MA in Leadership and Change brochure

MA in Leadership and Change A rigorous 2-year distance learning programme with one-to-one coaching

Contents 1

Leadership and Change

Why the MA in Leadership and Change?

2 Coaching 5 Programme structure 6 Stage 1 9 Stage 2 10 Stage 3 13 Faculty 15 Coaches 16 22 The University of Exeter Business School The Centre for Leadership Studies 22 Fees and funding 25 How to apply 25 Acknowledgements Production University of Exeter Business School, Marketing Team Design Design and Publications Office, University of Exeter Photography Tim Pestridge and Chris Saville www.exeter.ac.uk/business-school

Leadership and Change We face a context of tremendous change and complexity.

Seismic shifts in the global balance of power combine with the urgent need to ‘green’ our economies. At all levels organisations look to their leaders to help them adapt and innovate, while preserving what makes them successful.

This programme informs and supports leaders, consultants, advisors and researchers seeking more thoughtful and effective approaches.

I found the two years with the Centre for Leadership Studies to be an amazing experience. I learnt so much about myself and about my style of leadership. This came from not only the course material, but also the coaching that the experienced staff provided and the experiences of other students, who came from very different working environments and therefore could provide contrasting perspectives on topical issues.

Bobby Watkins, Consumer Division Manager, Acer UK

For a global community on the brink of change 1

Why the MA in Leadership and Change?

Your career and you Established for over 15 years the MA in Leadership and Change has helped many leaders and consultants develop their careers, within or beyond their current roles. n The mix of e-learning, coaching and

workshops offers personalised and timely support through a proven, flexible and academically rigorous programme. n You will work with an experienced

n Coaches act as guides through the

intellectually demanding courses, and will help you to make sense of your studies in relation to day-to-day challenges of leadership that you face. n The flexible design allows it to fit

with and around already-busy working lives.

If you want to understand leadership and you value personal coaching and an intellectual challenge, this programme is for you.

executive coach on a one-to-one basis throughout the programme.

How is the MA Pathway in Leadership different from an MBA?

My MBA taught me about how a business functions, the MA in Leadership and Change is far more inward looking. It is teaching me how I fit within the organisation. The MBA teaches what you need to do in a modern organisation, the MA in Leadership and Change is more about how you go about doing it. It is therefore a very personal experience as what you are taught is subject to your own thoughts and ideas on the body of knowledge on the subject and how you go about practising leadership in your day-to-day role. Having completed it myself, I have sent two of my colleagues on it.

Ian Richards, Regional Operations Manager – Central and Scotland, Sibelco UK

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The path to achieving organisational excellence requires employees to be fully engaged and committed towards achieving the company objectives. That process of engagement begins with strong leadership.

Andy Price, MA in Leadership 2011-12 Andy is as an Integrated Systems Manager for a minerals company.

He’s studying the MA in Leadership programme as a distance-learning course alongside his full-time job.

The Exeter MA has an excellent reputation and was recommended by two of my company’s directors who have previously gained their MA via this route.

As it’s a distance learning course, most of my contact with my coach is via the weekly

learning logs I submit online. The feedback is always constructive and provides helpful guidance on areas I might like to investigate in more detail.

The main challenge is fitting study time alongside a full-time job which involves lots of travel. Thankfully many of the materials are portable (in PDF format) and, with a little planning, I find myself able to do much of the work in airports, hotels and trains.

The path to achieving organisational excellence, whether that is in terms of

SHEQ performance or process efficiency, requires employees to be fully engaged and committed towards achieving the company objectives. That process of engagement begins with strong leadership, communication, caring and commitment from the managers of the organisation. How we change the culture within our company really comes down to leadership, how we speak to people, how we inspire them.

My hope is that this course will help me to better understand myself and those around me and develop my skills as a leader.

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Coaching The distinctive coached element of this MA programme is a weekly two-way dialogue with an experienced leadership coach that will significantly develop the way you practice and think about leadership. The main aim of the coaching relationship is to help you compare and contrast the best academic theories with your own personal models and experience as both a leader and a follower so that you can enhance your own style, performance and practice.

