Intro Guide Pc 32011

JOINT DISTANCE LEARNING MASTER OF ARTS IN TOWN

AND COUNTRY PLANNING

PLANNING COURSE 3, 2011

Joint Distance Learning Consortium FEBRUARY 2011

1

CONTENTS

0. Addresses and main staff contacts 3

1. General Introduction 6

2. Objectives 6

3. Course Structure 6

4. The OU “Specialism” module 8

5. The Dissertation 12

6. The Study / presentation day 18

7. Topic / Methodology paper 19

8. The final submission 20

9. Assessment 20

10. Right of Appeal 22

11. Syllabus Content 23

12. Course Timetable 25

13. Submissions 29

14. Form for recording

extenuating circumstances 32

2

Appendix A Open University module statements 33

Appendix B Open University Further

Study Options 58

3

0. ADDRESSES AND MAIN STAFF CONTACT

UWE Bristol

Department of Planning & Architecture (Joint Distance Learning MA in

Town and Country Planning)

School of the Built and Natural Environment

Coldharbour Lane

Frenchay

Bristol BS16 1QY

John Allinson - Course Director Nancy Campbell–

Course Secretary

Tel: 0117 328 3517 Tel: 0117 328 3200

Fax: 0117 328 3346 Fax: 0117 328 3346

E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]

Leeds Metropolitan University

Faculty of Arts, Environment and Technology,

(Joint Distance Learning MA in Town and Country Planning)

The Northern Terrace

Queen Square Court

Civic Quarter

Leeds LS2 8AG

Harvey Pritchard – Centre Manager Clarissa Molloy

Tel: 0113 8123222 Tel: 0113 8127605

Fax: 0113 8121958 Fax: 0113 8121958

E mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

4

London South Bank University

Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences (Joint Distance Learning MA in Town

and Country Planning)


103 Borough Road

London

SE1 0AA

Phil Pinch – Centre Manager Rabia Ghuznavi

Tel: 0207 815 7349 Tel: 0207 815 8340

Fax: 0207 815 7330 Fax: 0207 815 5799

E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]

University of Dundee

School of the EnvironmentSocial Sciences

Town and Regional Planning (Joint Distance Learning MA in Town and

Country Planning)

Perth Road

Dundee

Scotland DD1 4HT

Dumiso Moyo - Centre Manager Alda Ritchie

Senior Programme Secretary

Tel: 01382 385240 Tel: 01382 385236

Fax: 01382 388588 Fax: 01382 388588

E mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

5

The Open University

For information about courses and registration first go to

www.open.ac.uk/courses

For information about credit transfer contact the Credit Transfer office.

For other queries about the OU components of the JDL MA contact:

Dr Joe Smith

Faculty of Social Sciences

Walton Hall

Milton Keynes MK7 6AA

Tel: 01908 654473

Fax: 01908 654488

E-mail: [email protected]

The Royal Town Planning Institute

41 Botolph Lane

London

EC3R 8DL

Tel: 0207 929 9482

Fax: 0207 929 8196

E-mail: [email protected]

Ms Sue Percy

Director, Education & Qualifications

http://www.open.ac.uk/courses

6

Planning Course 3: Specialist Focus

1. General Introduction 1.1 Planning Course 3 seeks to provide a specialist focus on ideas,

perspectives and debates that set the context for planning and enable

you to develop a substantial and genuine expertise in a specific field,

which you then may pursue throughout their careers through future

programmes of life long learning. We recognise that planning specialisms

cover an increasingly wide and varied field and we aim to keep our

offered specialisms under continual review.

2. Objectives

2.1 The objectives of Planning Course 3 are as follows:

To appreciate the position of planning in an inter-professional and

multi-disciplinary environment;

To develop specialist skills in the context for planning through study

within the subject areas of „environmental policy‟, „management, decision

making and leadership‟ or „social policy‟;

To engage with theoretical and practical debate about the interface of

planning with broader societal concern;

To develop and apply research skills, including hypothesis-building,

methodology, data gathering and reporting;

To produce a substantial piece of original written work;

To provide a basis for continuing study and professional development

through life-long learning after the conclusion of the formal course.

3. Course Structure

3.1 The objectives are delivered through the following programme of

modules:

Module 3.1: The Specialism (30 credits) module is offered by the

Open University and is selected by the student from an approved list.

It forms a specialist area of knowledge to which the Dissertation will

7

be linked. You will choose an Open University provided course from a

menu, which in turn falls into one of three specialist subject areas:

„environmental policy’; „management, decision making and leadership’

and ‘social policy’ (see further discussion below and Appendix A for

course details):

Environmental Policy Modules

TD866 Environmental responsibility: ethics, policy and action

T835 Integrated Safety, Health and Environmental Management T862 Enterprise and the Environment

T863 Environmental Decision Making: A Systems Approach

Management, Decision-Making and Leadership Modules

TU870 Capacities for Managing Development

TU871 Development: context and practice

B822 Creativity, Innovation and Change

B823 Managing Knowledge

B827 Strategic Human Resources Management (from Nov 2011)

Social Policy Modules

D864 Youth Justice, Penality and Social Control

Module 3.2: Dissertation with Research Methods will complete your

specialist programme of study. This will involve producing a 30 credit

Dissertation. You will need to develop and justify a topic and research

proposal to your personal tutor. You are strongly advised to seek a

relationship between your topic and proposal and the knowledges and

concepts covered in your Specialism, which are then applied to the

practical purposes and practices of planning. Your tutor will also be

looking for an advanced understanding of research skills and

techniques covered in the preparatory Research Methods module.

8

4. The Open University ‘Specialism’ Module (UBPMAX-30-M (P)

4.1 The link to Open University Specialism represents a unique and innovative

element of this programme and it is appropriate at this point to further

elaborate the rationale and its relationship to course philosophy.

4.2 We believe that it is important that the Course produces critical and

„reflective practitioners‟ prepared to engage with knowledges and

insights that may lie beyond what might appear to be traditional

boundaries of planning procedure and thought. Planning practice reaches

deep into social and economic life, often in unacknowledged ways. In this

respect, we believe that the Specialism will enable you to engage with

academic ideas and concepts which in turn can provide fresh insights and

applications for planning practice, and planners appreciation of their

important roles in providing a better society.

4.3 The range of skills and knowledge required by planners in their

professional practice has expanded enormously and through the

Specialism we have sought to deliver:

Transferable skills in Masters level study in Specialisms that

complement and extend your planning focused studies

A foundation for structured lifelong learning in arenas relevant to

planning practice

A depth of understanding of the wider institutional, political,

environmental and social context within which planning decisions are

made.

4.4 The specific learning outcomes for the individual courses and the

programmes they lie in are too diverse to offer here (see Appendix A

for course outlines), but in general, following study of this module, you

will be able to:

Appreciate the position of planning in an inter-professional and multi-

disciplinary environment;

Develop specialist skills in the context for planning through study within

the subject areas of „environmental policy‟, „management, decision making

and leadership‟ or „social policy‟;

9

Engage with theoretical and practical debate about the interface of

planning with broader societal concern;

Demonstrate knowledge of policy and management science in society as a

whole.

