Information Technology, Management and Organisational Change MRes - 2019 Entry

Course Overview

This interdisciplinary and unique programme provides an unrivalled platform for managing the strategic impact, organisational implications and business value of IT. The Information Technology, Management and Organisation programme (ITMOC) prepares you for twenty-first century careers in a globalising IT sector.

The programme modules provide an advanced grounding in key areas such as information technology and organisations, managing change, knowledge management, systematic interventions, strategy and IT management, project management and analysis, design and innovation.

Theory and practice are integrated throughout the programme. Our comprehensive range of modules develops both wide-ranging and specialist knowledge. The programme includes regular seminars and workshops with industry practitioners including CIOs, CTOs, CEOs and consultants. A research internship dissertation gives you the opportunity to collaborate with a company. We work closely with industry to ensure ITMOC is business relevant and leading-edge.

Student-centred learning is combined with academic rigour. Students come from technical and non-technical backgrounds. No specialist knowledge of computing or IT is needed.

On this MRes variant of the ITMOC programme, students take two additional specialist research training modules.

Course Structure

You will study a range of modules as part of your course, some examples of which are listed below.

Core

• Research Methods

  This module gives and introduction to qualitative and quantitate research. It is intended to help students to get started on their research in a focused way and to provide support for development of their research proposals.

• Research Design in Management

  This module introduces students to research design in business and management. The approach taken emphasises the place of different research designs and strategies in the accomplishment of knowledge about management as well as how to craft research. It provides a basis for the appreciation and evaluation of the different varieties of research as well as providing an opportunity for students to consider these issues in relation to their own research.

• Business Analysis and Enterprise Systems

  This module gives you hands-on experience of the academic version of a widely used enterprise technology, namely SAP.

  Enterprise systems and integration solutions are essential to every modern enterprise, and Cloud and Software as a Service (SaaS) is opening a new range of integration solutions for businesses. Also, businesses that acquired and implemented ERPs in the 1990s and early 2000s are now dealing with upgrades for the years to come. These businesses are considering becoming hybrids: i.e., having a mixture of traditional ERPs and cloud-based services so that they can keep a solid platform but also enjoy the flexibility offered by the cloud.

  ERPs are booming in China and many other developing countries. Therefore, irrespective of the specific technology (e.g., SAP), all business school graduates should acquire some preliminary knowledge of enterprise systems and of the integration they provide for companies.

  This module familiarises you with the notion of integration and how companies can respond to their integration needs. Most importantly, it gives you the opportunity to gain hands-on experience of an ERP system and of using it to run a company – in this instance, you will be using SAP to run a virtual dairy company.

• Academic and Professional Practice

  This module will help you to acquire a number of transferable skills and develop your management abilities to prepare you to take the next step in your career.

  Key areas of academic and professional practice are examined over the course of the academic year in this module. This includes developing writing, argumentation and presentation skills, professional conduct and ethical practice, career strategy and employability skills. We invite a number of Guest Speakers to contribute to this module.

• Analysis and Design

  This module will introduce concepts, principles and issues with analysis, design and innovation across teams, organisations and industries.

  It bridges the gap between business and technology by exploring theories, practices and current topics surrounding the development of innovative artifacts and social practices. Each of the concepts and delivery approaches will be widely used in the workplace, and each will be aimed at allowing students to more easily apply their knowledge in the workplace.

• Information, Technology and Organisations

  This module aims to give you a critical understanding of the interrelationships between information, technology, and organisations. Its objectives are twofold: first, to develop your awareness of both the historical roots of modern organisations and contemporary issues surrounding technology in the knowledge economy; and second, to enable you to critically assess ongoing developments in information, technology and organisation. It will consider theories of technology, organisation, and information and seek to convey their mutually constitutive role in organisational life.

• Technological Futures

  The aim of this course is to provide students with some of the key theoretical and methodological tools needed to understand and engage with an increasingly technologically-mediated set of futures. This will be done over a period of ten weeks via a series of interactive sessions that will deepen students’ understanding of how different potential futures might be understood, predicted, and brought into being. A key focus throughout is the impact of different technological futures on organisational practices.

• IT Project Management

  A significant development in organisations in the 1990s has been the increasing use of 'the project model' for organising and managing organisational work. This trend is continuing, with more and more work being carried out through projects and programmes involving cross-functional project teams and flexible organisation structures. Moreover, much of this work is essentially 'knowledge work', and in this kind of work conventional (engineering-based) project management ideas and techniques are of limited value.