This is done through the regular online learning log supplemented by phone, Skype, email and personal meetings – whatever mix works best for you and your coach. Because these weekly interchanges are an integral part of the learning process, you will discuss your academic work as well as whatever is important for you at the time, whether issues at work or career opportunities.

All the modules include some direct, empirical enquiry, most of which involve

you in personal exploration of how leadership is practised. Your coach will advise on the readings and the formal essays you will write at the end of each module, focusing particularly on the formative aspects and how you can further stretch your thinking and develop your scholarly and leadership practices.

We will assign you to a coach at the start of the programme. You will be able to converse with other coaches and faculty, as well as with other students, through the ‘Exeter Learning Environment’ (ELE) online platform. Another highly valued opportunity is the regular workshops at Exeter, going into the materials in more depth and offering the chance to work with other students, meet the coaches and faculty and enjoy some socialising.

As a member of Exeter University, you will also be invited to relevant events at Exeter and around the world (conferences, seminars and webinars).

Leadership knows no boundaries. You don’t need to be in a classroom to fully grasp and understand leadership. The Centre for Leadership Studies creates an interactive, relevant and dynamic program that I can feel part of... all the way from Canada. It is where you can combine thoughts and practice to better understand yourself, the class and the concepts.

Sam (Ajit) Thiara, Student Affairs Officer, Faculty of Business, Simon Fraser University, Canada

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Programme structure The MA programme is in three stages delivered over two years: Stage 1: Postgraduate Certificate in Leadership and Change (9 months) Year 1: September – June Coaching, academic feedback, workshops

n Leadership and You n Perspectives on Leadership for Change n Leadership Exchange

Stage 2: Postgraduate Diploma in Leadership and Change (9 months) Year 2: October – June n Leadership Strategies and Change n Interventions in Leadership n Leadership Futures

Stage 3: MA in Leadership and Change (6 months) Year 2: April – September n Leadership Dissertation

Can you believe a Tokyo-based, middle-aged business man who is busy travelling the world is studying leadership at Exeter University every night? The leadership I’m studying here might be different from what you think it is. I find it is more artistic than scientific.

Saburo Haruta, Team Leader, LNG & Tank Calibration Team, Second Survey Service Center, NKKK (Nippon Kaiji Kentei Kyokai), Japan

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Not sure whether to commit to a Masters programme?

You can enrol at Postgraduate Certificate or Diploma level and leave with that award, or you can continue to build your credits towards the final award of an MA (subject to satisfactory progress).

Study materials All the material for the programme are posted on a dedicated website which is kept as simple as possible so it is easy for you to use wherever you are. There is also a downloadable pdf version for those away from the internet for extended periods.

Time Commitment You will need to be able to commit around 10 hours per week study time to the programme.

Assessment At the end of each module you will write a 5,000 word assignment which is marked by your coach and a second marker. You need to achieve a mark of 50% or higher to pass the module and progress to the next stage.

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What I like about leadership as a subject is that there is no definitive answer.

The MA keeps me thinking and questioning my own leadership style.

Claire Waddon, MA in Leadership 2011-12 Claire is completing her MA in Leadership alongside her job as CEO of a small not-for-profit company, working in the health and social care sector.

Having studied various qualifications, a Masters was really the next step. I wanted to put the theory behind my practice as a manager and leader, and back up my experience with a recognised qualification.

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The distance learning model works well for me as attending on a weekly or block basis would be too disruptive. I log onto the Exeter site to access the modules and receive week-by-week guidance on what I need to be working on. One of the biggest challenges is being disciplined about my study time.

But I am very much enjoying the content.

I particularly enjoyed the Management Consultancy module recently, as I could relate it to my own experience of working with consultants within the sector.

I have found everyone associated with the course extremely helpful and supportive.

My coach, in particular, has been fantastic – she is doing a PhD herself, so we are going through some of the same challenges. I prefer face-to-face meetings and she has been more than happy to accommodate me. What I really like about leadership is that there is no definitive answer. The MA keeps me thinking and questioning my own leadership style. Why did that style of leadership work today and not yesterday? Why did it work with that person in particular? I am not a black and white person, so I enjoy the debate.