Teaching and learning methods:

Course books, other printed materials, audio CD, DVD.

All of the course assignments are expected to be submitted via the online

eTMA system

Course website (where available), online forums, online library, an OU email

account and the facility to complete administrative tasks, like booking and

paying for a course and changing your personal details.

Access to a tutor who will help with the course material and mark and comment

on written work, and whom students can ask for advice and guidance. It may

also be possible to offer group tutorials or a day school that students are

encouraged, but not obliged, to attend. Where tutorials are held depends on the

distribution of students taking the course.

10

Reading strategy:

If students feel that they lack experience of distance learning or want to

improve their study skills, the following are recommended:

A. Northedge (2005) The Good Study Guide, Open University Worldwide,

£12.99(2009 price)

P. Redman (2006) Good Essay Writing: A Social Sciences Guide (Third Edition),

Sage/The Open University, £10.99(2009 price)

Students might also like to read a few examples of the research literature –

journal articles, for instance – in the study line that they intend to take after

this course. That will give you some insight into the ways in which social

scientists go about investigating and explaining their subject areas.

Whichever OU course is chosen, students may want to prepare for their

dissertations by reading

C. Hart (2001) Doing a Literature Review ( 2nd edition), Sage, £20.99 (2009

price)

Assessment for UBPMAX-30-M (P)

Weighting between components A: 100 B: 0

ATTEMPT 1

First Assessment Opportunity

Component A Element weighting

Project - P/F 0

Component B Element weighting

11

Second Assessment Opportunity

(Further attendance at taught classes is not required)


Project - P/F 0


It is relevant here to draw out the reasons for selecting the Courses in

the approved list among the many OU Masters options:

none require a specialist (e.g. science or technical) background, and

they all permit flexible patterns of study that can be undertaken

without disrupting professional work

each develop an in-depth specialism in an area directly relevant to

professional practice either in terms of subject area (cultural and

political diversity; social policy, social exclusion, regeneration /

environmental problems, environmental decision making, environmental

economics / development management) or career development (as

team workers, managers and problem solvers seek creative and

effective decision-making solutions in the context of complex

problems and changing patterns of governance).

4.5 We are also keen to encourage you to treat the Specialism as a first step

on a programme of life long learning. Through credit transfer

arrangements the (30 credit) Specialism module will provide advanced

standing with a range of Open University masters qualifications (see

Appendix B) and in combination with the Dissertation, access to life long

learning programmes in other planning schools or graduate programmes.

As such it represents a starting point for continuing professional

development beyond your completion of the Masters qualification.

4.6 You will need to enrol direct with the Open University for this element.

Please note that some courses commence in November and others in May: details can be obtained from the OU‟s web site at www.open.ac.uk.

http://www.open.ac.uk/

12

4.7 If you want to study a course that has a start date of November, then you will have needed to enrol by the end of September of last year; that is, as you completed Planning Course 2. The other option is for you to study a course with a May start date; you would need to enrol for this by the end of March of this year.

4.8 OU courses that start in November conclude the following April; OU

courses with a May start conclude the following October. It is up to you to consider what would be a preferable work programme. Studying November to April would mean that you could concentrate on your Dissertation during the summer and autumn of next year; but you would not get a Christmas break! Please keep the Course Director informed of your plans.

5. The Dissertation (UBPMAW-30-M (PM)

5.1 You will commence work on your dissertation in the spring: you can start

thinking of a topic as soon as you like, but we would recommend that you

leave it no later than 1st April. Your first task will be to follow the study

materials for the Research Methods element. This is not assessed, but

should give you useful guidance for your dissertation work programme.

5.2 Aims

To enable you to carry out an advanced programme of research in an issue

or theme relevant to town and country planning and to produce some

conclusions and recommendations that contribute to the body of town

planning knowledge.

To enable you to develop and ultimately demonstrate your capacity for

considerable individual initiative and rigorous work organisation.

To encourage you to communicate ideas in a precise manner through a

variety of techniques.

To enable you to frame your work, in the context of other studies and

knowledge about a study area;

To enable the construction and use of a methodology as both a description

and a justification of chosen methods;

13

To enable you to structure your work in order that you introduce and

conclude it satisfactorily, asking a question, and, as far as is possible,

providing the answer;

To acquaint you with the main methods of analysis and processing of

secondary data.

5.3 Learning Outcomes

After studying this module you should be able to:

1. Demonstrate extensive in-depth knowledge of one or more fields

of town planning policy and/or practice;

2. Demonstrate an appreciation of the role of specialist knowledge

within the processes of place-making and space-mediation;

3. Produce a substantial structured piece of original research that

may make a small contribution to the wider corpus of town planning

knowledge;

4. Reflect on the process of managing a research project;

5. Present and communicate ideas and conclusions in a clear and

accessible manner;

6. Construct a methodology for carrying out an investigation;

7. Make effective use of appropriate instruments for data analysis

and presentation;

8. Assess the roles, and value, of quantitative and qualitative

methods, and descriptive and explanatory research.

5.4 Skills

14

The core or transferable skills developed through the module are as follows:

Researching an issue or question

Appreciating the importance of different approaches to research

Producing a methodology

Synthesising and summarising a range of literature

Carrying out data analysis

Producing meaningful conclusions

Appreciating the importance of theory

Understanding the importance of different “paradigms” or world views;

Appreciating the importance of theory and hypothesis;

5.5 5.5 Teaching and learning methods:

Introductory lectures at summer school in Course 2.

Early issue of brief.

Assignment of tutorial team support, including "specialist" tutor.

Study day at local study base.

Individual student presentation at study day.

Staged submissions of topic / methodology paper.

Telephone, email contact and informal tutor/student visits

5.6 Reading strategy:

You will be expected to have read widely around your chosen topic of study and

around the subject of research in general. You will be expected to have a

knowledge of academic sources as well as legislation and policy documents. Your

strategy should include familiarisation with current wisdom on your subject area

as informed by the views and findings of leading commentators; familiarisation

of legislative and policy background to their subject as informed by recent

central and local government practice and statements; familiarisation with the

research process as informed scientific and methodological sources which assist

in the justification of a chosen method of investigation.

5.6 Indicative Content

15

You are expected to programme and manage your work over the substantial

period that is allocated to the completion of this work. Their choice of

subject for their dissertation is your own, but it will be guided by the advice

of specialist staff at one or more of the Consortium‟s constituent schools.

The criteria for choice are as follows:

It must be relevant to town and country planning;

It must come within the scope of a chosen specialism ;

You will need to specify how the proposed dissertation contributes to

demonstrating that you have achieved appropriate depth in your chosen

field of specialised study.

It will need to exhibit a considerable degree of depth of thought and

investigation, a well-developed analytical framework and a proper

methodology as appropriate to a Master of Arts Dissertation.

The Research Methods component comprises the following:

Unit 1: Introduction

Describes the aims, content and structure of the learning

materials, as well as how they interface with the Dissertation.

