Fundamentals of Management Theories and Skills You need to prepare an individual 3,000-word essay, reflecting on the management theories and skills taught throughout this module.
The essay should have a well- designed structure and students are expected to demonstrate knowledge of relevant theories. The essay should be written in an academic and reflective tone. Students are expected to use extensively academic references relating to the module readings. The essay topic will be provided early in Semester B. Detailed advice about the preparation of the essay will be provided to all students by the module leader via module announcements and discussion in the classroom.
Fundamentals of Management Theories and Skills by Andromachi Athanasopoulou
n Please read pages 143 – 145 from the following case study: Gino, F.
(2018). The flight attendant had to ask her twice, “Anything to drink, ma’am?” Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, 143–147.
n Please answer ALL 3 questions, A, B and C:
n A. Imagine you are in the position of Noelle Freeman, the Chief Financial Officer of Franklin Climate Systems. Reflecting on one or more theories
on the nature of managerial work discussed in week 2 (i.e. Taylor, Fayol, Weber, Follett, Barnard, Urwick, Mintzberg, Stewart), please describe what are the key aspects of Noelle’s work as a manager.
n B. Which management skills from those covered in this module (i. effective problem-solving, ii. developing self-awareness, iii. effective motivation & empowerment of others, iv. ability to work effectively
in groups, v. successfully managing power & conflict and vi. successfully leading change) would Noelle need to apply in order to fix the toxic culture at the Little Rock Arkansas plant of Franklin Climate Systems? Why are these skills that you selected important in this situation? To answer this question please draw on the theories related to the selected skills.
n C. Reflecting on the self-awareness skill that was discussed in the lecture and exercised at the seminars of week 4, if you were in Noelle’s place, would you choose to support the layoffs (i.e. fire people) or advocate for culture change instead? Why?
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Things to consider (I)
n Deadline 1st April 2019, 15.00
n 3,000 word essay and in-text citations count toward the wordcount but reference list at the end of the essay does not count toward the wordcount
n Do not cite the lecturer’s slides!!! Slides citation is not an academic citation
n Refrain from extensively citing Whetten & Cameron – cite the originals!
n Do not cite Whetten & Cameron when discussing a theory that someone else has developed
n E.g. If you want to cite the hierarchy of needs model by Maslow (1970) (mentioned in p. 305 on the e-book), you need to identify Maslow’s original work – Maslow A. H. (1970) Motivation and personality, 2nd. Ed., New York: Harper & Row.
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Things to consider (II)
n Critical thinking is highly valued
n Looking for excellent analysis, excellent arguments, critical thinking, strong imagination and salient synthesis/critique
n Don’t present just what each author/theory says but
critically reflect on it:
n Would it apply on the case?
n Does the theory apply in some contexts (e.g. different industries,
different points in time?) but not in others?
n Do you agree with what the theory suggests?
n BUT when you apply critical thinking that means you need to
provide evidence (e.g. examples) or justify by developing
a set of arguments why you make a certain claim
n Theories should reflect material covered in this module –
so we will be looking for evidence that you draw on the
module readings
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Things to consider (III)
n In Question A you are expected to draw on the material from week 2 on the
“nature of managerial work” and you will need to identify and cite studies by at
least one or more – but not all- of the following: Taylor, Fayol, Weber, Follett,
Barnard, Urwick, Mintzberg and Stewart. This means you will need to do some
more literature review beyond those readings listed as your week 2 readings in
the module outline. Please use the QMUL e-library/summons to look for more
academic articles depending on whose work you choose to talk about (e.g. you
might chose to talk only about Taylor or talk about Mintzberg and Follett) but
always in conjunction with the case in response to Question A. To identify more
articles from the e-library please see the process listed in slide 7 in this
slideset.
n In Question B you need to choose and discuss at least 2 of 6 different skills
covered in this module (each of the skills listed in Question B corresponds to a
different set of readings covered on a separate week, e.g. effective problem- solving was covered in week 3, developing self-awareness was covered in week
4 etc). Therefore for Question B, you need to choose readings within the e-book
chapters covering your TWO or MORE selected skills. Question B DOES NOT
ask you to draw AGAIN on the week 2 material (i.e. on the work of Taylor, Fayol
etc ) which is what Question A asked you to do. For Question B you need to
choose readings from the weeks in which we covered or will cover later in the
module the following skills ((i. effective problem-solving, ii. developing self- awareness, iii. effective motivation & empowerment of others, iv. ability to work
effectively in groups, v. successfully managing power & conflict and vi. successfully
leading change)
n In Question C, you are asked to tell us what YOU would do, so it is OK to use “I”,
but always develop your answer drawing on the literature (in Question C you
are specifically asked to draw on the self-awareness literature we covered in
week 4) in conjunction with the case. 5
Things to consider (IV)
n This should look like an academic essay – not a policy report
n Always have an introduction and conclusions as you would
do in a typical essay
n Introduction should prepare us for what you will talk about –
but do not make it read like a shopping list, be more
imaginative!
n Make sure the essay runs smoothly from one paragraph or
essay component (A, B, C) to the next
n Conclusions summarise the essay but also go beyond that
and reflect on implications for the company or Noelle, for the
future etc.