Stage 1

Postgraduate Certificate in Leadership and Change The first three modules give you insight into your own leadership style, a new perspective on what leadership is, and the chance to gain insight into the actual process of leadership by observing another leader. The aim is to make you a better and better-informed leader.

Module 1: Leadership and You Beginning with an analysis of your own leadership learning preferences, needs, personality and leadership style, you will gain insight into the psychological and sociological dimensions of leadership and team working in organisations. These insights, supported by feedback from peers and your coach, will enable you to construct your own programme to guide your development and growth as an effective leader.

Module 2: Perspectives on Leadership for Change Leadership is not always what it appears to be. In this module you review classical and traditional perspectives on leadership for change, and encounter others developed more recently. In building up your understanding of these perspectives, you will engage with

inter-related bodies of knowledge, including leadership studies, social psychology, organisation theory, strategic management, philosophy and social anthropology. These perspectives will give you the tools to challenge your own and others’ traditional understanding and develop more sophisticated explanations of how leadership relates to change and continuity in organisations.

Module 3: Leadership Exchange Having explored how leadership happens in theory, in this module you see how it really happens in practice. Using experiential learning and anthropological research methods, you and a fellow student from the programme closely observe each other in your organisational roles, giving and receiving feedback on each other’s approach to leadership.

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Stage 2

Postgraduate Diploma in Leadership and Change Following on from the Certificate, the Diploma investigates how leadership works with strategy and the process of change; explores the nature and practice of leadership interventions such as consulting; and takes a deep dive into the assumptions underlying leadership research, in a module that lays the foundations for your Masters Dissertation. The aim is to equip you to improve leadership in organisations.

Module 4: Leadership, Strategies and Change In this module you will learn about key concepts relating to formulation and implementation of strategy. You will also study a range of tools and models concerned with the process of leading strategic change, applying all of this learning to detailed case studies. This module encourages you to pay particular attention to the human, emotional, and ethical dimensions of organisational strategy and change.

Module 5: Interventions in Leadership This module looks at leadership development interventions, via a critical appraisal of coaching, consulting and education-oriented interventions.

You will evaluate the claims made by

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leadership development and change management programmes; and develop the context-sensitive skills required to decide upon and contract for developmental interventions, as client or service provider.

Module 6: Leadership Futures This module is intended to increase your ability to conduct your own enquiries into leadership, and thus to contribute to the development of the field. It provides a comprehensive introduction to the philosophical assumptions underpinning social research in organisational settings, with particular attention to leadership studies. The Module also clarifies the types of questions that arise within a range of approaches and provides basic training in the methods employed to answer such questions.

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Stage 3

MA in Leadership and Change This final stage results in the award of an MA in Leadership and Change.

It draws on the various approaches to research introduced during the programme modules, and challenges you to put them into practice by undertaking your own enquiry into an aspect of leadership and change that you identify as important. This involves investigating a theoretical or practical issue, with expert supervision and support from faculty throughout. Faculty and coaches also run a dissertation workshop before this module.

Module 7: Leadership Dissertation Initially you write a short research proposal, to explore the knowledge and skills needed to undertake research into leadership. An understanding of what counts as reliable knowledge is crucial to reading and conducting research, so we ask you to think about what knowledge is and how it is derived when studying organisations. This is covered in Module 6 and a Dissertation Workshop, where you look into research methods that have proven successful in the study of leadership to identify the best method for undertaking your own research.

Equipped with an understanding of research methods and methodology, you can embark upon your dissertation research. What this is will be entirely individual, depending on how your interest has developed over the course of the programme. You may have become fascinated by an issue connected with leadership theory; alternatively, you may wish to investigate a practical issue connected with change management, or most likely, a combination of theory and practice.