Unit 2: Research Philosophy and Principles

This Unit includes an examination of the nature of understanding,

research and research problems; different methods, philosophies

and assumptions; current issues and different research

perspectives; and the important areas of values and objectivity.

Unit 3: Managing the Research Process

16

This Unit, through the use of examples and case studies, centres on

the planning and management of a piece of research, from choosing a

subject, through asking and answering a specific question, clarifying

concepts and developing indicators, to evolving a methodology.

Unit 4: Research Practice

This Unit looks at different research practices, methods and

information sources upon which the student is invited to reflect in

the context of their applicability to their own study.

Unit 5: Research Strategy

This Unit focuses on your work on the JDL MA Dissertation,

considering issues like how to carry out a literature review, how

to produce a methodology, how to perform analysis and provide

a reflective conclusion.

Unit 6: Research ethics

This Unit considers the power of the researcher, and explores

ways in which this power should be used responsibly. Examples

of good and bad research practice are considered, and the issue

of plagiarism and assessment offence is covered in detail.

Unit 7: The JDLMA Dissertation: Logistics

This Unit considers the Dissertation assessment scheme, the

requirements to prove a Specialism and details of the

programme, including the Study / Presentation Day. The RTPI‟s

education guidelines, which have been followed in the design of

the entire course, are examined in detail.

There are two “staged submissions”, both of which are assessed; these are

as follows:

A presentation at the May study day on the research undertaken to date;

17

A 3,000-word Topic and Methodology Report, to be submitted in the

middle of June.

The hand-in date for the Dissertation is early in December.

Assessment for UBPMAW-30-M (PM)

Weighting between components A: 100 B: 0

First Assessment Opportunity


Topic/Methodology paper (3000

words) 1

Dissertation (12000 – 16000 words) 9


Attendance at Study Day - P/F 0

Second Assessment Opportunity

(Further attendance at taught classes is not required)


Topic/Methodology paper (3000 words) 1

Re-submission of Dissertation (12000 – 16000

words) 9


18

Key Sources

Bailey, Kenneth (1994) Methods of Social Research London: Free Press (4th

edition)

Bell, J. (2010) Doing your Research Project: a guide for first time researchers in

education and social science McGraw-Hill / Open University Press (5th edition)

Denscombe, M. (2007) The Good Research Guide for small-scale social research

projects London: McGraw-Hill Education (3rd edition)

de Vaus, D.A. (2002) Surveys in Social Research London : UCL (5th edition)

Greenfield, T. (Ed) (2002) Research Methods: Guidance for Postgraduates

London: Arnold (2nd edition)

Preece, R. (2000) Starting Research: An introduction to academic research and

dissertation writing London: Pinter (2nd edition)

6. The Study / presentation day

6.1 The first formal occasion on your work towards the Dissertation is the

Study / presentation day, which takes place in early to mid-May at your

local study centre. This is a compulsory part of the course. You attend

together with all of the students from your local cohort and carry out a

30-minute presentation to students and a member of staff. You should plan

to talk for 15 minutes, with a further 15 minutes for discussion.

6.2 You should use this as your opportunity to “crystallise” your early thinking.

No doubt you will want to prepare yourself by focussing on the

presentation and how it will demonstrate the progress you have made to

date. You will want to talk about the topic, some current issues and

debates, maybe some tensions, a little on history, a little on prospects for

the future. You may also want to air your question in public, describe and

justify your chosen methods of investigation and gain feedback from staff

and fellow students on how you should proceed with your research.

19

Likewise, you should plan to make a contribution to the debates about other

student‟s work.

6.3 Visual aids will be available for your presentation; you may also wish to

produce hand outs. Attendance at the Study / presentation day is

recorded, but a percentage mark is not given.

6.4 You will also be allocated a dissertation tutor by your centre manager, and

will have the opportunity to use the libraries.

7. Topic / Methodology Paper

7.1 Your presentation should help to provide the basis for the first submission:

the 3,000-word paper describing your research topic, research question

and how you are going to investigate it. Please submit this by mid-June to

your local centre manager. This should prove a useful early stager on your

progress towards final submission, and describes the stage that we feel

you should have reached by early summer. You should have engaged with

academic and other literature on the subject; you should have coalesced a

general interest into a fairly tight, research-able question; and you should

have an idea about the methods that you are going to use to answer the

question, and why they are the appropriate ones.

7.2 This submission should also justify the ethics of your research; not only

should a research programme be rigorous, it should also be conducted with

respect for privacy, confidentiality, honesty and dignity.

7.3 Further advice on the Topic/methodology paper will be given in the module

materials, which will be circulated in the spring. Suffice at this stage to say

that this should not be regarded as an extra “minor nuisance” for you to

get out of the way before you concentrate on your dissertation. Not only is

it worth 10% of the marks for the Dissertation, the material therein could

form the first two chapters of your final piece.

7.4 You will continue to have contact with your dissertation tutor as and when

necessary for the rest of the year. Most staff are happy to engage in email

or face to face discussions at mutually convenient times.

20

8. The final submission

8.1 Your final dissertation submission should be some 12,000 – 16,000 words

long. We are looking for a good knowledge of your subject and a sound

investigation that produces valid conclusions in answer to a definable

question or hypothesis. We are also looking for an appropriate depth of

analysis and an ability to reflect upon limitations of the research. High

standards of presentation are also appropriate.

8.2 The final submission is worth 90% of the overall marks for the

Dissertation. You should submit your work to your Centre Manager by 4th

December. It will be double marked. An agreed mark will be awarded.

Samples of dissertations will be sent to the External examiners at the end

of the year.

8.3 The Dissertation will be assessed at the February Exam Board.

9. Assessment

9.1 Planning Course 3 is assessed in the following way:

OU masters Course Pass

___

Dissertation 100%

9.2 You must also attend the compulsory study / presentation day at your local

centre in early May.

21

9.3 The Mark bands used are:

% age Performance Standard

70-100 Distinction

60-69 Merit

50-59 Pass

40-49 Bare Fail

0-39 Clear Fail

N.B. Work that is submitted late, resubmitted or referred will normally

receive a maximum mark of 50%. All late work must be received by

January 1st to be considered by the February Examination Board.

9.4 Your Dissertation mark is made up of the following:

Topic / Methodology paper 10%

(3,000 words, submitted in mid June)

Final Dissertation submission 90%

9.5 You have the right to one attempt at the Dissertation, within which there

are two assessment opportunities; an original submission and a referral.

Unless there are extenuating circumstances, the mark for the referral

shall be capped at a bare pass. Unless there are extenuating

circumstances, a student who fails both opportunities will be required

to leave the course.

9.6 Where there are valid extenuating circumstances, a student failing both

assessment opportunities may exceptionally, and at the discretion of the

exam board, be allowed a second attempt of two opportunities. No

further attempts will be allowed.

9.7 You forfeit the right to a second assessment opportunity within an

attempt if you do not submit the dissertation. Where there are valid

extenuating circumstances, a student who does not submit the

dissertation as outlined here may be exceptionally, and at the discretion

22

of the exam board, be allowed a second opportunity. No further attempts

will be allowed. A fee is payable to the University for re-enrolments for

referrals.