  Managing this kind of work and managing in other project environments requires an altogether different approach, in which the emphasis is on 'managing', rather than 'management', and 'knowing what to do when you don't know what to do'. Central to this is the idea of managing as 'learning' and the ability of individuals and groups to 'learn' what they need to do in complex environments.

• The Management of Organisational Change: Challenges and Debates

  What is meant by ‘change’? How can organisational change be analysed? This module to provides students with a broad theoretical and practical understanding of some key concepts and issues in managing organisational changes.

  The contemporary world is characterised by a range of social, political, economic, technological, ecological and organisational changes that challenge accepted understandings and practices. This module introduces contributions from the social sciences that are useful in thinking about change. The focus is upon the development of an account of change that steers between reformist tinkering and revolutionary upheaval.

  As managers and others seek to engage with change it is important that taken for granted assumptions and simplistic solutions about organisational life are both articulated and rethought. Prevailing assumptions in the managerial literature are compared to contrasting approaches within organisation studies. The contention of the module is that the emerging socio-technical-politico-economic context necessitates a reflexive appreciation of the complexities and uncertainties of change and intervention.

• Analysing management in practice

  We live in a complex world in which the actions of individuals, groups, organisations and governments are justified or informed by knowledge claims that frequently have their roots in research. Accordingly, this is a module with practical goals as well as academic content. The main purposes are twofold: first, to introduce some of the basic ideas of research methodology and the standard techniques of research relevant to the study of organisational settings; and second, to reach an understanding of research as a process of social communication, one in which knowledge is produced for specific purposes and for the benefit of identifiable audiences.

  The module is also a key stage in your preparation for the research project you will undertake for your dissertation.

• Searching for Information in Management Research

  This module introduces students to the wide range of sources of information now available to researchers. It covers the major Business and Management databases as well as more general information sources.

Optional

• Cyber Security and Enterprise Resilience: Social Aspects of the Digital Age

  This module explores in detail a number of contemporary themes and issues relevant to the continuing emergence of security in relation to the digital world. It builds on some concepts and ideas introduced in some of the core modules particularly in relation to knowledge management and IT, strategy and digital business.

  The emphasis of this module will be on analysing the interdependency between management, organisational and technological issues and implications of embedding security concerns into digital technologies. Issues will be discussed in detail, with reference to specific contemporary case study examples from advanced and emerging economies where possible.

• Human Resource Management 1: The rise and growth of HRM theories and techniques

  This module introduces the major debates and perspectives on Human Resource Management. It critically examines controversies about the nature of HRM, placing it in context to understand how it developed and what it constitutes in contemporary ‘globalised’ organisations. The module examines those issues that are seen as central to the practice of HRM, such as recruitment and selection, performance management, and remuneration strategies. Karen and Kay will draw on their own research to provide an insight into the HRM process, explored in a way that critiques its taken for granted ‘normality’, and unpacks the assumptions underlying this central organisational function.

• International Human Resource Management

  In this module we explore how fundamental questions about 'knowledge' and 'management' apply to global organisations. With ‘being global’ now taken for granted in many organisations, and the largest organisations in the world such as GE and Wal-Mart having revenues greater than the GDP of many countries, it is crucial to understand why and how knowledge and learning are ‘managed’ in such contexts. The module begins by examining how the globalisation strategies of manufacturing organisations are built around knowledge-based rationales and mechanisms, before proceeding to examine the case of global service organisations, with particular attention paid to the way these organisations use their knowledge and power to shape the structures of the global economy.

• Systemic Interventions and Consulting

  This module provides an introduction to making sense of complex organisational problem settings and paves the way for students to understand how problem structuring is used in consulting interventions. In the first part of the module a variety of problem structuring approaches are discussed and applied to enable you to appreciate the strengths, weaknesses and appropriate application uses of each. The second part of the module gives particular attention to the use of soft systems methodology (SSM), both in general problem situations and in defining information requirements. The final part is a workshop led by senior consultants from Accenture.

• Strategy, IT and Digital Business

  The emphasis on the module will be managerial; technology will be addressed, but always in the context of its strategic and organisational significance. Overall, the approach will be analytical, rather than descriptive. Case studies will be used in a critical way to exemplify, link and reinforce concepts introduced in the formal sessions and to highlight strengths and shortcomings of current concepts and theories.

• Human Resource Management II: the agenda of HRM in the global economy

  HRM II builds upon the foundations of HRM I. We will continue to examine examples of some of the most important current HRM practices. This module aims to build a wide-ranging cultural image of HRM practices today. We will show that the essence of HRM is to govern one of the central questions of all our lives: who are we when we work today? How does HRM seek to take control over this fundamental question?