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Programme Director Professor Jonathan Gosling Professor of Leadership at the Centre for Leadership Studies, the University of Exeter. Trained as an anthropologist, Professor Gosling specialises in culturally diverse and boundary-spanning organisations. His work is published in journals such as Leadership, Harvard Business Review, and Social Epistemology. His most recent book, Exploring Leadership:

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Individual, Organisational and Societal Perspectives (2011, with colleagues at Exeter), is already a standard text. He plays a significant role in the ‘greening’ of management education worldwide and is co-founder of the One Planet MBA (www.oneplanetmba.org). Professor Gosling was founding Secretary of the European Conference on Peacemaking and Conflict Resolution. He served as Distinguished Visiting Professor at INSEAD, France; McGill, Canada; and teaches and consults around the world.

Faculty The international faculty in the Centre for Leadership Studies bring a wide range of interests and research methods to the study of leadership and change.

Dr Inmaculada Adarves-Yorno Inma has worked on a range of topics including perverse norms, discrimination, affirmative action, social influence, creativity and health related behaviour.

She is currently involved in projects relating to leadership development, authentic leadership, leadership and wellbeing, and leadership and spirituality.

As a practitioner she has particular expertise in organisational commitment, communication, performance and employee wellbeing.

Jackie Bagnall Jackie is Deputy Director of the One Planet MBA programme. She has an academic background in social and organisational psychology; a consultancy background in action learning and leadership development; and is committed to exploring innovative ways to engage people in learning and discovery, believing that learning creates connected, adaptive and resilient communities.

Dr Richard Bolden Richard is Head of the Centre for Leadership Studies and is an experienced researcher and educator in the fields of leadership, management and organisational psychology. He has conducted a range of applied studies of leadership and leadership development across different contexts and sectors including small and medium enterprises, higher education, leadership competencies and international development.

Dr Beverley Hawkins Beverley has a background in industrial relations and critical management studies, and has a long-standing interest in the collaborative sense-making processes of work and organisation.

She has sought to contribute to the understanding of how employees collectively negotiate corporate culture schemes, and how team work involves the regulation and performance of team members’ identities.

Dr Anne O’Brien Anne has a background in social psychology and has a particular interest in the area of organisational change and questions of professional and group identity. She has conducted Trust-wide workplace stress surveys with NHS Hospitals and Primary Care Trusts and has worked with trust employees on issues of cross-team cooperation and the alignment of team and organisational goals.

Professor Annie Pye Annie is Director of Research for the Centre for Leadership Studies and is also a Module Leader on the MA in Leadership and Change. She has recently completed a major research project into how small groups of people effectively ‘run’ companies interviewing Chairmen, Chief Executives and Directors in FTSE100 companies, institutional investors, auditors and other organisations which influence board practice and process. Currently Annie is principal investigator on a European Social Fund project to facilitate leadership and learning to develop low carbon procurement practice.

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Coaches Val Brookes Many of the students I work with are returning to study for the first time in many years and are concerned about their ability to study again. Let me reassure you that you bring a wealth of practical experience which will help you ground the thinking and theory of leadership, in the work environment.

In addition, the course is structured to enable you to build on your existing skills and to develop reading, critical reasoning and writing skills as it progresses.

I see my role as a Coach-Tutor, working with you in two different ways: firstly to help you think about the course materials and apply them to your own role as a leader and manager, as part of your personal and career development.

Secondly to help you develop and articulate your thinking into a coherent argument for an academic essay. This means that you can have regular feedback, challenge to your thinking, and support in developing as a leader and manager as you progress through the course.

A lot of the work requires you to reflect on your own practice and draw the learning from past experiences into the theory. I support students through telephone and Skype contact as well as face-to-face meetings and feedback on the learning logs you post on the IT system. It works well where there is regular contact and a degree of openness and trust. It is however, entirely up to you, how much you choose to engage in this process!

I really enjoy working with mature students; you are experienced, thoughtful and challenging! I will give you time, feedback, challenge and different perspectives on issues you raise. In return, you give me new insights and opportunities to see life through your eyes... I look forward to working with you. If you want to see more about my background, please look at my biography on the Centre for Leadership Studies website (www.exeter.ac.uk/ leadership).