9.8 The exam board shall have discretion to condone failure in the

dissertation where overall performance indicates that this was an

aberration.

9.9 Any claims for extenuating circumstances that may be considered to have

affected your performance in any assessment must be submitted on the

appropriate forms (supplied in the course guides), with supporting

evidence (e.g. doctor‟s notes) to the Programme Director. These will be

considered at an extenuating circumstances panel around one week

before the examination board. The decisions of this panel will be

reported to the examination board.

9.10 Should you withdraw from the scheme at any stage, either on a

permanent or temporary basis, you will automatically be credited with all

those assessments which you may up to that stage have passed. Any

subsequent re-enrolment would normally be on the basis of your only having

to pass these. You should note, however, that your start-of-course

enrolment fee covers study until the end of the calendar year only;

and, as stated above, a first submission and a re-submission for each

module.

10. Right of Appeal 10.1 If, at any stage, you should feel aggrieved at a particular assessment

within the Planning Courses or should you wish to have particular personal circumstances (e.g. medical or personal domestic problems) taken into account you have the right to raise this with the Examination Board. Your request should be made through the Course Director. It is not possible to appeal against individual marks. Full details of the appeals procedures are contained within the UWE student handbook.

23

11. Syllabus Content

Module 3.1 The OU Specialism

(see Appendix A)

Module 3.2 Dissertation with Research Methods

Description

The Dissertation is the final part of the Planning Courses. It is the largest single

piece of work submitted; it counts for the half of the assessment of Planning

Course 3 (30 credits; the other half being made up by the Open University

masters module). However, the mark for Planning Course 3 is the same as the

mark for the Dissertation. You are expected to spend approximately forty weeks

on it. It is expected to run to between 12,000 and 16,000 words in length, when

it is "written up".

You should have already considered your choice of Dissertation topic in the

context of choice of specialist OU course. Choice of topic within this context is

guided by the advice of specialist staff and by student performance on earlier

stages of the Planning Courses.

You need to make it clear what they hope to achieve in the Dissertation and how

it achieves the required degree of specialism within a field of planning.

A key component of the Module is that devoted to research methods; the main

aim is to help you to develop research skills in preparation for their work on the

Dissertation.

It is felt particularly important that you know exactly what you should be doing,

what will be required of you, and what sort of challenges you may face, before

you commence work on your Dissertation. You will need to know how to frame your

work, paying due regard to other studies in the chosen area; you will need to know

how to construct and use a methodology for your study; you will need to know how

to structure your work in order that your introduce and conclude it satisfactorily,

asking a question, and, as far as is possible, providing the answer. Please note that

24

we do not, generally, require a primary data collection exercise as part of the

dissertation.

The intention of the Research Methods component is to provide you with these

skills. But it is also important to provide you with a knowledge and appreciation of

the nature, the intentions and the values of research, in order that you may

better realise these attributes of your own study; and the different perspectives

that may be adopted in carrying out a piece of research.

25

11. Course Timetable 2011

11.1 The timetable set out below is your guide to the study of this

course. It provides an indication of when you should be working on

which particular block and unit and is designed to help you and your

Personal Tutor in planning your work and checking on progress. It

should be clear that the onus to organise your work and liaise with

your tutor is on you. You should not expect continual reminders or

checks from your tutor. It is particularly important that you make

arrangements with your tutor for the Summer Vacation period.

26

PLANNING COURSE 3, 2011 – TIMETABLE

MONTH WEEK

STARTING

STUDY

(PLANNING

COURSE)

STUDY (OU

COURSE)

November 1st 2010 OU course

commences

(Nov – Apr

presentation)

February 7th

14th

21st

28th

March 7th

14th

21st

28th Commence work on

Dissertation

April 4th Research Methods

11th Research Methods

18th Research Methods

25th Research Methods OU course

concludes (Nov

– Apr

presentation)

27

MONTH WEEK

STARTING

STUDY

(PLANNING

COURSE)

STUDY (OU

COURSE)

May 2nd OU course

commences

(May – Oct

presentation)

9th Study/presentation

day at local study

centre

(approximate date

only)

16th

23rd

May 30th

June 6th Submit

Topic/methodology

paper by 13th June

13th

20th

27th

July 4th

11th Topic/methodology

paper returned

18th

25th

August 1st

8th

15th

22nd

29th

28

MONTH WEEK

STARTING

STUDY

(PLANNING

COURSE)

STUDY (OU

COURSE)

September 5th

12th

19th

26th

October 3rd

10th

17th

24th OU course

concludes (May

– Oct

presentation)

31st

November 7th

14th

21st

28th Submit

dissertation by

December 2nd

February

2012

Exam Board

29

12. Submissions

12.1 You should submit your Topic/methodology paper and your final

Dissertation submission to your Dissertation tutor at your local study

centre.

Addresses for submission

Bristol

Mrs. Nancy Campbell

Joint Distance Learning MA

University of the West of England, Bristol

Department of Planning & Architecture

School of the Built and Natural Environment

Coldharbour Lane

Frenchay

Bristol BS16 1QY

Dundee

Mr Dumiso Moyo


Dundee University

School of the Environment

Town and Regional Planning

Perth Road

Dundee

Scotland DD1 4HN

30

Leeds

Mr Harvey Pritchard


Faculty of Arts, Environment and Technology

Leeds Metropolitan University

Queen Square Court

Civic Quarter

Leeds LS2 8AG

South Bank

Dr Phil Pinch

c/o Rabi Ghuznavi


Research & Business Development Office

Room 236

Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences


103 Borough Road

London SE1 0AA

12.2 Please submit 2 paper copies of your paper or Dissertation . The top of the

first sheet should show your name and address together with your study

base and the name of your personal tutor there. A4 size paper should be

used (unless otherwise indicated).

12.3 We will aim to return your Topic / methodology paper to you, marked,

within 28 days of receipt. Your Dissertation will be double marked by your

tutor and a member of staff from his or her Consortium school. You will be

advised of the mark after the exam board in early February. Markers have

been asked to be as comprehensive and as positive as possible in their

written comments - please read these carefully! One copy of your paper or

Dissertation with comments will be returned to you, the second being

retained by the Consortium.

31

General Advice

12.4 We would suggest that you make every effort to submit your work on time,

so that your progress with the dissertation overall remains on schedule. If

for any reason you do not think that you will be able to meet a particular

deadline, get in touch with Bristol or Leeds as soon as possible.

12.5 If there is anything about the marking which you do not understand or feel

unhappy about, get in touch with your personal tutor in the first instance.

12.6 We would advise you to use first class post if submitting close to the "due

by" date and also to obtain a certificate of posting if you have difficulties

with the post in your area.

It is essential that you keep a copy of your submission in case it goes

astray in the post.

12.7 Please remember that under the assessment regulations, unless you have

valid extenuating circumstances, you lose the right to a second opportunity

if you submit nothing by the due date.

