Accessibility statement

Skills for Management & Professional Development - MAN00114M

« Back to module search

  • Department: The York Management School
  • Module co-ordinator: Dr. Gill Bishop
  • Credit value: 10 credits
  • Credit level: M
  • Academic year of delivery: 2021-22
    • See module specification for other years: 2022-23

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Autumn Term 2021-22 to Spring Term 2021-22
B Spring Term 2021-22 to Summer Term 2021-22

Module aims

The aims of the module are:

  • to support you evaluate the academic skills and the wider Masters level skills required to complete your programme

  • to support you in exploring professional, managerial and leadership skills in the context of your career aspirations and employability;

  • to introduce you to relevant conceptual frameworks that support the development of skills of critical evaluation, critical reflection and reflexivity required of a Masters graduate in the field of business management;

  • to develop understanding and appreciation of group work and its relevance for management practice and leadership.

Through this module you will be required to undertake a skills test and from the results of this you will prepare an action plan to improve your academic writing skills and the wider Masters level management and professional skills.

This module will build on different approaches to learning. Students will engage in critical action learning, working in action learning sets. The action learning sets will create a safe and secure learning environment as well as support students in developing their skills working in groups and teams. All students will engage in action learning taking on a range of roles within the learning set meetings. Students will be required to reflect on each learning set meeting and keep a summary of actions resulting from the meeting, in the form of a learning log, these actions will be reflected on and referred to as part of the assessment.

Each member will provide peer support to others in the group and will receive feedback and be challenged by others in the learning set. This is intended to aid individuals in their reflections particularly helping develop more critically reflective and reflexive skills necessary for the completion of the programme.

Module learning outcomes

The assessment for this module will require students to engage in the skills of reflection and critical action learning on an ongoing basis and therefore students will be able to:

  • Reflect individually and collectively on their own skills and the development thereof and demonstrate an understanding of critical reflection and reflexivity (LO1)

  • Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of group work and the contribution that critical action learning can make to students personal skills development ( This criteria should be demonstrated in the first instance through reflections based on active engagement in the learning set. For students who have failed to engage in the action learning set ( i.e. students' with Exceptional Circumstances) they will be allowed to demonstrate this L.O through desk based research examining theoretical discussions around the value of critical action learning to a managers personal development. (LO2)

This will enable students to demonstrate competency across three key areas enabling students to:

  • Demonstrate an understanding of the skills required for their Masters programme, evaluate their own development needs and demonstrate engagement with opportunities relevant to the development of these skills. This is in relation to academic writing skills and the wider skills for Masters level students as outlined in the QAA Benchmark statements (LO3:Academic skills)

  • Demonstrate an understanding of the skills required for a career in management, evaluate their own development needs and demonstrate engagement with opportunities relevant to the development of these skills (LO4: Career and professional skills.

  • Demonstrate competency in one or more team roles, whether that be as a leader, follower, coordinator, team worker, monitor/evaluator or other key role ( Belbin, 1981) (LO5: Group skills)

Module content

The module content will include:

The importance of skills for management learning and preparations for a career in management;

Reflection, critical reflection and critical reflexivity in the context of skills development of the module and in preparation for the research project/dissertation

Learning pedagogies and the principles of critical action learning

The importance of group work, teamwork and developing leadership skills

Tools for learning about self and others in the context of management development

Assessment

Task Length % of module mark
Essay/coursework
Individual reflective Statement		 N/A 100

Special assessment rules

None

Reassessment

Task Length % of module mark
Essay/coursework
Individual Reflective Statement		 N/A 100

Module feedback

Students will receive written feedback in line with University and UYMS guidelines.

Feedback will be provided to support further development of student skills for the final assessment, the independent Study Module (ISM).

Indicative reading

Bailey, S. (2015) Academic writing for international students of business, London: Routledge 2015

Belbin, R.M, (1981) Teams: Why they succeed or fail. London: Butterworth- Heinemann

Cunliffe, A.L (2014) A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book about Management

Revans, R. W. (1983). Action learning: Its terms and character. Management Decision, 21(1), 39-50.

Reynolds, M. (2011). Reflective practice: Origins and interpretations. Action Learning: Research and Practice, 8(1), 5-13.

Further guidance will be given on relevant reading in the module handbook.


The information on this page is indicative of the module that is currently on offer. The University is constantly exploring ways to enhance and improve its degree programmes and therefore reserves the right to make variations to the content and method of delivery of modules, and to discontinue modules, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary by the University. Where appropriate, the University will notify and consult with affected students in advance about any changes that are required in line with the University's policy on the Approval of Modifications to Existing Taught Programmes of Study.