Course programme
What you'll study The programme contains four taught modules and a further dissertation/portfolio component. You'll have a range of choices throughout the degree enabling you to design a pathway that is most relevant to your academic, business and career ambitions. All students take modules I and III, and you can choose between options in fashion and design for modules II and IV. Attendance is mandatory for all taught sections of the programme. To encourage collaborative learning we try to teach all students together wherever possible, irrespective of their particular pathway. Module title Credits. Module I: Theories of Capital Module I: Theories of Capital 30 credits Theories of Capital critically examines key theories of social, economic, cultural and symbolic capital. The module details these conceptual capital frameworks and compliments this theoretical foundation with application in the creative and cultural industries with a focus on government policy and the unique economic characteristics of the creative industries. For example consumer consumption of status goods will be assessed using theories of symbolic and social capital. Emphasis will be given on the role of intellectual capital in policy. Students will learn the analytical rigour to critically assess creative and cultural industry policy and market structures. Students will be able to translate theory into practice, and practice into theory. 30 credits. Enterprising Leadership: An Introduction to the Discourse of Contemporary Leadership, Enterprise, and Innovation Theory Enterprising Leadership: An Introduction to the Discourse of Contemporary Leadership, Enterprise, and Innovation Theory 30 credits The discourses of contemporary “Leadership” and “Enterprise Theory” are, much like the wider discourse of Management Theory itself, in a state of critical transformation. The authority, validity, and appropriateness of that type of scientifically influenced or “positivist” thinking that informed so much of the early “Taylorist” and “Fordist” influenced work of the so-called “first age” (Snowden, 2005) of Management Theory has been thrown into disrepute, as have many of the premises of that more contextually aware and “constructively” influenced work that informed the so-called “second age.”. Undermined by both the universalising and de-contextualising tendencies of that type of thinking that defined the “first age,” and the still latent problems of the “implementation” or “internalisation” (Nonaka, 1995) of the insights of that thinking that defined the “second age,” we are now in a position in which—in what is increasing being recognised as the “third age” of Management Theory—all of the principle discourses of Management Theory from Knowledge Management, to Organizational Theory, Enterprise Theory, Innovation, and Leadership, are having to come to terms with the difficult question of how they can still deal with their various objects of analysis, whether that be the essential nature, qualities, or conditions of successful Leadership, Enterprise, or Innovation, in a relatively organized, structured, and predictable way, and yet a way that does not undermine, foreclose, or delimit the essential “complexity,” unpredictability, and “emergent” qualities of these phenomena and the contexts in which they arise. This is a problem that has seen a pronounced emphasis in recent years on the analysis of the role that the individual “creative,” “entrepreneurial,” or “self-actualising” subject plays in the “narrative” construction of their own relationships to those contexts in which they exist, innovate, lead, or learn (Tsoukas, 2005).. This module will introduce students to all of the main theories that have contributed to the evolution of this discourse from the early scientifically orientated, “positivist,” and “essentialist” theories of Frederick Winslow Taylor in The Principles of Scientific Management (1911), to Joseph Schumpeter’s work on Innovation as “creative destruction” (1934), to Gordon Allport (1921) and Kurt Lewin’s (1935) early work on “Trait Theory” and “Situational” theories of personality as they have been applied to Leadership, to Ralph Stacey (2001, 2003, 2010), and Henry Chesborough’s (2003, 2006, 2010) recent work on “Organizational Complexity” and “Open Innovation,” to more recent “Transactional,” “Transformational,” and “Organic” Theories of Leadership, to Ikujiro Nonaka’s (1995) and Hubert Dreyfus’ (1997) “ontologically” orientated theories of Innovation, and Roger Martin (2009) and Armand Hatchuel’s (2010) recent work on the value of various “design thinking” lead creative research methodologies to the articulation of how we can most ‘productively’ act, think, innovate, and lead, within the ever increasing “complexity” of current business environments.. The principle objective of this archaeological analysis of the history of the evolution and development contemporary Management Theory, and particularly as it has been applied to the discourses of contemporary “Enterprise” and “Leadership” Theory, is to enable students to develop a comprehensive understanding of not only the history of the discourse but also how the insights of these theories can be practically applied to the conceptualisation and analysis of their own projects—thus overcoming the much debated “relevancy gap” in so much contemporary Management Theory and education.. Particular emphasis will also be placed on the “cross-cultural” significance of this work in relationship to both Gert Hoftstede (2001) and Richard E. Nisbett’s (2005) work on the differing “dimensions” of cultural belief, value, and understanding. 30 credits. Module IV: Entrepreneurial Practices and Modes of Production Either: Business of Design 30 Credits OR Work Placement 30 Credits You will undertake a work placement within an SME, Producing or Research Organisation within the cultural and creative industries. There will be initial taught/tutorial sessions on managing an internship and experiential learning and assessment would be by an analytical report on the ‘culture of management’ of the organisation. In some pathways this will be augmented by classes in specific skill areas (such as marketing) as you are likely to be working in skill-specific departments of organisations. Module V: Dissertation or Project/Portfolio The content and research imperatives of the dissertation/portfolio can be developed in tutorials with staff to address your individual needs. It could range from an entirely written document researching a particular area of the cultural and creative industries to a fully developed proposal for a new business. Please note that due to staff research commitments not all of these modules may be available every year.