32

13. Form for recording extenuating circumstances

Name:

Nature of extenuating circumstance:

Dates of extenuating circumstance:

Work affected:

Please submit this form, along with doctor’s notes or other corroborating

evidence, to the Course Director

33

Appendix A

Open University Module Statements

Module co-ordinator Joe Smith Open University

Environmental Policy Modules

TD866 Environmental responsibility: ethics, policy and action

T835 Integrated Safety, Health and Environmental Management T862 Enterprise and Environment


34

TD866 Environmental responsibility: ethics, policy and action This course seeks to promote innovative ways of understanding and taking

responsibility for actions in the context of our „natural‟ world through a

specifically designed course reader and study guide. TD866 provides sense-

making tools for appreciating and taking action with regards to the seemingly

intractable modern-day environmental dilemmas – including global warming, fossil

fuel consumption, fresh water quality, industrial pollution, habitat destruction

and biodiversity loss. The course draws on contemporary ideas associated with

environmental ethics, social learning, communities of practice, systems thinking,

ecological citizenship, corporate responsibility, fair trade and the connections

between environmental and social justice; configuring these ideas into practical

notions for responsible action.

The course consists of six blocks. Blocks 3–5 each conclude with practical

implications for skills development in environmental responsibility.

Block 1, Introduction, provides a mini case-study exploring the dimensions of

responsibility associated with economic and ecological relations between a

country from the global South and countries in the global North. This provides

an exposition of three attributes relating to environmental responsibility: (i)

What constitutes environmental responsibility? (ii) How might responsibilities

be recognised and who might constitute the key players? And (iii) Why is

environmental responsibility important? As well as contextualising these

attributes, the mini case-study is also used to explore two dimensions of

environmental responsibility – being responsible and doing responsibility – and

three traditions of discourse in which issues of responsibility are developed:

ethics, policy, and action.

Block 2, Ethical and cultural traditions of environmental responsibility, provides

an exposition of three broad philosophical traditions of ethics: (i) What is

good/bad/harmful? ('Utilitarianism', Bentham consequentialist ethics, e.g. green

consumerism and making external cost estimates such as those informing the

Stern Review); (ii) What is right/wrong? ('Rights/contracts' philosophy [based

on Kant deontological ethics] e.g. animal rights and principles of contracting

such as carbon trading); and (iii) the broad philosophical tradition identified

with a concern for virtues in the domain of „being‟ environmentally responsible

35

(Plato and Aristotle, and significance of spiritual worldviews), inviting questions

of character and attitudes, and drawing upon normative ethical traditions

associated with how we ought to be as a prerequisite of what we ought to do.

The block concludes with an emphasis on (i) the global span of these traditions,

(ii) non-exclusiveness of ideas slotting into one tradition or another, and (iii)

continual dynamic interaction between traditions in generating new variants.

Block 3, Nature matters: preserving and shaping environments, is the first of

the three core blocks and focuses more on the ecological („natural‟) world in

relation to human cognition and institutional practice. What issues of value are

at stake – i.e., what matters? What is this thing to which we profess

responsibility? Is it something to preserve or shape? More specifically, the

block covers: (i) values traditionally attached to nature (instrumental, intrinsic,

personal), (ii) how we perceive and construct nature (e.g., as an „other‟ world

external to humans or integral to our being), and (iii) implications of (i) and (ii)

for enabling responsibility. Attention here is on contemporary initiatives to

build on broad-based utilitarian traditions underpinning systems thinking and

environmental pragmatism in shifting from constructing natures as „resources‟

for economic development, towards constructing natures for socio-ecological

well-being.

Block 4, Individual and collective responsibility and action, focuses more on the

human world in relation to „nature‟ and institutional practice. Who is responsible

and how responsibility is enacted, including what conditions must be satisfied if

individuals are to be able to take responsibility? More specifically, the block

covers (i) personal values and environmental virtues associated with individual

and collective responsibility and action; (ii) the role of social learning in

fostering the multi-level interactions that can enable second-order change (i.e.

change that requires thinking and acting differently, including changes in ethics

and values, rather than continuing with „more of the same‟); and (iii) the role of

„communities of practice‟ and other social structures in enabling responsible

action, including ethical issues associated with „Commons‟ and rights traditions,

and discussion of some of the ethical assumptions concerning independence,

competition and collaboration.

Block 5, Ecological citizenship: social and environmental justice and corporate

social responsibility, focuses more on the political, social and institutional

contexts of environmental action, and thus links ethics to policy. It considers

36

how ethics, policy and action work together and how movements, NGOs, civil

organisation partnerships and private-public partnerships can provide the space

for enacting environmental responsibility. More specifically, the block covers: (i)

central virtues of ecological justice in relation to other virtues (hope, love,

wisdom, forgiveness, sadness, courage, obligation etc.); (ii) initiatives relating to

notions of corporate responsibility and ecological citizenship measuring up to

multiple values and requirements of 'virtue' as well as 'the good' and 'the

right'; and (iii) the politics of new types of citizenship where the framing of

ecological citizenship might enable appropriate dialogue between the public and

the private, the local and the global, the future and the present, acting and

thinking, rights and responsibilities, etc., bridging the gap between (a)

awareness of environmental injustices and development of environmental

responsibility, and (b) civic engagement with ecological citizenship.

Block 6 is Summary & project development.

As well as the course being assessed through three tutor-marked assessments

(TMAs), there is an end-of-course assessment (ECA) comprising of a small

project with a pre-set guided task in planning action invoking environmental

responsibility.

37

T835 Integrated Safety, Health and Environmental

Management Description including aims, learning outcomes, skills and indicative

content

Hardly a day passes without reports in the media of incidents in which there is

risk of harm to the environment or to people's health and safety. These risks

may result from industrial accidents, from food safety problems or other

causes. These incidents, and untold numbers of near misses, have significant

cost implications for organizations. The costs to employers of accidental injury

and work-related illness have been estimated at up to ten per cent of all UK

companies' gross trading profits. And there are other costs to do with legal

compliance, public image, and even continued business operations. The

consequences of large-scale catastrophes enter another dimension.

The breadth of health, safety and environmental issues is considerable, so the

course has to be selective in its coverage, but studying it will:

exercise your skills in making searches and critical analyses of the technical

literature;

give you a basic understanding of the principles behind the derivation of

standards for health and environmental protection;

equip you with the analytical skills to examine reports on such issues;

suggest a hierarchy for risk management in health, safety and environmental

protection;

show you how to develop integrated safety, health and environmental

management;

enable you to plan for an emergency

You will find the course invaluable if you are:

* a manager seeing an increasing health, safety and environmental

management role in your work;

* seeking to understand and support local management initiatives in these

areas;

* in need of the basic skills of risk assessment;

38

* looking for a hierarchical approach to risk management;

* working towards developing an emergency plan.

The course defines key components of management as:

Planning

Foreseeing problems and planning for prevention rather than remedy. A

hierarchical approach is fundamental both in health and safety and in

environmental protection. This approach starts by looking at the root cause of

problems. Block 1 presents some costs of mismanagement in these areas and

explores what we can learn from the resulting problems.