I really enjoy working with mature students; you are experienced, thoughtful and challenging!

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Sue Chapman My aim as a coach on this programme is to personalise the learning for you from the very beginning. Every learner’s journey and experience is different.

Sometimes the journey begins at the University during our Induction days where we sit and talk about your expectations and motivation for this undertaking, and how learning will enhance your career and/or your business. For others these conversations take place over the telephone or by Skype, at your place of work in your organisation or at the local café.

My aim is to personalise the learning for you from the very beginning.

My aim is to help you to make sense of the material in relation to your own learning requirements, the circumstances of your own business or your place in a larger organisation. We work together through the modules as you complete learning logs and blogs. Again, I meet some students personally on a regular basis, others I never meet as they prefer to use technology to keep in regular contact.

My primary role, as I see it, is to create a bridge between academia and the workplace and to metaphorically walk back and forth with you across this throughout the programme. I will listen to you, challenge and support you, ask questions and, as far as possible, act as an objective sounding board, and I hope this will be a reciprocal process. I will also give you feedback on your learning logs and as you write your drafts and complete your essays and dissertation.

As a current student, I hope I can relate to your experience of learning whilst working, balancing life to meet family, work and study requirements.

My own research asks ‘how leadership enables sustainable business practice’, but this does not have to be yours. My students have had interests in many varying aspects of leadership and I enjoy experiencing their fascinations with the complex issues they encounter.

The only thing I can almost guarantee is that if you come to the programme thinking you know what leadership is about, that will soon become a myth as you unpack, question, learn and grow in your knowledge and awareness of this exciting subject that surrounds us every day, everywhere in our lives.

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Professor Annie Pye Director of Research for the Centre for Leadership Studies

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Keith Kinsella I see knowing in a relational and situated practice like leadership, as fundamentally concerned with ‘knowing how to get on’ with others. Created in the midst of action, such embodied and contexted knowing seeks improvements in receptiveness and responsiveness to contribute towards the variety of leadership practices required in different situations.

value-based frameworks that are motivating action, and stimulate new thinking about how they can improve their own ‘living’ practice. This special kind of learning occurs in real time in the interplay between enactment and feedback – something we refer to as ‘close learning’ – where theory informs practice and vice versa. As one student has commented: ‘I’m not just studying leadership, I’m doing it!’

In developing these relational skills I believe the practice of dialogue in all its forms is central, so through a tailored and timely mix of questioning, challenge and encouragement, I encourage students to pay closer attention to, and reflect more deeply on, the meanings of their own experiences. This developing dialogue allows us to examine problems and ideas more critically, identify the

Development opportunities at work allow students to experiment right away with new ideas they’re learning, while the ongoing process of reflective dialogue with the coach, who is always there in the virtual background, enables them to explore issues about work practice and their academic studies, and take remedial action on a personal and timely basis.

Development opportunities at work allow students to experiment right away with new ideas they’re learning...

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Geoff Ahern I aim to work with the uniqueness of each participant, taking into account particular learning styles, employment and life situations. This typically involves assisting people to link the course material to experience from their work and elsewhere. It includes knowing one’s own potential to develop leadership, relating leadership practice to theory, and observing and understanding ambiguous organisational situations more fully. Each personal journey into and through the material is different, with its own mix of learning modes, availabilities, needs for collective learning and enthusiasms. Making the most out of the diverse possibilities enabled by the programme while meeting the academic requirements involves tailoring to the individual.

To achieve this, I bring in my own background of working as a professional coach (APECS accredited) with over 30 multinational and other well-known companies and organisations at board and senior levels. This has included full-time employment over five years as an executive coach in a London consultancy, together with experience in developing coaches (I am currently external examiner to Metanoia Institute’s MSc in Coaching Psychology).

Online coaching is itself a rapidly changing medium, and over the years I have worked in the field, I have experience in how approaches to navigating its possibilities and structures are moving on. Academically, after a PhD (LSE) in social sciences, I have published books and many articles (including eight on coaching) for journals and the UK national press while carrying out post-doctoral research.

