MSc Leading & Managing in Healthcare Organisations

A University of Plymouth programme.

The MSc programme is designed for those experienced practitioners who are currently in or aspiring to be in managerial roles within healthcare organisations. In today’s complex world of healthcare delivery, never has it been more important for both, medical practioners and administrative staff, to involve themselves in the realm of management.

The programme will provide course members with the ability to comprehend complex managerial procedures, as well as to recognise and understand the importance of developing policy in a healthcare environment. Although the programme engages with the political context in which healthcare managers operate, it is also designed to develop healthcare professionals to meet the challenges within a continuously changing environment. Indeed, the programme aims to equip course members with the knowledge and skills to be able to interact with a wide range of health and social care professionals, public and private sector agencies, voluntary services, and the general public.

Drawing on an eclectic mix of healthcare professionals, course members will find lectures and seminars useful in both a theoretical and practical light, allowing them to fully appreciate each module and its contents in relation to their organisations. Course members will be encouraged to participate in class, drawing on their own ideas and experiences, which is recognised by academics as a major source of development in the learning process.

Programme Modules

• Leading and Managing within Healthcare
  This module is based upon the premise that a clear appreciation of the nature, determinants and impact of the healthcare manager’s role are necessary prerequisites for effective practice. The opportunity is provided for course members to explore their current managerial/leadership role from their personal, professional and organisational perspective. This self analysis should be conducted in the light of current management and leadership theories. In this way course members will challenge their personal and professional perspectives on management and leadership.
  
  
• Leading and Managing in Context: Health Policy
  The public/private mix of health and social care initiatives calls for partnership working and increased performance by public sector leaders and managers. Complex inter-professional issues, competing priorities and goals, risk management and multiple accountabilities demand successful, well prepared managers with knowledge of, and insight into, modern policy agendas. This module attempts to explore recent policy initiatives at national and local levels, critically appraising the development of policy and analyzing the effectiveness of the modernization revolution. The ideology of “Third Way” policy is explored alongside other competing welfare ideologies and critical perspectives. Course members are encouraged to make sense of policy initiatives in their areas of work and achieve comprehensive and up to date understanding of critical factors impacting on their management practice.
  
  
• Developing Strategic Thinking and Influence
  This module rests upon the premise that successful managers and leaders are aware of and able to harness those states of affairs that can affect or influence their objectives. Thus, course members will be encouraged to explore the nature of strategy and the skills of strategic thinking with due regard to the ethical, legal, organisational and professional context within which they operate. Consequently, the module aims to develop the knowledge and skills required to influence developments at a strategic level at the same time as developing course members’ confidence in their ability to articulate ideas and present convincing arguments.
  
  
• Quality and Effectiveness within the Health Service
  Although ‘quality’ is a relative concept and somewhat elusive, there is a great deal of pressure upon leaders and managers to strive to improve it; no more so than in the healthcare organisations. Understanding the concepts of quality and effectiveness and harnessing available resources to meet the requirements of stakeholders are essential ingredients in providing a quality health service. Hence, given a legal, political and ethical framework, course members will explore the theoretical nature of quality and its instantiation from a personal, professional and organisational perspective. This will be undertaken with due consideration to contemporary theories and models in this domain. Therefore, course members will evaluate the contribution of research to the promotion of quality and effective clinical practice and consider a range of methods for defining and measuring such outcomes in healthcare.
  
  
• Change and Human Resource Management
  The management of human resources is affected by changes due to a variety of external factors. This module addresses this causal relationship and the need for healthcare managers to understand the key issues of managing people in the workplace, as well as how to initiate and manage complex organisational change. Course members will explore and analyse human resource management strategies and the nature of change from a theoretical, individual, professional and organisational perspective. In addition, course members will engage with the practical process of instantiating such strategies and leading change within an organisational context. Thus, through this module course members should be able to make informed judgements regarding the appropriate use of strategies to manage people successfully and effect change within their own healthcare environment.
  
  
• Research Methodology and Project Management
  The programme requires course members to define a healthcare-management situation and problem that merits investigation and to undertake, argue and evidence this investigation through a project: a dissertation or consultancy project. Hence, the objective of this module is to provide course members with grounding in project planning, literature review and the principles of research methodology in preparation for undertaking the project. Indeed, course members will learn to break a project proposal into component parts and construct a time constrained project plan aimed at its completion. Thus, the module includes the process of defining the objectives of a project and the nature of the methodology relevant to achieving those objectives. Course members will engage with the importance of a sound project structure in particular, how evidence can be reasonably acquired and sequentially presented so as to provide rational conclusions. Such engagement will also include the production of a literature review: a summary of existing published material of the problem to be investigated. To this end, course members will identify the sources of information and the nature of appropriate referencing methods and learn the techniques of compiling a quality bibliography thereto.
  
  
• Research Dissertation OR Consultancy Project
  The healthcare arena is changing rapidly and this presents new opportunities in the world of work. Consultancy skills are increasingly sought and are arguably vital to managers whether they are acting as an internal or external resource to organisations. This module is designed to encourage course members to reflect upon the relevance of consultancy to their role and to enhance their confidence in using consultancy methods and techniques. Thus, course members should, through this module, develop their knowledge, skills and confidence in the use of consultancy methods and techniques and critically evaluate the relevance of the concept of consultancy to their healthcare context.
  

Mode of attendance
Weekend - 24 months (5 weekends and 3 Saturdays)

Starting Dates
The programme has 6 start dates: February, April, May, June, September and Novemeber each year.