Integration

Safety, health and environmental management comprise a multidisciplinary area

embracing scientific, engineering, social, economic and policy issues. No one can

be expert in all of them, but the safety, health and environmental manager must

be able to appreciate the different perspectives, understand the technical

vocabularies and recognize the inevitable compromises. Block 1 introduces the

multidisciplinary approach, while Block 2 develops one of the specialized areas -

health and environmental effects - in more detail.

Measuring

'When you can measure what you are speaking about and express it in numbers,

you know something about it' is a saying attributed to Lord Kelvin. This is a

particularly important approach in safety, health and environmental

management. Block 2 introduces some of the difficulties of measurement in the

toxicological area and in setting standards. Block 3 takes a more quantitative

approach to risk assessment through real-time measurement, COSHH

assessments and predictive techniques such as dispersion modelling.

Control

When problems have been defined and possible solutions proposed, the next

step is to adopt implementation and control strategies to achieve the desired

outcomes. The safety, health and environmental manager must be able to weigh

up the possibilities and select the most appropriate. Block 4 examines some of

the technical options, including machine guarding, noise control, fire safety,

industrial ventilation and personal protection.

39

Organization

Working through the coordinated actions of all stakeholders is an important

role for any manager. Block 5 looks at ways of harnessing the combined efforts

of those concerned through training and other components of an integrated

management system. The block includes procedures for emergency planning in

case all else fails.

This course links with T862 Enterprise and the environment, but focuses on risk

assessment and management for environmental health and safety.

Assessment

Three tutor-marked assignments and an examination.

40

T862 Enterprise and Environment

Organisations around the world are changing the way they do business.

Changes are taking place in relationships between customers and suppliers, and

in the way businesses organise themselves.

Nowadays we are admonished to show concern for the environment – to save

energy, boycott environmentally harmful products and buy „green‟

ones, avoid waste, recycle. These principles are not just for individuals, but also

apply to organisations of all kinds. No longer can they simply take the required

pollution control steps: more comprehensive environmental strategies are

needed. Environmental management systems offer tools for this.

Any company‟s objectives, its internal organisation and its external environment

are continually evolving, so the risks it faces are continually changing. A sound

system of internal control therefore depends on thorough and regular

evaluation of the nature and extent of those risks. Environmental management

systems offer ways to deal with environmental risks and control associated

costs, such as waste management and clean-up costs. They evolve into a business

strategy that gives companies a „competitive edge‟. In the long term,

environmental management has a significant role in strategic business planning,

taking into account the local and global constraints on an enterprise. This course

emphasises sustainable production and product stewardship. A systemic

approach to the study of business operations leads to methods for quantifying

materials and energy use to ensure their efficient utilisation. In this way, legal

obligations under provisions such as IPPC can be met, at the same time cutting

costs and benefiting the environment. Organisations need to consider health,

safety and the environmental effects of new and existing products and

services, and to promote sound development, manufacturing, transport use and

disposal routes. Concepts such as life-cycle thinking are part of the suite of

environmental management tools that are covered in the course, as well as

corporate disclosure.

41


Many of the decisions we make and actions we take either individually or in

groups affect our environment, yet economic and political considerations often

dominate. Integrating 'environment' with other factors in decision making is

vital for an effective outcome. In this course students will learn how to use

techniques and develop in systems thinking, modelling, evaluating and negotiating

for exploring environmental decision-making situations, formulating problems

and opportunities, identifying feasible and desirable changes and taking action.

The course features a case study on air travel and many other examples.

Students will also have opportunities to explore their own environmental

decision-making situation.

The end-of-course assessment is a 4,000-word project. Students identify and

explore an environmental decision-making situation in which they have some sort

of stakeholding and they are expected to draw on their own experience. As a

tutor for this course, you will be the first marker for projects of all students

in your tutor group and you will be expected to attend a Moderation Meeting in

Milton Keynes at the end of each presentation. You may also be invited to be a

second marker for other students.

This course replaces T860, which has the same title and covers broadly similar

content, and had its last presentation in November 2005.

42

Appendix A



Management, Decision-Making and Leadership Modules




B823 Managing Knowledge (last presentation November 2011)

B827 Strategic Human Resources Management (last presentation November

2011)

43


Description including aims, learning outcomes, skills and indicative

content

What is development management? What do development managers do? What

are the skills and strategies necessary for social change and reconstruction?

These are some of the questions tackled in this course, designed for

development professionals in governments, non-governmental organizations,

international agencies and public and private enterprises, and for those who

have an interest in public action for development.

Development management is concerned with promoting the process of

development. The course provides a conceptual framework for analysing

development management practices, and develops skills and capacities for

analytical thinking and strategic action. Although it looks mainly at development

in 'developing countries', the concepts, frameworks, skill areas and techniques

are applicable to a wide range of situations and contexts. The areas in which you

will develop skills include:

• analysis of institutional and conceptual frameworks for development

management;

• planning, making a case for and appraising projects as processes;

• knowing how and when to use different investigative methods and processes;

• working with data, testing assumptions, and making cases for intervention;

• monitoring, evaluation and performance assessment;

• strategic thinking and coordinating action.

Recent processes of change have included globalization, structural adjustment

and the reduction of direct state involvement in economies, as well as

considerable social and physical disruption and displacement of populations

nationally and internationally. The course is primarily concerned with

development management as a means of bringing about reconstruction and

finding alternative strategies for development. It is divided into four parts.

Part 1

The story of development management explores changes in development

thinking and how they relate to different kinds of intervention and practice,

44

both in developing and transitional countries and in the industrialized 'North'.

It looks at the history of development administration and management and

examines the role of development management in the changing relationships

between the state, private sector and NGOs. Development management is

characterized as a process of management of interventions aimed at social goals

external to any one organization, subject to value-based conflicts, and involving

relationships between multiple agencies. An important aspect of this part of the

course is to enable you to locate yourself in these processes.

Part 2

Projects as development interventions Development has often been seen as a

set of 'problems' that can be resolved by setting up 'projects'. Managing such

interventions requires a dynamic approach to planning, as well as investigations

to build a case for intervention. This part examines the context in which

projects take place and introduces tools for aiding conceptualization, such as

problem trees and stakeholder analysis, to enable you to think and act more

strategically about interventions. It provides a critical introduction to

framework planning, currently the most important tool for the specification of

projects, concentrating on the logical structure of activities, outcomes,

objectives, goals and so on and the consequences of making assumptions explicit.

The aim is to give you both an understanding of the potential and the limits of

planning tools, and investigative skills within development processes.

Part 3

Evaluation introduces monitoring and evaluation, and relates them to the 'middle

columns' of a framework plan and to the investigation methods required. It

warns of the limitations of evaluating development interventions in a short-term

perspective and shows the importance of sustainability and the development of

capacities through social learning for longer-term processes of change and

reconstruction. It introduces an action learning approach to performance

assessment and teaches some relevant skills. It also looks at strategic skills for

relating longer-term change to wider socio-economic and political contexts.

