| Unit name | Global Challenges |
|---|---|
| Unit code | MGRCM0013 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1B (weeks 7 - 12) |
| Unit director | Professor. Bauer |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None |
| School/department | School of Management - Business School |
| Faculty | Faculty of Social Sciences and Law |
Why is this unit important?
This unit explores the global nature of the Grand Challenges – ranging from resource scarcity and disrupted supply chains to heightened concerns around climate change and social justice – that shape the contemporary business environment. It considers global business as being simultaneously implicated in causing these problems but also mobilised in response to them. This unit interrogates the ways in which businesses and other stakeholders frame, interpret and respond to these challenges in the international context. In doing so, it explores the dynamics of ‘wicked’ or seemingly intractable problems that transcend traditional boundaries of organisations, sectors, and national borders. Students are thus required to engage with potential solutions that are technologically feasible, economically viable, culturally appropriate, and socially just. Students will experience why it is so difficult for organisations to change for the better.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study?
In the context of the MSc International Business and Strategy: Global Challenges programme, the Global Challenges' unit serves as a vital unit that enriches students understanding of global challenges. This unit will provide students with an understanding of global challenges and how businesses can mitigate the negative effects of them or become part of potential solutions. Students will dive into a managerial role of a mid-sized company that is confronted not only with a rapidly changing competitive landscape but also global challenges. As such, they have to transform their organisation, understand the multiple outcomes of their decisions, and the conflicting interests of different stakeholder groups. As such, this unit builds on other units of the programme and provides students with the opportunity of integrative approaches.
Combined, this unit provides an invaluable opportunity for students to acquire actionable, real-world knowledge that significantly enhances their strategic thinking capabilities.
An overview of content
In the "global challenges" unit, students will delve into the dynamics of global challenges and the ways in which they relate to international business. Key topics include issues around climate and environmental risks, cyber risks, supply chain risks among others. Further, students will understand the role businesses play with regards to global challenges. Some of these challenges pose direct impacts on the way of doing business, others might have long-term impact on business. In general, firms aim to maintain their competitive advantage by either minimizing the effects of global challenges or by playing an active role in contributing to their resolution. By managing the transformation process of a mid-sized firm (simulation), the unit will provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the practical complexities organisations face when transforming their business.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit
During the entire module, students will manage the transformation of a business (through a significant acquisition of another business) and experience the difficulties associated with such a strategic transformation that aims to remain competitive in the presence of global challenges. As such, students will gain the capacity to understand the multiple outcomes of decisions, their decision-making behaviour, and the need of making trade-offs with many decisions. Further, students will learn how to articulate their ideas for different stakeholder groups.
As such, critical thinking will expand to include a multi-stakeholder view, encompassing investors, employee representatives, and the public. This broadened perspective will be matched by student’s ability to critically evaluate a diverse range of information related to strategic options regarding the management of global challenges. With this blend of knowledge and analytical skills, students will be empowered to conceive and propose actionable solutions to strategic issues that companies and other stakeholders face.
Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of the unit, students will be able to
ILO1: Explore the dynamics of complex global challenges and the ways in which they relate to international business.
ILO2: Introduce a range of contemporary theoretical perspectives that offer insights into processes of change and transition towards more responsible global production and consumption networks.
ILO3: Apply these ideas to real world case studies and propose solutions to Grand Challenges that will enable international business to flourish while operating within societal and planetary limits.
ILO4: Develop skills in communicating ideas associated with responses to wicked problems in the international context to a range of academic and non-academic audiences.
The unit on Global Challenges is structured to create a student-centered experience with lectorials. The aim of the unit is to encourage active participation and critical thinking. This unit interrogates the ways in which businesses and other stakeholders frame, interpret and respond to these challenges in the international context. In doing so, it explores the dynamics of ‘wicked’ or seemingly intractable problems that transcend traditional boundaries of organisations, sectors, and national borders. To better understand why it is so challenging for businesses to transform and adapt to complex environmental demands and grand challenges (either to mitigate negative consequences on the business or to be part of the solution), this unit builds on a “doing and making” philosophy.
This pedagogical approach is closely aligned with the unit's learning outcomes (ILOs 1-4). The student-centered design will facilitate peer-to-peer learning, which is essential for understanding the multiple consequences of decisions and the tensions between different stakeholder groups that force managers to make trade-offs.
Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative):
Each week's session has a distinct agenda, aligned with the outline provided in the unit manual. For each week, teams have to prepare short presentations that are instrumental for developing an integrative understanding of global challenges. While these presentations aren't graded, they serve a crucial role: they are team’s opportunity to receive targeted feedback from both peers and the instructor.
This incremental approach not only resolves immediate questions but also helps students iteratively refine their understanding and application of unit concepts. Further, students will collect their learnings in a weekly reflective learning journal, where they reflect on key issues they experience.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
Individual Task (60%): A 2,000 words reflective essay that draws on, develops, and synthesises the entries and the learnings from the weekly reflective learning journal.
The reflective essay should refer to learnings and challenges experienced during the unit. As such, students should refer to theories and ideas concerning global challenges and elaborate on how strategy can help to mitigate associated issues but also refer to the challenges when transforming a business. The individual task refers to ILOs1-4.
Group Tasks (40%): MGRCM0011 will be over the first half of the semester, and MGRCM0013 over the second half. Once MGRCM0013 is finished, oral exams will be scheduled. Each group will be required to create a presentation on the basis of a set question that refers to the content of MGRCM0011 and MGRCM0013. The question will be such that the group can chose to emphasize the content of one unit or the other, but they will be expected to combine learning from both units. The oral examination will be half an hour: 10 mins presentation followed by 20 minutes questioning and discussion. All students will be expected to attend.
The group task refers to ILOs 1-4 with a particular focus on ILO4.
When assessment does not go to plan
Students who do not pass the unit overall will be re-assessed using like-for-like assessments:
If the student fails in an individual task, they are expected to resubmit a 2,000-word essay on a modified question resulting in a different reflective essay (60%) [ILOs 1-4].
If students fail in group tasks, they are expected to submit a 5-minute recorded audio presentation and a 1,000 word report on a. modified question (40%) [ILOs 1-4].
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. MGRCM0013).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