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How to access the case study and
how to access articles to cite
n When your weekly readings include journal articles, you will be provided on QMPlus a URL
to the articles. However if you experience any difficulty with the links here is a quick stepby-step
process to identify and download any weekly readings:
n Let’s say you want to identify the following article: Mintzberg, H. (1971). Managerial
work: analysis from observation. Management Science, 18(2), B-97-B-110.
n Please go to this webpage: http://www.library.qmul.ac.uk/subject-guides/business-andmanagement/databases/
(please note, if you are using a Mac and you have the “private
browsing” function activated you need to de-activate it or open a new window where private
browsing is inactive)
n You will find a number of databases listed there. Click on “Business Source Complete”
which is the 4th database in the list.
n Enter your QMUL username and password. You will immediately be directed to EBSCO (the
e-library for business articles).
n Enter in the first search field the surname of the author e.g.Mintzberg
n Enter in the second search field the title of the article e.g.Managerial work: analysis from
observation. If needed to further narrow down the search, you may also add in the third
search field the journal e.g.Management Science You will be immediately directed to the
article page where you can read or download the article.
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How to access the e-book
n Go to the QMUL library page: http://www.library.qmul.ac.uk
n Click on the advance search option to the right hand side of the page and
once you get into the “advance search” page, copy and paste or type this
title “Developing Management Skills”
n You will be automatically directed to a page that lists various publication
links
n Go further down in the list to an entry which should read Developing
Management Skills, Global Edition [NOTE THERE ARE TWO
VERSIONS, TRY THE ONE MARKED AS 11/2015]. The book has
a green cover. See attached file for an image of the cover.
n Click on the Read Online link which should get you to the online version
of the whole textbook.
n You may also be able to access the e-book via this link:
n https://www-dawsonera- com.ezproxy.library.qmul.ac.uk/readonline/9781292097497
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Example on how to cite additional references
– besides Whetten & Cameron (2016)
n Use references from the different studies mentioned in W&C or by making your
own search on EBSCO (the e-library).
n If you want to use a reference from the W&C when you read something interesting
and relevant, look at the end of the book (pp. 605-632) for the full reference.
n E.g. in Chapter 1 on self-awareness in p. 69 of the book, toward the end of the left
column there is a long list of citations including a reference to Boyatzis’ (2008)
Journal of Management Development article.
n You will go back to the full reference list in pp. 605-632 and look
for the list of references relating to Ch 1.
n These are clearly marked on the book, in this case for Ch1 you will
find the references in pp. 606-610.
n Look for the reference by Boyatzis (2008) in p. 607 -which is: Boyatzis, R. (2008)
Competencies in the 21st century. Journal of Management Development. 27(1), 5- 12.
n You may then want to go to EBSCO and read the full article or if you take it
from the W&C book then reference it as (Boyatzis, 2008; in Whetten & Cameron,
2016)
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Plagiarism & self plagiarism
n Make sure that you are not committing such an offence!
n Test your submission on turnitin before submitting
n Plan ahead to correct any mistakes!
n When you use a quote you need to use quotation marks and cite the
author, year and page where the quote came from.
n E.g. Goleman (2013, p. 52) said “leaders must learn to focus their own
attention”…
n If you describe a theory in your own words, you still need to provide in
parentheses the name and year of the study that describes the theory
n E.g. According to Goleman (2013) there are three areas of focus: focusing on
yourself, focusing on others and focusing on the wider world.
n In both cases you also need to list the reference in the reference list at the
end of the essay
n E.g. Goleman, D. (2013). The focused leader. (cover story). Harvard
Business Review, 91(12), 50-60.
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PART A. Imagine you are in the position of Noelle Freeman, the Chief
Financial Officer of Franklin Climate Systems. Reflecting on one or more
theories on the nature of managerial work discussed in week 2 (i.e.
Taylor, Fayol, Weber, Follett, Barnard, Urwick, Mintzberg, Stewart), please
describe what are the key aspects of Noelle’s work as a manager.
n Use examples from the case study to connect to aspects of
your chosen theory
n e.g. in this case Noelle is doing this […] which relates to what
Mitzberg (1973) identified as the “disturbance handler” role
n You can use more than one theory to develop an argument
n Justify your selection(s)
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Part B. Which management skills from those covered in this module (i.
effective problem-solving, ii. developing self-awareness, iii.
effective motivation & empowerment of others, iv. ability to work effectively
in groups, v. successfully managing power & conflict and vi. successfully
leading change) would Noelle need to apply in order to fix the toxic
culture at the Little Rock Arkansas plant of Franklin Climate Systems?
Why are these skills that you selected important in this situation? To
answer this question please draw on the theories related to the selected
skills.
n You can choose at least two skills or more
n Please make sure these skills are among those provided above
n Justify your selection using examples from the case
n Explain why these skills are critical – what makes them
essential for managing this situation?
n Always refer to theories and cite extensively
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Part C. Reflecting on the self-awareness skill that was discussed in the
lecture and exercised at the seminars of week 4, if you were in
Noelle’s place, would you choose to support the layoffs (i.e. fire
people) or advocate for culture change instead? Why?
n Draw on the self-awareness literature
n Choose any aspect or topic on self-awareness from week 4
(Sensitive line; Emotional intelligence; Personal values and
moral maturity; Cognitive style; Orientation toward change; Core
self-evaluation)
n Describe what action you would take reflecting on how that
action is explained by your self-awareness
n Connect your decision with some aspect of self-awareness
n E.g. I tend to have high emotional intelligence and I would be
inclined not to support layoffs (e.g. could discuss being empathetic)
and instead advocate cultural change
n E.g. According to my personal attitude to change, I believe in an
internal locus of control meaning that I am responsible to the
company’s success, not external parameters, therefore it is up to me
to successfully work towards a successful cultural change…
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