Part 4

Strategic perspectives This part considers some of the problems of

fragmentation and integration of action that confront development managers

today. It reviews some of the teaching in Parts 1 to 3 from this point of view,

and examines how public action for development can be carried out more

coherently in an uncertain world. The part explores some different paths

45

towards coordination, including how one might investigate their desirability or

feasibility.

By the end of the course your analytical capacities and strategic skills for

facilitating change should be improved so that you can make a better

contribution to the environment in which you work.

Assessment

Four tutor-marked assignments and an examination. Assessment is an essential

part of the teaching, so you are expected to complete it all. But if you

unavoidably miss or do badly in an assignment some courses allow you a

'substitution score', calculated as a weighted average of all your scores for the

course. In TU870 this rule can apply to all assignments. You will be given more

detailed information when you begin the course.

46


Description including aims, learning outcomes, skills and

inactive content

What can be done to promote sustainable livelihoods and development? There

are few tasks more important or more challenging, few where the answers seem

so elusive. The course helps you to approach this question by teaching the

context - from local to global - in which development practice takes place. What

historical legacies shape the present? Why is an understanding of gender and

other social relations crucial? Why is an understanding of technology or culture

or the environment equally important? What are the processes of power and

public action that influence the making of development policy and its

implementation?

This course is intended primarily for graduates entering the development

management programme who have little or no grounding in development studies,

or who are in need of an update. You may be a development professional in a

government or local government department, non-governmental organization,

international agency or public or private enterprise, or you may simply have an

interest in public action for development. Many of you will be concerned about

the apparently insurmountable problems of development. The aim of the course

is to provide you with the analytical tools for understanding the complexity of

development and, ultimately, enable you to think about ways of meeting its

challenges.

The course takes a multidisciplinary approach. This is essential for grasping the

complexity of the development process. While one academic discipline, say

economics or anthropology, may have its own set of explanations for the causes

of and solutions to a development 'problem', there is in fact no single

explanation. Many factors - historical, social, economic, political, cultural, and

technological - combine to make the world the place it is.

The course is built around a textbook, additional reading, audio-visual material

and supporting study guides.

The text Poverty and Development into the Twenty-first Century focuses

primarily on the so-called 'developing' countries. It presents global poverty in

its many guises as an overriding concern for development, and introduces the

main issues. It places these issues in their historical context, with chapters on

47

pre-colonial societies, through colonialism, to contemporary 'post-colonial'

developments such as the apparently inescapable processes of globalization, the

rise of identity, politics and urbanization. Other chapters consider the

theoretical and historical accounts of the origins of inequality and poverty, and

the emergence of the field of development in response to them. The book also

introduces the range of concerns raised in this field, and the policy responses

that seek solutions to these concerns.

The additional readings are drawn from a variety of academic and other

sources. Within an overall framework of 'action for development' they provide

a deeper exploration of concepts and issues introduced in the textbook, such as

trusteeship and development agencies, accountability, participation and

governance. The focus of these readings, however, is on the different kinds of

development policy and action, together with a consideration of the many agents

who take part in such action. Some of the readings are case studies. They

include case studies in a northern context, in order to counteract the tendency

to reduce development to something that affects only 'developing countries', or

the 'South'.

The audio-visual material also provides 'armchair' case studies and discussion of

key concepts and issues. Like the readings, some are drawn from the experience

of the „North‟.

Although the course does not require you to use a computer and have access to

the Internet this will enable you to take part in the optional electronic

conferencing.

Assessment

Three tutor-marked assignments (the last of which is double weighted) and an

examination. Assessment is an essential part of the teaching, so you are

expected to complete it all. This course does not allow you a „substitution score‟

if you unavoidably miss or do badly in an assignment. You will be given more

detailed information when you begin the course.

48



content

This innovative and interdisciplinary MBA course helps managers to develop

their perceptions, employ creative skills, sustain a creative climate at work,

manage innovation and develop partnerships across organizational boundaries. It

offers techniques and processes designed to help develop opportunities and

manage innovation and change. The overall aim of the course is to help managers

develop and promote imaginative, flexible and practical thought and action by:

Developing a more creative attitude in themselves and others.

Improving their own and others' capacity to respond practically and

creatively to problems and opportunities.

Learning a variety of approaches designed to develop ideas, manage

innovation and transfer knowledge (including scanning the environment,

changing structures, improving systems, involving people).

Being better placed to help establish an organizational climate in which

creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation can grow.

Understanding a variety of approaches to restructuring organizations

(including the learning organization, the use of partnership, networks and

self-organization).

Appreciating the contextual nature of knowledge.

By the end of the course you should be able to:

Understand how cognition, style and culture affect thought, action and

policy.

Be better placed to relate effectively to the way different people

behave in organizations.

Understand the principles underlying creative thinking and problem-

solving.

Use a range of tools, procedures and behaviours as aids to problem-

solving, creative change and the management of innovation.

49

Appreciate the impact of information technology on problem-solving,

data access and networking, and have experience of appropriate IT

packages.

Help develop a more creative climate in your organization.

Use a range of structures, processes and systems (such as idea

screening, concurrent engineering, partnership) to help develop and

sustain innovation in your organization.

Adapt and apply the processes and approaches taught to involve people,

develop ideas, manage innovation, and share knowledge in a wide range of

organizational settings and cultures.

Initiate appropriate action towards organizational transformation and

renewal.

Appreciate the implications of environmental issues and organizations'

role in social responsibility.

The course offers a range of materials from which you select for detailed

study those most suited to your own needs and interests. It is divided into

three main blocks:

Creativity and perception in management offers an introduction to creative

approaches to management, focusing particularly on the individual level of

creativity. It examines how cognition, perception, style and role affect

managers' thought and behaviour, and traces the influence of cultural and

historical values on personal, organizational and global development. It also

discusses ways in which organizations can develop sustainably and responsibly,

and introduces complexity. A personality inventory is included. This block has a

psychological orientation.

Managing problems creatively looks at ways in which managers and teams can

approach problem management creatively. It describes a variety of problem-

solving approaches and frameworks such as staged problem-solving,

orchestrated debate, mapping, and narrative approaches such as storytelling

and the use of imagery and metaphor. It presents principles that underlie

creative problem management. The associated Technique Library (available in

print, web and CD-ROM versions) includes over 150 creativity, problem

exploration, mapping, idea generation, decision-making, acceptance-finding and

50

action planning techniques. There is an electronic technique selector to help you

choose between them.

Innovation, climate and change deals with ways of managing innovation,

developing a creative organizational climate, and attempts to transform or

revitalize organizations. It shows how ideas about innovation have changed, and

introduces ways of scanning the environment, such as scenario building and

benchmarking. It looks at organizational structures and systems designed to

help manage innovation (including idea elicitation and screening systems, ways of

sharing knowledge and involving people), and discusses entrepreneurship, climate

and culture change. Finally the block compares various approaches to

organizational change and restructuring, including the quality movement,

empowerment, reengineering, the learning organization, partnership and self-

organization.

