grades Pass/Fail are used.

Examiners

One external and one internal examiner or two internal examiners are used.

Conditions for resit/rescheduled exams

If the grade Fail is awarded, the candidate(s) must submit a new project outline individually or in pairs.

Course evaluation

Student evaluations are conducted in accordance with the procedures for quality assurance work at HiØ.