• Strategic Supply Chain Management

  This module examines the principles and practices of supply chain management, and examines supply chain management in a variety of sectors and contexts, from consumer goods markets to business-to-business services. It also looks at supply chain management critically, as just one manifestation of the more general issue of trans-organisational operations management. Most of the time will be spent considering inter-organisational relationships from various perspectives, but it will also be necessary to understand how they relate to matters within the organisation.

• E-Business

  The module presents a variety of frameworks and case studies that help the student formulate a comprehensive understanding of E-business in theory and practice. The course does not involve rote learning format; rather it is interactive, multi-modal, and real-world. Lectures are more like working lectures and involve various exercises that help you understand and employ the various frameworks.

  On completion of this module students should be able to:

  • Appreciate the multifaceted nature of E-business
  • Be capable of applying frameworks to case studies, e.g. E-business model frameworks and strategy
  • Understand the key issues that E-business practitioners face
  • Participate in a real-world challenge that forms the backbone of the coursework
• E-Marketing

  This module provides an integrated and critical overview of key concepts and techniques associated with marketing and consumer behaviour online. No prior academic and/or applied grounding in marketing or knowledge of marketing issues related to the e-business environment is assumed (if necessary, background reading and materials will be provided).

  In this module we put emphasis on the fact that a marketing strategy for the online environment is, or is becoming, increasingly critical for most organisations. However, the integration of marketing within the e-business technological platform and interface tends not to be given enough attention in organisations. Marketing managers need to be conversant and confident with the dynamics of online consumer behaviour and they have to understand the current limitations of this new channel, but without neglecting the basis of consumer behaviour.

Information contained on the website with respect to modules is correct at the time of publication, but changes may be necessary, for example as a result of student feedback, Professional Statutory and Regulatory Bodies' (PSRB) requirements, staff changes, and new research.

Key Information

Duration: 12 months full-time.

Designed for: Graduates looking for careers in general management, IT consultancy, organisational change management or project management. Any degree discipline is considered. Relevant work experience is a benefit, and desirable, but is not a requirement for entry.

Entry requirements: 2:1 (UK hons) degree or equivalent in any subject.

If you have studied outside of the UK, you can check your qualifications here: http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/international-qualifications/

IELTS: Overall score of at least 7.0, with no individual element below 6.0 

We consider tests from other providers, which can be found here:  http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/study/international-students/english-requirements/requirements-p2/

If your score is below our requirements we may consider you for one of our pre-sessional English language programmes

Pre-sessional English language programmes available:

10 Week – Overall score of at least 6.0, with no individual element below 5.5 

http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/study/international-students/pre-sessional-english-language/postgraduate-students/

4 Week – Overall score of at least 6.5, with no individual element below 6.0 

http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/linguistics/study/summer-schools/english-for-academic-purposes/

http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/lums/study/masters/programmes/mres/itmoc/

Fees

Fees

The University will not increase the Tuition Fee you are charged during the course of an academic year.

If you are studying on a programme of more than one year's duration, the tuition fees for subsequent years of your programme are likely to increase each year. The way in which continuing students' fee rates are determined varies according to an individual's 'fee status' as set out on our fees webpages.

What are tuition fees for?

Studying at a UK University means that you need to pay an annual fee for your tuition, which covers the costs associated with teaching, examinations, assessment and graduation.

The fee that you will be charged depends on whether you are considered to be a UK, EU or overseas student. Visiting students will be charged a pro-rata fee for periods of study less than a year.

Our annual tuition fee is set for a 12 month session, which usually runs from October to September the following year.

How does Lancaster set overseas tuition fees?

Overseas fees, alongside all other sources of income, allow the University to maintain its abilities across the range of activities and services. Each year the University's Finance Committee consider recommendations for increases to fees proposed for all categories of student and this takes into account a range of factors including projected cost inflation for the University, comparisons against other high-quality institutions and external financial factors such as projected exchange rate movements.

What support is available towards tuition fees?

Lancaster University's priority is to support every student in making the most of their education. Many of our students each year will be entitled to bursaries or scholarships to help with the cost of fees and/or living expenses. You can find out more about financial support, studentships, and awards for postgraduate study on our website.

Related Courses

Related Courses

• Human Resource Management : MSc
• Human Resources and Consulting : MA
• Information Technology, Management and Organisational Change : MSc
• International Master's Programme in Practicing Management : No Qual (PGT)
• Organisation, Work and Technology : PhD
• Politics, Philosophy and Management : MSc