Two accompanying readers, CD-ROMs and the website give you opportunities to

follow up the parts of the course that are most relevant to your situation. The

course as a whole has a slightly maverick quality

Assessment


Computer and Internet access required

3.5-day‟ residential school

51

B823 Managing Knowledge


content

The course is for managers who have a role in managing the creation and

optimization of knowledge in all kinds of organization, from multinationals, small

and medium-sized businesses to the public sector and charities. The

management of knowledge is now high on the agenda of organizations in all

sectors, and this MBA course covers areas that will be of increasing importance

to managers over the next decade. The aims of the course are:

To explore the activity of managing knowledge from different

perspectives, providing you with conceptual frameworks, practical

management tools and guidelines within a critical framework for

effective and ethical management of knowledge, intellectual capital,

brands and other intangible assets.

To use advanced, student-centred, distance-learning techniques and

technologies to maximize learning benefits, tutor-student interaction

and exposure to current topics and ideas.

The benefits to you as a practising manager include that you will be:

more able to manage information and knowledge effectively at both

individual and organizational levels, through the processes of information

and knowledge creation, evaluation, accessing, filtering, accumulation,

categorization, measurement, assimilation, storing, processing,

communication, protection and application;

able to place the management of knowledge, intangible assets and

intellectual capital in historical, theoretical and ethical contexts in order

to appraise current practice and future options;

equipped to manage the interface between tangible and intangible assets

more effectively;

familiar with the key issues to do with the economics and value of

information and knowledge, and able to carry out a preliminary formal

audit of the intellectual capital in a chosen organization;

able to use information and communication technologies to navigate the

information environment, and aware of how information and

52

communication technologies can support knowledge management

processes effectively for groups, as well as within and between

organizations;

able to analyse and develop individual and organizational knowledge

management capabilities;

able to formulate a knowledge management programme for your own

organization.

The course makes extensive use of electronic media such as multimedia CD-

ROM, online databases, the Internet and World Wide Web, e-mail and advanced

conferencing using groupware with internet audio.

Assessment

Three tutor-marked assignments and an examination. 2.5-day residential school

53

B827 Strategic Human Resource Management

This course is for those who wish to understand and influence decisions about

the strategic deployment of labour and human capital.

It is not purely for specialists in human resource management. It will be of

interest to senior teams who make decisions about: design of organisational

forms; direct employment or outsourcing of activities, investment in human

capital development; employee engagement; organisational culture; work systems

design etc. Crucially, it is for those who seek to play a part in shaping the

overall strategy of the organisation and the decisions that flow from it in terms

of human capability.

The outline content of the course is as follows:

• An Introduction to Human Resource Strategy (including a comparison of

employment models)

• The Design of Organisational Forms

• Managing with and without an HR Specialist

• Building Employee Engagement

• Performance Management

• Shaping Organisational Culture

• Building Capability

• Evaluating HR policies and Practices.

The course is suitable for all managers who have an opportunity and/or a

responsibility to influence and shape HR policies. The audience scope therefore

includes, but is not confined to, those managers with some degree of specialist

responsibility for HR.

By the end of the course you will:

• know about the relevant and appropriate concepts, theories and

frameworks appropriate to this practice area

• understand the nature and importance of human resource management

decisions

• be able to make effective contributions to the design and

implementation of policy in a range of organisational settings

• be able to describe and explain the essential idea of what it means to

take a strategic human resource management approach

54

• be able to explain the key areas of SHRM including, for example,

commitment and engagement; organisational design; performance management;

learning and development, international HR practices; organisational culture

• be able to build and critically assess knowledge related to aspects of

SHRM

• be able to find, review and evaluate a variety of information relevant to

topics in SHRM

• be able to compile reports that are robust in both intellect and

practice-relevant terms

• be able to make appropriate use of ICT

• be able to work collaboratively with others.

You will follow a practice-based learning approach with the use of online

collaborative learning, including podcasts, video clips and wikis.

55

Appendix A



Social Policy Modules


56



content

The terms 'youth' and 'crime' are often used interchangeably. Young people are

typically portrayed as some sort of threat: deficient, depraved, dangerous or

deprived. As a result it has become routine to employ numerous interventions to

effect their compliance, discipline, guidance, protection, control and punishment.

By the early twenty-first century such obsessive concern has crystallized in a

myriad of reforming programmes and policies designed to prevent anti-social

and undesirable behaviour, not only by punishing the law-breaker but by

intervening directly in parenting practices and everyday family life. Childhood

and adolescence continue to be the most intensely governed sectors of personal

existence.

The course examines the many complex and contradictory means employed to

achieve the governance of young people through social and criminal justice

policy. It first looks at how young people, both historically and currently, have

come to occupy a pivotal position as society's premier folk devils, with fears for

morality, discipline and order regularly surfacing over the past two centuries.

Moreover, historical research has revealed that the origins of a separate

juvenile justice system in the early nineteenth century are in themselves deeply

implicated in the construction of young people as a special and distinct social

problem. The development of the system, initially in the form of reformatories

and then through juvenile and youth courts, has always been embedded in a

rhetoric of philanthropic care and protection, while in practice allowing for the

imposition of intrusive and draconian forms of intervention. A

treatment/punishment dispute has been pivotal in much of its subsequent

history. As a result, youth justice is routinely criticized on various levels: as too

soft, too harsh, expensive, unwieldy and unprincipled.

The course provides the means to understand how these contradictory readings

of purpose and practice continue to play themselves out in welfare, diversionary,

human rights, punitive justice, managerial and crime prevention discourses and

strategies that occupy the field.

The course systematically examines the relationships among youth criminal

justice policy, social policy and social justice. In the first decade of the twenty-

first century such relationships will be crucial not only in responding to issues of

offending, but also in determining the degree of state intrusion that we are

57

prepared to accept for a heightened sense of security. And at what price for

the civil liberties and human rights of our children?

The course is based on a reader, Youth Justice: Critical Readings. This is an

edited collection of classic theoretical and conceptual articles supported by a

series of specially commissioned commentaries by leading criminological and

youth justice analysts invited to reflect on the different rationales and

contradictions of the nature of 'justice' meted out to young people.

Assessment


58

Appendix B

Open University Further Study Options

Qualifications that the proposed modules can contribute towards:

You may choose to continue to pursue lifelong learning after you have

completed your Masters qualification. The 30 credit OU Specialism

module will allow you to start on a range of further degree study

routes with the Open University, including:

Postgraduate Certificate in the Social Sciences

Postgraduate Diploma in Manufacturing: Management and

Technology

Joint Postgraduate Diploma in Computing and Manufacturing

Advanced Diploma in Environmental Decision Making

Postgraduate Diploma in Environmental Decision Making

Postgraduate Diploma in the Social Sciences

MA in Environment, Policy and Society

MA in the Social Sciences

MA in Social Policy

MA in Social Policy and Criminology

Master of Business Administration (MBA)

MBA (Technology Management)

MSc in Environmental Decision Making

MSc in Manufacturing: Management and Technology

MSc in Research Methods for Educational Technology

Intro Guide Pc 32011

Documents

Transcript of Intro Guide Pc 32011