Each personal journey into and through the [course] material is different, with its own mix of learning modes...

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Jamie Stewart As a coach on the MA in Leadership and Change my key aim is to enable the personal sense making for my students.

I feel I have very much a foot in both parts of the system as, in addition to my coaching role on the MA, I teach a live leadership consultancy case study to final year undergraduates. I am also a leadership consultant and executive coach in the practitioner world.

There is no fixed process to how I interact with my students. I try to find what works best for them and their often hectic schedules.

I have the privilege of working with organisations from global multinationals through to micro industries, much of the time with the senior executives and their teams. Many of these are in a similar position to my students, wanting to make sense of their leadership practice and the environment within which they operate. My involvement in the MA enables me to bring the latest thinking and research from the University and

theoretical frameworks within which to explore their leadership challenges.

I bring this wealth of experience back to my students in guiding their reading, reflections and the translation back to their leadership practice, and the changes they find themselves in.

There is no fixed process to how I interact with my students. I try to find what works best for them and their often hectic schedules. We use the online logs and forums, email, the phone and Skype. I also try to bring together small learning set groups of the few students I look after and fix times to meet face-to-face for a few hours of peer learning, sense making and support, especially nearer to the dissertation stage when it can often feel lonely.

I have an insatiable appetite for reading, exploring new ideas, and collecting thoughts and ideas, and share these regularly with my students where there is relevance to the topics and discussions we are having. I operate pretty much a 24/7 model which fits in with the peaks and flows of student schedules, between reading, writing and needing to dialogue.

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The University of Exeter Business School The MA in Leadership and Change is taught by the Centre for Leadership Studies, in the University of Exeter Business School. The Business School offers a research-learning culture that delivers an outstanding student experience enhanced by an international presence and reputation. The School has over 4,000 students, 1,000 of whom are postgraduates on courses ranging from MSc in Finance to PhD in Sustainable Business.

The Times Good University Guide 2012 now ranks the Business School in the top 15 for all of its subjects. This rise in reputation is matched by the University as a whole; the University of Exeter is a top ten university, ranked at 9 in the Times Good University Guide 2012.

For more information visit: www.exeter.ac.uk/business-school

The Centre for Leadership Studies The Centre for Leadership Studies is one of the most influential university centres dedicated to the study of leadership in all its forms. The Centre works with partners and associates around the world, and faculty conduct research into: the personal challenges

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of leadership; leadership education and development; leading for organisational performance; and leading change.

For more information visit: www.exeter.ac.uk/leadership

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Programme Manager Sue Murch Sue has extensive experience of administration in executive education having previously worked on the Exeter MBA programme. In 1997 she was appointed Administrator at the Centre for Leadership Studies when it was established as a specialist centre for the advanced study of leadership and

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leadership development. Sue is now Leadership Programme Manager for a range of programmes run by the Centre including the MA, Certificate and Diploma in Leadership and Change.

Her role is to ensure that your pathway through the programme runs smoothly by acting as your point of contact from your first enquiry until the day you graduate.

Fees and funding MA in Leadership and Change £16,000 broken down as follows: n PG Certificate £4,600 n PG Diploma +£5,700 n Masters +£5,700

Groups We believe that organisations benefit most from our programme when several people participate as a group and we offer a discount when three or more members of the same organisation are sponsored on the programme. Please contact us for further information.

Bursaries We are able to offer a bursary to self-funding students of up to £1,000.

How to apply If you would like more information about the programme or our entry requirements please contact: Sue Murch Leadership Programme Manager tel: +44 (0)1392 722558 email: sue.murch@exeter.ac.uk

You can also apply by sending a completed application form to: Sue Murch Leadership Programme Manager University of Exeter Business School Xfi Building, Rennes Drive Exeter EX4 4ST

You can apply online by visiting www.exeter.ac.uk/postgraduate/ degrees/business/leaderma

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University of Exeter Business School Rennes Drive Exeter UK EX4 4PU tel: +44 (0)1392 722558 email: sue.murch@exeter.ac.uk www.exeter.ac.uk/business-school UofEBusiness

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