Organisational Impact (20 credits at level HE5)

A basis for understanding the organisation(s) which surround your work practice. A consideration of the theory of organisations and how these can be applied. Uncovering the activities which lead to improvement in organisations and those appropriate to your work practice.

20 credits at level HE5

DESCRIPTION AND PURPOSE OF MODULE

This will include formal activities such as appraisal, improvement plans, business plans and inspection etc. It will also informal activities such as sharing experience, personal reflection and observation etc. You will also invite a colleague to hear your pitch to make an innovation in your work context and note their reactions as a basis for thinking about your ability to communicate effectively.

INDICATIVE SYLLABUS CONTENT

Content will be largely determined by the student researcher when relating their focus for inquiry in the work-context to the intended learning outcomes for the module. It is expected that this content will be inter-disciplinary in nature and draw on academic and professional sources including work-colleagues and online community experience and know-how. In addition, specific topics common to the professional theme of the course and other topics relating to the knowledge about action inquiry will be identified and supported by experts participating in hot-seat discussions, where student researchers ask questions and experts respond.

All resources required for the delivery of the module will be available online. In addition, learners will identify resources in the workplace, in libraries, and online that is relevant to their own inquiry.

Topics that may be encountered include:

The nature of organisational systems and behaviour;
Cybernetics and the viable systems model;
Organisational improvement;
Leadership, power authority, influence;
Informal learning.

LEARNING, TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT

Learning will be supported through an online community of inquiry where student researchers, course staff and invited ‘experts’ will engage in discussions, debates and group activities to explore key concepts, ideas, relevant topics and offer moral support.

Student researchers are expected to develop study habits which enable learning and contribute to assessment through:

personal reflection in a learning log;
regular participation in the online community and
creative reporting to form a 'patchwork' for assessment.

Student researchers will:

identify a focus for their inquiry around issues or opportunities to take action for improvement that they have identified in their work practice;
plan an inquiry with learning activities that address each of the intended learning outcomes of the module;
undertake their inquiry and share selected parts with student researchers for critical feedback;
for each learning activity, create a product for assessment in the student researcher' choice of genre and media;
evaluate the inquiry;

Learning facilitators will:

promote community discussion on potential focii for inquiry;
privately agree student researcher commitment to inquiry proposals;
draw out issues arising in inquiries for community discussion;
model critical feedback in the online community;
make summative assessment of student researchers' work, noting strong points and points to consider with targets for improvement.

Assessment will be through an e-portfolio of work which will address each of the learning outcomes. It will include a summative commentary identifying the individual student researchers learning in relation to the intended learning outcomes for the module in a coherent account of their learning journey.

LEARNING OUTCOMES AND ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

	Learning Outcomes when you have successfully completed this module you will:	Assessment Criteria to demonstrate that you have achieved the learning outcome you will:
1.	Describe the organisation that surrounds your work practice	Identify people, processes, rules and relationships that constitute your organisation in a descriptive and analytical account
2.	Use organisational theories to describe how your work context functions	Describe an organisational theory applied to your work context
3.	Describe activities that lead to improvement	Evaluate the effect of formal and informal activities on improvement in your work practice
4.	Communicate the value of innovation	Create a reflective account of your proposal to a colleague to innovate in your work context, identifying the factors leading to rejection or acceptance and including proposals for improvement

ASSESSMENT

Your achievement of the learning outcomes for this module will be tested as follows:

Patchwork media: an assessment e-portfolio of learning activities with a summative commentary identifying learning achieved related to intended learning outcomes.

INDICATIVE READING

Checkland, P. (2006) Learning for Action: A Short Definitive Account of Soft Systems Methodology and its use for Practitioners, Teachers and Students. Wiley.
Mullins L J (2001) Management and Organisational Behaviour (6th Ed) London: Piman
Morgan, G (1997) Images of Organization, 2nd Edition, Sage, London.
Fincham & Rhodes (1999). Principles of Organisational Behaviour.3rd Edition. Oxford.
Thompson, P. & McHugh, D. (1995). Work Organizations: A Critical Introduction. Macmillan, London
Rollinson, D. Broadfield, A., Edwards, D.J. (1998). Organisational Behaviour and Analysis. An Integrated Approach. Addison-Wesley